WHB #277: Urap Sayuran (Javanese Mixed Vegetable Salad with Spiced Grated Coconut)

I swelled. (Oh, no! Mayday! Mayday!)

This was because I've been skipping yoga class for a month now, while my appetite increases since returning from Yogyakarta. You know, there were too much indulging delicacies. In result, I gained several pounds. And when exceed my normal weight I always feel heavy, limp and easily get sick. Very unpleasant. So, guess it's diet time until my weight back to normal.

As a start, today I make urap sayuran. A mixed vegetable salad 'dressed' with spiced grated coconut, that usually served as side dish of Javanese traditional yellow rice (especially in Central part of Java island). This is a sample of Indonesian simple dish; the vegetable are blanched and the coconut dressing is steamed or toasted with refined spices. Then both tossed together. As simple as that.

I have a new mortar and pestle which I brought in Beringharjo market, Yogyakarta, almost two weeks ago. Now is the time to play with it!

Trying the new mortar and pestle.

Javanese Mixed Vegetable Salad with Spiced Grated Coconut

(Urap Sayuran, adapted from The Best of Indonesian Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 3 shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 red chilies
• 1 teaspoon coriander (roasted)
• 1½ teaspoons of chopped kencur (Kaempferia galanga)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves (finely chopped)
• ½ tablespoon tamarind
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons palm sugar
• 250 g grated coconut
• 50 g carrot (peeled, cut in fingers with 2 cm lengths)
• 50 g white cabbage (sliced)
• 50 g cassava leaves
• 50 g string beans (cut in 2 cm lengths)
• 25 g bean sprouts
• 25 g winged bean (sliced)

Urap sayuran (Javanese mixed vegetable salad with spiced grated coconut).

Preparation method:

1. Refine shallot, garlic, chili, coriander, kencur, kaffir lime leaf, tamarind, salt and palm sugar until become paste.
2. Mix the paste with grated coconut, and steam for 15 minutes. (Or toast it until aromatic if you'd prefer.) Remove and allow to cool.
3. In boiling water, blanch the bean sprout for 1 minute. Drain and set aside. Boil the rest of the vegetable until tender, then drain and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, toss vegetable and spiced grated coconut altogether.
5. Serve with mixed rice and fried yellow bean curd.

Yield 6 serves.

Served with mixed rice and fried yellow bean curd. Yum!

It is not necessarily carrot, nor string bean, nor bean sprout, nor cassava leaf, nor winged bean. You can substitute with spinach, water spinach, papaya bud, papaya leaf, kenikir leaf, or maybe add some lime basil leaf—or even stink bean if you like. Just experiment with your taste. It won't matter because the core of the dish is the spiced grated coconut. The scent of kencur is highly evocative.

Kencur, or loosely translated as lesser galangal, is widely used in Asian culinary. It has a peppery camphorous taste that it commonly used as spice in Indonesia, especially in Java and Bali, as well as in Malay, Thailand and China. It also has potential medicinal use for treating indigestion, colds, pectoral, abdominal pains, headache, toothache, rheumatism, and also a potent insecticides.

I have read in some articles that urap sayuran is perfect for diet or vegetarians. While it meets my need right now, I think this is an interesting topic to share in Weekend Herb Blogging event too. I'm going to sent submission to this week's host. So, bye bye for now. Take care, dear.

This post is also linked to Weekend Herb Blogging #277.

This week's WHB is hosted by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook. Read the full round up of superb recipes around the globe here.

Indonesian Cooking With Komikoo.Com: (Kari Kambing dan) Roti Jala

This is an intermezzo. I tried making a comic a few weeks ago. It was a submission for an event at a local online comic community. They have a monthly comic event with theme, and this March is all about Indonesian cooking. Could it be more appealing to me? Nope.

My comic was a simple slice of life story with simple drawing. It is in Indonesian, entitled Kari Kambing dan Roti Jala. (Yes, the strikethroughs was meant to be on the title.) Here's the result..

Page 01.

Page 02.

I am not a comic artist, per se, and personally I think that making comic is more difficult than making a flash animation. I do, really do. Most notably because making a good comic requires the ability to communicate the idea into well designed panels, in a way readers can understand the story we're trying to tell.

It was hard to be persisted in sketching characters repetitively, in various gesture of expressions. Especially if you're not wonted. But, worth to try.. Right?

This comic is a submission for Komikoo.com Event Maret 2011: Masakan Indonesia. Komikoo.com is an online community of comic lovers in Indonesia. Read and rate this comic here.

Go Healthy with Mixed Rice (Is Our Topic Today)

(Left to right) black rice, brown rice, white medium-grain rice, unmilled medium-grain rice, wheat, job's tears.

Once my housemate, Vicky, asked me, 'Do you ever run out of topic for the blog?'

Ohoho. Of course, I did. Most notably in the early days of Slurp! (my first food blog). But after a year learn about blogging, I think I began to accustomed to it. Now, each time is like I'm doing a storytelling about food and words come out just like that. There's always a reason to write. (Whenever I have time to—now this is the hardest part.)

For example, at the current moment I am crazy about a mixed rice dish consists of black rice, brown rice, white rice, unmilled white rice, wheat and job's tears (as known as vyjanti beads or Chinese pearl barley).

This mixed rice is a new experience for me. Some of you might have already know about it, but some other might not. Thus we can see food as a matter of culture, and we know how our culture differs. It's not merely about the influence of our surrounding but also our preferences above all. And, differences make us learn. When we learn, we grow. So I think, in this case, it is a good idea to share about the mixed rice. There, I already have a topic for today.

The mixed rice.

I first bought bought a 250 g pack of this at a food market around my neighborhood last week. It turned out to be more fibrous than the regular medium-grain white rice I used to cook. I think it is a clever idea to mix several kind of rice with grain and job's tears. It is easy, and most importantly healthy. Okay, I might not know its precised nutrition and calories per serving. But I know it tasted delish as well as good for digestion.

Care to taste it, anyone? Let's try making it on our own.

Mixed rice with garlic.

Mixed Rice with Garlic

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 cloves garlic (bruised)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 50 g basmati rice
• 50 g brown rice
• 50 g unmilled rice
• 50 g black rice
• 25 g job's tears
• 25 g wheat/grain
• 550 ml low-salt broth

Preparation method:

1. In a pan, heat olive oil then add butter until melted. Add garlic, stir until aromatic, and salt.
2. Rinse the rice, add into the pan until all grain coated with oil. Add barley and wheat, stir for 3 minutes.
3. Pour broth and coconut milk to the pan, bring to boil. Then turn the heat into very low, put the lid on and cook for 30 minutes. (Or put in jar cooker.)
4. Stir carefully, put the lid back on and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat, keep the lid on for 5 minutes before serving.

Yield 4-5 serves.

Tips: If you're using jar cooker, unplug the power cord whenever rice is cooked. Open the lid, and let cool. Re-heat before serving. This will help the durability of rice, so it's not easily stale/smell.

Easy healthy side dish. Yum!

Happy Earth Hour, 26 March 2011 8.30-9.30 PM local time.

This post is also linked to Simple Lives Thursday #36.

The food blog event is hosted by four awesome bloggers from Iowa: Diana, Annette, Alicia and Wardeh.

This post is also submitted to Cooking with Seeds March 2011: Wheat Berry.
This month's food blog event is hosted by Suma from Veggie Platter.

This post is also submitted to Wholesome Wholegrain Cooking March 2011: Barley for Breakfast. This month's food blog event is hosted by Priya from Priya Easy n Tasty Recipes.