Family Favourites.

Javanese Cooking.

I am pleased and proud to cook delicious dishes from the place that I come from.  These dishes are family favourites.
Rice with garnishes.  Rice serves daily and accompanies with various dishes, from vegetable to meat, fish, chicken and egg.
How do I cook rice?  Recipes for you.

Ayam Goreng-Fried Chicken

Gudeg Telor and Gudeg Ayam

Gudeg Kobis served with the Sauce
(A slow braised cabbage with the coconut sauce)

Nasi Gudeg: Steamed Rice with Gudeg

Cooking Rice

Steamed White Rice
I don't have a steamer instead I do it in a pot with a very heavy based.

Recipe:
1 cup heap full of long grain white rice (Jasmine)
2 cups of water
Place the rice and water in a heavy based pot
Cook over medium heat, uncovered
Bring the rice to boil, stir and cook until the water is absorbed
Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low
Continue cooking over the low heat for 9  minutes
Take it off the stove, uncover the pot, fluff the rice.
The rice is ready and serves with garnishes.







Yellow Rice
(More recipes for yellow rice and this is one of them)

Recipe
2 cups long grain white rice
2 cups and a half water
2 cups of coconut milk
Fragrant herbs
1 Daun pandan - pandan leaf (available in the Asian grocery store)
1 lemon grass and 1 salam leaf
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 piece galangal ( about 20 g)
1 tablespoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon oil to saute the spices.
Salt to taste
Method
In a heavy based pot, saute the turmeric and all herbs with the oil until fragrant.
Add in the water, and the rice, stir, mix and cook over medium heat until the water is almost absorbed (stir it from time to time)
Stir in the coconut milk and cook uncovered until the rice is absorbing the coconut milk.
Cover the pot, lower the heat and cook for another 12 to 15 minutes
Take it off the stove, uncover the pot, fluff the rice.
Keep the rice in the pot until serving time.
(Cook the rice prior serving the food, keep the rice hot in the pot)

Yellow Rice with Garnishes

Terik Telor-Braised Egg in Mild Spiced Coconut  Milk

Sambel GorengSambel Goreng is one of my family favourites, it can be prepared simply out of vegetable or meat.  Sambel goreng kobis is hot spiced braised cabbage in coconut milk.  You could have as much hot chilli as you wish.

Fresh chillies and Fresh Petai

I noticed nowadays people in Java present the food differently compared to the olden days. For example, a rice cone used to be shown only for white or yellow rice with traditional garnishes, but now the rice cone would be the core of the presentation and surrounded by all variety of dishes including, lumpia, kroket, meat, savoury and vegetables.  It looks so good, and I am for it, I will try my best to do so.

I am proud of my Javanese cooking, and I will share the recipes with you.

Sambel Goreng Kobis

This dish was my childhood favourite, and now still is. The recipe for sambel goreng kobis is on the older post: type Sambel Goreng to search.  It posted on the 3-11-2014.

Sambel Goreng Kobis

Rice or Nasi

Rice is the main staple food for Javanese people,  there are two types of rice, glutinous rice, which is commonly used for sweet preparations, and plain rice which is served with its companions.  The way they cook rice is by steaming and also boiling.  Other rice preparation is as porridge, it is very popular for breakfast.

Glutinous Rice

black glutinous rice

glutinous rice in a packet

Two types of glutinous rice are white and black.

Black glutinous rice comes in 1 kg packet.

white glutinous rice

white glutinous rice

White glutinous rice comes in 1 kg packet or more.

Plain Rice
 Plain rice is white and brown and also short and long grain. 

white long grain rice-jasmine

jasmine rice

Rice Dishes

Yellow Rice - Nasi Kuning

White Rice - Nasi Putih

Nasi Goreng - Fried Rice

Yellow Rice- Nasi Kuning

Nasi Kuning or yellow rice is savoury fragrant rice with turmeric, it is traditionally served with a few side dishes, such as opor ayam (mild chicken curry), acar (pickled cucumber/ or vegetable salad with coconut dressing) and krupuk udang (prawn crackers).

Other companions of nasi kuning;  serundeng (savoury and crispy desiccated coconut), telur dadar iris - (shredded omelette), ayam goreng (fried chicken) and perkedel or (fried potato dumplings).  Also  a salad (fresh vegetables-cucumber and young cabbage), sambal pedas (chilli paste) and krupuk udang or emping (mlinjo nutcrackers)

The white rice is served daily. But occasionally yellow rice is cooked and served with simple garnishes, but for a special occasion or a party, elaborate garnishes are added.

Nasi Kuning-Yellow Rice
with simple garnishes (not traditional)

Yellow rice is served with sauteed broccoli, fried chicken, spicy meat ball
and semur telur- braised egg with soy and potato.

White Rice - Nasi Putih

Steamed or boiled white rice is the most popular food in Java, whether for everyday meals or for special occasions.

A rice dish-steamed white rice with garnishes, meat or egg, lalaban- (fresh vegetables) and crackers- (krupuk) and keringan (spiced.crisps desiccated coconuts and nut with tempeh or without).  Tea is served with the meal,  no dessert, but fresh fruits instead.

Steamed White Rice with Garnishes

For Daily Meals

Steamed white rice, dendeng daging basah(moist and sweet spicy beef)
 serundeng -mede (hot and spiced decicated coconuts and cashews) and lalaban
fresh vegetable salad (lettuce, or young cabbage, shredded and dressed with lime juice)

White steamed rice with garnishes

Fried Rice-Nasi Goreng

What about 'nasi goreng' or fried rice?

Nasi goreng is a popular dish to be served for breakfast.  It does make sense that the family serve nasi goreng for breakfast, the idea is using the leftover rice from the day before.  What they need is only preparing the spices and the simple garnish.  The spices are garlic, chilli, salt and sweet soy, and the simple garnish is fried egg or shredded omelette.

Javanese Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng often garnished with krupuk (crackers)

True Javanese nasi goreng does not contain any meat, especially bacon or ham, and the garnish is shredded fried egg (omelette).  Nasi goreng istimewa (special supreme fried rice) has special garnishes of a whole fried egg (telur ceplok) and shredded omelette.

Nasi Goreng Istimewa

Nasi Goreng Istimewa (Special Supreme Fried Rice).  It has
special garnishes - fried whole egg, prawns and prawns crackers.

The Javanese cooking ingredients are available in supermarket, market and exceptional food store-Asian Food Shop.  Fresh chillies and other spices, fresh vegetables and crackers to compliment Javanese dishes are very easy to find in Australia.

Fresh pepper and chillies

Fresh petai beans

Fresh tempeh and tofu

Inoki and coriander

Fresh coriander, Napa (sawi)

Variety of krupuk

Noodles and Coconut milk

 Tomatoes and cucumber

Bean sprouts, cucumber and fresh tomatoes

A large krupuk

Emping with a sweet taste

Cooking with Prawns
PRAWNS (UDANG)
This dish is another variation of sambel goreng, it is hot but delicious to be served with steamed white rice.

Sambal Goreng Udang

My favourite seafood dish is using prawns.  It is braised fresh prawns, in hot chilli and coconut sauce (sambal goreng udang)  The recipe, look at the older post, type: braised prawns to search It was posted on 24-2-2012  under the Heading:  Sambal  Goreng.

Cooking with Beef

EMPAL
Empal is one of my favourites dish?  It is spiced pieces of beef, braised until tender and finish off cooking by deep frying.  The meat is golden brown, tender and flavoursome.
The recipe for empal:  Type empal to search.  You will find this post under Beef.

Streamed White Rice Served with Empal and Garnishes

Empal Daging
(Double Cooked Beef-Braised and Fried)

Arem - Arem

Rice Rolls with Filling

Cooked steamed rice, filled with spiced meat and vegetables and roll to enclose the filling, wrapped with omelette and wrap it again with silverbeet.  Steam the roll for 10 minutes

Arem-Arem wrapped with Silverbeet.

It is not the traditional arem - arem that is cooked in Java, but it is my interpretation based on the dish.

Cooking family favourites is always good, especially for the family gets together.

Javanese cooking can be done quickly here in Australia, the ingredients are available in the market or supermarket as I have mentioned before. There are recipes here if you wish to try. First, you may like to do the rice the way I do and the recipes of the accompaniment dishes you could retrieve from the older posts. Enjoy and Happy Cooking.

Until Next Post

Susy