Over the past few weeks, I've been somewhat reluctantly engaged in the process of creating and populating a Pinterest page for this blog. I'm still acclimating to the platform, and my time on it has been marked by a few ups-and-downs. Take for example, just now I felt a pulse of thrill surge through my body as I received the news that a fellow Pinterest user (a Pinner?) had saved one of my pins (the Bran & Jam Muffins of a few posts back) to one of their boards. Gripped in the heady throes of excitement, I navigated on to their page only to find that my beloved muffins had been housed in the dubious category of "Health and Wellness".
I mean... it's just one. big. ugh, right? Rest assured, it gets worse. I clicked into their board, nervous anticipation rising in my like a particularly acidic bile, and uncovered a collection replete with colon cleansing tips, pictures of women with teabags in their ponytails (it prevents grey hair!) and a truly sensational piece of advice that instructs the subject to leave a piece of onion in their ear overnight. The "rationale" behind the latter is that the phosphoric acid will work to prevent ear infections. It makes me wonder what miraculous healing benefits were attributed to my humble mounds of sugared bran? If it is in any way related to the colonic purity, then that might just be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back.
Fear not, for there remains a small pocket of hope that is yet to be quashed. Perhaps unbelievably, based on the above, I am here to report on a Pinterest-based triumph. Nope, I have not diagnosed an internal malady with the help of a teaspoon; I come to you with a recipe that I am eager to share! This comes from the blog Pisang Susu (which means "Red Banana"in Indonesian) which primarily contains food-writing and recipes about Dutch-Indonesian food. The recipe is for Semur Telor (Braised Eggs to you and I), and if anyone knows of my ardour for the two titular components of this dish then you'll probably appreciate the swiftness with which I saved this pin. O'Pinterest, thou walketh the path of redemption.
I think it's fair to say that Indonesian food isn't the most prolific when we think of Southeast Asian cooking (an incredibly non-homogeneous categorisation, mind). Thailand is the well-established culinary juggernaut within the Western imagination, and the star of Vietnam (the one in the flag, perhaps?) is definitely ascending at a rapid pace. The Philippines and Malaysia are present on the scene too with ube-topped ice cream and the bowls of steaming laksa respectively taking their places. I can't say that I even really knew much about Indonesian cuisine beyond my copy of William Wongso's Flavours of Indonesia.
Semur Telor represents the national food gloriously. It's an incredibly simply dish, relying on the flavours of fresh tomato, chopped leeks and nutmeg. The cooking process for this was peppered with intrusive thoughts, telling me that "this isn't going to be great" and pointedly asking "how is this going to come together?" Let me tell you, as well as being a perfect ambassador for Indonesia, it is also a testament for the alchemical properties of a stove, a wok and a set of ingredients. The dish was a perfect balance of sweetness from the tomato and the components hailing from the allium genus, savoury woodiness from the partnership of soy sauce and nutmeg, and creaminess from the safety-warning tinted rivulets of egg yolk extending their reach across the dish.
I'd like to say that, although I've used phrases above such as "ambassador for Indonesia" and made a few generalisations, Indonesian food (as well as all other aspects of it's culture) is mind-blowingly diverse. I did my Masters degree in Climate Change, and the first assessment I had was to write a report about the projected physical impacts on a country of my choice; after a lot of hand-wringing, I picked Indonesia. Sobering stuff, but I was overawed to learn that the country consists of over seventeen-thousand islands. Within this archipelago of overwhelming proportions are 264 million people (4th most populous country in the world), over 700 languages and more than 300 ethnic groups. I know that these are easily Wikipediable (not yet a word, but it should be) facts, but it says a lot about the multifarious nature of just about everything situated within the island-chain republic.
I have made a few marginal adaptations based on the drearily-dull nature of commercially available tomatoes in the UK (I think this extends to the EU as a whole too, but don't quote me on that). According to this article from The Independent, tomatoes are picked while green and allowed to ripen in transit, curtailing their potential significantly. Knowing this, I'm not sure that I've ever really had a properly ripened and prepared tomato, and this explains why I found the fruit unbearably grassy as a child. I've made a couple of additions here to boost the acidity and sweetness that would have been provided by a well-nurtured tomato. Of course, if you have access to a superior crop of whatever form this may not be necessary.
Another note is that I made this as a solo meal. If you do this also, I recommend cutting the amount of eggs in half, but using the same quantities of everything else. If you end up having too much sauce, then you can either save some to re-purpose or (even better) mop it up with some bread.
Pisang Susu's Semur Telor (Indonesian Braised Eggs)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side.
Ingredients
4 eggs
1 leek
1/2 a small red onion
1 clove of garlic
1 large tomato
1 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
100 ml of vegetable stock or broth
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of pepper
Salt to taste
Finely chop the onion, leek and the tomato. Crush the clove of garlic before finely mincing. Once all of the vegetables have been prepared, set aside for cooking later.
Add the butter and the vegetable oil to a large frying pan and melt over a high heat. Once the butter has melted and the oil has come to a hot temperature, add the four eggs and cook until they are almost done; there should be a little bit of white on the top that isn't cooked. Don't worry, I know this is a scary prospect but they will finish cooking when they are braised.
Remove each egg from the frying pan carefully (I broke the yoke of one of my eggs at this stage...) and add the onions and the leek to the frying pan, using the same oil that was used to cook the eggs. Saute over a medium high heat for four minutes, or until they have softened.
Stir in the garlic to the pan and saute for a further 30 seconds. After this, add the tomato to the pan and stir until it has integrated with the mixture. When all is combined, add the broth, soy sauce, lemon juice nutmeg, salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
When the pan has come to the boil, add the eggs and turn down to a medium heat. Simmer for 4 minutes. This will be just enough time for the eggs to cook and for the sauce to reduce very slightly.
Transfer to serving bowls and plates once this has done. You could eat this with rice, or on it's own; I had mine with a bit of simple baguette on the side to absorb the sauce. Pisang Susu's recommendation is to serve it with this Trancam Salad if you're thinking of making a couple of things.
Notes & Adjustments
Most of these adjustments come from the original blog post on Pisang Susu, so that's an extra assurance that they are tried and tested!
If you can find it, substitute the soy sauce for kecap manis, which is an Indonesian form of soy sauce which has a greater sweetness and viscosity due to the use of palm sugar. If you do use this, however, reduce the amount of sugar you use by 1/2 a tsp.
If you don't like leek, then substitute it for 2 large spring onions.
Instead of fresh tomato, you could also use two tsp of tomato puree. This will probably result in a slightly thicker sauce.
This can also be finished with the juice of a lime segment, for a brighter flavour. If you do this, reduce the amount of lemon juice used by 1/2 a tsp.
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