How to make sambal balado

Sambal Balado

Learnt to make this from my mother's Indonesia helper, Tri Handayani, who is a very good cook. She used to run a small restaurant in her hometown. Sambal balado is an Indonesian chilli paste which can be mixed with many ingredients (e.g. hard boiled egg, fried ikan bilis) to make great dish.

Ingredients

Group A

3 fresh red chillis (de-seeded)

1 fresh tomato

1 knob gula melaka

Group B

6 pieces of candle nuts

6 peeled shallots

6 peeled garlic cloves

Group C

2 shallots (peeled and sliced thinly)

Group D

2 kafir leaves (cut into small pieces)

2 bay leaves (cut into small pieces)

 4 slices galangal / blue ginger

1. Put Group A ingredients into a blender and bland until fine.

2. Put Group B ingredients into a stone mortar and pound using the stone pestle until fine.

3. Make fried shallots using the sliced shallots in Group C, then set aside to cool.

4. Using the same wok for frying shallots, put in the paste from step 2 and stir fry until the paste is fragrant. Add more oil if necessary. Then add in the paste from step 1 and stir fry until it is fragrant. Finally, add in Group C ingredients and stir fry until fragrant. Season with salt for taste. Done!

This is one dish made with sambal balado. It's called Telur Balado (Hard boiled egg in Sambal Balado).

Blanched Orka

烫煮羊角豆

This is really a very simple dish to make which I learnt from Just One Cookbook. It starts with selecting the okras at the market. Choose those that are tender, small (less than 4 inches), free of blemishes (dark spots/marks/patches) and the stem is not dry/brown. That done, the rest of the steps is easy peassy.

1. Cut off the stem to about 0.5cm and peel off the hard part around the top of the okra.

2. Put the okras on the chopping board and sprinkle some salt over them. Then gently rub them by rolling on the chopping board. This step will remove bitter taste and bring out the bright green colour of the okras. Don't need to rinse the salt from the okras.

3. Boil some water in a pot/wok. Put in the okras and blanch for 2 minutes (or longer, depending on the size of the okras). Be careful not to overcook the okras as they will become mushy.

4. Drain the okras and transfer to serving dish! You can cut the okras into small pieces before serving if you like.

Fried Chicken Wing Chinese Style

炸鸡翅膀

Ingredients:

1kg chicken wings

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

80g tapioca flour

26g rice flour

10g plain flour

3/4 tsp salt

110ml water

Method:

1. Wash and clean the chicken wings, then dab dry with kitchen towels. Pierce the chicken wings with a sharp knife.

2. Marinade the chicken wings with salt, fish sauce and sesame oil. Ensure the wings are well coated with the marinade. Set aside for at least half hour (the longer you marinade, the better the taste) and turn the chicken wings over at least once, just to make sure that the wings are well marinated.

3. Heat up cooking oil in wok under medium-low heat.

4.Mix the tapioca flour, rice flour, plain flour and salt, then stir in water slowly with a whisk. Don't add all the water at one go. Stop adding when the batter is smooth and drips when the whisk is lifted from the batter. Don't overmix the batter. Add the batter to the marinated chicken wings and mix in thoroughly.

5. When the oil temperature has reached approximately 160 deg celcius, put in the chicken wings and fry until golden colour. Transfer the fried chicken wings to a wire rack to drain excess oil. Notes:

a. Fry the chicken wings in small batches.

b. Turn down the heat if the oil starts to smoke.

c. Single frying is sufficient as the chicken wing stays crispy for more than 1 hour (even 2). For super crispy wings, you can fry the wings again over high heat for about 30 seconds. 

6. Serve the fried chicken wings hot.