Hey hey!!
I know it’s been awhile but after my adventure last weekend and the days I spent sick this week, I think I can be forgiven for being late!
Bright and early last Saturday morning I hopped on the first flight to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jog-jakarta) to meet up with one of my friends from Australia! I originally was planning on going to Bandung for the weekend as I had never been there before but after hearing Rob was going to be in town, I knew that was the place to be and the place to now fly to!
Yogyakarta is near Mt. Merapi – and if you don’t know where that is, you obviously haven’t read my last post so you should get on that! Jogja is my favourite place in Indonesia and is one of those rare places where I think, if I left Australia, this would be one of two places I’d move to.
Borobudur, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Saturday morning was a real struggle to get out of bed; it was so early that I even beat the call of prayer! My plane was on time and I arrived 10 minutes early which was unexpected! I got in a cab and headed straight to ViaVia to meet up with Rob for the start of a jam packed weekend – starting with a morning cooking class.
Rob had organised a 9am cooking class with ViaVia who also offer a whole range of other things. They are a cafe located in a few places around the world and promote transparency between local culture and people. They do this by using fresh, local produce for all meals on their extensive menu; including their bakery! ViaVia also has a fair-trade shop adjoined to the cafe where they sell organic and recycled materials created by local artists. They also have a hostel and organise cultural tours around Yogyakarta and East Java – really the place has everything!
When we arrived to the meeting point for the class, Made, our teacher, gave us free reign to choose whatever we wanted to make. Being the great man he is, Rob let me choose Sate to which Made informed us we wouldn’t be making just one but two different versions of it! Winning!
We met up with a Polish woman who was also doing the class and we headed straight to the markets to pick up fresh produce. The market wasn’t as busy as I expected it to be but it was definitely a hub for all things food! From meat to chicken’s feet to frog; from fresh fruit and vegetables to rice and crackers; it truly had everything you would ever need and certainly more than what we needed! Made weaved us in and out of lanes of food to the stalls she got all our produce from and within 45 minutes, we were back ready to make some Indonesian food!
After walking back to the class; we had a refreshing cold coffee with sweet cake before getting straight into making Kari Sayuran; the first dish of the day!
Kari Sayuran is a vegetable curry dish which we made very mild. First, we cut all the vegetables while someone ground the small ingredients together with the mortar and pestle! Once everything was cut and ground, including the 5 chillies, we put them all in a pot on the stove to simmer away! While they sautéed, we got to making the first of the two sates – the spicy, sweet and soy sate; a Balinese specialty!
There weren’t a lot of steps to making this Sate; as with before, we ground the chillies with coriander seeds, garlic and bay leaves. We also cut and filleted the chicken into small pieces that we eventually used to make into kebab sticks. The first half of the chicken was marinated by the spicy sate and the second half was marinated by the peanut sate.
The peanut sate that we made was the general sate people get when they order it. This consisted with few ingredients but, surprisingly, there no peanuts in the marinade! Once they were made into skewers, we placed all the sate kebabs in the fridge and focused on the Tempe!
Tempe is fermented soybeans and tastes absolutely amazing (apparently we legally cannot make it in Australia but I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Indonesia!). It takes three days for the soybeans to finish the fermentation stage in which we can then use it to cook. Tempe is high in protein and is used in a lot of vegetarian dishes in Indonesia.
We cut the Tempe up into thick slices and seasoned it with salt and pepper before we fried them off! Rob had mentioned this dish called Kering Tempe that Made was willing to show us how to make. Kering Tempe is Tempe cut into thin strips; fried off until they are crunchy and coated in this caramelized chilli sauce with peanuts. Kering Tempe is normally served as a side or an appetizer before a meal and so you wouldn’t just eat it as it is. We also made purple rice which is white rice cooked with 2 tablespoons of black rice that when heated up; creates a purple colour! Pretty cool!
After the Tempe, we cooked the Sate sticks, heated up crushed peanuts and coconut cream on the stove and combined crushed chillies with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) to use as dipping sauce for the Spicy Sate – the kecap manis takes the taste of the chill marinate and creates a chilli, sweet and soy combination that is really smooth on the palate.
After moving everything to the table, we had to eat all the food but it was so good we didn’t have too much trouble getting through it all!
The rice tasted like normal rice even though it was a purple colour (Made was telling us to make yellow rice you just add coriander seeds and turmeric when cooking it) and the vegetable curry was really nice. The Tempe was a little bland but I did expect that as it was just fried Tempe and the Kering Tempe wasn’t really my cup of tea (it wasn’t spicy but it just wasn’t something I would eat often).
But what I made myself wait for was the two sates, and boy, did they not disappoint.
So let me start with the Peanut Sate.
As expected; I knew the peanut sate was very much like every other sate and for that; it was nothing special. It could have had a little more kick to it but it was still nice.
Spice: As I said, there could have been a bit more spice – 3.5
Texture: It was thick and crunchy due to the crushed peanuts but that made it not smooth – 4
Overall Flavour: Tasted very much like peanuts but wasn’t too creamy – 3.5
Overall food for money: As it was apart of a cooking class, which I paid Rp160,000 (approx $16AUD) for I can’t really judge. However, the price for the same Sate was on the menu for Rp44,000. The Sate came with kerupuk, rice and a small salad and for that I’m going to give it a rating of– 3.0
Total: 7/10
Which is one of the top Sate dishes that I have found in West Java (special mention for the Sate at Wilujeng Sumping in Ancol, North Jakarta for being pretty amazing as well).
But I will mention that I think I found the best Sate even though it wasn’t on the menu at ViaVia – and probably would be found more authentically in Bali!
The chilli, sweet and soy Sate!
Chilli, Sweet and Soy Sate
This Sate was the BEST thing I’d ever tasted and that took me by surprise as I thought I would favour the peanut sate more. It was actually the RIGHT spice for me and had a kick but not so much that I was reaching for milk! I could say that that’s because the chef knows her spice levels but I’m not trying to be biased here! It was spicy but that sweet and soy sauce that was drizzled over the top took edge off of the spice and created this amazing balance of all these flavours.
Spice: As I said, the right kind of spice for the right kind of Sate – 5
Texture: The chicken was marinated in chilli marinate but the sauce was made from kecap manis and finely chopped chillies. Because of this, it wasn’t thick or creamy but it was sweet and spicy and all things nice-y – 4
Overall Flavour: I could eat this everyday and never grow bored of it. Screw Java, maybe I should be looking for the best Sate in Bali! – 5
Overall food for money: This is tricky as it was not apart of the menu but as Made was from Bali, she showed us her recipe. Because of that, I will automatically give this a general half rating – 2.5
Total: 8.25/10
Which means that Made’s family recipe for her Sate is the best in Java so far. If anyone wants to travel, or will travel to Yogyakarta one day, I strongly recommend taking Made’s cooking class at ViaVia as it is worth the money and the experience of creating real Indonesian food! She also gives you tips and insights into the best ways to cook these back in your home country and suggests substitutes for herbs and spices that may not be readily available there!
After the cooking class; and feeling quite full; Rob and I headed out to Rumah Impian; an organisation that works with getting street children off the streets and into education. Rob had previously done work there last year and is still affiliated with the organisation so he took me out to see the kids and to show me what he does there (and I’m sure it was a tactic to get me to reconsider my decision to stay and work in Australia).
Playing Cricket with Icha
After Rumah Impian, Rob showed me his favourite warung guy before we both got ready to go out for dinner with a group of people that Rob knew!
After an amazing nights sleep, I eventually got out of bed the next day to start my day! There were a few requests for clothes from my family and I knew that Jogja was probably going to be my best bet at finding them at a cheaper price – Jakarta is so expensive – so I headed down to Jl. Malioboro and the markets surrounding the main street. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up finding exactly what the siblings wanted but I did end up finding these super funky pants that I knew my mum would love (even though I will certainly be borrowing them from time to time!). After shopping, and being over the hot weather and the crowds of people, I went back to my room to wash up in the beautiful outdoor bamboo shower and then checked out before heading back out into the sun.
I was on the 7pm flight back to Jakarta that night and so I had a lot of time to kill before I left! I got into the back of a becak to head back to Viavia to meet up with Rob for lunch and to eat CapCay (some much needed veggies!). After lunch and shopping at the fair-trade store next door, I said my final bye-byes to Rob as he headed home for a much-needed sleep – how jealous I was!
Rob and I
I stayed at ViaVia and wrote a little bit of this post and had a much needed Skype session with the parents! I normally call home every Sunday (still trying to make Sunday nights family night) but the last two weeks I feel like between working and travelling every weekend, its always been a quick 5 minute call of “Hey, I’m alive, I’m okay, I love you too,” on whatever day I can call at a decent time for them! Who knew that juggling a 4 hour time difference could be so hard sometimes?!
After finally killing time, I went to the airport an hour before I was set to depart but my plane was delayed; as I expected it to be. I eventually got home around 10:30pm and had a shower, caught up with the newest episode of The Vampire Diaries (oh my god) and headed off to bed for some much needed sleep!
I can tell you that Monday morning was hard to get out of bed but there were no regrets! It was probably the best weekend I’ve had since I’ve been here; being in Jogja and also being with such a good friend like Rob made the weekend just easy and relaxing!
However, this weekend I was suppose to fly to Lombok but I have had to cancel that as I have been sick this week. That really, really sucked because I normally would just travel as I hate missing out on opportunities, especially ones I have already paid for, but sometimes I have to think about whats best and that would be to stay in Jakarta so I can be my best for the last week of my internship!
I cannot believe that next week is my last week of work- I feel like I’ve been here for months and months, although I will admit, I’m also looking forward to coming home (especially right now when all I want is my bed). I’m also excited to see what my last week brings me at work and then probably more excited to start my own travel plans after the internship. I don’t think I’ll make it back to Lombok this time, but there’s always next time! And hey, while I’m over in the West, I might as well explore the West!
Until next time,
Teesh
Upon tasting the food, I was a little let down with a few things. There wasn’t any spice to the sate sauce at all, in fact, Jane’s rice had more spice than the Sate did. It didn’t have a strong taste of peanuts either, but just a mild, pleasant blend that was neither here nor there. Personally, I prefer my sate to have a little kick and to be able to taste the peanuts and so this sauce didn’t really do it for me.
Adventures of a Blonde 