A taste of Indonesia

I’ve been lucky enough to see an advance copy of a new recipe book by Indonesian cook, Yayu Slocock. All the classic recipes are there from satay and nasi goring to beef rending; all illustrated with vibrant photographs of the food.

Although I’ve never been to Indonesia, I have very fond memories of a gastronomic trip to neighbouring Malaysia and there are strong correlations between the language and the food. Looking through the book has been like a trip down memory lane and the pictorial ingredient glossary in the back has been a great reminder about some of the fruits and vegetables that I had forgotten about.

The recipes themselves are fairly straight forward, keeping ingredients to a minimum. As an example, satay sauce, which in some recipe books can be off-puttingly complicated, has just seven ingredients including oil and salt. Cooking instructions aren’t over-detailed, but anyone with more than the most basic of kitchen skills will have no problem recreating the authentic Indonesian dishes at home.

Now a resident of Dorset, Yayu was born in East Java. The combination of family recipes adapted by someone who has lived in a country where a lot of the ingredients are hard to come by, makes the book easily accessible to those new to Indonesian cuisine. Yayu’s Simply Indonesian will soon be available to purchase from the publisher’s website or you can pre-order via her facebook page. I can’t wait to try the beef rendang!