Peanuts (kacang tanah): Used raw and ground to make suace, or deep fried and used as a garnish or condiment.
Palm Sugar (gula jawa): Juice extracted from the coconut flower or aren palm is boiled and packed into molds to make sugar with a faint caramel taste. If palm sugar is not available, substitute with soft brown sugar. To make palm sugar syrup, combine 2 cups of chopped palm sigar with 1 cup of water and 2 pandan leaves. Bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, strain and store in refrigerator.
Garlic (bawang putih): The cloves of garlic in the Western countries are considerably larger. Adjust the amount to suit your taste
Chilies (cabai, also called cabe or lombok): There are several types of chili pepper used in Indonesia. One thing that is important about chili pepper, the amount of heat increases as the size of the chili pepper diminishes. Green chilies are the unripe fruit, and have a flovor different from red chilies. Fresh, finger-length red chilies are the most commonly used. Dried chilies also used in some dishes and they should be torn into pieces and soaked in hot water to soften before grinding or blending. Hottest of all chilies are the tiny fiery bird’s-eye chilies (cabe rawit). To reduce the heat of the dish while retaining the flavor, remove some or all the chili’s seeds.
Lime: There are several types of lime used in Indonesia. The most fragrant one is called kaffir lime (jeruk purut). Kaffir lime has virtually no juice, but the double leaf is often used whole or very finely shredded, while the grated skin is occasionally used in cooking. The picture on the right shows Kaffir lime. The round yellow-skinned limes which size is slightly larger than a golf ball (jeruk nipis) and small, dark green limes (jeruk limau) are used for their juice. If limes are not available in your area, you can subsitute it with lemon.
And many more……………….
Taste your Peanut Spice …….
