Rijsttafel vanavond

Dinner tonight: Indonesian Rijsttafel with dear friends. Many years ago, I took Chinese cooking lessons with Chet and have been meaning to invite him and Karen for an Indonesian dinner for some time. Tonight's menu includes:

• Sayur Lodeh - vegetables in coconut sauce


• Rendang - spicy beef stew (the crock pot works well for this)


• Tempeh goreng


• Atjar ketimun - cucumber salad


• Garnished with peanuts and sambal oelek (hot sauce)


• Nasi (I'm using brown rice which my grandmother would frown upon)


• Black rice pudding with mango for dessert

Just like Thanksgiving, I've been working on this for a few days, but the result will be a little lighter. When I was a kid, my mother made all her Indonesian food from scratch and taught me to do the same. The Dutch can buy many dishes in the deli at the supermarket or just use a mix. Luckily for me, my sister sends me mixes from Holland so I don't have to do as much from scratch, but I still prefer making my own sayur. The mix just doesn't taste right, and I can't figure out what it is I don't like in it. I do wish I had some krupuk, but that will have to wait til another time. Chet's bringing a Reisling and some beer.