Laksa Cibinong

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from the Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore, and to a lesser extent Indonesia.
Source : Wikipedia.
We used to live in Malaysia for 3.5 years. So, I know 100% that laksa is indeed a popular dish in Malaysia. Not doubt! Other than that, I found out during the 'international day' in my children's previous school, the Singapore booth always sell Singaporean Laksa.
Yes, laksa is famous and popular in both countries, and it's popular in some part of our country, as well. During the Jakarta Fair, I did try Laksa Betawi (~Jakarta). Another popular Indonesian Laksa is called Laksa Pengantin from Bogor (West Java).

A couple of months ago, I read that there is famous laksa dish from a town called Cibinong. Cibinong is the capital of Bogor Residence in West Java. It's located between Jakarta and city of Bogor. To be honest, I never tried the original Laksa Cibinong, but I found the recipe of the dishes from one of my recipe books and decided to prove that it's delicious. For me, after trying some variants of Indonesian Laksa, I think they are similar each other (ahaa... I know, I don't have a sensitive tongue to recognize the differences!). Indonesian laksa is kind of thick yellowish coconut milk based soup, that is produced by mixture of some spices and salt, and it is served with bean sprout, vermicelli, shrimps, eggs, and Indonesian basil leaves. Sometime they are also served with coooked shredded chicken and glutinous rice cake (ketupat). Sound yummy, right!
There is no special requirement to cook this dish. Just remember, while cooking 'soup' using coconut milk, don't forget to stir occassionally to prevent the coconut milk from curdling.If you are not familiar with one of the ingredients; "temu mangga", ahaaa... let me tell you, that's the one which makes this dish fresh and it has unique flavour as well as giving soft yellow color to the dish. If you're in Jakarta, it's not hard to find this kind of fresh spice. The shape looks like somewhere between ginger and tumeric. Cut a little bit, ... you'll smell a young mango aroma. That's why they're called it temu mangga.Laksa Cibinong
Source : Primarasa, Hidangan Berkuah Terlezat
Bahan / Ingredients
75 gr bihun kering / 75 gr dried vermicelli
2 butir telur rebus / 2 boiled eggs
100 gr taoge / 100 gr bean sprouts
2 sdm minyak goreng / 2 tbsp oil
2 batang serai, memarkan / 2 lemon grass, crushed
6 lembar daun jeruk / 6 lime leaves
750 ml santan, dari 1/4 butir kelapa / 750 ml coconut milk from 1/4 coconut
100 gr udang ukuran sedang, kupas, belah punggungnya / 100 gr medium-size shrimp, peel, shallow slice its back longitudinally
1 sdt garam / 1 tsp salt
1/2 sdt merica bubuk / 1/2 tsp ground (white) pepper
1/2 sdt gula pasir / 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 sdm bawang goreng / 1 tbsp fried onions
2 tangkai daun kemangi / 2 stalks Indonesian basil leaves

Bumbu Halus / Spices (ground)
8 butir bawang merah / 8 shallots
3 siung bawang putih / 3 cloves garlic
2 butir kemiri / 2 candlenuts, roasted
1 sdt ketumbar sangrai / 1 tsp coriander, roasted
1/4 sdt jintan sangrai / 1/4 tsp cumin, roasted
1 cm kencur / 1 cm kaempferia galanga
2 cm kunyit bakar / 2 cm tumeric
3-4 cm temu mangga / 3-4 cm temu mangga

Pelengkap
Sambal cabai rebus / Chilli
Air jeruk nipis / Lime juice Cara memasak:
1. Seduh bihun dengan air panas hingga lunak, tiriskan. Kupas telur, belah dua atau empat memanjang. Buang akar taoge, sisihkan.
2. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam wajan, tumis bumbu halus hingga harum, masukkan serai dan daun jeruk, aduk. Masukkan santan, masak hingga mendidih, timba-timba supaya santan tidak pecah.
3. Masukkan udang, tambahkan garam, merica, dan gula, aduk. Kecilkan apinya, masak hingga cukup matang, angkat.
4. Siapkan mangkuk saji, taruh bihun, taoge, dan telur ke dalam mangkuk. Siram kuah panas, taburi bawang goreng dan daun kemangi. Sajikan panas dengan sambal cabai rebus dan air jeruk nipis.
Cooking Method :
1. Blanch the dried vermicelli with hot water until tender, drain. Peel the eggs, cut lengthwise into two or four. Discard the roots of bean sprouts and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a skillet, saute ground spices until fragrant, put lemon grass and lime leaves, stir. Add the coconut milk. Heat it to the boil and stir occassionally to prevent the coconut milk from curdling.
3. Add the shrimp, salt, pepper, and sugar, stir. Reduce the heat and cook well, remove from the heat.
4. Prepare the serving bowls, place the vermicelli, bean sprouts, and eggs into a bowl. Pour hot gravy to cover these and sprinkle with fried shallots and basil leaves. Serve with boiled chili sauce and lime juice.

Have a good Thursday night!

Cheers to a New Year!

We're passing the middle of January 2011. Ooh, time goes by very fast.
In fact, I'm still enjoying the raining that cleansing the city and the wind that supplying fresh air into the city.
Beautiful.

Last month, we were very busy and ... very happy at the same time. We enjoyed the wonderful season with our big family. I remember, when we used to live far from our family, many-many years we celebrated Christmas just two then three then four of us, without our relatives around. It was fine at that time, we managed to find our own way to enjoy the season. But now, I can feel again the joyful of being around among our big family during the Christmas season.
Precious.

This week, after all our activities are back to normal routine, I can think clearly that ...yeah, we've already passed 2010. Looking back my blogging and food photography journey during 2010, I realize that I was not productive. Not at all!
Little bit dissapointing.
On the other hand, I'm glad that last year I had chances to learn lots of new things; exploring something that I have never imagined. I feel so lucky being a member of SLF community. With the other members, we discussed many things about food photography. From the technical photography to the food styling. I learned more about lighting, colour, texture to the camera angles.
All those pictures above are some of my entry during 2010 SLF challenges. Even though the group is no longer active, but I have to say that this owesome group has given me enlightenment to capture the food stylictically appealling. Being with such talented people kept me on my toes and pushed me to do better each time.Half year on 2009, after moved from India on June, we were very busy exploring our city, Jakarta. We visited some museums, markets, malls, parks and also the seaport.
And last year, I had opportunities to travel to some places in Indonesia (actually, most of the time I joined my husband's bussiness trips). It opened my eyes bigger to the beauty of my beloved country, and gave me opportunity to explore more about travel photography. Oh yeah, I love it!
Yogyakarta, May 2010
Onething that very interesting is that I need two different approaches for food photography and travel photography. In food shoots, everything is stylized and curated, whereas in travel photography we use snap-as-we-go approach. It let us capture the images that we consider beautiful and 'freeze' them as they are. Oh, I love both of them.
I love travelling, I love styling the food and I love photography more and more.*I did prewedding and wedding photography last month, and ... I like it as well. Ooow! and I always enjoy to take family pictures.

Bali, November 2010

Kota Gede, May 2010 So, last year I had a great time while visiting Yogyakarta on May, Bali on November, many-many times visiting Bandung and Bogor.
Yogyakarta and Bali, both have rich cultural traditions and beautiful panoramas.
During my visit in Yogya, I had a chance to capture the Waisak Celebration in Borobudur Temple (the biggest Buddhist Temple in the world) and also visited the 'old' town Kota Gede.
Bali, ...yeah I remember my promise! *promise again*

Bandung and Bogor are not too far from Jakarta. From our home, it took 2 hours journey to Bandung and 1/2 hour to Bogor *by car*. Most of the time, we visited both places for culinary journey. They are famous for their inovative street food. We brought our children, and introduced them with many traditional food and let them familiar with the street vendor and traditional market.It's very enjoyable to visit all of those places, just need a good planning and always prepare high capacity flash card when you go travelling.

Bogor - West Java, October 2010
Now let's start talking about food. Well, this time about drink.As I wrote before, we visited Bogor for culinary journey with our children. Now let me introduce you to Bir Kocok (they spell it 'Kotjok' - old version spelling). It was very famous from old generation and it's famous until now. They sell it at Jl. Suryakencana (around Gang Aut), Bogor. Bir Kocok means 'Shaking Beer', but not like 'normal' beer, this beer contain 0% alcohol! No, it's different with some of beer brands that claiming to be 'zero alcohol'. This beer is made from spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves, etc) and shaked inside the metal container to produce the foam. The result; physically it looks like any other beer, but the flavor is totally spicy!If Bogor has Bir Kocok, then Jakarta has Bir Pletok. For me, the flavor it's not different, because they're made of almost same ingredients; spices, sugar and water. I tried to find out, why they call it bir pletok?? The answer, the word 'pletok' came from the sound that is generated while they shake the bir mixed with ice cubes inside the metal container... "pletak... pletok.." :D

Bir Pletok @ Jakarta Fair, July 2010
For now, Bir Pletok is not easy to be found, even in Jakarta. Only during Jakarta Fair (on July) or in some Jakarta's Festival, this traditional beverage can be found.Why not make it by ourselves? All the ingredients are everyday spices that normally we stock in the kitchen. Only one that probably not ready on our kitchen cupboard; the Secang Wood. It's not that hard to find it in some supermarkets, and it helps giving reddish colour to the drink.Now, let's refresh and warm ourselves with this healthy Bir Pletok...
let's coloring our year 2011, and let's explore the beauty of this world ... Cheers!!
Es Bir Pletok
source: Primarasa, Es Segar Ceria :)
Bahan / Ingredients
100 gr jahe / 100 gr ginger
3 lembar daun pandan / 3 pandan leaves
3 batang serai / 3 stalks lemon grass
5 lembar daun jeruk / 5 lime leaves
3 butir cengkeh / 3 gloves
3 cm kayu manis / 3 cm cinnamon bark
1/2 butir pala / 1/2 nutmeg
25 gr kayu secang / 25 gr secang wood
250 gr gula pasir / 250 gr granulated sugar
1.5 liter air / 1.5 liter water
es batu / ice cubes
Bahasa Indonesia:
1. Kupas jahe, iris tipis. Potong-potong daun pandan.
Memarkan batang serai. Buang tulang daun jeruk.
2. Taruh jahe, daun pandan, serai, daun jeruk, cengkeh, kayu manis, pala, kayu secang, gula pasir dan air dalam panci.
Jerang di atas api sedang hingga mendidih.
3. Tutup panci, kecilkan apinya, masak hingga aroma rempah-rempah keluar (+/- 25 menit). Angkat dari atas api, sisihkan hingga dingin.
4. Saring minuman dan buang ampasnya. Bagi minuman dalam gelas saji.
Tambahkan es batu, sajikan.
English :
1. Peel the ginger, slice it thinly. Cut the pandan leaves.
Crush the lemongrass. Discard lime leaves 'bone'.
2. Put the ginger, pandan leaves, lemongrass, lime leaves, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, secang wood, sugar and water into a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat until boiling
3. Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and cook until the aroma of spices is released (+/- 25 minutes). Remove from the heat, set aside to cool.
4. Strain the drink and discard pulp. Serve it into several cups with ice cubes.