Rujak Cingur

Literally meaning mouth in Javanese, "cingur" is a variant of rujak from Surabaya. This specialty rujak from East Java has a "meaty" taste. It contains slices of cooked buffalo or beef lips, bangkuang, young raw mango, pineapple, cucumber, kangkung, lontong (glutinous rice cake), tofu and tempe, all served in a black sauce made from petis (black fermented shrimp paste, similar to terasi), and ground peanuts. It is topped with a sprinkle of fried shallots and kerupuk (Indonesian cracker).


Ingredients:
* 50 grams of kangkung (Ipomoea aquatica Forsk.), washed clean
* 50 grams of bean sprouts
* 75 grams kecipir (winged bean) (slice in lengthwise)
* 100 grams Jicama (yam bean)or bangkuang in indonesian
* 75 grams of cucumber
* 50 grams of young mango fruit
* 75 grams of fried tempeh
* 100 grams fried tofu
* 250 grams cingur (cow's nose cartilage) / beef skin, boiled
* Petis Sambal, Sambal petis can purchased on traditional market.

How to make:

* Boiled kangkung, bean sprouts, and kecipir until cooked, lift.
* Sliced cucumber, bangkuang, young mango fruit, fried tempeh, fried tofu and cingur.
* Mix all ingredients in the dishes and flush with sambal petis. Stir well until smooth. Ready to Serve. Don't forget to serve with kerupuk.

Gado-gado (indonesian mix salad)

Gado-gado is a traditional dish in Indonesian cuisine, and comprises a vegetable salad served with a peanut sauce dressing. It is widely served in hotels and restaurants in Indonesia, and in Indonesian restaurants in other countries. We can also find this dish as street food around the cities in indonesia as favorite food of indonesian peoples.

The exact composition of the vegetable salad varies, but usually comprises some mixture of

* shredded or chopped green vegetables such as cabbage, watercress, and bean sprouts, sliced vegetables such young boiled jack fruit, string bean, bitter melon, and cucumber;
* tofu;
* tempeh;
* sliced boiled potatoes; and
* peeled and sliced boiled eggs.
* boiled corn (Jakarta style).

The eggs and potatoes are boiled. Only the cucumber is raw. The rest of the vegetables should be blanched. Some cooks prefer to steam the vegetables.

In addition to the vegetables, several kinds crackers and fried onion are needed. One of the most important ingredient is Limo lime. Without this lime, gado-gado does not have the smell of a real gado-gado, at least for the Jakarta style gado-gado.

What distinguishes gado-gado from a plain vegetable salad is the peanut sauce dressing, which is poured on top of the vegetable salad before serving. The composition of this peanut sauce varies as well. One may use a commercial Indonesian peanut sauce or satay sauce, or make the sauce oneself. For making the sauce, the common primary ingredients are:

* ground fried peanuts with most of the oil drained off
* coconut sugar/palm sugar (can substitute brown sugar)
* chilies (according to taste).
* limo lime juice (this is indispensible).
* terasi (dried shrimp/fish paste)
* tamarind water.















Ingredients ;
400g (2 cups)Potatoes, peeled and cubed
120g (1 cup)Beansprouts
120g (1 cup)Chinese cabbage, coarsely shredded
120g (1 cup)Long beans
3 tablespoons Oil
50g (1 3/4 cup)Soy bean cake (tempeh)
300g (1 cup)Firm beancurd
120g (1/2 cup)Cucumber, sliced into finger lengths
5 leaves Chinese lettuce, washed and dried
2 Hard boiled eggs, peeled and halves
12 Fried prawn crackers

Dressing;
3 tablespoons Ground dried red chilies
100g (1 cup)Shallots
7 cloves Garlicc
1 teaspoon Shrimp paste (belacan)
2 tablespoons Water
2 tablespoons Oil
500 ml water
2 tablespoons Vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
5 tablespoons Sugar
300g (2 cups) Roaster peanute, crushed

Method :
*Boil the potatoes until firm and tender, then drain and divide between four serving bowls.
*Blanch the beansprouts for 10 seconds, remove and plunge them briefly into ice cold water. Repeat for the cabbage.
*Drain both well and divide between each bowl.
*Cut long beans to finger lengths then boil until tender and place in e ach bowl.
*Heat the oil in a pan or wok and fry the tempeh on both sides until brown.
*Remove and drain on kitchen towel, cube then place in each bowl.
*Pat the beancurd dry with paper towel and fry in the oil until brown on both sides.
*Remove and cut into cubes and divide between the four bowls.
*Divide the remaining vegetables into each bowl and top with half an egg.
*Prepare t he dressing and pour over the vegetables.
*Garnish with the prawn cracker.

How To Prepare
*Blend the dried chilies, shallots, garlic and shrimp pate with 2 tablespoons water until smooth.
*Heat the oil and sauté the blended ingredients until fragrant.
*Add the water, vinegar, salt, sugar and peanuts and bring to the boil.
*Reduce the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Krupuk or Kerupuk

Krupuk or Kerupuk, or Kroepoek in Dutch spelling (Indonesia), or Keropok (Malaysia), or prawn cracker (Australia), or bánh phồng tôm (Vietnam) is a popular snack in parts of Southeast Asia and China. It consists of deep-fried crackers made of flattened-out prawns.

Types

Countless varieties of krupuk exist, and they use fruits and vegetables not commonly found in the West, such as melinjo (gnetum gnemon) nuts (krupuk made from melinjo nuts is called emping). There are around 30 different recipes for krupuk in Indonesia alone. Sidoarjo in East Java and Garut in West Java are big producers of krupuk, and many recipes originate there.

In the Malaysian state of Terengganu, krupuk are made by grinding the fish, prawn or vegetable to a paste, mixing with sago and then deep-frying it. It comes in two main forms: keropok lekor which is long and chewy, keropok losong (steamed) and keropok keping which is thin and crispy. It is frequently served with dipping sauces.

Prawn crackers (British English), shrimp chip or shrimp cracker (both American English) are the most familiar krupuk to Westerners. These crackers are usually white or light brown in colour. Despite the high amount of shrimps used, any shrimp taste is usually quite subtle. Perhaps the most common form is the Indonesian krupuk udang, made with dried shrimp and hence a light shade of pink. In Indonesian restaurants with English menus these are often simply called 'prawn crackers'.

Chinese prawn crackers tend to be more colourful (including shades of white, pale pink, green and blue), light, non-spicy and crispy. Prawn crackers are a traditional complimentary side dish and may accompany Chinese takeaway in Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Shrimp Chips are usually served with a specific chicken dish in Chinese restaurants.

Preparation

Krupuk are made by deep-frying them in oil. In only a few seconds they expand from thumb-sized semi-transparent chips to white fluffy crackers, much like popcorn, as the small bubbles of air trapped in the flexible chips expand. If left in the open air for more than a few days, they start to soften and become chewy and therefore are ideally consumed within a few days of being fried. Storing the crackers in a refrigerator, or airtight container, will preserve the crispness for over a week. However, the best solution for soggy crackers is to place them under a lit grill, as not only will the crispness return as new, but the procedure is ideal for gently warming the product. Packets of unfried prawn crackers may be purchased in oriental stores, or stores that specialise in Asian cuisine. In the Netherlands and Australia they are also widely available in general supermarkets.

Some varieties of Krupuk can also be prepared in a microwave ovens. This method is less messy, faster and also the krupuk doesn't become as oily. And there are so many kind of kerupuk :

* Kerupuk udang
* Kerupuk ikan
* Kemplang
* Kerupuk bawang putih
* Kerupuk bawang
* Kerupuk kulit
* Kerupuk mlarat
* Kerupuk gendar
* Kerupuk sanjai
* Rengginang

(wiki)

Specialty Items to cook

Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) - You can find this at most Asian grocery stores, especially those that sell Filipino food, and is an essential part of almost all stir-fries, sauces, and also as a general condiment.


Palm sugar - You can find this at any Hispanic grocery store. It is red and comes sold in blocks that you can shave with a knife. It's really sweet. A good substitute would be dark brown sugar, but it's so cheap that you should really try to find it. On a side note, palm sugar is a fantastic topping for oatmeal, which we have been eating for breakfast here.


Kaffir lime leaves - These can be hard to find in the States. They freeze very well, though, so if you find them, buy a ton of them and save them. Sometimes you find them dried. These are used to flavor stews.


Daun salam (Salam leaves) - These are the Indonesian equivalent of bay leaves, used to flavor soups and curries. We suspect that you cannot find these outside of SE Asia though, and there really is no substitute.


Galangal - This is like ginger, but different. It looks like ginger and has a similar taste, but its consistency is a little more woody. You should be able to find it in South Asian grocery stores, but often only in powdered form. If you can't find it, just use more ginger.


Fresh turmeric - This is nothing like the neutral yellow powder you find in the West. It's a root and it looks like ginger or galangal, but once you peel it it's bright orange inside with a distinct, subtle flavor. Beware, though, it will dye your cutting board, fingers, and clothes a bright yellow. If you can't find this, just use the powdered stuff.


Candlenuts - These are like macadamia nuts, and they can be used interchangeably. Apparently, raw candlenuts, which they sell in the stores here, are poisonous, so don't forget to toast them.


Tamarind - This is a sour fruit, usually sold in a pulp form with a distinctly sour flavor. To make tamarind water, take 1 part tamarind paste and 2 parts water, mix together and let stand for 15 minutes. This is usually available in Hispanic or South Asian grocery stores.


Tauco - This is a fermented salted soybean paste which has a very pungent smell. It's good once fried, though, and flavors many dishes influenced by Straits Chinese cooking. Maybe one of our friends who is familiar with some Chinese dialect can tell us if this is present in some regional Chinese cuisine (it's pronounced TOW CHO). You can find this at East Asian grocery stores.


Krupuk - We have eaten these almost every day since we've been here, but still have no idea what they actually are. They are basically chips made up of some sort of puffed grain that you deep fry until they're crispy. They come in several flavors, including garlic, tempe, and shrimp. We think that you might find them at a store that sells Filipino foods.


Glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour - These are used to make a number of Indonesian snacks. They are available at any Asian grocery store, and possibly at health food or vegetarian stores.


Lumpia skins - These are the Indonesian versions of eggroll wrappers. They are the same as Filipino eggroll wrappers too, and might be the same as the Chinese kind as well, but we don't really know. If you can't find the special Filipino kind, you can substitute with the Chinese kind available at any Asian grocery store.


Banana leaves - We don't know where you can find these, seeing as we haven't been able to find them here. We think that they are available fairly easily in the US though, probably at Hispanic markets. In Indonesian cooking, banana leaves are used to wrap things for steaming, in particular fish, rice, and sweets.


Cellophane Noodles - In Indonesian, Malaysian, and Straits Chinese cooking, these are known as bihun (spelled bee hoon in Singapore and Malaysia). They may or may not be the same thing as rice vermicelli. They are often served stirfried or in soups, but you can also deep fry them while still dry to make a crunchy garnish. You can find them at any Asian market.


Egg noodles - These are the other big kind of noodle served in Indonesian cooking. They are long, yellow, and sort of curly, and they are available either fresh or dried. Dry versions will definitely be available at any Asian market, but try to find the fresh ones if possible.