Passport & Plate - Indonesian pocket rice : Arem Arem
Indonesia | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients:
- 250 gram rice
- 500 ml cocounit milk from one coconut
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 leaves for wrapping
Filling ingredients :
- 150 gram minced chicken breast
- 1 carrot, diced
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 4 shallots
- 2 clove garlic
- 2 red chilies
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon chicken stock (optional)
- pinch of salt
- 2 leaves salam
- galangal 1 inch
- 1 stalk lemon grass
- 2 lime leaves
How to prepare this recipe:
-rinse and drain rice ,put rice in the big pot and cook together with coconut milk,salt,salam leaves.keep stiring until liquid absorbed by the rice.
-in a mortar & pestle blend together garlic,shallots and red chilies until get a paste
-heat little oil in a pan and saute the paste,add chicken and stir it well,add carrot and other ingredients,stir it again until all the liquid are evaporated
-cut and clean banana leaves into rectangle ( about 15-25 cm)
-flattened the rice in the middle of leaf and then put filling in the middle of rice
-roll and fold the rice to cover the filling,shape it like cylinder
-fold and secure both of the end with toothpick
-put wrapped rice into steamer and steam it about 30 min
Story behind this recipe :
It was a long time ago since I went to traditional market until my friend ask me to accompany her to go there.when I was there,I gaze upon people who sold banana leaves.in tropical countries,specifically Indonesia,banana leaves is used to wrap foods,like in Japan that uses nori.for a second. I was caught in my chilhood memories,befriending with a single banana leaves.once,my lovely mother wrapped me a lunch at rice overlaying some side dish.clenched and layered with a banana leaf.this mouthwatering javanese cuisine is known as Arem Arem.Before going to school, my mother always told me to nip a banana leaves from banana garden not a far from the road to school. I was always intrigved to take the leaf of, of its stem, so my mother would create me some Arem Arem. This garden is also used by my friend to play around night after school. Just when the rain starts to drop little droplets of freshening water droplet, I left aside a single leaf on the stem so it could be useful as a shade of protection from the rain and returned safely back home. These days,taking a leaf freely is a challenge due to vasts acred of banana garden had turned into kiosks or private properties. Eventhough banana leaves are beneficially advantaging. The Arem Arem that I brought proudly all the way to school is finely kept fresh and delivered a unique aroma. And that being said,I set one Arem Arem aside for my meal after school.Now, I have moved to a neighbouring city for my study as an undergraduate student and guess what? Arem Arem is still my number one light meal. At my campus canteen,one serves a Arem Arem. Still,it doesn’t resembles the authenticity of the traditional home made one. But it would get me the nostalgic feeling with the “original” Arem Arem When I get back home and that only occurs once a year. When I’m back home for the first time, Arem Arem is my favourite request to my mother and told a confession that I sold some of my Arem Arem to my friends just to save money for a lunchbox with the illustration of Donald Duck, then my mother cracked a laughter and pat my head. If only I told her about this back then, she would bring me only one Arem Arem
About me :
Food.. gues who doesn’t like food? All living creatures need food. If you count the varieties of food on earth, then it is infinite. That is the reason my curiosity is high, and it carries me to have an ambition to taste different kinds of foods around the world., and I think the foods don’t have to be a delicacy but have the uniqueness in the making or the origins. I think when taking a journey to taste the dishes, you would not only talk about the dish, but the talk would go everywhere to social things, even to culture things. This kind of talk breaks the the personal boundary between two people.
As I heard about the Food Adventure destination from worldnomads this year in Sri Lanka, I wandered the unique dish from Sri Lanka that is not far off from the ones in india, I felt like I was being called and recalled about my ambition to taste foods all around the world. I hope that Sri Lankan will be my starting point to achieve it. And hopefully I won’t just learn and study about foods but interacts with the locals, making new friends, and appreciate other cultures. Just like all cooks, doing adventures to gain new ideas. As a student majoring in industrial design, I look for inspirations starting from a dish. Inspiration comes from anywhere, but say food is medium from God to inspire me about design.
