Es Timun - Indonesian Cucumber Limeade (Aceh)

Cucumbers and key limes are on season. What do you think about a combination of cucumber and lime? or have you heard cucumber limeade before? Cucumber limeade was one of my childhood favourite beverages. This non-alcoholic drink is very refreshing especially for hot sunny days. I often bring this beverage for potluck parties in summer.

This is my first year to get involved with Summer Fest. I am bringing to you two summer limeades. One is the original Es Timun and another one is Vitri's version "Es Timun Serai".  Literatlly translated es means ice, timun means cucumber and serai means lemongrass.  But, I translated as lemongrass cucumber limeade.

A little background about this limeade. It's common in Acehnese restaurants in Indonesia. Acehnese food is very heavy in spices and similar to Indian food especially South Indian. To wash down hot and spicy food, the Acehnese restaurants serve this drink in their menu.

About a month ago, I was talking with a friend who live in Austria. She was complaining about the heat.  I suggested her to make Es Timun Aceh, then she came up with her version by adding lemongrass which she shared on kompasiana.

For those who consume alcohol, you can mix it with vodka or other spirits. 

Please see the complete recipe of Es Timun Aceh


Down, below the lemongrass cucumber limeade, you can find the recipe of Es Timun Serai


Es Timun Serai
Indonesian Lemongrass Cucumber Limeade
recipe by Vitri Sidharta, modified by me

Ingredients:
4 cucumbers, halved lengthwise, discard the seed (if you like the seed, don't discard), and shave.
ice, crushed

Lemongrass Limeade Syrup
1 L water
225 g sugar
4 key limes, juiced
3 lemongrasses, take the white parts and bruise (alternatively, you can use frozen ground lemongrass and place in muslin bag)

Directions:
1. Limeade syrup : Bring water, lemongrass, sugar, and lime juice to a boil until sugar dissolved. Remove from heat. Cool down at room temperature.

2. Serving : In a glass, add cucumber shaved and crushed ice. Pour lemongrass limeade syrup over and stir. Serve.

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Sate Pentul - Indonesian Minced Beef Sate

Sate or satay is a national grilling/bbq dish in Indonesia. There are many variants of sate from Sabang (West) to Merauke (East) with many different sauce or gravy to be served with.

After being upset due to the food picture theft, I decided to renew the picture of sate pentul. Originally, the recipe was posted on my multiply. Amazingly, the food picture that he/she stole wasn't a great one. Another proof that people actually don't really care the quality of the picture they stole.

Well, the bright side, I have a motivation to renew the picture by cooking it again. It's not only a picture renew, I also renewed the recipe of sate pentul by glazing with EV coconut oil before grilling.

Some people who know about Balinese food may ask, "this looks like sate lilit (Balinese minced seafood sate)". Yes, indeed! They look similar, but the spices of sate pentul are simpler. Plus, Balinese is a big fan of terasi (dried shrimp paste), kencur, turmeric and lemongrass. Kecap manis is more popular among Javanese.

This is one of other options for barbecuing next long weekend in Canada. August 2 is a New Brunswick Day (NB), Heritage Day in Alberta (AB), Civic/Provincial Day (MB, NT, ON, SK) and British Columbia Day (BC).

Sate Pentul
-Indonesian Minced Beef Sate-

Ingredients:
500 g lean ground beef
3 shallots (for smaller size shallots, use 6 pieces)
4 cloves garlic
1/4rth piece of a whole nutmeg, grated (substitute for 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg)
1/2 tsp ground coriander, toasted
1/2 tsp ground cumin, toasted
salt and pepper to season
bamboo skewers
EV coconut oil

Sambal Kecap:
5 tbsps kecap manis
1 shallot (I used a bigger size), thinly sliced
6 bird eye chilies (red and green), thinly sliced
2 jeruk limo (known as nasnaran mandarin, I substituted for 2 key limes, it will be good with calamansi as well)

Directions:
1. Grind shallot and garlic until smooth. Combine shallot, garlic, ground beef, toasted ground cumin and coriander, grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

2. Soak bamboo skewers for 20 minutes in cold water to prevent them from burning; drain. Prepare the grill for direct cooking.

3. Take 3 tsps of the mixture and shape into a ball, then stick the skewer into the ball and work the mixture around one end of the sate skewer until you have about 8 cms (3 in) covered. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

4. Glaze the minced beef sate with EV coconut oil. Grill on a barbeque or grill pan until golden brown. Serve with sambal kecap.

Here is the picture that is stolen. I'm not proud of this pic's quality at all. Yet, people is still stealing it.

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Braised Salmon Belly in Miso Sauce

This recipe is adapted from Saba no Miso-ni (Braised Mackerel in Miso Sauce). Gimli Fish Market is one of stores that I like to buy my fish. Last week, I bought a package of Pickerel Cheeks, Salmon Trims and Swordfish.

Salmon trims are the cuts from salmon belly. I firstly felt in love with salmon belly teriyaki at the Sushi Hut in Brandon. I haven't found this dish on the menu of Japanese restaurants in Winnipeg yet.

I was trying to recreate that salmon belly teriyaki. The moment I opened my fridge, I changed my mind. I saw miso packages, so I decided to open up my Japanese cookbook "Everyday Harumi" by Harumi Kurihara that I won from Serge the Concierge. I found a perfect recipe by using my miso, mirin, berry sugar (known as superfine sugar). It's a recipe of Saba no Miso-ni. No saba (mackerel in English) no worry! There was a package of salmon belly trims.

If any readers speak Japanese, please let me know what the proper way to give this dish name since I used salmon belly.

Braised Salmon Belly in Miso Sauce
recipe by Harumi Kurihara, modified by me

Ingredients:
16 oz salmon belly trims
2 1/2 oz fresh ginger
2 cups sake (I substituted for clam juice, you have a choice to substitute with rice vinegar)
6 tbsps awase miso (a mix between aka and shiro miso)
6 tbsps berry sugar (also known as superfine sugar)
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce (I used light soy sauce)

Directions:
1. Scrap ginger skin off with a spoon. Slice it thinly
2. Place clam juice, miso, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. Add the ginger. When the sauce comes to a boil again, place the salmon belly trims in a single layer. Put the lid on and cook on low heat for about 5-10 minutes, by which time the sauce will have reduce and thickened.*
4. Serve on a plate and pour the remaining sauce over the fish.

Note:
* I have changed the cooking step a bit since salmon is very quick to cook. So, I don't want to overcook them.

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Cinnamon Buns

Boissevain is a small town in Manitoba that has left me a memory of cinnamon buns. I was working for 9 months and stayed at one of resident's house. This town is only 20 minutes away from the US border of North Dakota.

The town with 1,500 residents doesn't only give me a memory of cinnamon buns, but also the warmness feeling from local people, The Station gift and coffee shop, beautiful murals and International Peace Garden.

The lady who owns the house is very very nice person. We learned many things from each others. At this lady's house, I introduced some Indonesian and Asian cooking. It ended up by exchanging recipe. I gave her, the Indonesian yellow chicken recipe which is her new favourite way to cook poultry. The original recipe is applying two consecutive ways, braise and deep fry. However, I told her to use braise and grill methods instead. She gave me a recipe of cinnamon buns that I love so much.

With her permission, I shared her recipe with you. Please note these buns were made by A.G Diehl last February.

Cinnamon Buns
recipe by A.G Diehl

Ingredients:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 envelopes fast rising yeast
1 cup scalded milk
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
6 tablespoon shortening or oil
3 cups flour
2 eggs, well beaten



Directions:
Dissolve sugar in the water.  Sprinkle with yeast and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir.

Scald the milk; remove from heat. Stir in sugar & shortening. Cool to lukewarm and add to the yeast mixture.

Stir in flour and eggs.  Beat until smooth. Work in 3 more cups flour (preferably whole wheat).  Turn flour on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  Place in greased bowl.  Cover an let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide in half.  Roll each piece into an oblong about 1/2 “ thick, brush with butter, sprinkle wit h brown sugar and cinnamon, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into 1” slices. Place, just touching each other in a greased pan.

Cover and let rise until double in bulk.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes.

To make Chelsea buns put a quantity of walnuts, cherries and brown sugar in bottom of the pan before setting the buns in.

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Pan Fried Pickerel Cheeks with Lemon Basils

Pickerel is actually a name for Walleye (Sander vitreus, formerly Stizostedion vitreum).  In wikipedia, it's explained that Walleye (Yellow Pickerel) is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch.

Damn for sure I had no idea what perciform was until I followed through the link from wikipedia. Perciformes means perch-like.

This dish is the fruit of my love to Canadian and Indonesian ingredients, pickerel and lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi). The cheeks of pickerel are large enough to use. They are boneless, skinless and considered a delicacy in this province.

Speaking about lemon basil, it is an Indonesian favourite of basil. We often eat it raw with sambal. It's also flavouring the pepes (steamed/grilled fish or chicken wrapped in banana leaves), gulai (curry) and stir fry.

Since lemon basils are not common to be purchased at groceries, I have to grow them. Luckily, most of nurseries in Manitoba sell the plants of lemon basil.

In this recipe, I substituted the buttermilk and flour for almond milk and rice flour. Instead of butter for pan frying, I used mix EV coconut and olive oil.

Wait! Did I say recipe? Honestly, no exact measurement of ingredients will be written. It will be just ingredients and how to make it.

Pan Fried Pickerel Cheeks with Lemon Basils 
recipe by me

Ingredients:
pickerel cheeks
lemon basils, finely chopped
chili flakes
salt
ground black pepper
rice flour
almond milk
mix EV coconut and olive oil

Directions:
Combine rice flour, chili flakes, lemon basil salt and pepper. Dip pickerel cheeks into almond milk and dredge in flour mixture. Put a shallow skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and get the skillet hot. Add the cheeks and cook until browned on 1 side, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the fish and continue to cook until desired doneness, about 2 minutes more. Be careful, it's very easy to overcook.

Enjoy with your favourite sauce. This time, I dipped them into sweet chili sauce.

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