Nasi Box; it's what's for lunch

When you are in Indonesia and your boss tells you that at 10AM there will be a meeting at so and so Ministry (and this is speaking from personal experience), you can be 95% sure that you will end up being at the meeting until noon and that lunch will be provided in the form of "nasi box."

Nasi means rice. We all know what box means. Put together, nasi box means "bento." It's basically Indonesia's version of a lunch in a box or sometimes dinner in a box.

This is the go-to type of meal for most of Indonesia's ministries and each ministry would have a favorite nasi box catering/restaurant it likes to order from. My directorate really prefers a Padang food nasi box called Wahid II, which is actually quite tasty.

There was a directorate once where I attended a meeting and the lunch box was hokka hokka bento, which is my least favorite of all the nasi boxes out there not only because I think "hokben" tastes like crap inside a foam tupperware, but it also banks on a gigantic portion of rice unbalanced by a tiny two-pieces of fried shrimp or chicken. Not really the healthiest of lunch or dinner meals.

I went to the Ministry of Defence once for a very long meeting, and that place gave all the attendees a huge box of D'Cost, a seafood chain.

Reliance on nasi box, though, can get a little overboard, in my opinion. Sometimes the catering people would just come and drop off the boxes, and we wouldn't know whose boxes they belong to so no one takes them. By the time we figure out that it's for us, the food inside is probably on the way to becoming rotten. And hence my stomach problems throughout 2011 when all I had every single day was nasi box (because I was at work 24/7... seemingly).

But getting nasi box certainly beats missing lunch because of a meeting, and nasi boxes saves me a lot of money. So there's the plus side.

The day when sacrifices are made

It's a little difficult to describe Idul Adha because I don't celebrate this Muslim holiday. I guess the background would be the story of Abraham and how he was told by God to sacrifice his first-born. In the Islamic version, the first-born is Ishmael. Well, Abraham was about to do it until a divine voice intervened, told him to stop, and sacrifice a goat in his first-born's place. The point is he was about to make the ultimate sacrifice for God.

Well, Idul Adha is a celebration of this story, but instead of first-borns, the Muslim population sacrifice cows and goats instead.

Indonesia being mostly made-up of Muslims, also follows the tradition of sacrificing and giving the meat to the poor. On idul adha, loud shrieking horror noises of terrified goats and cows can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood, but it's all for a good cause.

I've never actually seen the rituals, because I probably would faint, but my brother has when he was still in elementary school. He said it made him nauseated and he wouldn't want to witness such a thing ever again.

Funny enough, tomorrow is the 15th of October, which is both my birthday and this year's Idul Adha. I was born in the year of the goat, according to the Chinese zodiac..... I can't help but feel a little freaked out at the symbolism and coincidence of it all. Hope my neck won't get a chill tomorrow.

Sedap Malam restaurant opened nearby

One of my favorite seafood restaurants in Jakarta is Sedap Malam, which means "delicious night." That sounds a bit kinky, but then again, seafood is supposed to be sumptuous and tempting. The original restaurant is located on Batu Tulis Raya street, the area behind the Presidential palace.

I used to go there with my parents and we would order the sweet black pepper sauce crab.

Now a chain has opened near where I live, which means I don't have to go too far to have some delicious seafood. = 

Garlic shrimp

That's kangkung (Chinese spinach / morning glory) on top

Coconut and orange punch

The famous crab with sweet black pepper sauce

Bean sprouts

Ny. Suharti's fried chicken

One of my favorite Indonesian fried chicken chains is Ayam Goreng Ny. Suharti. Ayam goreng means fried chicken. Ny = Mrs. Suharti is a name. So it's Mrs. Suharti's fried chicken.

Ny. Suharti's fried chicken has been a favorite of my family since as long as I can remember. This fried chicken establishment was owned by a husband-and-wife named Sachlan (the husband) and Suharti (the wife), but unfortunately, after around 30 years of harmonious business together, another woman got in the way, dissolving not only the marriage, but also the business.

Now there are two versions of the Ny. Suharti brand. One is owned by the former husband, the logo is in the picture below. The logo is two chickens with an S in the middle. 

The husband's restaurant

The one owned by Mrs. Suharti also uses the two chickens, but it is reinforced by the addition of her photo in the logo so that people can differentiate which restaurants belong to the former husband and which to the former wife.

The taste of both restaurants' chickens are the same, though. They both use ayam kampung (free-range chicken), and the chicken is topped with the most delicious kremes (crunchy fried topping).

That lady is calling my name "Miss Lyanna, your chicken is ready!"

I have never actually tried Ny. Suharti's other dishes. That's how much I love their fried chicken, but I heard the fried fish is also good.

And let me give you an advice. The best way to eat this is the Indonesian way: by using YOUR HANDS. NO FORKS, NO SPOONS, NO KNIVES. Just use your right hand to grab the rice, shape it into a small pyramid, put a small piece of chicken, mix in a little chili paste, and shove the thing with your thumb inside your mouth.

It might look complicated and dirty at first, but the taste of food in your hands coming into your mouth feels so much more satisfying than tasting silver hitting your tongue.

crunchy deliciousness

the sweet chili paste (sambal)

Have it with rice and a little bit of veggie

I had Turkish ice cream at Gandaria City Mall

I don't know why, but I've seen a lot of Turkish ice cream lately wherever I go. Okay, not wherever I go, but in a lot of the places I visit, I would see Turkish ice cream vendors somewhere in the corner of my eye. I remember one stand of Turkish ice cream in Bangkok while I was walking around the Asiatique Riverfront's night market.

Anyway, the chance came up to try it at Gandaria City Mall, Jakarta, and I decided to get the strawberry flavor.

I didn't really enjoy the taste of the ice cream itself. Thought it was pretty bland, to be honest. It is stickier and more malleable than other ice creams. You kinda have to put it in your mouth and chew it a bit, which was difficult to do as I was walking around the mall.

Ah well, not everything is gonna be to everyone's taste. I probably won't try another Turkish ice cream until I get to Turkey to taste the real thing. Maybe it would be 100% better over there.

In China, I ate: Youtiao (油条)

During my stay in China, I would usually go to class a half hour early just so that I could sit alone in the classroom and enjoy one youtiao (油条) and a cup of warm soy milk. That would be my daily breakfast.

I know that youtiao is prevalent all over the world now, but I was really happy to have had it in its country of origin. 

In Indonesia, where I come from, youtiao is called cakwe (taken from the hokkien name for youtiao = "yu charkway"). They are simply just fried salty dough strips. In my home country, we would usually have youtiao as a side dish for chicken porridge. Or sometimes we would eat them as a snack with a vinegar and chopped chili pepper sauce.

In China, people would also have youtiao as a side dish for porridge. But what I loved the most was that youtiao would be eaten for breakfast as an accompaniment for warm soy milk. 

Soy milk (especially warm one) is not readily available in street stalls in Indonesia because we are more accustomed to drinking cow's milk, and I don't see many cakwe vendors either. So I really enjoyed the Chinese way of eating youtiao, and that is one of the things I have missed the most from China.

In Indonesia I ate: Patin fish cooked inside bamboo

The first time I ever heard of ikan patin (iridescent shark or shark catfish) was on a business trip to Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. Back then I wasn't able to taste this local delicacy because I was too busy taking care of my boss.

Then a few months later, on a culinary tour with a couple of friends, we went to a Kalimantan restaurant somewhere in Bogor (West Java) and we ordered ikan patin. What makes this Kalimantan dish so famous is that the catfish is stuffed inside a bamboo with all the spices along with it, then grilled. The bamboo would probably fit a human arm, so this fish is quite large in size. 

Once the cooking's done, the fish would be taken out of the bamboo, laid out on a banana leaf plate, and then ready to be eaten. I know catfish isn't to everyone's taste, but I quite enjoy it. The meat is tender because it is cooked inside the bamboo, which also allows the chili sauce and spices to permeate all over the fish. Really delicious.