Grilled Veggie and Rice Salad with Fish Sauce Dressing

Omg.  This salad is so good.  Even Tim liked it, lamenting the lack of meat only somewhat, stating that, "maybe it would make a really good side... you know... to some meat."  I liked it on its own, but agree that it would also make a kick-ass side dish and/or bed for some Vietnamese-style grilled chicken (we made a recipe quite similar to this one at our Hoi An cooking class in June.)  

I had lots of fresh herbs left over from our Vietnamese pomelo salad last week and saw this herb-heavy, Vietnamese-esque recipe in my July 2012 Bon Appetit magazine... I am so glad I made it.  It's got a lot of ingredients, but don't be intimidated, as it's really quite easy once you light up the grill and is a great way to utilize all your summer veggies and herbs- corn, eggplant, zucchini, okra, mint, basil, cilantro.  Mmm.

I made only a couple small changes to the recipe- the dressing is supposed to have grilled Holland or Anaheim chilis, but here there are just cabe rawit (the little ones) and cabe besar (the big ones).  All are blow-your-face off hot and not really the equivalent of an Anaheim.  Thus, I decided to substitute with some Sriracha to taste.  Also, rather than plain white jasmine rice, I bought some whole-grain Javanese brownish/reddish rice and cooked it coconut milk substituting for 1/3 of the liquid.  I think the hearty, nutty rice and extra coconut flavor really put the finishing touch on the recipe.

Beef Rendang: Take 2

Ok, so after my last beef rendang attempt and failure, I felt I needed to redeem myself.  If at first you don't succeed, yada yada...  this time I tried using this recipe from Rasa Malaysia (yeah, I know, Malaysia is not Indonesia, but the author claims to be using an Indonesian recipe). It looked more promising than the last recipe I tried- it involves a paste made from all of the aromatics, plus additional spices (which are so cheap here! hooray for the spice islands!), but most importantly, the recipe had more detailed instructions.

Well, I gave it ye olde college try, but the recipe was still not successful.  Sigh. Fail. Maybe closer than the last try, but not quite right.  While the flavor is nice and it smells amazing, I can't seem to achieve the deep, dark caramelization that they get at restaurants here.  Tim says that I can buy pre-darkened coconut milk here, but that seems a little bit like cheating and none of the recipes I've seen online include it. 

Perhaps I need to take a cooking class here and have someone show me how to make this dish correctly.

The redeeming factor in all of this is that I made nasi goreng with the leftover rice, and it was delicious.  Nasi goreng is Indonesian fried rice, made with chilies, garlic, onion, kecap manis (a thick, sweet Indonesia soy sauce- "manis" = sweet), and usually shrimp paste (terasi udang), which stinks to holy hell, but gives the dish the umami flavor it needs. The ingredients vary slightly depending on who's making it, but the ones I listed seem to be the essential ones.  I put chicken on my rice, but you can put pretty much anything on top and call it breakfast, lunch or dinner here.  Egg, shrimp, chicken...

Beef Rendang: Partial FAIL

Last weekend I tried my hand at cooking some Indonesian food... partial fail.  See my other blog for a description of my attempt at making beef rendang. 

Here's the recipe I used, which I deem to be tasty, but not quite asli (genuine, authentic).  I'd like to try a recipe that uses more fresh, whole spices and has better directions for getting the tender, deeply caramelized flavor I was hoping for.  Maybe this recipe from Rasa Malaysia should be my next attempt. 

Beef Rendang
From The Complete Indonesian Cookbook, by Agnes De Keijzer Brackman and Cathay Brackman

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 stalk lemongrass, crushed
1 lb cubed beef topside round (I used beef that I bought at the store that was specifically labeled "Rendang beef", but I think it's pretty much stew beef.)
2 or more red chilies (such as birdseye chilies), crushed
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 salam leaf (essentially Indonesian bay leaf, as I understand)

Directions:
- Heat oil in a frying pan
- Add garlic, turmeric, ginger and lemongrass; saute lightly
- Add meat and chilies; saute for 3 minutes, stirring frequently; add salt and mix well
- Pour coconut milk over meat and add salam leaf.  Cover and cook over low heat until almost dry.

Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

For some reason I had the most intense craving for rice pudding last week... I rifled through my cabinets and the internets and decided that I could make a combination of these two recipes.  Good plan... the end result had the homey, spicy feeling of a traditional rice pudding mixed with flavors reminiscent of mango and sticky rice.  Mmmmmm.  

Here's what I did:

- I used the risotto method from Joy the Baker, but substituted one cup of milk with coconut milk.

- I used brown sugar as the sweetener.

- I added the vanilla bean and cinnamon Joy suggested, as well as the 1/4 cup of freshly toasted coconut from the Evil Shenanigans recipe.

- Finally, I topped it all off with diced mango and some more of the toasted coconut, then ate it for breakfast.  Pretty tasty!

I think next time I might cut down on the cinnamon to let the other flavors stand out a little bit more.  My only complaint.

Thanksgiving Extravaganza: The Soup

Again, another traditional Thanksgiving ingredient done a slightly different way to keep it interesting, yet not freak people out: Thai-style butternut squash soup, care of Mark Bittman, The Minimalist.

Bittman advertised this soup as one of his make-ahead Thanksgiving sides, and while I didn't make it all ahead, I definitely did the time-consuming butternut chopping ahead. Super easy and really tasty... people seemed to like it, and the leftovers were good for lunch today!

Bittman's recipe read: "Simmer cubed winter squash, minced garlic, chili and ginger in coconut milk, plus stock or water to cover, until soft. Purée if you like. Just before serving, add chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, and toasted chopped peanuts."

I did pretty much just that: equal parts ginger, garlic and chilis (about 3 TBS each), 2 butternut squashes, 2 cans of coconut milk, about 1- 1.5 C veggie broth, plus salt and white pepper. I squirted in some Sriracha at the end because I decided it wasn't quite spicy enough. I bet this would benefit from some fish sauce, but I left it out because of the vegetarians at the table. The garnishes are key though. Lots of lime!

Kabocha Squash Soup with Limey Corn Relish

I got a kabocha squash from my CSA this week and was looking for a unique way to cook it... I found this recipe on epicurious.com: Calabaza, Corn and Coconut Soup. Good pick!

This is a fun take on squash soup. It's creamy from the coconut milk and sweet from the squash, which is complimented by the limey, bright corn relish you drop in the soup after it's cooked. Yum. Give this a try- I highly recommend it!

I made a couple changes to the recipe: used one Kabocha squash and one delicata squash, two cups of frozen corn, half chicken stock and half water, one can of coconut milk, and a few dashes of Frank's Red Hot to the soup at the end.

I bet it would be even better if I had followed the recipe and used the corn on the cob- the cobs get cooked in the broth with the squash and probably impart some more corn flavor to the soup.