Tag Archives: cruising

Cooking with Local Ingredients, Indonesia, Marlin

Sate Ikan (Fish Satays)

May 16, 2016 The Captain & the Cook 2 Comments

We are back in Indonesia for a month and one of the things we really love about Indonesia is the food! We are moored at Pulau Weh, actually we are moored off a smaller island call Pulau Rubiah. The snorkelling here is fantabulous, as is the food! We have discovered a local delicacy called sate gurita (sate octopus). Delicious and tender, it awoke memories of our time with our boys at Gili Air when we sailed there for Christmas 2014. I cooked sate ikan, using some marlin we caught in Australia. It was part of a feast that I cooked up on the boat for a friend who wanted to film it.

While anchored off Gili Air (Lombok Indonesia) with our son’s Jedd, Alex, Kye and two of their girlfriends, we had a visit from Jackie and her son Alexander. Jacqui was interested in filming a short video of us cooking up a storm on Thorfinn. I hadn’t had time to think about what to cook and therefore had not shopped in Bali before we left. So, before I could decide what to cook, I had to look at what I had on the boat and then I had to go ashore to see what I could purchase on the small island of Gili Air. In the tiny village I found a shop selling some fresh produce and a very limited array of other supermarket goods. I choose some things I love to cook with – limes, ginger, garlic, chillies, galangal – while I gradually formulate an idea of what I would cook.

Shopping for chillies, lime, galangal etc.

Back on the Thorfinn I fine-tuned my proposed menu. When in Indonesia, do as the Indo’s… I decided to cook some Indonesian favourites. Ikan Bakar (grilled fish), sambal and sate ikan (fish satays).

So, while the boys enjoyed the swimming and snorkelling, and the girls chilled out on the sun-beds with a cocktail, Dwayne and I cooked and Jacqui filmed. It was a lot of fun and when it was ready the kids joined us on Thorfinn for a feast. As we sat around Jedd’s surfboard, which had become our makeshift table for the day, we enjoyed the sunset and the company of family and friends… and I think we all privately reflected on how lucky we were.

For the sates …

I grated one onion into a sieve over a bowl. Using a spoon I then pressed down on the grated onion to squeeze out the onion juice. I set aside the the grated onion for using in the peanut sauce.

To the onion juice I added…

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 finely chopped garlic clove
1 tablespoon of grated ginger
2 teaspoon of palm sugar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 kg of marlin fillet

I mixed it well, covered and refrigerated it until I was ready to skewer the marlin to grill.

For the peanut dipping sauce…

In a small saucepan, I sautéed the reserved grated onion for two minutes with –

1 Tablespoon of olive oil
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon of sambal olek

I then added…

3 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 Tablespoon of palm sugar

I stirred continually as I cooked for a minute and then added…

1 1/4 cups coconut cream

I gently heated it until almost boiling, then removed the saucepan from the heat and stirred in…

3 Tablespoons of peanut butter

Once the peanut butter was well blended I returned to a gentle heat and cooked for about 5 minutes while stirring and checking it often. (Add water if needed).

To serve

I skewered cubes of marlin onto small skewers and Dwayne cooked them on the BBQ. I then served them with the peanut sauce.

Sate Ikan served with peanut sauce on Jedd's surfboard! — Sate Ikan served with peanut sauce on Jedd’s surfboard!

I loved our Christmas on Gili Air!… and have welcomed the opportunity to reminisce about it. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Want to read about catching the marlin? Click on the photo below!

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Cephalopod, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Pork

Pork Stuff Squid Tubes

December 19, 2015 The Captain & the Cook 2 Comments

This is easily one of our favourite squid dishes. I have cooked them a couple of times during our sailing through SE Asia. The first time was in Indonesia when we bought some fresh squid from a local fisherman. The second time was recently in Thailand at a BBQ we put on at PSS Shipyard in Satun.

Pork stuffed squid served with rice cakes and a simple salad.

Ingredients

25g Rice vermicelli noodles
3 spring onions
3 tablespoon of peanut oil
2 garlic, finely chopped
3cm ginger, peeled and grated
½ cup cabbage, finely shredded
325g pork mince
¼ teaspoon ground star anise
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
Several medium squid or 16 baby squid, cleaned and tentacles reserved

Dipping sauce

1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 small chilli, finely chopped
2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
Freshly squeezed juice from ½ a lime

Method

To make dipping sauce, mix all ingredients well until sugar has dissolved. Taste and add more lime if needed. Transfer to a dipping bowl.

For the stuffing, pour boiling water over the noodles and allow to stand for 5 minutes until soft. Drain well, chop them into smaller pieces and place in a large bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a fry pan and gently cook the garlic, ginger and spring onion until soft. Remove from heat and add to the bowl. Chop the squid tentacles and add to the bowl along with the pork, cabbage, star anise and fish sauce. Mix well.

Cooking Spicy Stuffed Squid — Cooking the stuffed squid

Stuff the squid tubes with the stuffing. Make sure to leave a little room at the top and close the top of the tube with a toothpick.

Heat the remaining oil in a fry pan and cook the tube for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

Pork Stuffed Squid — Slice the squid into rings with a sharp knife.

Slice the squid and serve with the dipping sauce.

At the PSS Shipyard, while painting and varnishing our boat for six weeks, we cooked a goat BBQ. For entree I served my stuffed squid. Dwayne built a four layer BBQ to cook all the food for the 23 people that were to join in on the feast. I used two different types of squid, which I bought from the local fish market down the road. In my opinion the squid are not as yummy when grilled on the BBQ, but everyone still enjoyed them. If you were to cook them on a BBQ use a hot plate instead of a grill.

Dwayne’s four layer cooking contraption – squid cooked over the coals and there are potatoes cooking under the coals.

From the pantry

Pantry Pancakes

July 6, 2015 The Captain & the Cook 1 Comment

While cruising though Asia, there have been mornings when Dwayne has asked “what’s for breakfast?” and, like the Mother Hubbard rhyme, ‘the cupboards were bare’. Well… not quite bare. I almost always have flour, powdered egg and powdered milk in the pantry. So I get to work preparing an easy, filling breakfast that Dwayne enjoys with maple syrup. I whip up some pancakes.

Pantry Pancakes — Pancakes and maple syrup… cooked on the BBQ

Simple really, this is what I do …

Gather my ingredients…
1 cup of plain flour
1 tablespoon powdered egg
2 tablespoon powdered milk
and water to add as needed.

Then I…
…sift the first three ingredient into a bowl and gradually add water, stirring continuously until I get my desired thickness. If I’m lucky I then get Dwayne to cook them on the BBQ.

Note: The powdered eggs I bought in Coles in Australia. ‘Farm Pride’ Powdered whole eggs.

Cocktails

Thorfinn’s Punch Cocktail

July 3, 2015 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

I made this delicious cocktail when I wanted to use up the left over juice in our fridge. We were anchored in Telaga, Langkawi and were preparing to leave for Thailand the next day. We were getting the chores done and it was hot. This refreshing cocktail was just perfect at the end of the day.

Thorfinn's Punch Cocktail, guava juice, apple juice, lime and vodka — Thorfinn’s Punch Cocktail

For two cocktails I mixed 1 cup of Guava juice with 1/2cup of apple juice, 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lime juice and 3 shots of vodka.

I poured it over ice cubes and lime slices and topped with soda water.

Cephalopod, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Crustacean, Fish, Indonesia

Dwayne’s Chilli Seafood

June 24, 2015 The Captain & the Cook 1 Comment

While cruising Indonesia we were lucky enough to visit a tiny fishing village on the island of Panebangan. The people were exceptionally friendly and welcomed us with huge smiles and a large bunch of bananas! It was at this village, the following morning, that we were invited onto a fishing boat for breakfast. Dwayne watched how the fisherman made chilli fish and it has since become Dwayne’s signature dish! This is great for when I don’t feel like cooking…. i.e. “I’d really love your chilli fish for dinner tonight Dwayne!”

Dwayne has made this a couple of times for dinner. Once he used fish and squid and the other time he used crayfish.

It’s simple and tasty. This is how he does it…

fresh chillies, chopped
fresh garlic, chopped
asian shallots, chopped
salt

Blend all the above ingredients with the mortar and pestle.

Add oil to a pan and heat.
Add the spice mix, fry until fragrant.
Add the seafood (fish or what ever you want) and fry it for a while.
Then add some water and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasional.
Season with salt as needed.

Serve with steamed rice.

For the full story of Panebangan check out “Karamata and Surrounding Islands“

Guess what we are having for dinner tonight!

Cocktails, From the galley

Purple Dragon

June 11, 2015 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

This dragon fruit cocktail was made for sundowners one afternoon as we sat at anchor in Telaga, Langkawi. Having just returned from duty-free shopping (they have the cheapest alcohol), I decided to make cocktails using the tropical fruit I had handy, and a few of the many differing alcoholic beverages we bought!

Anyhow, this is what I did to make two cocktails…

Ingredients

2 shots vodka
2 shots tequila
2 shots Cointreau
1 dragonfruit
Juice of one lime
Lime slices for garnish
Ice

In a blender, I blended the flesh of red dragon fruit with ice, vodka, tequila, Cointreau and the juice of one lime, and garnished with sliced lime.

Delicious!

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Cephalopod, Cooking with Local Ingredients

Stuffed Squid in a Rich Tomato Sauce

May 28, 2015 The Captain & the Cook 2 Comments

As we sailed amongst the islands off the west coast of Borneo, we were able to purchase fish and squid from the fisherman that visit us, when we drop anchor for the night. The squid, used for this recipe, we bought off a fisherman at Pulau Bawal and the fish I use to stuff the squid was a mackerel we traded a mobile phone and a pair of sunnies for, when anchored off Pulau Genting.

Stuffed Squid in a Rich Tomato Sauce — Stuffed Squid in Rich Tomato Sauce

It had been two weeks since we had been able to get fresh fruit and veg and I used my last fresh tomato for this recipe. At the time we had been eating rice with almost every meal. Every time I cook rice I will cook a cup of rice and I then use the left over to make rice cakes or I heat it up with curry sauce etc. This time I used it to stuff my squid.

OK so this is what I did…

I made a stuffing for the squid with:

about 1/2 cup of left over cooked rice
a small fillet of mackerel (finely chopped) about 100g
1 large red chilli, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped,
5 small asian shallots, finely chopped
about 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix it altogether and stuff it into the squid tubes. Close each tube with a toothpick. Cook the squid tubes for 5 mins to brown them slightly and then removed them from the pan

For the sauce…

I heated oil in the fry pan and fried:

1/2 head of garlic (about 6 cloves), chopped
3 small hot chillies, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, chopped
8 small asian shallots, chopped
about 80g anchovy fillets
2 Tablespoons capers, chopped

Shallots, garlic, chilli and lots of anchovy!

I fried this until it was cooked and the garlic and shallots had softened. I then added:

1 can of tomatoes, diced
3 Tbs tomato paste
dried italian herbs and black pepper to taste.

I brought it to the boil and then simmered the sauce for about 15 minutes, after which I added the stuffed squid tubes. I then simmered it until the flavours had developed into a rich, spicy, flavoursome sauce and the squid were cooked through (adding water as necessary). I served the squid with rice.

The left overs

I used the left over sauce the next day with some mackerel fillets. I cooked the mackerel then added the sauce to the pan with the fish and simmered until heated through. I served it with pasta. Yum!

Cephalopod, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Indonesia

Nasi Campur

May 16, 2015 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

Nasi Campur refers to a dish with a scoop of nasi putih (white rice) accompanied by small portions of a number of other dishes, which includes meats, vegetables, peanuts, eggs etc. Nasi campur is a ubiquitous dish around Indonesia and as diverse as the archipelago itself. There is no exact rule, recipe or definition of what makes a nasi campur, since Indonesians and Southeast Asians commonly consume steamed rice surrounded with side dishes consisting of vegetables and meat. [Wikipedia]

Nasi Campur - rice, tempe, octopus skewer, tomato, cucumber and sambal — Nasi Campur – rice, tempe, octopus skewer, tomato, cucumber and sambal

Nasi Campur - rice, crispy pork, tempe, kangkung (water spinach) and chilli sambal — Nasi Campur – rice, crispy pork, tempe, kangkung (water spinach) and chilli sambal

When in Indonesia we eat like Indonesians! This has as much to do with the food/ingredients that are available, as with our love of Indonesian food. We eat rice most days, and I usually make sambal to go with it. Chilli, garlic, shallots keep well on the boat, so they feature in most of our meals during our cruising.

Our Nasi Campur consisted of octopus skewer, tempe, kangkung and sambal…..

Skewered Octopus with Lime and Basil

Marinate octopus in olive oil, lime juice, garlic and chopped basil leaves. Refrigerated for about an hour then skewered the octopus on small skewers. Dwayne grilled them on the BBQ, and I served them with Nasi Campur.

Octopus Skewers — Octopus Skewer with Lime and Basil

Tempe Goreng

Tempe is fermented soybeans. I sliced some prepared tempe into bite-size pieces and fried them in hot oil until brown and crispy. I removed them from the oil and mixed in a little kecap manis.

Kangkung

I probably do the kangkung differently every time I cook it. Still, generally speaking, I fry up quite a bit of garlic (usually garlic slices ), shallot and a bit of chilli in a little oil. I then add the washed, roughly chopped kangkung, season with salt and pepper and sauté for a minute.

Sambal

I usually make raw sambal by smashing up chillies with garlic and a small shallot, in my mortar with pestle. However, my favourite is sambal matah, and if I have lemongrass on board, I’ll make it. Sambal matah is lemongrass and shallot sambal. It will often have shrimp paste in it, but I usually make mine without the paste… I just love the taste of fresh lemongrass.

In the mortar, I smash up lemongrass, shallot, a little chilli, some thin slices of kaffir lime leaves, salt and oil. It is delicious.

Sambal Indonesia, chilli, shallot, lemongrass — Sambal Matah

Bon appétit

Cooking with Local Ingredients, Indonesia

Creamy Kancil Curry

April 9, 2015 The Captain & the Cook 1 Comment

KANCIL – bahasa Indonesia pronounced kan-chil. Kancil is a mouse deer.

On the small Indonesian island of Panebangan in the South China Sea we were moored along side a small fishing village. The friendly people at this village welcomed us with open arms, sunny smiles and big hearts. We were given a bunch of bananas and the kancil meat that Rudi shot the night we stayed there and the following morning we were even given breakfast on one of the fishing boats!

It was our first time eating kancil so I wanted to make a curry that wasn’t too overpowering. I made a paste with the following

In a mortar, with a pestle I blended;

asian shallots
lemon grass
candlenuts
ginger
lesser galangal
turmeric
garlic
chilli
peppercorns
kaffir lime leaves

I heated some oil in a pan and fried the paste for a few minutes, then I added a tin of coconut cream. I simmered if for about five minutes before adding the kancil and simmering uncovered for about 1 and 1/2 hours.

Verdict: It was very nice. The kancill was not too gamey and was in fact a delicious meat. I used about five candlenuts… because that is what fell out of the bag! It was too many. Next time I would use two candlenuts.

Cooking with Local Ingredients, Duck, Indonesia

Bebek Betutu

April 9, 2015 The Captain & the Cook 4 Comments

Bebek Betutu – Bahasa Indonesia Bebek is duck and Betutu is the name of the blend of spices. It is a popular ceremonial dish in Bali.

On a little island just off Pulau Bawean in the Java Sea, Dwayne and I decided to cook a duck on the beach. First thing we had to do was decide how were we going to cook this duck (which would take about four hours).

We tossed around ideas of cooking the duck ‘hungi’ or ‘lovo’ style (buried in the ground with hot rocks), but because we didn’t know whether the rocks on the beach would hold their heat we decided to build an ‘oven’ that would have a small fire at the bottom.

Armed only with a small shovel and some ideas on what he wanted to build, Dwayne headed to the beach to build the oven while I made a betutu paste and prepared the duck.

I decided to use a recipe I had seen on the SBS website, you can find the link for it at the bottom of this blog.

For the betutu paste I blended shallots, garlic, candlenuts, shrimp paste, galangal, ginger, turmeric, chilli, palm sugar, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves in my mortar.

Bebek Betutu Ingredients, chilli, garlic, peppercorns, lime, ginger, galangal, shallot, turmeric, candle nuts, kaffir lime leaves, coriander seeds — Bebek Betutu

I cleaned the duck inside and out and then rubbed some paste on the inside of the duck cavity and all over the outside.

I wrapped the duck in banana leaves and put it in a tray and covered it with alfoil.

The duck was ready to put in Dwayne’s oven.

Meanwhile Dwayne had found a large slab of wood with a ready made chimney and used it as the back of the oven. Using a large rock on the beach as one wall he then had to build the next two walls of the oven out of rocks and sand, leaving a small opening to feed the fire at the bottom of the oven. After I put the prepared duck in to the oven we closed the top with bamboo and pandanas leaves.

We had to feed the small fire at the bottom of the oven constantly as we didn’t have any first class wood to build up the coals.

We wrapped a couple of potatoes in alfoil and popped them in the oven. Meanwhile I was soaking a length of bamboo in the beach water, getting prepared to cook some rice in it.

Cooking rice on an open fire inside a length of bamboo. — Cooking Rice in Bamboo

All I did for the rice is add 1 cup of rice and 1 1/2 cups of fresh water to the bamboo and seal the top with alfoil. I propped the bamboo over a small fire and cooked the rice slowly, until it was miraculously cooked…. to perfection.

Not everything when smoothly our oven did partially collapse once and the roof of bamboo and pandanas leaves caught alight a couple of times! But in the end the duck was fall-apart tender. Potatoes and rice were al dente`. Fantastic meal in a fantastic setting….. worth the five hours of hard work!

Dwayne sucking the meat from the duck's head! — Dwayne sucking the meat from the duck’s head!

Recipe from

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/bebek-betutu

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Our Nasi Campur consisted of octopus skewer, tempe, kangkung and sambal…..

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