Culture 2: The Indonesian Cuisine pt. 1

The Indonesian cuisine has so many specialties that I think I will need to separate the food and the snacks. In other countries, clubbers will go to a 24h fast food chain to grab a bite after partying, here in Suriname, we only have 3 choices: Shell On the Run, Golden Wings and .........last but not least, the Javanese Warungs. They have become such a common eatery and everybody knows exactly where they should go for a hot, spicy saoto soup.

In Suriname, we have a street, mostly known as 'Blauwgrond', where you have about a dozen of warungs to choose from. Everyone has their own favorite warung and mostly people won't change their choice until something went really wrong. The eateries are very simple. Mostly it's in front of their house, where they have created like a big wooden patio with simple handmade benches and tables. As a hospitality student, I can see how low their operation costs are and how much profit they can make everyday.

When you go to the warung, please don't expect exceptional service. They are doing their best to serve you the correct way, but they have not been trained to do it the right way. So if you don't get a smile from the lady, who's taking your order, just try to understand. My personal favorites are Warung Renah and Warung Ursi.

And now finally, the delicious meals you really should try out some time:

Saoto: this is a kind of a chicken soup filled with beansprouts, baked potato and sliced chicken. Additionally you can add an egg to it. On the side,  you can choose rice, pepper and ketjap sambel.

Personally I make this at home, because it's just so much cheaper to do that. But I think the reason is also that I can buy all the ingredients nearby. This is my recipe:

1.5 L water
2 Chicken Legs
5-6 Lontai (Pimento)
3 Salamblad ( Indonesian Bay Leaf)
1 pc Laos ( Indonesian ginger)
2 Maggie cubes
2 Pepper ( Madame Jeannette preferably)
black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a pot and let it cook for 90 minutes.
When the chicken leg is already in the pot for nearly an hour, take it out and you can choose to fry it first or to cut it in slices in this state.

Additional ingredients:
Baked potato - Here we buy it in the store, but if you don't have the choice than to make it yourself, here's how you do it: Grate about 4 mediumsized potatoes into small strings. Put a deep pan with oil, let it reach a level where you can hardly hold your hand above it (at a safe distance) and put in the potato strings to fry. When it turns golden brown, take it out and put it in a bowl covered with kitchen paper.

Egg - I am an egglover, so whenever I eat Saoto soup I definitely will take it with an egg. Just any hardboiled egg.

Ketjap Sambel - this is also readily available in stores for me. Yeah, I know....we're blessed in this country. But for those of you who would like to make it yourself, I have these sites:

english: http://dutchfood.about.com/od/mainmeals/r/BabiKetjap.htm
dutch: http://www.mijnreceptenboek.nl/recept/sambals/ketjap-sambal-13777.html

For spicy lovers: put several peppers in a chopper, chop until mushy and add salt to taste.

Wow, this became a long blog. Uhm....I think it will take more than 2 parts to finish the Indonesian Cuisine after all.