Three satays

So I was presented with a question:  what type of satay do you want to eat?  My answer was:  all of the three.  I will have the basic chicken satay, the most flavorful one that is sweet pork satay, and let's not forget tempe satay, a tried-and-true recipe that is simple to make with typical Indonesian spices--shallots, garlic, chili, candlenuts, and turmeric.

How do you make chicken satay?  I go to the basic, it's simply chicken pieces, preferably a mix between breast and thigh meats, cut into bite-sized portion.  Thread them into skewers and grill them just before eating.  The sauce will have to be peanut sauce, that is made of dry roasted peanuts, candlenuts, and some red chili; have them chopped very finely in a food processor.  Heat some cooking oil in a wok over medium heat and start sauteing the peanut mixture.  Add a little water at a time until the consistency of the mixture looks like tahini.  Add salt to taste.  Have ready Indonesian sweet soy sauce, sliced shallots or red onions, and sliced chili padi.  When the satays are done, mixed the peanut sauce with sweet soy sauce, some sliced onions, chili, and fried shallots on a plate.  Dip the satays in the sauce, and pull the juicy meat away from skewer slowly...you get the picture.

How about the sweet pork satay?  This need some preparation a day ahead.  The recipe is simple, really.  What needs to be achieved in the marinade is flavorful with herbal note and sweet enough.  Main ingredients will be shallots, garlic, coriander, cumin, galangal, lemongrass (white part only, not the fibrous part), palm sugar, a bit tamarind paste, sweet soy sauce, and some vegetable oil.  Mix all these ingredients in a food processor.  Add more brown or granulated sugar and salt because the taste should be sweet enough.  Thinly sliced Kaffir lime leaves are also added.  Rub the marinade over pork loin--boneless--that has been cut into bite-sized pieces, and leave them in refrigerate at least overnight.  This marinade is also excellent to use for beef satay.

Lastly, the tempe satay which I will write the recipe with exact ingredients and directions!  Don't know why I'm so excited with writing a recipe, I guess since I've been pretty vague about recipes in the last two paragraphs :)  It is again a super easy recipe, just make sure you get the regular tempe--just plain soybeans--not the ones with other grains added to it.


Spicy Tempe Satay

Makes about 8-10 skewers (4-5 tempe each skewer)

500 gr tempe, cut into 1-inch cube

250 ml + 4 tablespoons coconut milk

200 ml water

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Spice paste:

6 red chili

4 candlenuts

1 teaspoon roughly chopped turmeric

3 cloves of garlic

6 shallots

2 teaspoons roughly chopped lemongrass

1/2 teaspoon tamarind paste

1/2 teaspoon shrimp paste--terasi, in Bahasa Indonesia

2 teaspoons palm sugar or brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

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Combine tempe, coconut milk and the spice paste in a big pot or wok over medium heat.  Cook until the sauce thickens, stir occasionally.

Drain tempe from the sauce, thread into skewers.  Grill over medium heat in the gas or charcoal griller.  Brush with sauce while grilling.  The satay is done when the surface of tempe is slightly blackened.

Source:  Tahu & Tempe book by Primarasa

Bamboo Shoots with Dried Squid, Shrimp and Pork

There is no stopping my mom from cooking.  She is continually recreating familiar dishes after another, essentially flooding my palate with taste of childhood memories.  A spoonful of a particular dish could transport me back to my grandparents's house where I roamed in the yard, clad in tank top and shorts, playing in a hot humid Jakarta air.  Another dish would bring me back to our old house in a town west of Jakarta, eating dinner of simple meal.  Most of the time, our meal would be comprised of a vegetable dish, protein dish, and sometimes soup dish.  They were never pretentious meals, everything were almost always bought at the wet market in the early morning hours.  Prepared by my mom with a help from our loyal housekeeper in a small, modest kitchen, the dishes came out perfectly cooked, in my opinion nevertheless.  She would cook Indonesian, Chinese-Indonesian, or Dutch-Indonesian food; no matter what the type it was, our stomachs always thanked her for her wonderful cooking.

One of her dish was this bamboo shoots with dried squid, shrimp and pork.  I don't know exactly where she learned how to make it, most likely from her late mother-in-law, but it was an example of simple cooking resulting in a tasty dish. The way she cooks is never exact, everything is a guesstimate.  I love it when people ask her a recipe for certain dish, she would answer it unapologetically, it depends.  This will often throw people off, they are not sure if she's honest or not wanting to share the recipe.  But she cooks like that, the way I learn from her is by watching her make it; the same way she learnt from her mother-in-law.

For this dish, the shallots and garlic are ground into paste.  Bamboo shoots are sliced thinly, a bit share of pork shoulder are sliced thinly, a handful of peeled, deveined shrimp as well.  Take a small amount of whole dried squid, soak it in a bowl of water to soften it, then slice it thinly.  Stir-fry the shallot and garlic paste in a wok with enough vegetable oil over high heat.  Cook until it's quite soft and release its aroma.  Toss in the pork, shrimp, and squid; add salt and white pepper.  Pour in some water and cook over medium-low until pork is tender.  Taste to adjust the seasoning.  After a day or two, my mom will drain off the liquid, and stir-fry the dish again on a dry wok.  She will serve this with steamed rice and sambal, or red chili pepper paste.

See?  My recipe sounds just like hers :)

Chinese Style Stewed Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs are comfort food, Italian style.  Stewed meatballs and rice  are comfort food, Chinese style.  Either one is very welcome in my family and I decided to make one this week.

It's a pretty straightforward dish, pair it with one or two other stir-fried dish to serve for a family meal.

Chinese Style Stewed Meatballs

Serves 4



400 g ground beef

80 g ground pork

3 tablespoons cold water

1/2 cup canola oil

600 g Napa cabbage

1 cup beef stock

1 tablespoon sliced green onion

Seasoning for the meatballs:

1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Seasonings for the sauce:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil



Grind ground beef and pork in a food processor with cold water for about 1 minute until the mixture comes together smoothly.  Add the seasonings for the meatballs to the mixture, and using your fingers blend them into the mixture until it comes together.

Slice the Napa cabbage into large pieces.  Stir fry with 2 tablespoons oil and season with 1/3 teaspoon salt.  Cover and cook until the cabbage is soft but still has bite to it.  Remove to a platter and keep warm.

Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Wet hands with water and form ball from about 2 to 3 tablespoons of meat mixture.  Drop the meatballs to the hot pan and press slightly on top of each meatballs.  Cook each side approximate 3-4 minutes, or until they are golden brown.  Drain off the oil from the skillet.

Pour 1 cup of beef stock to the skillet, add soy sauce, salt, and sugar.  Let it boil then simmer fro 2 minutes.  Adjust the seasoning if needed at this time.  Thicken the sauce with the mixture of cornstarch and water, stir continuously until the sauce thicken.  Splash sesame oil and sprinkle chopped green onions on top.  Place meatballs over Napa cabbage on the platter.

Grilled London Broil with Rum Molasses Sauce

How's your Mother's day today?  Mine was wonderfully full of children and good music throughout the afternoon.  My son had his first recital since we switched him to a new teacher last summer.  His teacher has a studio which holds recital in springtime.  The recital was held at Sherman Clay Piano store in downtown Portland, a beautiful store that has old and new pianos, grand and no grand alike.  This year's recital has a theme of Chopin and Schumann's 200th birthday, so students have to pick their music from the Romantic Period.

My son was quite nervous the day before and the morning before the recital; he wished that he could just not go to the event.  The feeling in the room was actually very relaxed and familiar; his teacher didn't want the students to feel pressured to not making mistakes.  Of course, some children were naturally flawless performers :)  Nevertheless, I really had the best Mother's day's gift today since I got to see my son braved himself to play in front of a crowd.

The weather seems to be getting better each week, sunny days are ahead and even with some rains, I couldn't be more happier to finally see some changes in the weather.  But, there's a catch with that, my allergy also seems to worsen.  I went out jogging again last Thursday and immediately my throat hurt and  I can't stop sneezing.   I have to wait until my nasal spray is refilled by Tuesday.

This recipe that I'm sharing today is a grilled London broil with rum molasses sauce.  Grilling time can be resumed in my household because nobody likes to grill under the rain and in the cold weather.  London broil is a perfect meat for grilling but the meat can be tough unless it's marinated for several hours.  When it's ready to be eaten, it's best to slice it thinly and across the grain.   Rum, allspice,  and molasses make a good marinade for the meat; the flavors penetrate it fully and gives out mouth watering aroma when the meat is being grilled.  By using lime juice, the meat is guaranteed to be tender and it lends some acidic taste to balance out the sweetness of molasses.

The accompaniments for the grilled meat were Green Beans with Balsamic Butter and Scalloped Potatoes with Crème Fraîche and Gruyère.  Meat and potatoes, my favorite duo :)

Grilled London Broil with Rum Molasses Sauce

Serves 6



6 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from about 3 limes)

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup dark rum

2 tablespoons molasses (not robust)

1 tablespoon habanero pepper sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

2 1/2 pounds top round London broil (1 1/4 inches thick)



Whisk together lime juice, oil, rum, molasses, habanero sauce, salt, pepper, and allspice in a bowl until well combined.  Put steak in a large sealable plastic bag, pour in marinade, and seal bag, pressing out excess air.  Put steak in a shallow pan (in case of leaks) and marinate in refrigerator, turning several times for 12 hours.

Prepare the gas grill for direct-heat cooking over high heat.

Meanwhile, lift steak from marinade, letting excess drip back into bag, and transfer to a tray.  Pour marinade into a small saucepan, bring to a boil over moderately high heat, and boil, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes.  Reserve 1/4 cup marinade for basting and set remaining marinade aside for serving with steak.

Oil grill rack.  Pat steak dry and sear, covered, turning once, until grill marks appears on both sides, about 2 minutes total.  Reduce heat to medium and grill steak, covered, turning occasionally, for 8 minutes more.  Baste steak on both sides with reserved 1/4 cup marinade and grill until thermometer inserted horizontally 2 incehs into meat registers 120 degrees F, about 5 minutes more.

Transfer steak to a cutting board and let stand, loosely covered with foil, for 5 mintues.  Holding knife at a 45-degree angle, thinly slice steak.  Serve with reserved sauce.



Source:  Gourmet Today