Journ(al)ey

Wow… it has been a really long time since the last time i wrote on this tumblr. Yeah, I posted about my weight loss few weeks ago. But it doesn’t count.

After quitting my job at a landscape consultant, I went back to my hometown. Jobless, got nothing to do, started to get rustic. But u should look at a bright side of everything that happened in your life. For me, quitting my job means i have time to do something else like having a weight loss diet, cooking, and this time, I am writing.

So this time, I want to share about a recipe. My own recipe. I have never done this before and I only used my intuition.

But, before i tell you about the recipes, I am going to introduce you to my favourite spice of all time, andaliman. It is a kind of spice that is not commonly used in Indonesia. But it is commonly used in Bataknese dishes. I have taken the picture of it.

If you can see on the picture, andaliman looks like pepper or merica. That is why it is ussually called merica Batak. The taste is hot and sour. The smell is really strong and you know that it is hot just by smell this spice. And yeah… thats what makes me love this spice, the smell. When you have it in your mouth, you will feel some kind of numb sensation on your tongue.

So I searched about andaliman on Google, I found out that it is not pepper. Its more like citrus. A super small citrus. The tree only grows in Tapanuli which can explain why only the Bataknese know about this spice. If you want to know more about this spice you can search it on Google.

So back to the recipe. My recipe is more like any other Indonesian recipe but I added this andaliman. The ingredients are fish (I don’t know what fish it is), red chilies, small green chilies (we call it cabe rawit here), garlic, shallot, tomato, lime juice to get rid of the fish smell, salt, a pinch of salt, citrus leaves, and of course andaliman.

So, first step is to gut the fish and marinade it with salt and lime juice. Dont forget to heat the oven. I forgot how hot it is… sorry.

Second step is to prepare the spice. You must grind all the spices but leave citrus leaves and some red chilies. You can use mortar and pestal or food processor to grind it. I use food processor this time. The finely chop the rest of red chilies. I did this to give some texture on the spice. U can just put all the chilies to food processor if you want actually.

After that we can move on to the next step. Rub the fish with the grinded spices. Then wrap it with aluminium foil. Do not forget to put in the citrus leaves in the wrapping. Put it on the preheated oven. I have to say sorry again for forgetting how long it takes. Sorry…

If you think it is already done, take it from the oven and open the aluminium foil. Voila… the fish is ready to eat. 

Actually it didn’t turn out as what I expected. I wanted it crispier and more burned. Even so, I think it is good enough to serve. 

When I taste the dish, I found few other things that didn’t turned out as I expected. The fish didn’t absorb the taste of the spices really well. Maybe I should marinade the fish with the spice before put it in the oven. The other thing, I didn’t use enough andaliman. And the last thing, I maybe should use fire and banana leaves to grill it next time.

But above all that, it tastes really good. The spice is nice, the fish is well done, and it is hot enough to satisfy my tongue.