Ayam Betutu / Chicken in Traditional Balinese Betutu Sauce

Betutu is a Balinese famous chicken dish, almost all nasi campur Bali will have betutu in it. One of my favorite betutu in Bali is from Warung Adyana, that is also known as Nasi Pasar Burung, I always go there whenever I visit my hometown.
Now that I live far far away from my beloved hometown, I can't get this dish anywhere here...so I started my adventure to try finding the betutu recipe that tasted delicious, and would be comparable to my favorite betutu in Bali. I tried 3 different recipe and finally found this recipe that in my opinion, beat any other recipe that I had tried previously. It's very easy, I don't need to wrap the chicken with banana leaves, and I don't even need to bake it on the oven.
I cooked this dish for my mother who visits me from Bali, she was surprised that the betutu tasted very authentic, she said it tasted just like those betutu sold in Bali :)
This recipe was adapted from Kitchen Warrior's Ayam Betutu Express


Ingredients,
2 pack of sliced chicken
2 tbs coconut oil
500 ml water
one handful chopped lemongrass
salt

Sauce Ingredients ---> blend them all in food processor
20 cloves garlic
3 big shallot / 7 small shallot
2 thumbs ginger
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp kutchery powder (kencur)
1 tsp galangal powder
2 tsp belachan
10 red jalapeno

Cooking Method,
1. Blend all the sauce ingredients in food processor, we want a coarse, not to fine result.

2. Heat 2 tbs coconut oil on a big pan

3. When the oil is hot, add on the blended sauce ingredients and the lemongrass, stir well and season it with salt

4. When the sauce is fragrant, add the chicken pieces and stir well

5. Add on water, let it boil, then simmer covered until the chicken is cook and tender and the water is reduced by half. The thicker the sauce the stronger the taste, adjust it to your own personal taste. 

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Jambalaya is known as the most versatile Creole dish. I still remember my first jambalaya was from the chain restaurant Cheesecake Factory, it was chicken and shrimp jambalaya and it was served with rice. Some other place also serve it with pasta. 

Couple days ago, I was really craving for jambalaya and found a really easy slow cooker jambalaya recipe. Delicious food that would cook on its own (on slow cooker)...perfect!! I love the idea of throwing all the ingredients on the slow cooker, then take a nap and woke up to delicious food...yumm!!

I gather the ingredients I have at home and improvise adding other ingredients to replace the stuff that I don't have. I use 2 different type of bell pepper just because I like more color on the food...I only have half of the canned dice tomato and have to chopped some fresh tomato and made some tomato paste using ketchup...I also replace the unknown red pepper sauce with red pepper flakes + cajun sauce. 

After all, cooking is about creativity and fun...adding more ingredients, omit the ingredients that you don't like and so on. And I always double up the meat portion because my hubby is a big eater and he love meats! 

The jambalaya was a big hit, hubby loved it, and even my 16 months son loved it too!

This recipe was adapted from Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Jambalaya. 

Ingredients,

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped crosswise

5 garlic, crush and finely chopped

1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 fresh tomato, diced

1/3 can of water + 2 tbs tomato ketchup

2 pack (total 26 oz) of smoked sausage, sliced

1.5 tbs parsley flakes

1/2 tbs dried thyme leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp cajun powder

1 lb uncook prawn, peeled and deveined.

hot cooked rice

Cooking Method,

1. Mix all the ingredients EXEPT shrimp and rice.

2. Cook in high heat setting 3 to 4 hours. You can also opt for low heat setting for 7 to 8 hours.

3. After it finished cooking, add the shrimp, lower the heat setting, cover and cook for another one hour or until the shrimp turn red, firm and cook.

4. Serve the delicious jambalaya with white fluffy rice.

Bebe's dindin

Masman Chicken Curry & Puff Paratha

I like to stock up on "emergency foods" on my freezer.
What is emergency foods? for me, emergency foods are those easy convenient foods that I can reach whenever I don't have much stuff left to cook. My emergency foods usually are dumplings...and now I'm start stocking on puff paratha too.
Yesterday, I didn't have much stuff left on my fridge, and I have to prepare some foods for the care group at my house...then I decided to make thick curry & puff paratha, using anything I can find in my kitchen :D
It turn out so well and everyone loved it too!! Gotta make this combo again next time, with different type of curry!
This recipe is super easy because we going to use a shortcut here...a.k.a using ready to use spice...lol...but I still like to add more spices into it to make the food more fragrant :)

Ps. I didn't follow the cooking instruction from the curry box, I made the curry very thick so it suitable for dipping the paratha.

Ingredients,
10 tbs masman curry paste ---> almost the entire small jar of the paste.
1 pack of chicken wings
1 sweet potato, cubed.
1 onion, sliced.
1 handful kaffir lime leaf
1 handful chopped lemongrass
4 bird eye chilli
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp tamarind paste
1 can of coconut milk
4 cups of water
Olive oil

Cooking Method,
1. Heat the pan, drizzle some olive oil.
2. Add chicken, half of the onions, lime leaf and lemongrass. Stir until the onion wilted and the chicken turn a little bit brown.

3. Then add the curry paste & water. (In this picture I only put 5 tbs curry paste, later on I added 5 more)

4. Using medium-high heat, let the sauce boil. Then add the rest of the onion, sweet potato & chili. Let it boil for another 15 minutes, then lower and simmer covered for another 30 minutes. If your pan lid does not have the vent holes, place the lid slightly open like the picture bellow.

5. When the chicken is cooked and tender, add the coconut milk, sugar and tamarind. Then simmer for another 15 minutes. If the curry became too thick, add some more water. 

6. It's ready to be served with the puff paratha.

Tips for crunchy paratha: flattened the edge of the paratha before put it on the frying pan. I'm using medium heat and some butter to cook the paratha. 

Pindang Iga / Sweet, Sour & Spicy Ribs Soup

I remember that I cooked this food for my sister while she visited me in Seattle on December 2010, and I  she loved it a lot! and hubby also loves this dish. It's the perfect dish to eat for a rainy cold weather.
Unlike Balinese fishy pindang, this Javanese pindang is very different in taste. This Javanese pindang is sweet, sour and spicy, the unique combination of flavors will make your tongue dancing and keep wanting this food more and more.
This recipe was adapted from Masakan Indonesia Untuk Jamuan

Ingredients,
3 lbs pork neck bone + pork ribs
Olive oil

Sauce Ingredients A ---> blend all the ingredients in food processor
1 tbs galangal powder
1 tsp turmetic powder
1 thumb of ginger
1 handful of garlic

Sauce Ingredients B,
4 lemongrass, smash it.
1 handful bay leaves
2 handful of shallot, thinly sliced.
2 tsp dark tamarind paste, dilute it in 1 cup of hot water
5 ripe tomatoes, sliced large chunk
10 red jalapeno, halves
4 bird eye chili (optional, if you want it more spicy)
3 tbs sweet soy sauce
2 tsp Javanese brown sugar
salt

Cooking Method,
1. Wash the pork bone and pork feet, then soaked them in cold water for 20 minutes to drain the bloods. If you are in hurry, you can omit this step, I did it too sometimes.
2. Boil water on a big pot.
3. Put the pork bone and pork feet into the boiling water, let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Then you'll see the foam rise to the water surface. We don't want those dirty stuff.
4. Throw out the dirty water, rinse the pork bone one more time, rinse the pot, and put new water to the pot.
5. Boil the water with the pork bone in it one more time. Use High temperature
6. Add salt, half of the tomatoes, lemongrass and bay leaves, simmer until the pork bone is soft. Approximately 2 hours.
7. Heat another pan, heat the olive oil on medium high heat.
8. Add the sliced shallot into the new pan, pan fry until it get brownish. 
9. Add the sauce ingredient A and mix it with the shallot until fragrant.
10. Add the cooked mixture of shallots & sauce ingredients A into the soup.
11. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients B into the soup, simmer for another 30 minutes.
12. Keep tasting, the end result should be sweet, sour and spicy. 
13. Serve it with warm steam rice, the authentic Indonesian style :)

Korean Chicken & Eggplant Salad

At my Church, after the service ended, we always have lunch together. We have 2 different cooking team that take turn to cook for everyone, and sometimes it's potluck too. One day, my friend Hiromi made this light and delicious chicken and eggplant salad, and this dish is inspired by her delicious dish.
She wrote me a recipe with the precise measurement, but I don't really use measurement for my salad, I keep tasting and season, tasting and season my food, until I satisfied with the taste. This dish is very easy, healthy and  delicious <3

Ingredients,
1/2 pack of boneless skinless chicken tight. Trim the fat.
2 big eggplants, halves then and cut into 4.

Sauce Ingredients,
Aji-Mirin / sweet cooking rice wine
Korean red pepper powder
light soy sauce
sesame oil
roasted sesame seeds
black pepper & sugar
4 garlic, chopped.
5 green onion, chopped medium length

Cooking Method, 
1. Boil the chicken meat, then chopped into smaller pieces. set aside.
2. Steam the eggplants, then set aside.
3. Mix the sauce ingredients in a large bowl. I like mine taste tangy / sour, so pretty much my comparison for the mirin : soy sauce : sesame oil = 2 : 2 : 1. You can adjust the sauce to your own personal taste.
4. Add the Korean redd pepper powder, roasted sesame seeds, chopped garlic, then dash some black pepper and sugar.
5. Taste Taste Taste!
6. When you already satisfied with the sauce, toss in the chicken, eggplants and green onion. Mix them well.
7. it's ready to eat.

Ayam Sambel Matah / Shredded Chicken in Balinese Sauce

Ayam sambel matah, it's really hard to translate this one...but the direct translation is Chicken in Raw Chili Sauce...lol...sounds too funny!! but all the sauce in this dish is literally raw :D
Anyway, I would like to introduce to you, one of the most authentic Balinese food. Usually you will find this dish in Nasi Campur Bali, Balinese style rice topped with various toppings, my favorite food!! Nasi campur Bali that we like to call Nasi Bali, is super delicious, they have different types of toppings depending on where you bought them.
The funny thing is, while I live in Bali, I never ever like this dish. Whenever I order my nasi Bali, I always told them not to put this dish on it. Now that I think about it, I didn't like the dish because they were made out of chicken breast...and I don't like chicken breast, it's dry.
So why I love this dish now? the story began (and actually the same story also started my cooking journey) when I was on my 1st trimester of pregnancy around the end of 2009. The one and only food I craved was...guess what!! it was nasi Bali!! the only thing I couldn't find here in Seattle.
One of my Balinese good friend, Ira, was also pregnant at the same time, and she was also lived far away from home and also was craving for Balinese foods. So we began to try out recipe and shared recipe to each other...this recipe was given to me by her <3

Ps. Usually this dish is cooked using chicken breast, but since I don't like chicken breast, I always use chicken tight or chicken wings. You can use chicken breast if you want.
I like it with skin, if you don't like chicken skin, you don't have to use it, just make it according to your personal taste.

Ingredients,
1 pack of dark chicken meat with skin, you can use chicken tight or chicken wings.
salt
Vegetable Oil

Sauce Ingredients,
12 shallots, thinly sliced ---> I seriously never count, but you need a LOT of them
3 bird eye chilies, thinly sliced
salt
belachan (roasted shrimp paste / terasi)
Olive oil / vegetable oil

Cooking Method,
1. Rub the chicken with salt, then deep fried the chicken in vegetable oil. You can bake the chicken / boil them too, but I like to deep fried the chicken, it make them more tasty and the skin crunchy.
2. Let the chicken cool down, then shredded the chicken.
3. Mixed all the sauce ingredients, use the salt and belachan according to your own personal taste. If your chicken is salty enough, you can omit the salt.
4. Add on the shredded chicken, mixed well.
5. Enjoy it with warm rice, a true authentic Balinese style :)

I love to eat ayam sambel matah with plecing kangkung and steamy white rice, it's the authentic Balinese combo :D

Babi Rica-Rica / Pork in Spicy Rica-Rica Sauce

In Indonesia, we have so many different types of spicy foods, and this rica-rica style is originated from Manado region that is very famous for their delicious spicy foods. Rica-rica sauce is spicy, tangy, and very fragrant.
The most famous type of rica-rica is ayam rica-rica (chicken in spicy rica-rica sauce) and ikan bakar rica-rica (grilled fish in spicy rica-rica sauce). I love pork, and this is the recipe for my pork rica-rica, it's very addictive, I had to make a lot of them because once I ate it, I keep wanting to eat it again, again and again!

Ingredients,
2 pack of pork butt / pork stomach. I like to use the pork meat that consist the fat.
4 lemongrass, cut and smash it.
5 pandan leaves, knot them individually (diikat)
1 hand full of kafir lime leaf. the more the better!
14 shallots, thinly sliced.
1 to 2 cups of water
Olive Oil

Sauce Ingredients A ---> blend all the ingredients in food processor
15 red jalapeno (cabe besar)
4 bird eye chili (cabe rawit)
12 garlics
2 thumbs ginger

Sauce Ingredients B,
1 lime
salt & sugar

Cooking Method,
1. Heat the pan, Add the pork cubes. We don't need oil in this step because the fat from the pork will create the oil itself.
2. Stir fry the pork until it's half cook, then set aside.
3. Add olive oil to the pan, wait until the oil is hot.
4. Add shallots, lemongrass, pandan leaves, keep stir them up until the shallots turn brown.
5. Add the blended sauce A and the kafir lime leaf, stir until fragrant. Add lime, salt & sugar according to your personal taste. I usually just add couple pinch of sugar to elevate the taste.
6. Add the half cooked pork into the sauce, stir for 5 minutes, add water then close the pan with the lid.
7. Turn down the heat to low / simmer.
8. Keep stirring every 10 minutes, watch the sauce, don't let it be too dry it would burn.
9. Check if the pork meat is already tender and the sauce thickened. If both conditions are meet, then your dish is ready.
10. Best serve with hot rice, it's the Indonesian way to eat it :)

Terong Balado / Eggplants in Spicy Balado Sauce

Indonesian people love spicy foods, and Terong Balado (Eggplants in Balado Hot Sauce) is one of the most popular dish. You practically can cook a lot of different dishes with balado sauce, and since I love eggplant, I made this terong balado. And by adding the fried anchovy, it add the taste & texture contrast to the dish.   This is what I cooked tonight for the dinner, and hubby loves it :D

Ps. For me, this is a medium spicy, put more or less red jalapeno and bird eye chili according to your personal taste.

Ingredients,

3 big eggplants

a handful of dry anchovies (ikan teri)

Olive oil

Sauce Ingredients A ---> blend all the ingredients in food processor

5 red jalapeno (cabe besar)

2 bird eye chili (cabe rawit)

6 shallots

5 garlics

1 ripe tomato

Sauce Ingredients B

1 lime

salt & sugar 

Cooking Method,

1. Cut the eggplants into 4, then halves them. 

2. Deep fried the anchovies, then put them on top of paper towel to absorb the excess oil .

3. Deep friend the eggplants,  then put them on top of paper towel to absorb the excess oil .

4. Put the "Sauce Ingredients A" into the food processor, blend them well.

5. Heat a pan, put some olive oil in it, wait until the oil get hot, then pour the sauce and fry until they get fragrant.

6. Add some salt and sugar to the sauce. I use the same amount 1:1

7. Squeeze the lemon into the sizzling sauce, mixed them well.

8. Add the fried eggplants into the sauce, mixed them well.

9. Garnish the ready food with the fried anchovy. 

10. And as always, Indonesian dish is best served with steamed hot rice.