Sajoer goelai

To me, there's no doubt that there's a strong connection between food and mood or health. Bake one big fluffy chocolate cake or an apple cake and both my men are very happy. Buy a big bar of chocolate and my daughter's in heaven.

It's the same with a on coming flu or cold. A warm and spicy dish makes us feel a lot better. So, it won't be a surprise that this sajoer is one of our favourite winter time recipes.

Of course this can be made on the stove as well but when you like the meat tender this methode in the oven is a big succes.


Sajoer goelai
700 gr. beef (not to lean because it must be simmered) diced in cubes
500 gr. green beans
2 big potatoes sliced in cubes
4 eggs
700 ml hot meatstock
150 ml cocosmilk

1 big onion sliced very finley
2 gloves garlic chopped very finely
1 1/2 tsp. sambal (hot pepper paste)
1 tsp. laos (galanga or siamese ginger)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp. koenjit (turmeric or kurkuma)
1 sprig lemongrass
sunflower oil

Crush the onion, garlic, sambal, laos, koenjit and lemongrass in a mortar. Heat the oil in a big stewpan and add the crushed spices. Stir it while frying. Adding a bit salt can prevent burning the onions and garlic.

Add the beef and stirfry for a few minutes. Add the hot stock and the cocosmilk and heat is again just till its below the boilingpoint. In the meanwhile preheat the oven at a temperature of 300 dgr. F. (150 dgr. C.)

Put the pan, with the lid on, in the oven for 2 hours. Take the pan out of the oven and add the potatoes. Be carefull it's very hot!

Put the pan again in the oven for just another 30 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven again and break the eggs one by one in a cup. Let each egg carefully glide into the Sajoer and don't stir! Keep some space between the eggs.

Put the pan again in the oven for 30 minutes. Cook the rice and blanche the beans. By this time the eggs will be poached and you can add the beans without damaging the eggs. At this moment the stewpan will be very hot and you can set it aside for 10 minutes before serving the rice with the sajoer goelai.

(adjusted from the book Big Indonesian Cookbook by Beb Vuyk)

Left-over

Do you recognize this: looking in your fridge after the holidays and discovering that there is still a lot of food left as if you're expecting to feed a whole army? Well, it happends to me each Christmas.

This time I'd planned to shop economical to prevent having left-overs after the holidays. That's why I seized the opportunity to use the mincemeat as a filling of the Yule Wreath and the cranberry sauce for the crumble coffee cake.

Among the left-overs this time, were a few leeks, carrots and celeriac. Thinking of those ingredients and the fact that it´s already freezing in Holland, I decided to make peasoup.

You must know, frost makes us Dutchies long for skating and especially for the well-known11 city ice-skating marathon.That´s 200 kilometer skating on ice from city to city. The last one was on 4 january 1997. I bet the're a few people praying for more frost at this very moment!


(copyright Geert de Jonge Media)

So, and now the peasoup. When you make it a day ahead, it gets just the right thickness. This amount is enough as a meal for 10 people. What's left can be frozen.


Peasoup

• 2 x 500 grams split green peas (dried)



• 900 grams uncooked ham or pork chops



• 3 leeks, thin slices



• 1 big carrot, small cubes



• 1 celeriac, small cubes



• 2 bay leafs



• 2 smoked sausages



• salt, freshly ground black pepper



• selery leafs



• broth cubes

Soak the split peas in 6 litre water in 8 - 12 hours. Refresh the water and cook the peas on low fire. Add the ham or porkchops and let it simmer for another hour. Add the leeks, carrot, celeriac and bay leafs. Let it simmer for another hour and leave it for a night.

The next morning, it must be a thick soup. Take the ham or the porkchops out of it and cut the meat in small cubes. Add the meat to the peasoup again and spice it with salt and pepper. Add a few broth cubes if you like. Also add the sausages and warm the soup very slowly. Before serving: add a few selery leafs.