Pepes Udang (Spicy Prawns Grilled in Banana Leaves)

Pepes is an Indonesian food usually wrapped in banana leaves. There are a number of different pepes, depending on the ingredients and spices used. "Udang" means prawns in Indonesian. So, pepes udang is spicy prawns grilled in banana leaves. I used foil wraps and my pepes still tastes as good as those I had in my hometown.

I remember the times when our family enjoyed a variety of pepes served with veggies and steamed rice. It was so delicious and our tongues were crazily burnt because of the chillies. I recently made pepes using my mum's recipe. Surprise surprise... my hands were burning since it took me a while to wrap the prawns. Oh boy!! It wasn't comfortable to have burning hands for several hours.

I made two recipes for pepes sauce and kept some in the freezer.  This would save me so much time to prepare pepes next time. As long as the sauce is kept in an airtight container, your pepes will taste as good as the first batch.

Ingredients (for 6 pepes):

• 42 raw prawns (peel and de-vein)
• 16 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 tomatoes
• 8 big red chillies
• 10 small red chillies
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 big red onion
• 5 candle nuts (fried first)
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tbs sugar
• a pinch of white pepper

Preparations:
Fry candle nuts with some oil until they turn golden brown.

Chop chillies, tomatoes, red onions and garlic into smaller pieces.

Process chopped ingredients, fried candle nuts and 4 kaffir lime leaves using a juicer. They should turn to a smooth pepes sauce.

Pan-fry the sauce until it turns to a thick sauce. Add salt, sugar and a pinch of white pepper.

Combine the prawns with pepes sauce well. Add 7 prawns + 2 kaffir lime leaves in each wrap.

Steam each wrap for 20 mins and put in the oven for 15 mins. Pepes is now ready to serve.
If pepes is still a bit wet, remove the foil wrap and put in the oven for another 5-15 mins.

Es Cendol

I was so happy when my mum sent me a cendol maker last year. I have never seen such a thing before. It looked cute and also weird. My cendol looked like green noodles since I put too much dough before pressing it. Well.. something to learn for a better looking cendol next time!

Es cendol is a popular Indonesian drink, served with coconut milk, palm sugar and green jelly (cendol). I added jackfruit in mine to give extra flavor. This drink is easy to prepare and the sweetness of palm sugar is very unique.

 Ingredients (5 serves):

• Coconut milk
• A pinch of salt
• Pandan leaves
• Hunkwe flour cap Boenga
• Rice Starch
• A drop of pandan paste
• A can of jackfruit
• Palm sugar
• Water

Preparations:

Prepare cendol: add 150 ml water and a small drop of pandan paste into a boiling pot. In another bowl, add 37.5 gr hunkwe flour, 12.5 gr rice starch (3:1 ratio) and 150 ml of water. Mix well. Add the flour mixture when the water starts to boil.

Mixed the flour mixture until it thickens. Turn off the heat.

Prepare a big bowl with cold water and ice cubes. Press the green dough using the cendol maker into the cold water. Cendol is now ready!

Prepare coconut milk: Add coconut milk, a pinch of salt and several pandan leaves into a small pot and bring to boil.

Prepare palm sugar: Cut palm sugar into small pieces and add a small amount of water. Keep stirring and bring them to boil. Run the boiled palm sugar through a strainer.

Prepare jackfruit: Open the jackfruit can and get rid off the syrup. Cut the jackfruit into long strips. Serve es cendol with some ice cubes or shaved ice. Here is my cendol station!