Homemade Ikan Tenggiri Balado

Reminiscing the good old time I had in Surabaya when I cook most of the time because the food there is just cheap cheap cheap. For a period of time, I managed to survive an entire day with only Rp10.000,00 for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - I only had to go to the traditional market to get some tempe, tofu, an egg, and some garlic, then I went home and cook straight away for a whole day meal. When I feel like having a more proper meal, I usually went to the supermarket to get myself a decent meat.

One day, I felt like having Ikan Balado like how my Mom used to cook at home. I bought some garlic, shallots, tomato, red chilly pepper, and of course a fish. Doing it the traditional way to prepare the seasoning by mashing it all up with a mortar and a pestle because I have no clue on how to operate the blender, plus the food will taste better when you do it the traditional way because that way there will still be clumps of garlic that would just hit the spot nicely.

Balado is a type of spicy seasoning originated from West Sumatra. It is made out of mashed garlic, shallots, tomato, and red chilly pepper. The mushy spices will then cooked with whatever ingredient you feel like having. It goes well with beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and even eating it right up as a dipping sauce. In my case, I had it with some deep-fried mackerel. Although I lack experience in terms of making Ikan Balado, my dish turned out great and very flavorful! It was spicy and savory, and it had a very dominant garlic flavor, which I love so much.

Lunch for Two

Today’s lunch was a home meal I cooked for me and my neighbor, Leo. Leo here is an ex classmate from Air Asia who is living next door. We were both unoccupied with flight schedules this afternoon, so we decided to have lunch together. Since I have some chicken and tempeh I brought from home yesterday, I decided to cook with the ingredients I have and skip eating out like what he suggested. 

So, today’s meal was a simple chicken fried rice with tempe orek (stir-fried tempeh with sweet soy sauce), along with some fritters that Leo bought at this warteg (short for “warung tegal”, which is basically a cheap dining place with home-cooked dishes) where we usually buy our food. No fuss whatsoever, I only had to fry some garlic with the coconut oil I bought at Naked Inc., then I put in the shredded chicken, added some rice, then I took a pinch of Himalayan salt (which I bought at Naked Inc. as well), and finally I dashed some powdered black pepper into the concoction. Voila! 

I’ve been eating Shirataki rice for quite some time now, so I cooked my meal separately because Leo was having his regular white rice. Shirataki rice, you see, is like your regular rice because it is made out of root plant (like potato and yam). It doesn’t contain as much gluten as regular rice do, so it suits those who are on a gluten-free diet. Funnily, it tasted like regular rice! 

It only took me a while to prep up the meal and, before he knew it, lunch was served. We ate at our boarding house’s front yard. It had passed mid noon by the time we dine in, but, thankfully, the sun was very subtle, making it not too hot for the both of us to dine outdoor.