Indonesian Cuisine at Home

Have you ever played around with Indonesian cuisine at home? Most of the common ingredients are very similar to thai, vietnamese, and indian cuisine. Lime leaves, galangal root, tumeric root, coconut milk, corriander, cumin, cinnamon, lime, chilies, etc. However, the one standout ingredient that seems to define it is Kecap Manis (pronounced Ketchup - read about origin of Ketchup).

So right now, I've got some beef cubes marinating in a mix of kecap, garlic, chilies, ginger, and shallot. Later, I will be skewering these and grilling them. I fully expect a gorgeous caramelized exterior.

With this, we're also making an Indonesian rice dish that is made with mostly ingredients that we usually have, with the addition of the magical sweet soy sauce called kecap manis.


I will post some photos if my wife hasn't packed my camera 

for dessert, we're going to try out an indonesian treat called es cendol that looks gross, but is probably delicious. Green "worms" (some kind of green bean flour thing), coconut milk, palm sugar syrup and crushed ice.