Chef Kar Delight

Indonesian Delights 2024 Part 1 of 2 2023/10/09

1. Kue Lupis

Indonesian Sweet Sticky Rice Dumplings

Lupis (sometimes lopis) is an Indonesian traditional sweet cake made of glutinous rice, banana leaves, coconut, and brown sugar sauce. Lupis is one of many glutinous rice desserts from Indonesia. Lupis are sometimes cylindrically shaped like Lontong. Lupis is usually eaten with thick palm sugar syrup and with shredded coconut toppings. Often eaten at breakfast or as a side dish during the evening, lupis is often sold at traditional marketplaces throughout Indonesia and is a popular food found nationwide, but especially in middle and eastern Java as well as West Sumatra. Lupis is one of the top desserts that tourists who visit Purwokerto in Java seek.

2. Lemper Ayam

Coconut Flavored Sticky Rice with Chicken

Lemper is an Indonesian savoury snack made of glutinous rice filled with seasoned shredded chicken, fish abon (meat floss) or serundeng. The specific lemper filled with seasoned shredded chicken is called lemper ayam (chicken lemper). The meat filling is rolled inside the rice, in a fashion similar to an egg roll; this is in turn rolled and wrapped inside a banana leaf, oil paper, plastic sheet, or tinfoil to make a packet ready for serving. If banana leaf is not available, corn husk can be used. Lemper are most often seen as snacks, but may sometimes be served as appetizers as well. Lemper usually has an elongated shape, similar to lontong.

Lemper is very similar to arem-arem and bakcang (Chinese zongzi), and also resembles Japanese onigiri.

The glutinous rice is soaked and cooked with coconut milk and salt. The filling is made of shredded chicken breast, chicken stock, garlic, candle nut, ground coriander, cumin, brown sugar, vegetable oil, minced shallot, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, salt and pepper. Other than chicken, shredded fish, abon (beef meat floss), or serundeng might be used as filling.

When the cooked glutinous rice is cool enough to handle, the chicken filling is placed on the glutinous rice and rolled in a banana leaf, wrapped and secured with biting or lidi semat, a small wooden "needle" made of coconut leaf midrib or bamboo. Then these banana leaf packages are steamed or grilled. This releases a distinct pleasant aroma of toasted banana leaf.

Ingredients：

Glutinous rice
300 gram white glutinous rice (Indonesian: beras ketan putih), soak for 4 hours or overnight
225 ml coconut milk (Indonesian: santan)
4 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
4 Indonesian bay leaves (Indonesian: daun salam)
2 pandan leaves (Indonesian: daun pandan), knotted
1/2 teaspoon salt

Spiced chicken floss
250 gram boneless skinless chicken breast (Indonesian: daging dada ayam)
2 tablespoon oil
50 gram shallots (Indonesian: bawang merah)
3 cloves garlic (Indonsian: bawang putih)
3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri), optional
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds (Indonesian: biji ketumbar)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (Indonesian: biji jinten)
2 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
2 Indonesian bay leaves (Indonesian: daun salam)
1 teaspoon tamarind + 3 tablespoon water, seeds and pulp removed
125 ml coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoon sugar

3. Klepon

Pandan Glutinous Rice Balls with Palm Sugar

Klepon (pronounced Klē-pon) or kelepon, also known outside Java as onde-onde, is a snack of sweet rice cake balls filled with molten palm sugar and coated in grated coconut. Of Javanese origin, the green-coloured glutinous rice balls are one of the popular traditional kue in Indonesian cuisine.

Klepon is a boiled rice cake stuffed with liquid palm sugar (gula jawa/merah/melaka) and coated in flaked coconut. The dough is made from glutinous rice flour, sometimes mixed with tapioca, and a paste made from the leaves of the pandan or dracaena plants (daun suji) — whose leaves are used widely in Southeast Asian cooking – giving the dough its green colour.

The small pieces of palm sugar are initially solid when inserted into the glutinous rice dough and rolled into balls. The balls are subsequently boiled, which melts the palm sugar and creates a sweet liquid inside the balls' cores. Skill is involved in ensuring that the liquid does not leak out of the final product. The balls are finally rolled in shredded coconut, adhering to the sticky surface of the glutinous rice dough.

Klepon are ideally left to cool for some time before consumption to prevent burning from the hot liquid palm sugar. They are traditionally served in banana leaves, usually in sets of four or ten balls; plastic packaging is also used in recent times.

Ingredients (serving for 22-24 pieces)

For the dough:
· 100g glutinous rice flour
· 25g plain rice flour
· A pinch of salt
· 100ml warm water
· 5 drops of “pandan” leaf essence or green dye

For filling:
· Palm sugar

For the layer:
· Shredded coconut

Steps to follow

1. Prepare the filling: cut brown sugar into small pieces.
2. Prepare the dough: Mix glutinous rice flour, rice flour, salt, water, and pandan leaf essence well.
3. Put the filling in the pasta. Take 2/3 small tablespoons of the pasta, form like a ball and flatten it well. Place some filling inside. Close it well and place the balls separately on a board.
4. Bring plenty of water to a boil in a saucepan. Boil the balls for about 10 minutes.
5. Place a drainer on top to steam the shredded coconut as well.
6. Place the cooked shredded coconut on a plate. drain the balls well, pass them through the shredded coconut and enjoy.

4. Nagasari

Steamed Banana Rice Cake

Nagasari is a traditional Indonesia steamed cake, originating from Javanese cuisine, made of rice flour, coconut milk and sugar, filled with a slice of banana and wrapped in banana leaves.

INGREDIENTS 12 PIECES

· 1 large very ripe banana You can use pisang raja, saba bananas, or plantains

BATTER:

· 125 gr rice flour
· 40 gr tapioca flour
· 600 ml coconut milk
· 80 gr sugar
· 1 tsp vanilla extract
· 1/4 tsp salt

FOR WRAPPING:

· Banana leaves for wrapping

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel the banana and slice about 1/2-inch thickness at an angle. Set aside. Cut out about 10 pieces of 6 x 6 inch square of banana leaves.

2. Some banana leaves are thick and rigid, you may need to boil it briefly in a hot water for 1 minute or so until it's soft and pliable. It they are manageable without boiling, just wipe it clean with damp cloth on both sides

3. Place all ingredients for batter in a saucepan and whisk until no lumps

4. Put the saucepan on the stove on medium-low heat, turn on the heat and keep whisking. It may seem like nothing happens for the first 5 minutes, but keep whisking and you will start seeing some "curds". Keep whisking and the batter will thicken

WRAPPING:

1. Get your steamer ready by bringing water to a boil. Spread about 2 Tbsp of the batter in the middle of the leaves. Place one slice or two of bananas on top and fold the two sides up continue with folding the other two sides down, as if you are wrapping a parcel

STEAMING:

1. Steam the nagasari for about 10 minutes over medium heat. This cake can be served warm, at room temperature, or after being chilled in the fridge

Next, Indonesian Delights 2024 Part 2 of 2

Publisher： Chef Kar Delight

Qing Dynasty Imperial Kitchen Delights 2 of 2

2016/6/9

▲ The Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧

"Imperial Kitchen" was actually the abbreviated name of "Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen" in Qing Dynasty.
"Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen" included Imperial Tea Kitchen, Imperial Meal Kitchen, and its affiliated organizations.
Different organizations had different works. "Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen" was responsible for daily meals and season celebrations of the Emperor.
According to records in ancient books, Imperial Meal Kitchen specialized in gourmet. selection from palace and offerings from everywhere; festive banquet, sitting with the attendant. Imperial Tea Kitchen was responsible for drinks, fruits and offerings from everywhere and sitting with the attendant.
Until Qianlong 乾隆 period, names and setup of organizations under Imperial Tea and Meal Kitchen underwent changes. It consisted of Imperial Meal Kitchen, Tea Kitchen, Meal warehouse and subsidiaries.
"Imperial Kitchen Desserts" were dim sums prepared by Imperial Kitchen. Skillful chefs were hired to prepare meals for the Emperor. Although the imperial dim sums looked complicated, the ingredients were not obtained like delicacies from mountains and seas.
That time, common people were poor and materials were in shortage, they could not obtain the relatively expensive ingredients.
Qianlong loved Jiangnan cuisine, whereas, Cixi loved sweet dim sums.
Among so many dim sums, Cixi loved the most are 12 types: the first 6 types including Pea Yellow, Kidney Bean Rolls, Golden Cake, Chestnut Corn Bread, Dream Realized Cake, Doornail Meat Cake were already published in the first part; the last 6 types including Rice Rolls, Deep Fried Cake, 8 Treasure Cake, Deep Fried Triangle, Donkey Rolling, Rose Pastry in this part are now published.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 7: Rice Rolls

The Empress Dowager Cixi loved to eat Rice Rolls.

Method: Mix rice with flour, then add in hot water and mix well. Steam to cook.

There were many types of rice rolls, such as Stale Rice Rolls, Indica Rice Rolls, Japonica Rice Rolls. Either sweet or savoury. For savoury type, add Sichuan peppercorn and salt, 5 spices and salt; For sweet type, add mashed dates, red bean, sugar, peach seeds, or pine nuts, walnuts.

▲Sweet Rice Rolls: Red Beans + Red Sweet Potatoes

Sweet sauce: Brown Sugar + Ginger Juice

▲Savoury Rice Rolls: Sichuan Peppercorn + 5 Spices + Salt;

Taro + Peanuts + Sesame

Savoury Sauce: Anise + Ginger juice

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 8: Deep Fried Cake

Deep Fried Cake 炸糕 is nowadays a famous traditional snack of Tian Jiang. It together with GO BELIEVE 狗不理包子 and 18th Street fried dough twists 桂發祥麻花 are Tian Jiang trio.

The dough of Deep Fried Cake is made of glutinous rice flour and fillings are red beans. Deep fried with oil to golden brown and crispy. Give it a bite. You will see 3 colours: yellow, white and black. Yellow is the external skin; white is dough of glutinous rice; black is fillings of red beans.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 9: 8 Treasure Cake

8 Treasure Cake is differentiated into "Male 8 Treasures" and "Female 8 Treasures". This time, I prepared "Female 8 Treasures" loved by the Empress Dowager Cixi. It was evolved from "Male 8 Treasures" of Qianlong 乾隆. It was made of the Chinese medicinal materials for daily maintenance. In Qing Guangxu 光緒 6th year September, due to eating too much oily and spicy foods, Cixi got sick in the palace. She ate too much and became indigestive and vomiting, feeling unpleasant. The imperial doctors were worried. They thought that her sickness was due to weakness of spleen and stomach. They gave out a prescriptions of 8 tastes: Codonopsis pilosula 黨參、Semen Coicis 薏米、Poria 茯苓、 Gordon Euryale Seed 芡實、Lotus Seeds 蓮子、Atractylodes Rhizome 白朮、Lentil 扁豆、Malt 麥芽、Lotus Root Starch 藕粉, two taels for each, ground to powder. Add sugar and mix well with water to make a cake, named "Strengthen The Spleen Cake". Cixi ate this cake and recovered. She regained her appetite. She renamed it "8 Treasure cake” She ate this cake very often in her old age, keeping healthy and looking young. When she was 70 year old, she looked like 50 year old. She died at 73 years old which was considered long life at that time.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 10: Deep Fried Triangle

Deep Fried Triangle was leaked from Imperial Kitchen to common people when it was going to disappear. It became the snack of old Beijing. Dough was made by mixing flour with sesame paste and water. Knead the dough to disk, and add fillings, and form a triangle shape. Deep fry to golden brown. The outside was crispy and inside was soft. It was inferred that Samosa of Indian and Indochina was originated and evolved from Deep Fried Triangle.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 11: Donkey Rolling

In Manchuria, it was called "Bean Flour Roll". Donkey Rolling" was one of the ancient snacks of Manchuria and Beijing. The skin was made of glutinous rice, and filling was red beans. It was a traditional snack of Manchurian people. In Qing dynasty, it was listed as food of the palace. It now became a famous snack of Beijing. Due to the surface has a layer of bean flour, it looks like a donkey rolling on the ground and covered with dry soil.

Donkey Rolling mix glutinous flour and water to make a paste, steam it to make dough, stir well, wrap with cooked bean flour to make the skin, place mashed red beans and roll over, cut to small logs. It tastes like banana cake of Guandong. Dip in syrup that is made of brown sugar, ginger slices and Osmanthus fragrans 桂花 to enhance the taste.

Imperial Kitchen Desserts 12: Rose Pastry

Pastry 餑餑 is the name of many types of pasta for the Manchurian people. The ingredients of pastry are millet, Amaranthus paniculatusL. and sorghum. When the skin of millet removed, it is called Big Yellow Rice; the skin of Amaranthus paniculatusL, it is called Small Yellow Rice; the skin of sorghum removed, it is called Sorghum Rice. These 3 rice will be grounded to powder for making different types of pastry. Rose Pastry belongs to one type of pasta. The fillings are rose.

According to history recording, Rose Pastry was one of the Qing Imperial Kitchen delights.

When Kangxi Emperor went for hunting at Chengde resort, he would enjoy this pastry.

Preparation: Remove the petals of rose and wash well, marinade and mixed with cooked honey to make fillings. The dough is made of flour and sour dough. The dough is layered and wrapped with fillings to form a round cake. It then is baked in an oven.