Attempts at making the local food and drink

So far, so unsuccessful. Not bad, just a little bit bland. I’ve tried cooking a tempe curry, a fish curry, a long bean dish, fried noodles and rice, and some sambal. The sambal was great, really sweet and spicy and very easy to make. The curries have involved making pastes (similar to the stuff that Thai curries use), which have smelled really good, but not translated into a tasty end product. Not sure if the pastes are to blame, or what I do to them afterwards. The fried noodles and rice have been pretty good, but then all I do is fill them full of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), and that makes anything taste good.

I’ve also tried making juices/smoothies, and, damn it, it isn’t as simple as throwing a load of fruit into a blender. I started by not peeling or deseeding the fruit. That was a mistake, which I knew even as I was doing it; the results were very fibrous and full of ball bearing like pips. Before anyone scoffs too loudly, I only did this with fruit that can sometimes have edible skin, such as guava.

I’ve now taken to peeling and deseeding the fruit, but the results are only marginally better. In search of an answer I took to observing and questioning the local juice makers. The solution is as unsurprising as it is obvious: loads (and loads) of sugar. So much for the natural sweetness of nature’s bounty!