Issue 16The Indonesian Cook

COLUMNIST: DINA WATT
The Indonesian Cook
Springtime often refers to the ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, and regrowth. Why not rejuvenate the way you cook and make your daily food healthier by using seasonal homegrown vegetables? In this first issue of 2023, I would like to show you how to use your vegetables in easy, delicious recipes.
Recipe 1: Cabbage & Carrot Spring Rolls1
Any vegetables you have been growing over winter, or have frozen from summer, can be used for this recipe. Pay a visit to your local Asian market to get spring roll sheets: they are so affordable and the fresh spring rolls you make will taste way better than ready-made ones. There is also the option of using filo pastry if you have trouble finding spring rolls sheets, which can be easily found in local supermarkets.
You will need:

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

½ carrot, finely sliced

1 bowl of any kind of greens: cabbage, kale, pok choy, finely chopped

150gr chicken or tofu, finely sliced.

1 bowl of rice noodles (I am using noodles but you can leave them out)

Spring roll sheets, large size

For frying:

500ml cooking oil

How to make it:

Quickly sauté the chicken or tofu in 1 tablespoon of oil with garlic and onion for a couple of minutes until cooked. Then add carrots, mixed greens, and rice noodles, and stir fry them together for 1-2 minutes to make sure greens are still crunchy inside the spring rolls. Put this aside, let it cool down.

Prepare the spring roll sheets (see the steps shown in the picture). Do not put in too much filling, use a tablespoon size.

Fry in cooking oil for about 3 minutes on each side.

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Recipe 2 - Dina’s Gado-gado Peanut Sauce 4
If you happened to watch ‘Beechgrove’ last year, you might have come across my episode on how to make Indonesian gado-gado salad. The great thing about gado-gado, is that you can use any kind of vegetables available in your garden, in any season. If you happen to have some courgette, just cut it julienne, or in chunks, and blanch. To blanch simply means to boil them for 2 minutes, and directly bathe them into a big bowl of ice cold water. I simply love this technique because the vegetables will retain colour even though they have been cooked.
Then mix the blanched courgette with the gado-gado peanut sauce. Usually I serve it with half a boiled egg or sunny side fried egg, and of course, rice. Perfect for just a quick nutritious meal for those who are always on the go.
You can always make a big batch and store the gado-gado peanut sauce for up to 3 weeks in your fridge, or use it for chicken satay or even for the spring rolls dip.
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What you need:

2 cloves of garlic

1 red Thai chilli (depending on how spicy you would like the sauce to be)

2-3 scoops of crunchy peanut butter

½ cup of water

1 teaspoon of sugar

½ teaspoon of chicken bouillon

A pinch of salt

Juice of half lime

How to make it:

You might need a blender or a pestle and mortar to grind all the ingredients together.

My oma (grandma) always said, start with the garlic and salt. Grind them until it becomes a smooth paste. Then add the chilli, sugar, and chicken bouillon. Blend or grind them together, then add the crunchy peanut butter and water, and mix well. Last, add the lime juice to give it a zing.

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Dina Watt ProfileDina Watt grew up in Bandung, West-Java, Indonesia, and now living in Aberdeenshire, she is known as The Indonesian Cook. Dina's love of nature and gardening fuels her passion for cooking. In her column, Dina shares her own adventurous recipes for delicious home cooked meals that are easy to make, mostly using homegrown, seasonal fruits and vegetables from her own kitchen garden. She is passionate about using every bit of the plant in order to practice zero-waste principles.
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