With thanks to Juli & Andy Santoso from D’Penyetz & D’Cendol. Filmed by

Liam Neal

.

Selamat Pagi!

How do you want to Eat Curiously if we go into stricter lockdowns?

READ » The Indonesian Community is ordering Food via WhatsApp, and you can too

My dinner last night from

Bamboe Indonesian Restaurant

in Camberwell, ordered via IndOzFood WhatsApp group.

The best way to eat food from another culture is to ask someone in the community which local restaurants taste most like home. So it’s with disproportionate levels of delight that I stumbled upon IndOzFood, a WhatsApp marketplace and food hub where more than 35 registered restaurants and cooks share specials with Melbourne’s Indonesian community. It works like this:1. Join the WhatsApp group by clicking this link2. Automatically receive menus and specials posted by vendors3. Join said vendor’s individual restaurant WhatsApp group to order4. Place your order by copying the entire order list, adding your order, and then pasting it back into the individual restaurant group (see below image)

Hanny “Hannysan” Santoso, an IT specialist who moved from Jakarta to Melbourne in 2007, started IndOzFood last year as a way for Indonesian foodies to connect. When COVID-19 hit, the group transformed into a not-for-profit platform that supports Indonesian food businesses, facilitating takeaway and delivery orders across 17 suburbs. There are currently eight administrators and more than 1,500 members.

“In WhatsApp, if people keep putting in orders, from a marketing perspective it’s like FOMO. If you look at a queue in front of a shop you will be curious,” says Hannysan. “For small businesses or small restaurants that are not very known or popular, they are selling something and getting more benefit by using the WhatsApp group.”Unlike some other WhatsApp food ordering groups, each IndOzFood vendor has to send Hannysan proof of business registration and a food hygiene certificate before joining. Despite the mammoth task of managing the groups, Hannysan has no plans to turn it into something more formal. "If I use a mobile app, customers have to register, and I think that’s a constraint because WhatsApp is very straightforward,” he says. “WhatsApp also has a more personal touch, with the community interacting together and using it like a chat group."Another advantage of joining the IndOzFood WhatsApp group is that it gives you access to specials that are not available at the restaurants. Many offer family-sized packs that feed two to three people, including specialties like nasi bali, nasi bogana and nasi gudeg, which are giant portions of white rice with a selection of traditional mixed dishes, referred to as a “paket spesial”.During COVID, restaurants have to survive, and that makes them more creative and innovative and it’s revealing a lot of exciting recipes that have never been found in Melbourne,” says Hannysan. “They promote new dishes for customers, so every week they can enjoy and celebrate the Indonesian home cooking.”Just this week, a WhatsApp group announcement praised the vendors as “food heroes” for feeding a community unable to visit loved ones back home in Indonesia. If you love Indonesian food or want to learn more about it, follow @IndozFoodMelbourne on Instagram, join the IndOzFood Facebook here or use this WhatsApp link to place an order.

DELIVERY » Pempek Si Bontet Traditional Fish Cakes

I’ve never seen fish cakes quite like those from Pempek Si Bontet on Instagram. I reached out on Instagram to learn more and am so glad I did. The founder, Stifany Jakub, is from Palembang in South Sumatra, where these handmade mackerel and tapioca fish cakes are a delicacy. But it gets better: Stifany worked as a chef for 400 Gradi before taking over Ettamo, her Italian restaurant in Dandenong, last November. When COVID-19 hit she knew the Indonesian community was homesick, so she started making pempek. Stifany sells her firm, filling and bouncy fish cakes through Instagram and delivers across Melbourne, as well as to Sydney and Hobart. 

SHOP » Harvest Asian Grocery, South Yarra

Tucked behind Chapel Street on a rear corner of the Vogue Centre is Harvest Asian Grocery. Perhaps you’ve spotted this dedicated Indonesian minimart on your way to One Hot Yoga down the road or have ordered a Five Senses Coffee from the window, but I urge you to go inside. Not only does it sell ready-made meals from some of the best Indonesian venues (think padang packaged by Salero Kito, ready-to-cook chicken from Ayam Penyet Ria and fish cakes from Pempek Si Bontet, there are snacks galore and everything you need to break into Indonesian cooking.I’ll share a video tour with co-owner Adrianne Laurencia Budiyanto (Laura for short) on the Seasoned Traveller Instagram soon, where she suggests what first-timers can try. Until then, highlights include DIY cendol kits, sambal, simple packet soup bases (just add protein and veg), baking kits for bika ambon and murtabak, the best tempeh I’ve tasted in Melbourne and a whole Indomie instant noodle section.Harvest Asian Grocer, 23 Malcolm Street, South YarraIf you’re in lockdown, Harvest delivers Australia-wide. Visit tozerba.com and get free shipping with the code LOCKDOWN when you spend $100 or more. The same applies outside lockdown areas for $200+ spends.

RECIPE » Tasia & Gracia's Sambal Terasi Goreng

If you eat Indonesian food without rice or sambal, did you really eat Indonesian food? The sisters behind Makan restaurant in Melbourne CBD, Tasia and Gracia Seger, have kindly shared their recipe for fried shrimp paste sambal. It’s a recipe that reminds the My Kitchen Rules victors of their oma back in Jakarta. She’d cook up a feast, but they’d always ask for a jar of her sambal to take back to Melbourne.“The sambal she made was so perfectly balanced, it didn't feel like it was just mouth-burning hot,” says Gracia. “Her secret was that she gently fries the shallots, garlic, chilli and tomatoes to release all their aromas and sugars before grinding them using a stone mortar and pestle.”Thank you ladies for sharing your oma’s sambal recipe. Ingredients30 red bird’s eye chillies15 green bird’s eye chillies5 big red chillies1 tomato, halved30g shrimp paste, roasted2 garlic cloves2 shallots1 kaffir lime fruit, juiced80g dark palm sugar, finely slicedSalt to seasonMethod1. Heat vegetable oil in a wok and gently fry the garlic, shallots and tomatoes for about 5 minutes, until chillies are browned and the garlic, shallots and tomatoes are softened.2. In a mortar and pestle, add shrimp paste, sugar and 2 pinches of salt. Grind the ingredients until they’re combined and resemble sand.3. Add the chillies, garlic and shallots to the shrimp paste mixture and crush into a rough paste using the pestle.4. Add the tomatoes and gently grind until well incorporated. Taste to see if it requires any more salt or sugar and add where needed.5. To finish, add kaffir lime juice and mix well. If you can’t find the fruit, substitute with finely chopped kaffir lime leaf to taste.

TRAVEL » A Local's Guide to Eating in Ubud

Janet DeNeefe taking a cooking class at Casa Luna. Image: Matt Oldfield

Janet DeNeefe’s story is so much more than a boy-meets-girl fairytale, but that’s certainly how it started. Born in Melbourne, she met Ketut Suardana in Bali in 1984 and moved to Ubud soon after. Over the last 30 years, the couple has run Casa Luna, accommodation with a Balinese cooking school and restaurant attached, as well as Indus Restaurant – not to mention raised four beautiful children. Janet is also the founder and director of the Ubud Food Festival (rescheduled for October 2020) and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. We can’t visit Ubud just yet, but when we can, you’ll want to refer to this list of Janet’s favourite local haunts. Bookmark it for later and follow her on Instagram for more gems and cooking tips. Babi Guling Gung Cung Janet’s son’s favourite spot for babi guling, suckling pig blanketed in bumbu (Balinese spice paste) and served with shards of crackling, blood sausage, satay and beans on rice.23 Jalan Suweta, Ubud

Ubud KitchenLocated in Peliatan Village, Ubud Kitchen is Janet’s daughter’s latest discovery. Borne from COVID-19 lockdowns, its delivering topot, rice cakes made with coconut oil steamed in bamboo leaves and served with what Janet describes as “coconut peanut butter”, made from roasted coconut and spices.Follow @Ubud.Kitchen

Pak Rimpin Just behind Casa Luna is Pak Rimpin, who specialises in bebek betutu (smoked duck). The bird is wrapped in coconut bark; stuffed with spices and leaves; rubbed with oil, shrimp paste and tamarind and then cooked under coconut husks for six hours. Pre-order only.Jalan Arjuna, Ubud

Janet's food tours visit Pak Rimpin for bebek betutu. Image: Aryo Bimo

Warung Men Juel About five kilometres west of Ubud, this warung is one of Janet’s top spots for ayam bakar (grilled chicken). It's served with trimmings like peanuts, egg, sayur (vegetables), samabl and of course, rice. Like most warungs, you’re eating in the family home so it’s incredibly atmospheric. Chickens are roasted out the back.Jalan Melati, Sayan, UbudWarung Teges Nasi campur is a popular dish of white rice with an assortment of small dishes, usually a mix of meat, vegetables, peanuts, eggs and crunchy fried shrimp krupuk (Indonesian prawn crackers). According to Janet, the one at Warung Teges serves the best vegetables, including long beans and chunks of roasted coconut.Jalan Cok Rai Pudak, Ubud

Nasi ayam betutu (roast chicken) from Warung Men Juel.

Pasar Ubud The local Ubud market is a haven for food lovers. If you’re Janet, you’ll buy hyper-seasonal seaweeds and bee larvae from which to make soup stock, but she also recommends the bubur, rice porridge smoothed onto a banana leaf and then lathered with saur, a dry-fried coconut and spice mix. It’s wrapped in the leaf and served with blanched sprouts, leaves, beans, sambal and dried shallots.Rajang Bali Lawar is a Balinese dish of chopped meat, pig’s blood and veggies mixed with coconut, shrimp paste, aromatic leaves, galangal, turmeric and chilli. Traditionally the base is pork or turtle, but there’s been a lawar revival. “It’s a really masculine dish and a lot of the young men are making it with marlin, squid, tuna and goat,” says Janet. “It’s an ancient dish that’s deeply connected to traditions.” She recommends Adi Dongker in Ubud, but for the best, travel south to Ketewel and visit Rajang Bali.1 Jalan Raya Guwang, Ketewel, follow @rajangbali Learn more about Janet and cook her recipes in her 2003 cookbook and memoir, Fragrant Rice, and 2011 cookbook, Bali; The Food of My Island Home.

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