Friday, November 26, 2010

VeganMoFo: An Indonesian Feasty-Feast!

Okay! Back on the road again... After our quick flight home for Thanksgiving... it's time to get back to our Around the World in 30 Days Mofo Adventure! Onward to Indonesia!

Oh, glorious Indonesian Food!!! Indonesian food is not something I've had much of. There are a couple of very vegan-friendly spots here in town that offer Indonesian food and flavors, but it's definitely not something I've cooked before. Well, there's a first time for everything, and this definitely won't be the last time I make Indofood! Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats and I were madly, madly in love with this dinner! And, best of all, the recipes I picked out were such a great combination ... different flavors, heat levels, textures, substantial and light... it was just a perfect meal!

I used all recipes from Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian," and wasn't disappointed once! The Fried Spiced Tempeh was downright magical. Instead of deep frying, I lightly pan fried it, just like when you make tempeh bacon. In fact, it was like a wonderful, other-worldly variation of tempeh bacon. It's got this totally WOW shallot-almond-coriander marinade that is absolutely gorgeous. I am eager to put that sauce to use in 1 million other ways, because we both loved it so much. The tempehs were quite salty, so I'll probably knock the salt down a bit next time... but the other components of the meal were more mild, so when you ate it all together, the tempeh added the kick for the other dishes. Next to the tempeh is a big mound of Cabbage with Garlic & Shallots. This recipe takes about 10 minutes, but is really lovely. It's light and mild and a perfect balance to the tempeh...

... and it's especially good with a few generous spoonfuls of this red Sambal poured on top of it. This is the Sambal with Roasted Tomatoes, Shallots & Chilies. I made a half batch, and totally loved it. It's sort of an Indonesian twist on salsa. Everything is roasted under the broiler and then blended up in the blender. Quick, and full of a special depth of flavor that comes from the charred and caramelized bits all mixed together. It was so quick and easy, and added so much to the meal, definitely don't skip it!

Finally, as a special treat, I made Indonesian Boiled Peanuts. Some of you may know that I have a special affection for boiled peanuts, and when I saw this recipe, I just knew I had to make them! Plus, we actually have a vendor at the farmers market who sells raw, fresh peanuts, and I am never able to resist their allure! Unlike Southern-style boiled peanuts, this recipe calls for the peanuts to be shelled, boiled, then skinned, then boiled again. The whole thing goes rather quickly, about 1 hour, but very little of it is active time. Mostly just the peanuts boiling away... The end result, though, is a delicious, very mildly spicy, gently salted little bowl of boiled peanuts, which was gone in a flash.

Come back tomorrow, as we head further east
into our Asian leg of "Around The World in 30 Days!"

11 comments:

  1. Yum! I have had some tasty Indonesian food before but I'm always a little bit scared about what ingredients are in there so I've been hesitant to go back for a while now. I need to check out this cookbook, methinks!

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  2. To me of course tempeh is the Indonesian food. But that's about all I know about Indonesian food. The boiled peanuts sound really interesting.

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  3. That plate of food looks so good, and the marinade does sound wonderful, as does the sambal! I've never heard of boiled peanuts, but now am very interested.

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  4. I'm looking forward to your posts every day! I hope you keep going around the world as a regular feature.

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  5. I would not have even been able to guess what Indonesian food was like. I feel so much more cultured now. And hungry.

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  6. Oh, and I'm so glad you brought up boiled peanuts because I "think" that must be the way I used to eat them with my favorite late great uncle when I was little. I had forgotten about that.

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  7. An awesome looking meal! I love Indonesian food mostly because it always involved tempeh.

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  8. Yay for Indonesian food! I love your mofo theme btw, a great way to try new foods. :)

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  9. Ohh that tempeh looks amazing! Tempeh is one of the things I really miss since moving to Germany... I'm going to stuff my face with it the second I get back to Australia! :)

    Oh, and about that cake... you bring me the blackberries, and I'll bake them into a cake for you. Sounds like a good deal, no? ;)

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  10. The only time I've made Indonesian food is a recipe for a curry which was great.

    You have me craving tempeh now, it looks delicious. And I have never tried boiled peanuts! Maybe I will have to make some myself.

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  11. I bumped into this site cos i was randomly searching for ratatouille recipes..
    I'm indonesian so I was really surprised that you have tempe over there!
    Since it's vegan food, it reminds me of an indonesian food that my mom used to make for me.
    it involves a plant called kang kong with samabal (chilli) with gula jawa (palm sugar)

    Now I miss home.. lol

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