sort of balinese dinner

when my friends asked about my trip to bali, i told them it was 50/50. good because of the great food and beautiful scenery. bad because everyone was trying to make a buck off me and my family, some people even borderline harassing us, and also i got sick. but i guess the food left a bigger impression on me than i thought! i love balinese food and the hellish spiciness. when i took a cooking class at the villa, the chef and i made the fish in banana leaf so spicy that i was the only one eating it (with sambal!) after my family members each took a single bite.

lately i have been craving indonesian food like mad! it may or may not have anything to do with the fact that my husband and i have temporarily moved to a flat which is much closer to the asian markets by the central station. now that the shops are almost neighbors to us, i feel like making only asian food all the time! but of course i know my husband, so there is always a loaf of rye bread lying around the kitchen for when he doesn't want to eat 'weird' food. :P


yesterday i had friends over for dinner and made bali-style beef rendang, accompanied by coconut rice, bali-style salad, and sambal. though the ingredients list and amount of work may look daunting, the taste of the finished dish is definitely worth it. of course this is copenhagen, not ubud; so some of the ingredients weren't available to me. for the salad, i swapped out lesser galangal for fingerroot and the coconut was just regular dessicated coconut that i toasted in a dry pan. honestly, it was still very good! however the rendang disappointed me a little since it was not dry, as the authentic stuff should be... actually it looks like dog food! whatever, i love a good sauce and this sauce was incredible! all in all, it should have cooked for much longer to get drier and browner. but there are plenty of leftovers to cook longer. (:

sambel tomat (spicy tomato sauce)
adapted from chef rai nuriana at furama villas
yield: about 500g

75 mL vegetable oil
100 g shallots, peeled and sliced (the small ones you get at the asian market)
50 g garlic, peeled and sliced
60 g bird's eye chilies, sliced (obviously use less, seeded, or bigger chilies if you can't take the heat)
25 g palm sugar chopped
1 tbsp belacan (roasted shrimp paste)
300 g tomatoes, chopped
quarter of a kaffir lime*
salt and pepper

heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over moderate high heat. add shallot and garlic and saute until golden. add chili peppers and saute until softened. then add shrimp paste and brown sugar and saute until the sugar browns a bit. add tomatoes and saute until soft. remove from heat and cool down. coarsely grind the cooled mixture using a mortar or blender. heat the mixture again and add kaffir lime, salt, and pepper to taste before serving.

*unfortunately i could not find fresh kaffir limes in copenhagen so i used a regular lime. not the same taste at all, but i did what i could. i highly recommend you use kaffir limes instead of regular limes if it's available. ):

beef spice paste
adapted from chef rai nuriana at furama villas

3 shallots, peeled and chopped (the smalls ones you get at the asian market)
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
30 g galangal, peeled and chopped
6 bird's eye chilies, chopped (obviously use less, seeded, or bigger chilies if you can't take the heat)
15 candlenuts, chopped
3 tsp coriander seed
3 tbsp black peppercorns
30 g palm sugar, chopped
150 mL vegetable oil
6 salam leaves
3 star anise
1½ tsp belacan

grind all the ingredients coarsely in a food processor EXCEPT oil and salam leaves. heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or wok, then add the ground mixture along with the salam leaves and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. set aside and cool before using.

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rendang daging (braised beef in coconut milk)
adapted from chef rai nuriana at furama villas
yield: serves 6 people as a main

beef spice paste (recipe listed above)
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1.2-1.5 kg free-range beef
6 stalks lemongrass, bruised
6 salam leaves
6 kaffir lime leaves
3 cups water
1½ cup coconut milk
salt and pepper
fried shallots to garnish (or eat straight out of the bowl!)

heat the oil in a heavy stockpot. add the spice paste and fry over low heat for 2 minutes. add the beef, lemongrass, salam leaves, kaffir lime leaves, and water. bring to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer for about 30-40 minutes. add the coconut milk and bring it back up to a boil. reduce to a simmer again and cook until the meat is tender and the sauce thickens, about 1-2 hours (but don't be afraid to cook it for longer as long as there is a little liquid in the bottom of the pot). season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with fried shallots. serve with steamed rice and sambal.

if you're making this the same day you will be serving it, be sure to make a little extra, as it tastes infinitely better the next day! P: