Monday 9 May 2011
SEKBA - Chinese influence in my family (2)
After I graduated from university, I got a Job in a company that had expanded it’s production to a factory that was in the middle of nowhere in Sumatra. I can still remember the name of the place, it is Pulau Sambu (Sambu Island), the factory produced anything with coconut, which included coconut milk, dried coconut and coconut oil. I still remember the interview, it was a mass interview, it was held in the Santika Hotel in Jogjakarta. Indonesia was experiencing an economic crisis at that time and I was desperate for any job. I was elated when I got the job even if it was in the middle of nowhere and I had to use a boat to get there.
When I told my parents about the job, they both said they don’t want me to take it because of the safety issues with having to travel so far. They suggested that i moved to Bogor to stay with my sister Lisa and her Husband Leo and look for work there instead. Yup I got a job straight away (Thanks to Leo’s fake signature)
Leo’s parents live in the Suryakencana area of Bogor. His Family originated from china. During the time I lived with leo and Lisa, Leo’s Dad was still alive.
The difference between Leo’s family and my family is that my Mom is the best cook but in his family his Dad is the best cook. I still remember the favourite dish that Leo’s Dad cooked and he sent it for Leo and Lisa .. and meeee Its a dish called Sekbak
I know I am not as great as Leo’s dad when I cook Sekbak.. but I think the taste is still excellent.
Sekbak
Ingredients
· 250 g pork (leg)
· 250 g pickled vegetables
· ½ litre clear stock (pork or chicken)
· 100 g Tofu cut into 2 cm square and fry
· 3 medium sized potatoes cut into 4 cm pieces
· 5 garlic cloves
· 5 shallots
· 3 star anise
· ½ tsp ground nutmeg
· ½ tsp white pepper
· ½ tsp salt
· ½ tsp sugar
· 1 tsp rice vinegar
· ½ tbsp sweet soy sauce
· ½ tbsp dark soy sauce
· 1 tbsp vegetable oil
1. Boil the pork for half hour, remove the pork and keep the stock. Cut pork into 3 cm pieces and fry until golden brown
2. fry garlic and shallots until fragrant, add pork and stock
3. Add fried tofu, potatoes and pickled vegetables.
4 Add white pepper, ground nutmeg and star anise, soy sauce and rice vinegar.
5. Simmer for 40 mins on medium heat.
Serve with plain noodles or steamed rice...
LOVELY JUBBLY....... move to www.bobbyananta.com
J
PEPES IKAN BUMBU JAHE
March 2000, Its about 9.30 pm I am on the bus that took me from Denpasar (Bali) to Solo (central Java) to board the ferry in Gilimanuk. I just happened to look at the guy sitting beside me, I found it very strange because he was putting a lemongrass stalk into his nose. He took a deep breath and almost immediately I could see his face go very calm. He realized I was looking at him and we started to have a conversation.
The man : I do apologize do I look strange with this lemongrass up my nose?
Me :No, but I just wondered why you are using lemongrass?
The man :It’s a long story, but I am on my way back home from Central Kalimantan, and while I was there I had such a bad experience, and I saw so many terrible situations, that if I think about it, I would be sick, and the aroma of this lemongrass just cools me down and keeps me calm.
Me : Ahh, sorry about that.
I didn’t want to make anymore conversation with the man, because I knew that he wanted to talk and to tell me the whole story, I didn’t want to hear more, I was just worried that if I heard all of the story I would pass out ( I already knew that in 1999 in central Borneo they were having violent ethnic riots. I didn’t want to be rude, so I just nodded and pretended I knew everything. I put on my headphones and sat listening to “fixing the broken heart” by Indecent obsession.
I’dlike to talk about my Mom for a bit, she has a very strange relationship with fish!!. Her family came from Rembang a which is small city on the coast in north Central Java. I can remember us all going to visit my Mom’s family in a place call Pandangan, the house is so close to the Java sea, about a 5 minute walk away we come to the fisherman’s boat’s and the fish auction, I can still remember everything being so cheap.
But... this is the problem, fish isn’t my Mom’s favourite food, she still often cook’s fish for all the family, but she has to have a secret weapon when she is cooking the fish (she hate the smell).. “yup you can guess .. Its lemongrass”.. or sometimes when her family came to visit, she asks them to bring ready smoked fish. (The smoked fish that my mom’s family always brought is the stingray barb fish, the creature that killed Steve Irwin).
So, I have two fish recipes that my mother always cook’s for the family and they both use lemongrass.
PEPES IKAN BUMBU JAHE
Ingredients:
· 500g fish fillet, cut into 2 pieces (any fish)
· 4 tomatoes
· 8 spring onions
· 2 kaffier lime leaves
· 2 tbsp cooking oil
· juice of 1 lime
· salt and sugar to taste
· aluminium foil to wrap
Ingredients to blend:
· 10 cm Ginger
· 5 Lemongrass stalks
· 10 fresh red chilies
· 1 big onion
· 6 candlenuts
1. Slice the tomatoes and cut the spring onions into 2 cm lengths.
2. Place the ingredients that need blending into a bowl. Add in oil, lime juice, spring onions and salt and sugar to taste.
3. Rub the pieces of fish with salt.
4. Take a piece of aluminium foil , place a piece of fish on it. Cover the fish with half of the blended mixture and top with a kaffier lime leaf.
5. Wrap the fish and secure the ends. Do the same as for the other piece of fish.
6. Steam for 35 minutes or until fish is cooked
Serve with steamed fragrant rice.....
DELISHH!!
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