My love for food is not new. I have been running kitchen errands all my life, and had almost signed-up for a Hotel Management Diploma in another lifetime. Cooking has been a part of life – one more thing to do – for a long long time. But it has been fun. I have burned steel plates and other flatware black and blue in a desperate attempt to make a Pizza during college days, and made some other stupid mistakes along the way.
So when an opportunity to meet Chef Ridwan Hakim from Indonesia showed up, I was all ready for my first formal cooking training experience.
I am a complete stranger to Indonesian food. I have tasted various versions of Chinese food, explored Thai food beyond the curries, tasted some Japanese food, and nibbled at Vietnamese cuisine. But Indonesian food somehow never turned up in any of those places.
The Asian culinary world is vast. Flavors and tastes frequently change and the geographical affinity of these different cultures often throw up fused versions that you cannot ascribe to a particular region.
So I asked Chef Ridwan what he would term as the ingredient or spice of Indonesia. It is the Fresh Red Chili. Unfortunately, we don’t get the fresh red chilis – specifically the variety that we need – all year round here in Pune. But you can use the dry red chilis and soak them in hot water to get the basic Indonesian flavor, which is the Sambal.
Interacting with Chef Ridwan was a wonderful experience as he shared various tips, traditional Indonesian cooking methods, ingredients, and the changing flavor profile across the islands.
The stage was set for the Indonesian Masterclass. With all the ingredients rolled out, the chef was ready to begin our education in Indonesian culinary delights.
We kicked-off our Indonesian food experience with the world famous Gado-Gado. Gado-Gado is a traditional Indonesian salad which has a lot of blanched veggies mixed with the dominant East-Asian ingredients and the Indonesian Peanut dressing. The Peanut dressing is the key here and gives the salad its true taste.
Recipe coming up soon :)
Another Indonesian delight that is almost synonymous with Indonesia is Nasi Goreng. Nasi Goreng may seem like Chinese fried rice, but it is not. The subtle differences in the seasoning and use of Sambal makes this dish Indonesian and different from other East-Asian fried-rice versions.
Everyone of us was so excited with these preparations and the delicious smells wafting from the cooking station that we begged chef Ridwan for more. And to our delight, he obliged us with a bonus recipe – another Indonesian dish you must try when you visit Westin during chef Ridwan’s stay in India.
This one was called Udang Bakar Jimbaran, which means Grilled Shrimp from Jimbaran, a fishing village in Bali. As everything else, the prawns were marinated in the flavorful Sambal and then pan grilled.
Although Tiger or Jumbo Prawns will work best for grilling, chef Ridwan was of the opinion that you could just as easily use medium sized prawns if those are more easily available.
Chef Ridwan is hosting a Indonesian spread at Sesonal Tastes at Westin, Pune for the remainder of this month. The buffet at Seasonal Tastes has many more Indonesian delicacies like the Squid Ink Goreng, Fish steaks, some other Indonesian Lamb preparations.
This is a great opportunity for all you food explorers to taste some authentic Indonesian food by chef Ridwan from Indonesia. So loosen your belts a little, and head on to enjoy some spicy, tangy Sambal recipes at Westin, Pune this June.