Cucumber Sambal (Sambal Selamat)

1/2 cucumber, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 shallots, finely sliced
100ml rice or white wine vinegar

Place the garlic, fennel seeds, sugar and salt in a pestle and mortar and pound finely. Alternatively, grind the ingredients thoroughly in a food processor.

Stir in the shallots or onion, vinegar and cucumber and allow to stand for at least 3 hours to allow the flavors to combine.

Dried Shrimp Sambal (Sambal Ebi)

3 table spoon ebi (dry small shrimp)
3 fresh chili, thinly sliced (reduce to less spicy)
1 tomato, chopped
1 tbs fried peanuts, crushed
1 cup of hot water
1 tbs fragrant citrus juice
1/2 tea spoon salt
sugar to taste

Soak ebi with hot water for 5 minute, drain Add the rest of the ingredients together with the ebi: fried peanuts, chili, salt, tomato. Add water, citrus fruit juice, sugar and salt. Serve.

Green Mango Salad Indonesian Style (Salad Mangga Muda)

1 green/un-riped mango, peeled, thinly sliced
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 birds eye chili (reduce to less spicy)
1 green onion (chopped) - optional
1 tbs basil (chopped)
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs palm sugar
1 tbs roasted peanuts (chopped)

Mix the mango, shallots, chili, green onion, basil in a large bowl. Mix fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar in a small bowl. Toss the salad with the dressing and garnished with the peanuts. Ready to serve.

Fried Carrot Balls (Gorengan Bola-Bola Wortel)

350g carrot, peeled and sliced
1 egg, beaten
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup sesame seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
Cooking oil, for deep frying

Place the carrot in boiling salted water for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and mash well. Place the ginger in a garlic crushed and squeeze the juice into the mashed carrot. Add the spring onions, sesame oil and egg and season to taste.

Shape the carrot mixture into small-sized balls. Roll the balls in the combined flour and sesame seeds, shaking off the excess. Heat 3-4 cm oil in a pan; add the carrot balls and coo in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden.

Remove the balls from the pan, drain on paper towels, then return to the oil and cook for another 30 seconds. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Fried Red Soya Beans (Lentho)

100 g of red soya bean
50 g of tapioca flour
30 g granted coconut
1 teaspoon coriander
3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
A pinch of pepper
salt to taste

Bring to boil red bean. Cook until its soft enough. When it's cooked, take out from the water and let it cold.

Grind or blend the shallots, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper into paste. Add the red bean and smashed coarsely.

Add the tapioca flour and the granted coconut. Mix well all the ingredients.

Form into oval small dough. Fry in deep wok over medium heat until crispy. Remove from the wok and serve.

The Perfect Sunny-Side Up Fried Egg

Even if you don't cook much, it's not hard to fry an egg, right? Yes and no. It's the simple things that get us pretty heated about the best technique. It is possible to prepare a sunny-side up egg to perfection (tender cooked-through white and runny yolk). Here are five tips to get there:

1. Squash your impatience; go zen. Sunny-side up eggs need slow cooking over low heat.

2. Use medium heat to get the pan hot. If using cast-iron, heat it dry, then add olive oil and butter (for nonstick, heat the pan with the fat in it).

3. Turn the heat low and crack the egg in. If it splutters noisily, cool the pan off the heat briefly. Cover the skillet and cook the egg slowly, about 2 minutes. No browning. Check it. If the white around the yolk looks loose, cook it, covered, another 30 to 60 seconds, but check often, because you don't want the thin film of white covering the yolk to turn milky white.

4. Some pros recommend basting the whites with fat from the pan to help cook them through. That's fine, but tilting the pan to scoop up some hot fat makes the egg slide, too.

5. To make landing the egg foolproof, hold the skillet over the plate (hopefully with a piece of toast waiting for it).

Fresh Vegetables Pickles (Acar Mentah)

1 small cucumber, cleaned, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
3 shallots, peeled, thinly sliced
6 fresh bird's eyes chillies, cleaned, thinly sliced (optional)
3 tbs of vinegar
2 tbs sugar
1 1/2 warm water
1 tsp salt

Mix water with vinegar, sugar and salt. Add the vegetables. Refrigerate 4-5 hours before serving.

Stir-Fried Vegetables (Oseng-oseng Sayur)

100 g beef (or beef ham, thinly sliced)
1 red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced
2 carrots thinly cut
6 pieces baby corn, cut into 2 or 3 cm
5 beans thinly cut
1 small onion,
3 cloves of garlic
1 block beef seasoning mixture/beef bouillon
300 ml water

Boil the beef with 300 ml water until tender, cut the meat into small pieces. Set aside. Just skip this process if you substitute with beef ham.

Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a wok and sauté the onion, garlic and chilli until fragrant. Add carrot, meat, beef stock, and beef bouillon. Continue cooking.

When the carrot is tender, add others vegetables.
Cook for 5 minutes and serve.

Sweet ,Spicy, and Sour Fruits Salad (Rujak Buah)

Unripe Mango
Pineapple
Melon
Cucumber
Sweet potato
all fruits thinly sliced

Sauce :

100 g fried peanut
2-3 bird's eyes chillies (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried shrimp paste
100 g palm sugar
1 teaspoon tamarind juice
100 ml water

Peel and Clean all fruits then sliced. Store in the fridge for 15 minutes
Grind and blend all ingredients for the sauce.

Serve fruits with sauce.

Sweet Marinated Bean Cake (Tempe Bacem)

250 g tempe, cut into 6-8 pieces
1 cm of galangal*
2 Salaam leaves (bay leaves)
250 ml thick coconut milk
250 ml water
*can be substituted with 1 tablespoon of galangal powder

Spice Paste
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of coriander
4 shallots or half medium red onion
1 tsp of tamarind (asem jawa)
2 tbsp of palm sugar/brown sugar
salt to taste

Grind or blend the spice paste.

Boil the coconut milk/coconut water together with tempe, galangal, Salaam leafs, and spice paste. Add the water and continue cooking until the spices and water are absorbed. Then cool them off.

Heat up 50 ml oil into deep frying pan and fry the tofu both sides, but don't do it too much (too dry/crunchy).

Traditional Chilli Paste (Sambal Bajak)

5 red chillies, seeded and sliced
5 red bird's-eye chillies*
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
6 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp chopped palm sugar
*add or reduce according to your taste

2 Salam leafs
2 Lemongrass (Sereh/Serai), bruised
1 cm Galangal (laos), peeled and sliced
2 tbs Tamarind (Asem Jawa) juice

Combine first six ingredients and grind or blend finely.

Heat oil and saute ground ingredients together with salam leafs, lemon grass and galangal, stirring until the mixture changes colour. Add tamarind juice and simmer for another minute, then leave to cool.

Remove salam leafs, lemon grass and galangal before serving.

How to Make a Perfect Scramble Eggs

For two eggs, add two tablespoons of water and two tablespoons of heavy cream, season with salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, and whip the hell out of them with a whisk until frothy.

Melt some butter over medium heat and cook the eggs, not touching them until they are partially set. Then start some light stirring until they're almost finished, and turn the heat off. They will finish cooking because the pan is still hot.

Sweet Marinited Tofu (Tahu Bacem)

250 g tahu/tofu, cut into 6 - 8 pieces
2 Salaam (Bay Leaves) leafs
1 cm of galangal or 1 tablespoon of galangal powder
250 ml thick coconut milk or 250 ml coconut water
250 ml water

Spice Paste:
4 shallots or half medium red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of coriander
1 tsp of tamarind (asem jawa)
2 tsp of palm sugar/brown sugar
salt to taste

Grind or blend the spice paste.

Boil the coconut milk/coconut water together with tofu, galangal, salam leafs, and spice paste. Add the water and continue cooking until the spices and water are absorbed. Then cool them off.

Heat up 50 ml oil into deep frying pan and fry the tofu both sides, but don't do it too much (too dry/crunchy).

Serve with green bird's eyes chillies.

Deep Fry Shrimp Cake (Peyek Udang Goreng)

250 grams small shrimp
3 garlic clove
1 teaspoon pepper powder
1 small red onion
100 grams rice flour (or wheat flour, or ready mix flour)
2 tablespoon wheat flour
water
1 teaspoon salt
cooking oil for deep frying

Shatter the garlic clove, small red onion, pepper, and salt
Mix the shattered spices with the shrimps, add rice flour, wheat flour, and water, mix them well (use water just to make the batter wet)

Take a table spoon of the shrimp batter then put it into the heating cooking oil. do it till all the batter used up.
Deep fry them till the colour become golden yellow brown.

Drain from oil, ready to serve.

Crisping Chicken Skin

This is how to get a crispy chicken skin. First peel the skin carefully from the thigh or breast, and use a knife to scrape most of the fat off the underside until the skin becomes somewhat translucent.

Then drape the skin back over the thigh or breast, and tuck it under the meat. When it cooks, the skin will become crisp.

Deep Fry Corn Cake (Perkedel Jagung Goreng Garing)

3 corn cob
2 small red onion
2 garlic clove
1/2 tea spoon pepper powder
1/2 tea spoon salt
1 egg
1 table spoon wheat flour (or ready mix flour)
1 stalk celery, shred
cooking oil for deep frying

Take corn cob, shred in the grain
shatter garlic clove, red onion, pepper powder, and salt, mix with the corn grain and celery

Add egg, mix well then add wheat flour, mix well again

Take one table spoon of the corn batter, put into the heating cooking oil. Do this untill all the batter used up.

Deep fry till the colour change to yellow brown, drain from oil. Ready to serve (serve with Indonesian Style Chili paste)

Cassava Leafs Saute (Tumis Daun Singkong)

2 bunches of cassava leafs
1 garlic clove
2 small red onion
1 stalk lemongrass, press a bit
1 table spoon salt
1/2 table spoon sugar
3 fresh chili (or to taste)
water
1 table spoon cooking oil

Clean the cassava leafs, knead with 1/2 tablespoon salt, boil with water till cooked, drain.

Heat cooking oil in a pan, add garlic and red onion, saute till aromatic.

Add cassava leafs, add a cup of water, then add lemongrass and chili, wait till boiled up.
Add salt and sugar, mix a while, remove and serve.

Spinach Saute with Fresh Garlic (Tumis Bayam Bawang Putih)

2 bunch of spinach, take the leaf
1 garlic clove, shred
2 small red onion, shred
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Heat the cooking oil in a wok
Put the garlic and red onion shred, mix them till aromatic

Add the spinach leafs, mix it again, use a high heating
Add salt, sugar, and pepper, beat them about just 1 minute,

Remove from stove, serve.

Crispy Tempe Fried (Tempe Goreng Garing)

1 Tempe
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper powder
seasoned flour or just ordinary flour
water
cooking oil

shattered the garlic clove with salt and black pepper
slice tempe into 7-8 pieces, arrange them in a bowl
add the delicate seasoning (garlic, salt, black pepper) into the bowl

pour water till all tempe awash, wait 15 minutes
spread the flour in a plate

heat the cooking oil, take the slice tempe, cover it with flour, then deep fry them till the colour change into golden brown. Ready to serve.

Fried Banana (Pisang Goreng)

5 medium bananas
1 cup (160 g) rice flour
2/3 cup (150 ml) water
½ tspn sea salt
Oil for frying

Place rice flour in deep mixing bowl. Make a well in middle of the flour, and add water and salt. Whisk vigorously until batter is evenly smooth for coating and not too thin (if too thin, add more rice flour).

Peel bananas and cut in half length wise. Dip into batter to coat generously. Heat oil in wok or deep fryer until moderately hot. Add bananas and fry slowly until golden brown and crispy.

Slow frying technique used in this recipe ensures that the bananas remain crisp after cooking, so this will take about 15 minute. Remove bananas from oil, drain on paper napkins and dry well.