#12 The Food of Indonesia

The Food of Indonesia by Lother Arsana - Click to buy @ Amazon

The Food of Indonesia
Authentic Recipes from the Spice Islands
by Lother Arsana, Heinz von Holzer and Wendy Hutton (1995)

Ratings: Learn more
Quality: 3.5/5 – Good photos and recipes
Importance: 2.5/5 – Good introduction to Indonesian
Difficulty: 3/5 – Making spice pastes, hard to find ingredients
Rarity: 2.5/5 – Some cookbook shops, online

Today’s Cookbook:
Yesterday we got some vague culinary inspiration from molecular food similarities by studying a hardcore food science textbook- cookbook #11 Chemistry of Spices.

Today we’re going to pivot from the abstract science of all spices to a specific country’s real food- as seen through the lens of a hotel chef from the spice islands themselves in this cookbook #12 The Food of Indonesia.

Visual glossary of Indonesian herbs, spices and flavorings: Basil, Carambola and Candlenuts (Kemiri).

Learning Indonesian Ingredients
I may never go to Indonesia, but I am fascinated by the mother cuisine of the fabled spice islands. I still want to learn about Indonesian food and incorporate their ingredients and techniques into my style- even if in the most rudimentary way, as a good starting point for understanding some kind of authenticity.

The first step to learning an exotic cuisine is experimenting with their exotic ingredients. This book has a visual glossary of Indonesian ingredients, complete with Indonesian names. This is an easy gauge of a good ethnic cookbook for me- if all of the recipes and ingredients are identified in their mother tongue. Even if the recipes suck, at least I’ve still got a decent language reference. This is vital for cross-training in a cuisine- shopping for the ingredients and reading indigenous recipes requires mastery of those “foreign” ingredient names.

More importantly, considering a body of ingredients as a whole helps me construct a flavor profile for Indonesian cuisine by sussing out the characteristic herbs, spices and flavorings, listed here with their names and uses:

Indonesian Flavorings

• Dried Anchovy (Ikan Teri) : Salted and fried.
• Candlenut (Kemiri) : Adds oily texture, substitute raw macadamias
• Sour Carambola (Belimbing Wuluh) : Acidic fruit, substitute grapefruit
• Chili Peppers (Cabai Rawit) : Torn into pieces and soaked in hot water
• Cinnamon (Kayu Manis) : Actually cassia, not true cinnamon- use whole bark
• Clove (Cengkeh) : Used mostly for cigarettes
• Coconut Milk (Kelapa) : Infuse with spices
• Coriander (Ketumbar) : Most common spice in spice pastes, often with white pepper and cumin
• Cumin (Jinten) : Another common spice paste ingredient
• Galangal (Laos) : Must be peeled, adds unique fragrance
• Garlic (Bawang Putih) : Smaller and milder cloves than western garlic
• Ginger (Jahe) : Must be peeled, do not substitute powdered
• Kaffir Lime (Jeruk Purut) : No juice, double leaf and grated skin are used
• Lemongrass (Serai) : Adds lemony flavor, used as a skewer for meats
• Nutmeg (Pala) : Freshly grated for best fragrance
• Palm Sugar (Gula Merah) : Faint caramel taste, substitute brown sugar and maple syrup
• Pandan Leaf (Daun Pandan) : Add fragrance to desserts and curries, substitute bottled essence
• Peanut (Kacang Tanah) : Ground and used for sauces
• Peppercorns (Merica) : Whole black and white
• Dried Prawn (Ebi) : Soaked in warm water and used without shells
• Salted Soy Beans (Tauco) : Tangy and salty, used in sambals- “Yellow Bean Sauce” in markets
• Shallot (Bawang Merah) : Raw for sambals, pounded into pastes, deep fried for snacks.
• Shrimp Paste (Trasi) : Toasted before eating to mellow the offensive aroma
• Black Shrimp Paste (Petis) : Thick syrup of fermented shrimp
• Salam Leaf (Daun Salam) : Subtle leaf, relative of cassia, no substitute
• Soy Sauce (Kecap Manis) : The original ketchup mayonnaise condiment?
• Star Anise (Bunga Lawang) : Add strong licorice flavor
• Tamarind (Asam Jawa) : Fleshy sour pulp
• Turmeric (Kunyit) : Adds yellow color, must be peeled- substitute powdered turmeric

For an ethnic food I’ve never tasted (and possibly never will), suggested replacements (when available) help me approximate what a food might taste like. If I ever do find Sour Carambola, I would like to be surprised at how like or unlike a grapefruit it would taste- and often that comparison helps me notice other differences that lead to other culinary experiments.

Indonesian sambals are used as condiments for a variety of dishes- clockwise from top: Shallot Sambal, Dried Anchovy and Green Chili Sambal, Chayote Sambal, Jicama Sambal, Soup Sambal, Shrimp Paste Sambal, Sour Sambal, Fragrant Chili Sambal.

Sambals: Indonesian Condiment Genome
Once I have a general understanding of the flavor profile of a cuisine’s ingredients, I often turn to the cuisine’s characteristic sauces or condiments.

The intensely flavorful condiments knowns as Sambals have their beginnings as an important Indonesian seasoning: the spice paste. The key first step in making a Sambal is making a spice paste- a homogenous blend of a variety of aromatic herbs and spices:

Technique for Making Spice Paste and Sambal

• Goal is to break everything up into as homogenous a mix as possible
• First, grind hard items to a powder: dried spices, nuts, leaves, lemongrass
• Next, grind rhizomes finely: turmeric, ginger, soaked chilies
• Next, grind moisture-filled ingredients: garlic, shallot
• Finally, mix in wet ingredients: shrimp paste, tamarind juice
• Infuse fat with spice paste (frying): oil, coconut milk
• Infuse liquid with spice paste (simmering): stock, water
• Add optional vegetable, fruit or meat- cook it in the sambal or just use as sauce

What can we do with this spice paste and sambal technique? The first thing that comes to mind is intense spice rubs for poultry- or maybe a Texas-style barbecue sauce? We can generate further fusion by the incorporation of Indonesian ingredients- think pork ribs with star anise and pineapple chili barbecue sauce. There are countless combinations for Sambal- the recipes in this cookbook are a good starting point for exploring these.

Whole fish grilled on a banana leaf, served with tomato sambal (Ikan Bakar Colo Colo)

Conclusion: General overview, good for dabbling
This cookbook has some gorgeous pictures and some good recipes- but it’s by no means a complete reference to the national cuisine (if there is one) or indeed any of the islands on their own. Some dominance is alluded to re: Javanese cuisine, but beyond sometimes identifying islands-of-origin for a recipe, there’s not really any sense conveyed of each island’s culinary differences.

The recipes are exciting but sparsely described- most of the writing is taken up with travelogue-style “Come to my country!” romantic descriptions of local street food carts and feasts. I also get the feeling that perhaps a fancy hotel chef has their own framing of Indonesian cuisine which might be different from a Timorese grandmother.

I think there will be more to investigate about this cuisine in tomorrow’s cookbook #13 Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery.

Spiced Pineapple Stew and Vegetables with Spicy Coconut (Pacri Nenas with Jangan Olah). A tropical fruit is used as a vegetable by cooking it in a savory coconut milk curry started from a candlenut and chili spice paste (recipe below).

Spice Paste Coconut Curry Recipe
This recipe builds a complex spice paste, fries it, and infuses the coconut milk used for a pineapple curry dish.

Spiced Pineapple Stew (Pacri Nenas)
3 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 ripe pineapple, peeled and cubed
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
2 whole star anise
3 sticks cinnamon
2 cloves
pinch grated nutmeg
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 inch galangal, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp tamarind juice
salt to taste
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
fried shallots to garnish

Spice Paste
5 dried red chilies, soaked to soften
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
6 shallots, peeled and chopped
2 candlenuts
1/2 inch fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp chopped palm sugar
2 tbsp oil

1. Use food processor to grind spice paste ingredients.
2. Saute spice paste in oil until very fragrant, then add 3 1/2 cups coconut milk.
3. Heat until boiling while stirring, add rest of ingredients- withholding thick coconut milk and shallot garnish.
4. Keep at a simmer until pineapple becomes soft. Finish with thick coconut milk and heat for service.