WHB #279: Pisang Bakar dengan Gula Aren dan Keju (Grilled Plantain with Palm Sugar and Cheddar Cheese)

Before moving to current address, I was living at Ciumbuleuit. Still in the north part of Bandung; less than a mile away from my home now. There, in Ciumbuleuit, is a private college where I studied Architecture for one and a half year. With number of students living in, it was no wonder that a lot of business began to grow in the street. And that included food.

One of my favorite was a little café named after bird's eye chili—only in Indonesian. Me and friends used to hang out there talking, playing cards, waiting for the sun to set while enjoying cup of coffee and plate of grilled plantains.

Grilled plantain with palm sugar and Cheddar cheese.

The grilled plantain was their specialties, and served in (slight) different way from any other vendors here in Bandung or in my hometown. It was sprinkled with palm sugar instead of chocolate, but still used Cheddar cheese. I claimed it to be the best grilled plantain I ever had.

Unfortunately, the last time I went to that place, their grilled plantain menu is off the table. But, fortunately, it is easy to make at home. Even simpler than 'a piece of cake'. All I have to do is grilling the plantain in a non-sticky skillet or a charcoal grill, sprinkling it with palm sugar powder and cheese, and, bam! I got a sweet creamy little dish for snack.

Grilling with non-sticky skillet.

Sweet and creamy little dish.

Sweet and creamy big bite. Yum!

Pisang Bakar dengan Gula Aren dan Keju

(Grilled Plantain with Palm Sugar and Cheddar Cheese)

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe plantains
• 3 teaspoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar powder
• 20 g young Cheddar cheese (thinly sliced, or grated)

Preparation methods:

1. Heat the skillet (or charcoal grill) over medium heat.
2. Smear butter onto the plantains, put it in skillet or grill. When grilling with skillet, use the smallest heat as possible. Cook it for 15 minutes each side, or until both browned to your taste.
3. Put it in the serving plate, sprinkle with palm sugar, then top it with Cheddar cheese.

Yield 3 serves.

There are more food I had experienced in my glorious Ciumbuleit era. I shared some with my architect-slashed-chef friend, Ayesha. And, today is her day. May she be blessed with wonderful years ahead. (P.S. We really need to hang out in the kitchen sometime, dear.)

This post is also linked to Weekend Herb Blogging #279.

This week's WHB is hosted by Anh, A Food Lover's Journey. Read the full round up of superb recipes around the globe here.

This post is also linked to Simple Lives Thursday #39.
The food blog event is hosted by five awesome Iowa bloggers, Diana, Annette, Alicia, Wardeh and Mare.