Kara in Javanese. These are Lima beans or (in some varieties at any rate) butter beans-the flat, white kind. ‘Pagar’ means a fence or hedge, and these beans often are grown in the hedges around village gardens. The beans need to be shelled and then well-boiled to get rid of any toxic acid that they may contain, although you would have to eat an awful lot of beans to suffer any ill-effects. We often make them part of a meat-and-vegetable stew, which cooks them very thoroughly. In my experience, however, eating too many kacang pagar can give you a headache-exactly the same dire consequence that Burkill threatens peanut-eaters with.
Ingredients:
200 g dried chillies, soaked in water for 15 mins and squeezed dry
150 g red onions, chopped
30 g garlic, chopped
10 g turmeric powder
10 g belacan, crumbled
300 g anchovies
300 g groundnuts
2 tbsps cooking oil
1 cup tamarind water (mix a 5-cm knob of tamarind with 1 cup water and strain)
Salt to taste
1. Blend the chillies, onions, garlic, turmeric and belacan together. Set aside.
2. Dry-fry (without using any oil) the anchovies and groundnuts separately until crisp, for about 5 to 8 mins. Set aside.
3. Heat the oil in the frying pan and over a low fire, saute the blended ingredients until fragrant, about 2 mins. Add tamarind water. Bring to a quick boil then add fried anchovies and groundnuts. Mix well. Serve as a spicy snack.
Ingredients:
4 long beans, cut into 4 cm lengths
6 ladies’ fingers
10 dried chillies, seeded and soaked till soft
4 candlenuts
1 tsp belaccan
6 shallots, peeled
125 ml thin coconut milk
2 tbsp tamarind juice
Salt to taste
Method:
Grind the dried chillies, candlenuts, belaccan and shallots in a food processor. Set aside.
Parboil the long beans and ladies’ fingers. Drain and set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok and fry the ground ingredients till fragrant or until the oil is separated from the rempah. Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice and salt, stirring well. Add the prepared vegetables and stir-fry till the greens are heated through.
Ingredients:
250 g (8 oz) peanuts
2 kemiri (candlenuts)
2 tsp ground coriander
1 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
120 g (4 oz) rice flour
Vegetable oil
Cut each peanut in half. Pound the kemiri and garlic together and add the coriander and some salt. Mix these ingredients (not the peanut) with rice flour, and then start to add water, a little at a time, stirring and mixing thoroughly. The batter that is produced should be thick, but should still be able to run. Pour the peanuts into the batter.
For frying peyek, you need a non-stick frying-pan and a wok. Heat a little oil in the frying-pan, and enough in the wok to deep-fry the peyek. Take up a tablespoonful of a batter, with some nuts in it, and pour it quickly into the frying-pan. Fry it there for about half a minute-you will probably be able to do 3 or 4 peyek at a time-and then drop the half-cooked peyek into the hot oil in the wok. (more…)
Kara in Javanese. These are Lima beans or (in some varieties at any rate) butter beans-the flat, white kind. ‘Pagar’ means a fence or hedge, and these beans often are grown in the hedges around village gardens. The beans need to be shelled and then well-boiled to get rid of any toxic acid that they may contain, although you would have to eat an awful lot of beans to suffer any ill-effects. We often make them part of a meat-and-vegetable stew, which cooks them very thoroughly. In my experience, however, eating too many kacang pagar can give you a headache-exactly the same dire consequence that Burkill threatens peanut-eaters with.
