| Sri Owen's Indonesian Food
Ni Wayan Murni
Sri Owen’s distinguished career has culminated in this wonderful book, which is half autobiography, half cook book. It spans a fascinating time in Indonesian history, starting in 1939, when she was almost four, with her first memories of food at a birthday party for her sister at home in a small hill town in West Sumatra called Padang Panjang. Indonesia was then a Dutch colony and the Second World War was looming. Her parents were teachers, who had founded a school, her father a Minangkabau and her mother a Sundanese from West Java. Sri spent a lot of time in her grandmother’s kitchen, which experience inspires the first set of recipes. My favourite is Goreng ikan balado (fried fish with caramelized onions and chillies). What I particularly like throughout this book is Sri’s helpful suggestions of alternative ingredients, which is very useful for readers from countries where certain ingredients cannot be found. In 1942 when the War broke out Sri, her father and mother went to West Java. This lead to new culinary experiences, which began with street snacks. She includes recipes for Pisang goreng (fried bananas) and Pergedel jagung (corn fritters), which I serve myself to friends and family. Aged 18 she went to high school and then Gajah Mada University in Yogya in Central Java, where she studied English language and literature and discovered more food to enjoy, including street-food vendors and Chinese restaurants. These were exciting times. Sri was a broadcaster for local radio and translated President Sukarno’s speeches for ambassadors. She was planning to go abroad when she met and married history teacher Roger Owen from Oxford in 1962. They drove to Bali for their honeymoon. I met Roger years later and he is a stalwart. This section of the book contains excellent recipes for many of Indonesia’s most famous dishes, such as Mee kuah (street vendor’s egg noodle soup), Soyo ayam (Javanese chicken soup), Gule kambing (an aromatic lamb stew), Martabak (savoury filled wontons) and Gado-Gado (cooked mixed vegetables with peanut sauce). Reading them makes you just want to pick up a wok and head into the kitchen. In 1964 they sailed for Britain and Sri did not return to Indonesia until 1981. The final autobiographical section covers 1964-2007. I would have liked to have heard about the first impressions of the conservative young Indonesian lady, who had never before left her country, to being catapulted into 1960’s Swinging London and her reaction to English food. She keeps her focus, however, on Indonesia. She becomes a mother, a prize-winning author, opens and runs London’s first Indonesian food store and delicatessen, works for the Indonesian Section of the BBC World Service, supplies snacks and dishes to Harrods Food Hall, gives Indonesian cookery classes and serves dinners in her large Wimbledon flat. She also translated for Indonesians who found themselves in court. I have a strong feeling that she still has many more books in her and stories to tell. From the 1980s Sri travelled extensively with Roger and fell under the influence of other cuisines, especially Italian. She began experimenting with unfamiliar ingredients and created many new recipes. This fusion gave rise to mouth-watering recipes, such as Es krim adpokat (avocado ice cream), Es krim ketan hitam (black glutinous rice ice cream), Es krim jambu klutuk dengan keju dan cabai (ricotta, guava and chilli ice cream), Es krim jeruk purut (kaffir lime ice cream), Es krim duren (durian ice cream) and Es krim kelapa muda (coconut ice cream) and a set of recipes which modernized the dishes of 1950’s Central Java. Sri then turns in her book to recipes for the staples and basics, ingredients which at long last are available in the West, namely coconuts, tamarind, tempeh and of course rice. There are wonderful fish and shellfish recipes and, for vegetarians and vegans, great tofu and tempeh recipes. Unlike many cookbooks Sri’s recipes include anecdotes and helpful tips for substitutions. She also examines methods and techniques and provides many recipes for steamed, deep-fried (apparently not so unhealthy), shallow-, pan- , stir-fried and long-cooked dishes. The book ends with a description of food for celebrations and special occasions – of which there are a lot in Indonesia, especially Bali, where I live. Everyone likes satay and I counted at least seven recipes for satay. There’s a photo of Roger about to eat Sate Padang – that’s offal satay! Sorry Roger, not even I eat that. There’s a detailed glossary and the book is full of beautiful photographs of the dishes she describes and of the places she’s visited, and some personal memories from her busy life. I really liked the black and white photograph of Sri and Roger on their wedding day in Yogya in 1962 - a very serious, sober young couple. Another great shot is Sri in 1976, wine glass firmly in hand, at the launch of her first book The Home Book of Indonesian Cookery. So, here we have history, autobiography, geography, exotic travel and food, some of the most interesting subjects that exist, and perceptive analysis of the current state of Indonesian food in Indonesia and the West from the most famous and best Indonesian cook in the World. I recommend this book to everyone who enjoys the good things of life. Murni
Sri Owen’s indonesian food In the USA: The Indonesian Kitchen:
Recipes and Stories To buy from Amazon UK at a discount: Sri
Owen's Indonesian Food
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