Coming Home To Indonesia

 Indonesian food is a vast array of flavor, color and texture. Not many know this, associating the archipelago with turquoise waters and white sugar sand beaches. However, there's a new cookbook coming out that  will change people's view of the country. Lara Lee is the author and her new book is a kitchen must have.

Kayla Stewart ,a freelance food writer interviewed Ms Lee about her new book Coconut And Sambal: Recipes From My Indonesian Kitchen (Bloomsbury Publishing), Ms Lee is originally from Australia with an Indonesian father and an Australian  mother. It was when her paternal grandmother, Margaret Thali moved from West Timor to their home. Suddenly there were dishes like roasted Balinese chicken, gado gado,a kind of hot salad with peanut sauce dressing and rendang,a spicy and colorful beef dish. Ms. Lee missed these dishes when she moved to London where there were only two (!) Indonesian restaurants in the entire capital. She had to cook her favorites and then discovered she loved to cook these classic Oceania dishes. The idea for a cookbook was born after she visited family there in 2016. She unearthed her grandmother's handwritten recipe book, an oddity because Indonesian family recipes are orally passed from one generation to the next. Back in London, she reached out to Sri Owen, the prolific food writer, cooking teacher and guardian of Indonesian cuisine. She worked with Ms Lee to help deepen her understanding of the cuisine.

There are recipes included and the ingredients are pretty common. Home chefs can try rendang daging, or beef rendang. This is cubed and defatted beef cooked with a spicy paste of chiles, shallots and garlic along with a host of such spices as cumin , coriander and ginger.Coconut milk, lemongrass and bay leaves are also added along with makrut limes leaves (which can be bought at an Asian grocery). There is also chicken nasi goreng, a chicken and  sunny side up eggs dish, spiced up with shallots, ginger and turmeric. Kecap manis a , kind of ketchup, and soy  sauce are added too. Kecap manis can be bought or made ,It's soy sauce cooked with light or dark brown sugar until a syrup forms and can be stored up to two weeks in the fridge.The chicken and eggs are served with crisp crackers and basmati or jasmine fried rice. Rib lovers will love iga babi bali, Balinese sticky glazed pork ribs. The marinade is a fiery blend of cayenne chilis, garlic shallots and kecap manis. After being marinated , the ribs are then slow roasted in a 350 degree oven for two(!) hours. This would be great served with fried basmati or jasmine rice.

Indonesia is beautiful beaches and the ultimate vacation getaway. It is also islands full of rich culinary history. Coconut and Sambal: Recipes from My Indonesian Cookbook will show that along with delicious recipes full of fire and flavor.