The Indonesian cuisine is one of my favourites. Satay with peanut sauce, gado-gado, sambal, beans in coconut milk, nasi kuning, goreng or kampur - love it all. Had no clue how to turn everyday spices into the magical flavors of Indonesia though...until today.
One of the main characteristics of Indonesian cuisine is the wide application of bumbu pecel (peanut or satay sauce) in many signature dishes such as satay, gado-gado, karedok, ketoprak and pecel. It is added to main ingredients (meat or vegetable) to add taste or used as dipping sauce. Indonesian peanut sauce is very sophisticated - a balance of sweet, spicy and sour that is much different from the "warm peanut butter" that you will be served in many countries. Lesson 1: never use peanut butter for your sauce ever again!!
BUMBU PECEL (Balinese satay sauce)
Ingredients:
150g raw, unsalted peanuts
6 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 small chillies (chopped)
2 tsp. of kencur (= aromatic ginger. If not available, substitute with galangal, mild ginger)
2 lime leaves (shredded)
1 tbsp. palm sugar
1 large red chilli (seeds removed)
2 tsp. lime juice (optional)
1 tbsp of kecap manis
1/2 tbsp of roasted shrimp paste
1/4 - 1/2 l of water
Salt to taste (if available, use Balinese sea salt (garam) which is slightly milder tham regular salt)
1-2 cups of oil for frying (basically every oil can be used except olive oil)
1/4 medium tomato
2-3 tbsp of fried shallots (very yummy to make yourself by frying bawang merah, red shallot)
Deep fry the peanuts in the oil in a wok over medium heat, a handful at a time until just golden brown. Remember: they keep cooking after they have been taken from the wok! Remove the peanuts with a slotted spoon.
Grind until fine or blend the peanuts in a blender with water. Obviously, the latter is faster, but you will lose flavour.
Grind the garlic, large red chilli, small chilli, kencur, shrimp paste and palm sugar, adding the tomato last (or alternatively blend to a paste in a food processor). Mix in the ground peanuts and add the kecap manis, lime fruit, lime leaves and fried shallots.
Taste and check the seasonings. Garnish with fried shallots. It is sooooo good!
Peanut sauce goes well with basically everything. Try it with satay, vegetables or in gado-gado (a salad of steamed or boiled vegetables such as cabbage, carrot, cucumber and/or cauliflower, hardboiled egg, fried tempe or tofu and krupuk). Can't wait to prepare this at home.
SELAMAT MAKAN!
Check in later for: Sambal Goreng
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Ubud, Bali - Indonesia
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