Friday 22 October 2010

Cross-Cultural Experience: Two Indonesian Recipes

One of the reasons that I enjoy living in the Netherlands is the possibility of making friends from different cultures and enjoying so many interesting and rich moments!
I never heard about Martisor until my Romanian friend Mihaela gave me one. I didn't know of the existence of Koeksisters until I made here an acquaintance from South Africa.
Last month, I had another cross- cultural experience, this time, homemade Indonesian food.

A couple of months ago, I met Meiko, an Indonesian woman with a Portuguese surname, "Monteiro". Her paternal grandfather was a Portuguese who went to Indonesia many years ago.
Meiko has a great sense of humor, is polite and generous. We became friends and I went to her Birthday Party last month.

Look at this table...;-) She is such a great cook!! ;-)

From Coisas Minhas


So, I asked her if she wouldn't mind to share some photos and two recipes with Presepio's readers. As you can see, she was a dearest! ;-)

Let's enjoy then! ;-)

Rendang (top of the photo, in the white platter )

From Coisas Minhas


Ingredients :

500 gr of meat cut in pieces.
Grinded:red chilli, 5 garlic cloves, 4 small shallots/ 2 big red onions in fine pieces, 1 long lemon grass, 4 cm ginger/ 2 eating spoons of ginger powder, 4 cm laos/1 eating spoon laos powder, 5 citroen fresh leaves, 3 salam leaves. You can buy these ingredients in Indo Toko Supermarkets.
1 tea spoon djintan (optional), 250 gr coconut milk, salt, sugar, water.

How to cook:

Fry the onions and all the grinded ingredients until it smells nice.
Put the meat and stir it for a while.
Add 2 glasses of water, salt and sugar.
Cook it for a while and then put the coconut milk and stir it until the water is gone and its color turns to dark brown.
The important thing is to stir it all the time when you put the coconut milk because that is what gives the taste.
Cook it untill the meat is soft and the color from the ingredients turns dark brown, in a low or medium fire.


Sambal goreng kentang (fried potato with chilli) (in the glass tray)

From Coisas Minhas


Ingredients:

250 gr potatoes (cut it in small cubes) and meatballs (optional);
Grinded:red chilli, 4 garlic cloves, 5 shallots/1 big red onion, 2 cm laos/2 eating spoons laos powder.
1 tea spoon koenjit [root of the kurkuma plant] powder, 2 salam leaves, 1 lemon grass (cut in half), salt, sugar.

How to cook:

Fry the potatoes until it's well done and if it's finished, fry all the grinded ingredients, salam leaves, lemon grass, salt, sugar, koenjit [root of the kurkuma plant] until it smells nice.
Pour a bit of water and cook it untill it boils.
Then put all the potatoes and meatballs.
Cook it untill all the ingredients mix with the potatoes, in a low or medium fire.

Enjoy!!! ;-)

Thank you, Meiko for such a lovely evening and for sharing with us such Indonesian delicacies :-)

Portugal, Indonesia and Netherlands...an old connection...

The first Europeans arriving in Indonesia were the Portuguese traders, led by Francisco Serrão, in 1512. They wanted to monopolize the sources of nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in Maluku.
In 1602, the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and became the dominant European power. Following bankruptcy, the VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, and the government of the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a nationalized colony. (from Wikipedia)

26 comments:

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

SANDRA! Isn't it wonderful how our lives integrate these days? immigration is a wonderful thing; it brings us together to love each other. WHAT A FEAST! Here where we live, we have so many cultures: French, African, Latino, Norwegian, Swedish, Eastern European...the list really goes on. And we benefit from this in so many ways.

BON APÉTIT MA BELLE! Anita

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh, come and see my new post...

Anita said...

I do love some Indonesian dishes, such as "pindasaus". Colourful culinary !

Presépio no Canal said...

I am loving this experience! ;-)

Your place sounds veryyyy interesting! ;-)

Have a great day, dear one! :-)

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh dearest, your kindnesses extent beyond the BIG POND of the Atlantic. There is so much kindness to give and receive. Love is one of the unlimited resources in the universe.

THANK YOU! Anita

Jacoba said...

Hallo Sandra,
Het zou voor jou heel leuk zijn om deze winter een cursus Indonesisch koken te doen. Het is zo leuk om te doen.
Veel gerechten kun je van te voren maken en op een rijsttafel kun je je zo uitleven.
I drawl at your pictures, because I just love Indonesian food!
I have a lovely postcard here of the first Portuguese arriving in Japan. They were every where ..... True seafarers!
Happy day!
Jacoba

Presépio no Canal said...

Jacoba ;-)) I don't like to cook very much ;-)) I like more to eat very well ;-))) Lucky me I 'm surrounded by great cooks ;-))
My winter will be with the photography cursus! ;-)
Really?? about the postcard??? Put it in the blog, so I can see it. Please! ;-)
Beijinhos (kusjes)!!!

APO (Bem-Trapilho) said...

A multiculturalidade tb me apaixona. enriquece-nos sempre, não é?
Então deixa ver se percebi, és portuguesa por terras holandesas?
bjinhos e parabens pelo interessantissimo blog.

Presépio no Canal said...

Ola, APO ;-)

Sim, portuguesa por terras Holandesas...:-)

Bom fim-de-semana ;-) e obrigada pela visita e comentario ;-)

Telma said...

Olá :D

Ao fim de tantos dias com vontade de ver o teu blog (sim porque pelo telemóvel não se vê nada de jeito) chego aqui e vejo logo estes petiscos!! Por acaso nunca provei nenhuma comida da Indonesia... tenho que ver se experimento...mas não sei se me atrevo a cozinhar estas receitas LOL

Bom fim de semana e muitos beijinhos

Presépio no Canal said...

Tambem so agora provei comida Indonesia ;-) E gostei da estreia por ser comida caseira ;-)

Para ti, tambem, Thelma ;-) Bom Fim-de-semana e muitos beijinhos :-)

ana said...

Tem tudo muito bom aspecto. acima de tudo, o que é mais maravilhoso é a interculturalidade.
Bom Domingo! :)

Presépio no Canal said...

E soube tudo tao bem!!! ;-)
Eu gosto de viver experiencias interculturais, talvez por ser muito curiosa...
Bom Domingo, Ana ;-)

Sara said...

Nunca experimentei comida indonésia, mas esta enche os olhos (e os olhos também "comem" :). Vou-me ficar, infelizmente, apenas com a degustação visual, esperando uma oportunidade futura para que seja acompanhada pela degustação das papilas.

Bom Domingo! :))

Presépio no Canal said...

Bom Domingo, Sara! ;-)

PATagonia said...

Very interesting this experience!! I don´t know the indian cook, but it seems to be great...

And interesting too, the mixed cultures in that part of the world..

¿have you eat all? : )

Beijinhos, besos

Marja said...

Mmmm that looks so yum. I had an indonesian friend when I was young and so loved the indonesian kitchen.
Last time when I was in Holland my brother got me indonesian ricetable.
Oh I am getting hungry now

Presépio no Canal said...

Ola, Patricia :-)

The Indonesian food is delicious, but no, I didn't try everything. Too much for me. My favourite was the Sambal without the metballls. ;-)

Bjs!!!

Presépio no Canal said...

Hallo, Marja! ;-)

;-)) That happens when we talk about food that we like...;-))

Have a nice day! ;-)

Presépio no Canal said...

Bjs, Rosa! ;-) Temos de nos rodear de petiscos saborosos ;-) Bjs!

Unknown said...

Oh! I love indonesian food! It's great to have so many opportunities in The Netherlands to taste so amazing flavours. Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

Love what u wrote Sandra, thank you for a wonderful review hehehheh. I'm happy you like the food n came to my party, we sure had lots of fun that day. Hope everybody like the recipes ;). Really happy that I can find Portuguese frineds her. Love you Sandraaaaa, hugz ;)

Presépio no Canal said...

Hallo, Leti!
I'm glad you liked it!
Have a nice day! :-)

Presépio no Canal said...

Love you, Meiko! ;-) It was indeed a great evening with lots of fun! :-)
Thanks again to share the photos and the recipes!

Beijinhos!!! ;-)

TBM said...

Mmmm. Can't wait to try these recipes! Thank you for sharing, Meiko!

Presépio no Canal said...

yammi.... ;-)