CUMI SAUS HITAM MADURA | Madurese Style Squids in Black Ink Sauce (it looks ugly but it tastes heavenly)

Processed with VSCO

I’m back. Feels like forever since my last post. Indonesia is in the transition between dry to wet season and it is just a matter of time when people start to get influenza and stuff. I was one of the few unlucky persons who suffered a bad flu in the early stage. It was hard to gather up my spirits to write again. Thank goodness, now i’m here ready to share another recipe for you.

Today i made a squid dish for lunch. Yes, i’m gonna share another squid dish recipe. Unlike the previous squid, this particular dish has been my favorite since my childhood. There is something about squids in black ink sauce that defines its top position among others. It is packed with rich flavors and the black ink really gives that unique element of taste. Tastes like a symphony of the sea inside my mouth. Hahaha. Sorry for the exaggeration. :-p

Okay, less talking nonsense and more talking about the cooking. Here is the recipe:

CUMI SAUS HITAM MADURA

Ingredients:

Main Ingredients:

• 750gr of Fresh Squids. Cleaned.
• 1 Lime. Squeezed.
• An inch of Ginger. Crush
• An inch of Galangal / Lengkuas / Laos (a stronger & more pungent version of Indonesian root from ginger family). Crushed.
• 6 Keffir Lime Leaves. Ripped.
• 2 (Indonesian) Bay Leaves. Ripped.
• 8 Bird’s Eye Chilli Peppers.
• 2 Cayenne Peppers. Sliced Diagonally.

Blended into paste:

Processed with VSCO

• 7 cloves of Garlic.
• 8 cloves of (Indonesian) Shallot.
• 3 Cayenne Peppers.
• 3 Bird’s Eye Chilli Peppers.
• 1 Tomato.

Seasonings:

• A good pinch of Salt. To taste.
• A good pinch of Sugar. To taste.

Directions:

• Cleaned the squids from the slimy innards inside the squid’s pouch and on top of its head. Be careful not to burst its ink pocket on the tip of its head. This time i didn’t clean the purple-pinkish outer layer (to keep the rustic feel, because this dish is commonly sold in street hawker stall).
• Roll and press the lime in your working surface and squeeze the juice over the cleaned squids. Let it sit for 10-15minutes.
• Put all the paste ingredients in the food processor. Add a spoon of cooking oil and 3 spoons of water to help all the ingredients blend well. Pulse it few times until it becomes slightly smooth paste.

Processed with VSCO

• In a large iron cast wok, heat up 3 spoons of cooking oil (or any preferred oils) over high heat.
• Once the oil is hot. Throw in keffir lime and bay leaves in the wok.
• Almost instantly after that, pour in the paste mixture into the wok. Add in the crushed ginger and galangal. Add salt and sugar to taste. Keep stirring until all the liquid evaporated and changed into darker color.

• When the paste is ready, toss in the squid. Stir it well until the ink burst. Mix them well until all the squids covered in the beautiful black thick ink sauce.
• Let it simmer for about 6 minutes or so until the squids cooked beautifully.

Processed with VSCO

• Lastly, throw in the peppers in the wok and give it one last stir.
• Turn off the heat and Done!

Before serving, you may add a lil bit garnishing with thinly sliced keffir lime leaves (remove the vein, roll, and slice it thinly). Serve it with steaming hot rice sprinkled with fried shallot. I love how all the tastes come together. The savory, rich and thick sauce beautifully covered the tender squids. The sliced cayenne pepper and whole bird’s eye chili peppers give an extra texture and surprise if you are (un)lucky enough to bite that spicy hot chili peppers. The sliced lime leaves will give you that last burst of freshness and pleasant citrus-y aroma. So yummy!

Give it a try, peeps! 😉

Processed with VSCO

Squid with Spicy, Sour & Sweet Sauce | So Easy & Refreshingly Delicious!

Processed with VSCO

When it comes to seafood, My Mum has this really high demand list that sometimes we find it really confusing. She only eats dry based seafood (it must be super crispy fried,  she likes the tail part of a fried fish). She hate wet (sauce) based seafood dishes. She does not like fish based processed food at all.

Here in Surabaya we have our very own fermented wet shrimp paste called Petis. We use it in our delicious signature local delicacies. Mostly we make sauce or paste out of it for salad dressing and others but sometimes we stir it in our soup based dishes. Mum loves rujak (veggie salad with shrimp paste & peanut dreaaing) so much but she dislike dip the gorengan (traditional fritters) in Petis Sauce like almost all Surabayans do. She doesn’t like the petis stirred in the Tahu Campur (veggie & beef soup with petis sauce), but she doesn’t mind mix the petis in Lontong Balap (bean sprout & tofu soup). Enough about the petis, the recipe i’m about to share is nothing related to that.

So, today i just learned something new about Mum. She requested this Cumi Asam Manis Pedas (Squid with Spicy, Sour & Sweet Sauce) for dinner. I am shocked. It is because she wanted something that she normaly did not eat (Spicy & Saucy Seafood). She only eats fried calamari. Not even once she ever touched my Squid with Black Squid Ink Sauce (i always make them half & half whenever i cook squid).

To fulfill that shocking demand, i gladly said yes to Mum’s special request. I just grab ingredients in the fridge that i think are suitable for that spicy, sour and sweet taste combination. So here is the recipe for today’s dinner menu:

SQUID WITH SPICY, SOUR & SWEET SAUCE

Ingredients:

Stir-fried:

• 500gr of Squid (peeled, cleaned, washed crisscrossed, sliced).
• 1 medium sized of Onion (sliced).
• 3 cloves of Garlic (crushed & chopped).
• 1 stalk of Lemongrass (crushed).
• 3 Lime Leaves (torn apart).
• Ginger (around the size of your thumb, crushed).
• 5 Green Pepper (sliced).
• 2 stalks of Scallions (sliced).
• 11 bird’s eye chillies.

Blended into sauce:

• 5 Cayenne Pepper.
• 3 Bird’s Eye Chilli.
• 2 Tomatoes.
• 150 ml of Water.

Seasonings:

• 2 tbsp of Sweet & Thick Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce.
• 1 tsp of Fish Sauce.
• 1 large Lemon (half for the sauce & half for squid marinade. Squeezed & Zested).
• A pinch of Salt (to taste).
• A pinch of Sugar (to taste).
• A pinch of White Pepper (to taste, freshly grated)

Processed with VSCO

Directions:

• Start with the squid. It takes up a lot of time and effort to prep. It somehow brings up my inner OCD side in me. LOL.

Processed with VSCO

• Wash the squids. Peel the outer slimy pinkish skin layer of the squid. Pull the tentacles and the pouch apart. Pull out the bone (the plastic like part) inside the pouch. Clean the slimy innards (eggs and ink pocket) inside the pouch. Cut the eye and another plastic like part inside its mouth. You will get this perfectly cleaned squid as you can see in the picture bellow.

Processed with VSCO

• Unfortunately your prep job is not done yet. Now you need to poke your knive into the pouch and cut it open wide. Crisscross the inside surfave and then slice it into your desired size. See the picture below for detailed graphic instruction (from top left, clockwise)

• Squeeze half of the lemon in the squid and leave it for at least 15 minutes.
• Now move on to the sauce. Don’t forget to wash all the ingredients! 🙂
• Chop all the cayenne pepper, chilli and tomatoes. Put the chopped ingredients into food processor. Pour a little bit of water, blend them all well.

Processed with VSCO

• While the sauce is blending, start chopping all of the stir-fry ingredients & heat 4 tablespoon of cooking oil in a skillet over a medium heat.

• Slice the onion, throw it in the hot skillet. Stir it until translucent.

• Crush & chop the garlics. Stir it in the skillet and keep stirring until they slightly caramelized.

• Crush the white part of the Lemongrass and tie it around the edges. Toss it in the skillet and give it another stir.

• Tear apart the lime leaves and put it in the skillet.

• Peel the ginger with your spoon and then crush it with the back of your knive. Throw it in the skillet and stir all the ingredients until that beautiful aroma comes out.

Processed with VSCO

• Pour in the sauce into the skillet. Do not waste the sauce, i know there must be some lumps stuck in the food processor. That’s why earlier i asked you to pour the water just a lil bit. Now pour the rest of the water into the blender and push the pulse few times. Now pour the liquid into the skillet.
• Add in the lemon zest into the sauce.

Processed with VSCO

• Let it simmer for a few minute. When the sauce starts to thicken, start to stir again. Keep stirrinh it all well until the sauce thickens more and the color getting darker.

Processed with VSCO

• When the sauce is ready, pour in the squids all together. Make sure that the squids spread evenly in the skillet and covered evenly in that beautiful sauce. It only need 6 minutes for the squid to be cooked properly (in my case, depends on how thick and big you cut the squid). Don’t overcook it unless you want that rubbery texture in the squid.

• Don’t forget to toss in the sliced green peppers, scallions and whole chilli peppers one minute before you turn off the stove. You need them to be still fresh when you eat it and plus it adds another texture in the dish.
• Pour in the juice from the half of the lemon into the sauce. Give it one more stir and then turn off the heat.

Processed with VSCO

Our “Squid with Spicy, Sour and Sweet Sauce” or here in Indonesia We call it “Cumi Asam Manis Pedas) is ready. Eat it with steaming hot white rice. I’m sure this dish is definitely a “Rice Stealer”. It will call for more rice. Just remember to watch your rice consumption (it has high glukose, especially when it is steaming hot).

Processed with VSCO

But whatever. It is YUMMM! Selamat Makan! 🙂

Sambel Pencit | Easy, Spicy and Fresh Indonesian Style (Unripe) Mango Salsa

Mango Season is Coming!

Yaaaaaaaaaaasssss beibeh.

Here in Indonesia we don’t only have dry and rainy season. We have all kind of tropical fruit season throughout the yar. Mango season is definitely one of the most awaited seasons of all. Lucky us, we happen to have two mango trees in our front yard. As you can see on the picture we’ll harvest a lot of mangoes this season! This is actually also surprising for us. Our trees don’t usually fruit this much. These mango are beyond organic-home grown-best mango we can get!

So,

This afternoon we decided to have humble food as lunch. Some fried tempeh (indonesian fermented soybean cake), tofu and chicken on steaming hot white rice. We need something to complement our humble dish with something that can elevate the taste of our lunch menu. The best one true pairing and perfect condiment for any kind of Indonesian Food is undoubtedly Sambal Sauce. Sambal is an Indonesian traditional spicy sauce originated from the island of Java. This traditional sauce is typically made from chili pepper and variation ingredients such as shrimp paste, tomato, shallot, garlic and so on. The ingredients may differ depend on what kind of sambal we make. However it shares one common thing: IT IS SPICY!

SAMBAL is like the staple condiment in Indonesian household. We like our food spicy. Even some of the dishes we cook and eat are not all spicy, we can simply just add sambal in it to give that extra hot kick! We have wide variety sambal sauce to name. Each region has its own distinct sambal sauces.

Since all we got for lunch was fried dishes, we need something fresh to balance it out. What is more fresh than a Sambal Pencit (pencit is un-ripe mango) which the main ingredient is plucked just before being processed. The tangy slightly sweet and spicy taste of the sambal will cut all the greasiness of the fried tempeh, tofu and chicken. Without further a do, i’ll share you the recipe of this amazing sambal sauce. Hope you’ll enjoy it.

Processed with VSCO

SAMBAL PENCIT

Indonesian Style Unripe Mango Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1 unripe mangoes. Finely julienned or grated(i use 2 kinds of mangoes, half and half).
• 21 birds’ eye chili (super spicy. Indonesian loves spicy food!)
• 3 cayenne peppers
• 2 cloves of garlics.
• 5 cloves of shallots.
• 1 tbsp of Terasi (Indonesian dried fermented shrimp paste) pre-fried or pre-roasted.
• A pinch of salt to taste.
• A pinch of sugar to taste.
• 2 tbsp of heated cooking oil (or any flavorless oil you prefer)

Processed with VSCO

Processed with VSCO

Directions:

• Chopped all the ingredients (chili, pepper, garlic and shallot). It will help you a lot. So, you don’t need to do too much grinding on the next step.
• Put all the chopped ingredients into the mortar.
• Add salt, sugar and terasi to taste.
• Ground all the ingredients and mix it well with your pestle.
• Once all the ingredients are mixed well, pour the hot oil in it.
• One last step is put the julienne mangoes in your sambal. Give it a mix one last time until each stick of mango well coated in your spicy sambal!
• Done.

Processed with VSCO

It’s easy

It is super fresh.

Super flavorful!

Tangy, sweet, spicy, salty at the same time.

It’s an exploxion of taste in your mouth.

Processed with VSCO

Our humble & unpretentious lunch.

So yummy and easy.

See ya on the next blog post and the next recipe. Hopefully i can post more often.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog post. 🙂

Easy Crispy Outside / Springy & Soft Inside CIRENG Recipe!

Processed with VSCO

There’s always that time when we crave for our childhood snacks. You know what i mean. Those steet snacks we bought from bapak or ibu kakilima outside our school wall. They were not always healthy but heck yeahhh they were undoubtly tasty….(thanks to the MSG family LOL).

So this afternoon i just had a sudden craving for either Cireng or Cilok. Both are made of Aci/Kanji/Tapioca. Both are tasty. But as we all agreed…something fried are better than something boiled, right? Double the sin. Double the calories. Double deliciousness. So CIRENG it is!

I randomly googled for the recipe and actually found some helpful recipes. But then i decided to combine what i would want to put and what not into my cireng (based on my preference and what i have in the fridge). So, here is my finalized recipe:

Dry Ingredients:

1. 150 gr. Tapioca Flour
2. 2 Cloves of Garlic. Finely Crushed.
3. 2 Stalks of Scallion. Finely Chopped.
4. 1 1/2 tsp. Salt (to taste).
5. 1/2 tsp. Sugar (to taste).
6. 1 tsp. Shrimp powder. (I use leftover KOYA Powder…koya as in the SOTO condiments, made of ground shrimp crackers & fried garlic chips. You can also use finely ground toasted dried shrimp).

Starter Ingredients:

1. 50 gr. Tapioca Flour
2. 150 ml. Water.

Step by step:

1. Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix it well. Make sure that the salt are spread evenly! 😉
2. To make the starter, pour water into a saucepan. Put the tapioca into the pan and stirr it until it dissolves.
3. After the tapioca liquid mixed well, put it on the stove over a small heat. Stirr the liquid until it thickens and turns into ‘paper glue’ like consistency. Turn off your heat and put the starter into the dry ingredients bowl immediately.
4. Pinch & knead the starter and the dry ingredients together until all the dry ingredients sticks well in the starter.
5. Attention: the starter is so hot so you need to be careful when you mix it. Also, don’t over knead it for it can be a tough dough, you don’t want that! You want crispy outside, springy inside CIRENG…you don’t want a fried white rubber!
6. After everything mixed well into a beautiful dough, pull it into your preferred size. Shape it into circle.
7. Put oil into a deep fry pan over a medium heat.
8. Fry the dough until the skin looks white and crisp. Your CIRENG is DONE!

Spicy Black Soya Dipping Sauce

1. 2 tbsp. Sweet & Thick Indonesian Black Soya Sauce.
2. 6 bird eye chili pepper finely chopped.
3. 1 tsp. Fried shallot.
4. A drizzle of lime juice.
5. 1/2 tsp. Water.

Mix all the ingredients well. Done!

You are ready to enjoy the Cireng. The good thing about cooking your own ‘street snack’ is that you can control everything. You know what you put inside the food. You make sure about its hygiene and cleanliness. It is as tasty (if not better) but not as guilty as the one you bought on the street.

Selamat mencoba.

Hopefully this recipe is helpful ya.