Soto Ayam Medan (Medanese Style Chicken Soup)

 

Medan Must Eat - Soto Medan

After a long day at work, all I can think of is going home for my Mum's delicious Soto. Soto is a traditional yellow soup commonly found in Indonesia. It has a strong distinct flavour mainly from Tumeric and other spices. However, different regions have their own version of Soto. Some of the popular soto are Soto Betawi, Soto Madura, Soto Bandung and Soto Medan (All named after the geographic regions where they were originated from).

I personally think Soto Medan is the best among all, not because it's coming from my hometown, but because it has a hint of coconut milk inside which gives an extra richness to the soup, without being too heavy or fatty. The typical meat used in Soto Medan is either chicken or beef.

 My mum is a non beef eater, so the choice of meat is obvious...

Soto Medan is never complete without Perkedel (Indonesian potato croquette). Perkedel is a fried potato cake made from mashed potato, chopped celery and some other ingredients. Beef is commonly added in preparing Perkedel too. It's very simple to make and is an excellent side dish/appetiser.

 Perkedel (Potato croquette)

Even though I don't have my mum's recipe here, I managed to find the recipes of Soto Medan (here) and Perkedel (here) for you guys. Do try these delicious Soto Medan and Perkedel at home. They make the perfect lunch/dinner dish during a cold winter day.

 Soto Medan (chicken)

 

Soto can be served with vermicelli, but I still think the best way to eat Soto is to have it with plain steamed rice plus some crackers on the side.

Steamed Yam Cake (Taro cake)

One of My 'Must-ask-mum-to-prepare' food

Steamed Yam cake is a traditional Asian savoury cake (known as kuih) that is made with fresh yam (taro) and served with ground dried shrimp, fried onions(shallots), spring onions and fresh chilli/chilli sauce (optional). This has been one of the local's favourites among the Asian countries and it is also one of my 'Must-ask-mum-to-prepare' food when my mum is around.While typing up this post, my mind is filled with all kind of local kuih that I could devour back home. But this purple colour cake should satisfy my craving temporarily.

  The Plain Steamed Yam Cake

The difficulty of preparing this cake is getting the right texture, it should be just firm and slightly sticky (it can't be too soft nor too hard). Mum's version of yam cake always come with her homemade chilli sauce that goes perfectly well with the cake.

 Ground Dried Shrimp (Pan fried)

Homemade Fried Onions (shallots)

I always wonder how mum always get it right because her recipe is always based on estimation only. I guess it all comes with experience. Finally, the easy and fun part is assembling the cake. First, place the cake on the plate then garnish it with generous amount of ground dried shrimp, fried onions(shallots), spring onions and chillies/chilli sauce. 

I need to apologise for not posting the recipe, because mum's recipe is all based on estimation, so if you are interested in savouring this mouth watering cake, why not try googling it online. I'm sure there's plenty of recipes available for you to try =)

After assembling the cake (without the chilli sauce)

After assembling the cake (with chilli sauce)

Hope this post will give you some inspiration for your next visit to the kitchen!

Next time, I will try to prepare this cake myself too.

Gado Gado (Salad With Peanut Sauce)

Gado Gado - The Heavenly Peanut Salad

Gado Gado is another popular street food in Indonesia. It's a traditional salad of mixed vegetables that is served with a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. It can be easily found in many Indonesian restaurants around Sydney. Therefore, for many non-Indonesian, gado gado is not alien anymore. This traditional salad can be easily prepared at home at your convenience, the key ingredient which is the peanut sauce can be made freshly or it's also available from most Asian groceries. It usually comes in block, although I have to reveal that the freshly-made peanut sauce definitely taste better, however off-the-shelf sauce is not too bad either.

Fried silken Tofu (Pre-fried tofu from the shelf can be used too)

The common vegetables used in Gado Gado are cabbage (boiled/fresh), boiled egg,  fried tofu, boiled bean sprout, boiled potato and boiled long beans. However, any kind of vegetables can be used too. So feel free to bring out your inner creativity and include any vegetables of your choice. Cracker like prawn cracker is another common ingredient in Gado Gado, but why not try other type of crackers like nachos, corn chips or any plain unsalted chips? They might turn out to be a good substitute.

The too good to be true Peanut Sauce. Thanks to mum for bringing it all the way from Indonesia.

 Ready to be mix vegetables

This salad can be prepared in no time and is as easy as a pie. All you need to do is prepare your vegetables/ingredients (steamed, boiled or fresh). Prepare your peanut sauce as per packet instruction (make sure it's thick in consistency for maximum enjoyment). Add the peanut sauce into vegetables and toss well.

Indonesian Meatball Noodle Soup (Mie Bakso)

Savouring Mie Bakso Once Again

This post is just a brief introduction to one of Indonesia's most popular noodle soup, Mie Bakso. Mie Bakso (Meatball Noodle Soup) is an ubiquitous street food in Indonesia. Even tough, it is considered a cheap eat, this noodle soup can be found everywhere from street-side stalls to restaurants in shopping mall. However, this bowl of flavoursome noddle is no where to be found in Sydney (or I haven't found one yet). Luckily for me, I get to taste this wonderful noodle soup once again, all thanks to my mum who visited me last week. Mum knows how much I like to eat Mie Bakso, so at 4am Monday morning she rolled up her sleeve to prepare this bowl of delicious noodle soup ready for me when I wake up. Life couldn't be better than this!

(Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe as mum brought the homemade paste for the soup from Indonesia)

Shredded fried chicken

 Chopped celery leaves

This is not a complicated bowl of noodle. It consists of only meatballs (usually beef), shredded fried chicken, crispy fried shallots and celery leaves. However, the peppery and aromatic soup is made from a combination of different kind of Indonesian spices that create the signature flavour.

The usual way to enjoy this bowl of noodle is to add in lots of hot chilli paste and sweet soya sauce enough to make you puffing and sweating, at the same time racing for a glass of cold water to soothe the burning mouth.

Homemade chilli paste mixed with sweet soya sauce

Before adding in the soup

with soup

 Add in the Chilli Paste

Mix well and see you in culinary heaven

The Grand Palm, Mascot

“Ponder well on this point: the pleasant hours of our life are all connected by a more or less tangible link, with some memory of the table.” Charles Pierre Monselet (1825-1888)

 

I was aesthetic when my friend (HW) told me about The Grand Palm in Mascot. So, the special thing about this restaurant is that it's probably the first restaurant in Sydney that serves food from my beloved hometown, Medan (Medan is located in North Sumatra (Indonesia). This fourth largest city in Indonesia has a diverse and rich food culture. Food is what Medan city is known for). One other thing to note, even though the restaurant menu reads Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine, the cook is actually from Medanese background.

The restaurant was empty when we got there, maybe because not many people know about this newly opened restaurant yet. The interior is really simple. I quickly picked up the menu and browsed through what they have to offer. There were three of us and we decided to order and share everything.

One thing in particular that we really like about this restaurant is, the food is less oily and salty compared to other places.The true Medanese style.

First item that really caught my attention was the Mie Siantar. Like the name of the noodle it's originated from a part of Medan called Siantar. The noodle is cooked with stewed pork, BBQ pork, fish cake, mushroom, steamed vegetable and wonton. It's a very simple noodle but I truly appreciate it as it's one of the flavours that I have been longing for. But, my husband and HW loved the noodle too. They found it pretty tasty.

Mie Siantar $8.00

Then we ordered a Nasi Goreng Ikan Asin (Salted Fish Fried Rice). It is fried rice cooked with peas, bean sprout, onion, salted fish, eggs and served with cracker and Indonesian salad (Acar). This is so good, it has the perfect balance of saltiness and smokey flavour. Again, we loved the fried rice as it is not as oily as what you get from other places.

Nasi Goreng Ikan Asin $8.00

Then we had another fried rice, Nasi Goreng Terasi. It is cooked with red capsicum, shrimp paste chilli, lettuce, shallot, ham, prawn, eggs, served with cracker and Indo Salad (Acar). I think because the salted fish fried rice was stronger in flavour, we couldn't fully taste this one, but we still enjoyed the spiciness and the fragrant of the shrimp paste. There were generous amount of prawns with the dish too!

Nasi Goreng Terasi $10.00

Next, we ordered something "off" the menu, just because HW said his friend did that. So we asked the staff if we could order a Medan style fried rice noodle, it's one of Medan's signature noodles. It's called Kwe Tiau Kangkung Belacan (Fried rice noodle with shrimp paste and water spinach). Unfortunately, they didn't have kangkung (water spinach) for the day, hence we proceeded without it. The noodle didn't look exactly the same as what we have in Medan, but it's similar and the flavour is quite there, I was just happy to be able to taste it again, I know I can't expect the exact same one. My husband and HW did like it too, they thought it's different. It's slightly spicy, taste and texture is rather unique.

 Kwe Tiau Kangkung Belacan

(Sorry forgot to not down the price)

If you think we are full, then you are wrong. We couldn't go without trying the grilled chicken. To my surprise, the flavour of the marination is exactly like what I could find in Medan. It's sweet, smokey and tasty right to the meat. We were all cheering for the chicken, with the chilli paste to compliment, in our minds we thought we gotta come back for the chicken.

 Grilled Chicken $5.00

Because we had so many dry dishes, we ordered a Tom Yum soup. It's a decent soup, with pretty good amount of prawns. But nothing really distinguished, just a soup to go with our meal.

Tom Yum Seafood Soup $6.00

Gotta love the condiments here. They have the typical Medanese Chilli condiments. The green chilli paste and the marinated cut chillies. These make me feel home.

After we finished our meal feeling satisfied and content, the cook came out, she asked if we've enjoyed her food in Medanese dialect, I told her they were all great and that I was very pleased to have found this restaurant that serves food from my beloved hometown. Then she offered us "If there's any other Medanese food you guys want to eat, just let me know, I'll try my best to cook it for you". That moment...I was in Jolly Land!

Some people might come here and think the food is dreadful, but I found this place a gem. It brings back the bonds and memories while I was young. Food that I grew up eating...

The Grand Palm

1/710 Botany Road

Mascot - NSW

Ph (02) 8338 8500

Closed on Thursday

Indo Rasa, Kingsford

"Indonesian Food varies by region and is based on Chinese, European, Middle Eastern, and Indian precedents. That is why Indonesian Food is rich in flavours and scents, very delicious and could really blow your mind away!" (Tatie -Tasty Indonesian Food)

I can still remember exactly how Kingsford was like when I came in 1996 to visit my brother. The main street was dark and there was only one Indonesian restaurant in this suburb. It was "Hopeng" (in english means Best Friend), but the Kingsford today has totally been transformed, the main street (Anzac Parade) is filled with endless shops' neon lights and eager diner and with its large Chinese and Indonesian community, it's not a surprise that this place is dominated by Chinese and Indonesian restaurants.

Indo Rasa is a new Indonesian restaurant that has just opened a few weeks ago. It is certainly a great addition to Kingsford's already impressive list of Indonesian restaurant. The interior is cosy and the food is Indo-authentic. There are lots of varieties to choose from the menu too. I absolutely love all the food we have ordered. I'm sure this will be the first of my many visits to this restaurant in the future.

Some Indonesian sweet and savoury cakes on sell at the counter

The Indo Rasa fried rice is aromatic and smoky...it's simply delicious. But most importantly the rice is not sticky, there's nothing worse than a sticky and soggy fried rice. We also ordered an extra sunny side up on the side to compliment this irresistible fried rice.

Nasi Goreng Indo Rasa $10.00

I ordered the Nasi Uduk Komplit and was thrilled when the waitress served up the food. There was a mixture of fried chicken, marinated beef, chilli egg, giblet with sambal vegetable and the fragrant coconut rice. Not only everything tasted good, the serving was generous too.

Nasi Uduk Komplit $11.00
This is available in yellow tumeric rice as well.

Ayam Kalasan (fried marinated  chicken) is a deep fry chicken cooked using traditional spices, eventhough the chicken size is slightly smaller than Ayam Goreng 99, but this sweet and tender chicken is deep in flavour.

Ayam Kalasan $6.00

Next was the Soto Ayam. This Javanese originated chicken soup has bean sprout, vermicelli and shredded chicken, topped with belinjo cracker. This is a famous Indonesian soup that is flavoured using tumeric and some other spices. The silkiness of the vermicelli contrasts the crunchy bean sprouts. The aromatic of the spices and the shredded chicken combine everything in a wholesome way.

Soto Ayam $8.00

Next we had their Terong Belado (Stir Fried Eggplant in Chilli Sauce). Don't be intimidated by the colour of the red chilli sauce, it is actually not as spicy as it looks. Belado is an aromatic tomato based chilli sauce.The deep fried eggplant has a soft and juicy texture in the inside and crispy on the outside. The impressing aroma of the chilli sauce makes this a perfect dish to have with rice.

Terong Belado $10.00

Then we had the deep fried giblet and liver as a side dish. Special mention has to be made to their Sambal Terasi, which is the most Indonesian-treasured condiment to heat up and boost one's appetite even more. This spicy condiment has a very strong pungent smell from the shrimp paste, but this is a must on dining table in Indonesia. I was more than happy when I tasted their version, as it's probably the most authentic one I've tried in Sydney.

(Top) Deep Fried Chicken Giblet and liver $2.00

(Bottom) Complementary Sambal Terasi 

Great food, great place and great service. Will this be in my favourite restaurants list? Yes, it will.

Indo Rasa

Shop 1, 309 Anzac Parade

Kingsford NSW 2032

Ph: (02) 9697 2003