This could be the first time you hear the word “Pepes”. If you googled this word, you will find a Wikipedia article saying that this word means the Indonesian cooking method using banana leaves as a food wrapping. After the wrapping step, the pepes can be steamed, baked, or grilled. The purpose of using banana leaf as a wrapper is to get the special aroma from the burnt banana leaf as it will be infused inside the cooked food. Spiced tofu cooked in banana leaves (or pepes generally) is famous in the West Java region of Indonesia. There are lots …

Sauté leunca is a very niche recipe since I believe if you are not from Indonesia (and West Java primarily), you have probably never heard of this vegetable called Leunca. I made this dedicated post because, as you all know, I am Indonesian and live in Singapore. Even though Singapore and Indonesia are very near each other, not all Indonesian vegetables are available there. Leunca is one of the Indonesian vegetables that I miss the most! When my housekeeper mentioned seeing it in the local market, I immediately asked her to buy it. For those who already know what Leunca …

Who doesn’t love a good chicken noodle soup? Especially during the cold weather, having a bowl of this soup can warm your heart and soul! Before I went vegan, I always, always loved to make a good Indonesian chicken noodle soup. It’s not difficult to make and reminds me of chicken noodle soup that my mother used to make whenever I was sick. Since I went vegan, I stopped making this as I thought it was impossible to recreate the umami taste of the chicken broth until I really craved it and finally tried to do some experiments to make …

We Indonesians love spicy food, and we never forget to use Indonesian Sambal (Chili Paste). There are lots of famous sambals in Indonesia, but one of my go-tos is the Sambal Goreng. This sambal is very versatile, as I can combine it with multiple dishes such as fried tofu, tempeh, bakwan, etc. 3 SIMPLE MAIN INGREDIENTS FOR THE INDONESIAN SAMBAL (CHILI PASTE) RECIPE This sambal is made with 3 simple ingredients: WHAT IS THE TOOL YOU ARE GOING TO NEED TO MAKE THE SAMBAL? Here we go, let’s do it! To make this sambal, there are 3 tools that we …