Indonesian Cuisine "Petai"

          Petai (Parkia speciosa) contains three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose. Combined with fiber, petai gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proved that just two servings of petai provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder petai is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way petai can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Here are some petai special qualities to our health:

PMS ( premenstrual syndrome ):
Forget the pills - eat petai. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Depression:
According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND among people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating petai. This is because petai contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

Blood Pressure:
This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the petai industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Anaemia (lack of blood) :
High in iron, petai can stimulate the production of haemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anaemia.

Brain Power :
200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating petai at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Heartburn:
Petai has a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating petai for soothing relief.

Constipation:
High in fiber, including petai in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers:
One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a petai milkshake, sweetened with honey. The petai calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Morning Sickness :
Snacking on petai between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites :
Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of the petai skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) :
Petai can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer, tryptophan.

Nerves:
Petai is high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Ulcers:
Petai is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control :
Many other cultures see petai as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Holland, for example, pregnant women eat petai to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Overweight (obesity) :
Studies at the Institute in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Stress:
Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium petai snack.

Strokes:
According to research in 'The New England Journal of Medicine, ' eating petai as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%'.

Warts:
Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of petai and place it on the wart. Carefully hold the petai in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

Smoking:
Petai can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

So, as you can see, petai really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrates, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A Petai a day keeps the doctor away'. So have lets have a petai for today's dinner. Bye. :)

Indonesian Cuisine "Tempe"

             Tempeh, or tempe in Javanese, is an inovative creation food of Javanese people that made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. It is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempe is made from soybeans, but tempe is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities.

              Tempe's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fibre and vitamins. Tempe is very nutritive and contains many health ingredients. It has many health benefits such as strengthen bones, help to ease menopause symptoms, reduce risk of coronary hearth disease and some cancers. Soya has actually been shown to contain nutrients that have a positive effect on both cholesterol and the potential cancer creating toxins in our bodies. Tempe maintains all the fibre of the beans and gains some digestive benefits from the enzymes created duringthe fermentation process.

Because of its nutritional value, tempe is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue. Even long before Westerners found and realized its rich nutritional value, tempe was referred to as “Javanese meat.”

The problem if you live abroad like me is the lack of people selling it. And the only way to have Tempe in your dining table is by making it by yourself.

Making tempe is easy, but there are some issues that could make your effort failure, especially if you live in 4 seasons country. The basic problems are such as the unstable temperature, cleanness, wrong measurement of tempe starter (ragi tempe).Fortunately after few times trial and error, now I always success make Tempe.

Here I explain step by step how to make tempe from 100% soy.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The three important parameters in making Tempeare:

1. moist or water content
2. Tempe starter (ragi tempe) or inoculum Tempe
3. Incubating temperatures

The moist or water content of substrate

Practically all seeds such as rice, beans, peas, oat, and others can be made Tempe. Each gives a different taste. Each takes a different period of time in boiling to get ready for inoculation. Soybeans, the main and most common stuff for Tempe takes 45 to 60 minutes, but most peas take fifteen to twenty minutes. After dehulling, soybeans need five to ten minutes of second boiling before being drained and spread drying on towels. Additional nuking and blowing are sometimes necessary. The difficult task is to gauge the dryness of the substrate. Too dry means slow or no growth of mycelium; too wet, however, results inmyceliolysis and rotting Tempe. Fortunately, the margin of safety is wide enough.

Tempe starter (ragi tempe) or Inoculum Tempe

Using too much and insufficient amount of starter result in myceliolysis or rotting Tempe. The safest way is just following the recommendation of the makers of the starter. Using home made starter needs lots patience in trial and error.

Incubating temperatures

For the first ten hours, incubating at 31 to 33 C or 88 to 91 F is safe. For the next six hours, temperatures around 28 C or 82 F are good. As soon as the substrate starts generating its own heat (the temperature inside the incubator begins to rise) or some condensation starts, the heating source should be removed. Rhizopus keeps on growing at temperatures below 20 C or 64 F, but it grows at slower pace.  Generally, Tempe matures in 24 to 30 hours.

The speed of fermentation is determined by incubation temperature. Incubation temperatures above 40 degrees C and above 25 degrees C will not produce good Tempe. A temperature of 37 - 38 degrees C will produce Tempe within 22h; a temperature of 28-30 degrees C will take up to 48 h to produce Tempe.

Indonesian cuisine "nasi goreng"

JAKARTA - President of the United States, Barack Obama remembered with meatballs, crackers, and fried rice when she lived in Menteng, Central Jakarta. Obama's remarks came during a speech at the State Palace after a dinner hosted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

"Thank you all. Meatball, crackers, fried rice, all good," Obama said laughter Yudhoyono and his ministers of United Indonesia Cabinet (KIB), JILID II, as well as the guests of honor from both countries.

Well this time I will inform you how I make fried rice as favored by the U.S. president Obama ...

materials:

1. Two plates of white rice

2. 15 medium-size red onion

3. 1.5 cloves garlic

4. 10 pieces of chilli

5. One teaspoon salt

In the composition of these foods actually size can be changed. Shallots can be made more, so if you want spicy chili. But for the onion, not too much. If most, it feels very uncomfortable.

Cooking:

1. Enter the numbers 2 through 5 ingredients into cowek (what's this in English) and create until smooth. But do not be too until smooth. Roughness that is the distinctive flavor of fried rice this.

2. Heat 4 or 5 tablespoons of cooking oil.

3 Put the spices into the hot oil earlier. And wait several seconds until half cooked.

Seasonings that seem still are large (not to smooth) is what makes fried rice is really tasty.

4. Enter the white rice into the pan and then back and forth until quite ripe.

5. Fried Rice is ready to serve

Delicious fried rice and whether this depends on the skills of the fry.