Except for when you can.

2/18/2015.  In our tiny no-name village between Ubud and Penastanan there are about seven warungs (food stalls).  My kids' favorite is run by a tiny old woman whose name is Ibu Putu.  Her grandson is my driver.  Her granddaughter is our housekeeper.  Her brother-in-law tends our rice paddies.  Her son-in-law built my villa.  She is the village matriarch.  And everything that comes out of her kitchen is a taste sensation.  Little Jayne looking more like big Buddha every day.

When I asked her for a lesson, she beamed and said, "Let's go!"

 

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Ibu Putu told me that there are two essential items in any Indonesian kitchen.  The first is a paste made from peanuts, garlic, and raw turmeric root.  She asked me if I use a food processor.  When I said yes she told me that I should buy a large mortar and pestle.  Hers, above, is made out of volcanic river rock.  When it was upside down I couldn't lift it.  I was so embarrassed.  She is NINETY.

 

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Fast forward ten minutes.  Here is the paste in its final form.

The second Indonesian kitchen essential is twice-fried garlic.  Above, it is sprinkled on top of the peanut-turmeric-garlic paste.

The feature photo shows the mie goreng that my son can never get enough of.  Below are two bowls of the prepped ingredients.  Offscreen are the eggs and chicken.

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Instead of precise measurements using tools, she instructed me to "use one fist of chicken and four fists of noodles" and "massage the chicken.  Massage it with the river rock.  Then rub it with the turmeric root until root looks tired.  All the juice must leave the root."

Ibu Putu and I ended up making four dishes:  mie goreng, gado-gado, sate ayam, and cap cay.  I carried it home for my hungry awaiting family.  In ten minutes' time there was nothing left except a few bean sprouts clinging to the bowls.

And here she is.

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As my niece Amanda says, "Totes adorbs!"

 

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