Roasted Coconut Juice--Kelapa Muda Bakar

Es kelapa muda is a drink found throughout Southeast Asia by one name or another.  At its best it is simply the juice and flesh from a young coconut with ice.  It is extremely refreshing with a natural sweetness.  Some places add syrups, such as rose syrup, which overpower the juice

Driving back to Surabaya after a brief visit in Yogyakarta, we passed these warungs selling baked young coconuts.  I had seen these on other visits to Java, but was never in a car that I could simply ask the driver to stop.  These never seem to be sold in cities, only in the countryside.  I asked the driver to stop and we got out and bought a few to taste.

I asked the woman, Bu Sari,  what the purpose was of roasting the coconuts.  She didn't answer directly, but claimed all sorts of health benefits from drinking the juice.  It was good for the kidneys, for the blood, would lower cholesterol, and treat gout, among others.  I just wanted to know how it tasted.

I don't know what effect the roasting of the coconuts has.  It appeared it may have somehow increased the liquid content of the coconuts.  Each seemed extremely juicy; there was about a liter of juice from each coconut. Bu Sari mixed the juice of the coconut with powdered ginger, gula jawa, and honey, producing a sweet, warming drink.  It was not as refreshing as simple es kelapa muda, but was better than a carbonated soft drink.  Our take-aways certainly made the drive more bearable.

Coconut Cream Puffs with Chocolate Caramel Espresso Sauce

Although my wife is not too fond of most western desserts, she does have an affinity for cream puffs. This, frankly, makes little sense to me since she doesn't care for whipped cream, chocolate, or most breads. She does like plain white bread and thinks it's marvelous how slices of store bought sandwich bread can be pressed down into little balls about a twentieth of their original size. She was thrilled when we were in San Francisco and came across a branch of Beard Papa, a cream puff franchise that apparently started in Japan. Of course, when you think of cream puffs, you naturally think of Japan, right?

In any case, I was trying to think of something my wife would like for dessert and I thought, "cream puffs." The puffs themselves are extremely easy to make, and I thought I could tweak the fillings to please my wife. Instead of doing a traditional pastry cream, I decided to use coconut milk.There's another change I'll add to the recipe the next time I make it, but since this one was for a teachers' meeting, I decided to be conservative.

The puffs are a little different from traditional choux paste. They use milk instead of water, resulting in a softer puff more like the ones made by the Japanese franchise. Other than that, the process for making them is the same.

The pastry cream is simply a traditional pastry cream made with coconut milk rather than regular milk. It would make a marvelous filling for a banana cream pie (or a coconut cream pie for those who prefer -- I don't like dessicated coconut in anything).

The chocolate caramel espresso sauce is simply gilding the lily. It's a simple caramel sauce made with a little espresso and some dark chocolate. I'm not sure the cream puffs needed it, but it was there for those who wanted it. For a dessert that can be easily made beforehand and assembled at the last minute, this comes across as quite elegant. More importantly, it is delicious.

Coconut Pastry Cream

1 can (1 3/4 cups) of coconut milk, I prefer Chaokoh brand
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, divided
4 TBS cornstarch
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Whisk together 1/4 cup of the coconut milk, 1/4 cup of sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolks in a bowl. Set aside.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add with the pod to the remaining 1 1/2 cups coconut milk in a medium pan. Stir in the other 1/4 cup of sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Whisk the hot coconut milk mixture and add about a quarter to the egg mixture to temper, whisking constantly. Add the tempered mixture to the sauce pan, still whisking constantly, and cook over medium heat until the pastry cream simmers and thickens. Next, remove the pan from heat, remove the vanilla pod, and whisk until the cream is smooth.

Transfer the pastry cream to a container and press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a “skin” from forming. Chill until cold and ready to use, at least four hours. The pastry cream can be kept for several days.

The puff recipe I found here at Epicurious.

Chocolate Espresso Caramel Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 TBS strong espresso
1 ounce dark chocolate, melted
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 TBS unsalted butter

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water to a lively simmer over medium heat. It will take a while for the sugar to color; be patient. Once it starts coloring, watch carefully. Allow the sugar to become a walnut brown.  

Add the espresso and melted chocolate to the caramelized sugar. The mixture will bubble up dramatically before settling down. Stir in whipping cream and whisk until smooth. Whisk in butter and allow to cool. Spoon over the filled cream puffs or on the side.

Laksa Ayam

There are times a recipe on the page sounds so much better than the dish itself. The ingredients are there; you can taste it in your mind, but when the dish hits your tongue, there's disappointment. You anticipated something more. What should have sung a high C instead hums indistinctly.

Alas, this was the case with the ayam laksa I made recently. Curry mee, curry laksa, or laksa, depending on if you hail from Ipoh, Penang, or Singapore, is one of my favorite dishes. A rich, spicy seafood coconut curry broth with noodles, tofu and beansprouts, its right up there among the top ten dishes for me. Unfortunately, my niece who lives with us is allergic to seafood, so I was looking for a variation of laksa that everyone in the house might enjoy. In fact, she and my wife did enjoy the ayam laksa very much. I, however, found it paled in comparison to what I think of when I hear the word laksa.

Laksa Ayam--Chicken Laksa
adapted from this recipe

1 lb boneless chicken thighs, sliced 1/2 thick
5 shallots, chopped
1 inch ginger, peeled and minced
4 inches laos (galingale), peeled, thinly sliced, and crushed in a mortar
1 stalk lemongrass, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced and pounded with laos
2 red chilies, minced
2 TBS oil
2 tsp Madras curry powder
2 cups chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
2 ounces rice vermicelli, softened in hot water
8 ounces fresh egg noodles, briefly cooked in boiling water
2-4 green onions, thinly sliced
beansprouts
laksa leaves (rau ram in Vietnamese)
cilantro
boiled eggs (optional)

Heat a skillet or wok and add the oil. Fry the shallots, ginger, laos, lemongrass, and chilies until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken; cook, stirring, until the chicken becomes opaque.

Stir in curry powder, making sure it is evenly distributed. Pour in broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and simmer on low until the chicken is tender and oils begin to separate from the broth.

To serve, place some of each noodles in individual soup bowls. Add bean sprouts. Ladle the hot broth and chicken into the bowls. Sprinkle with green onions, laksa leaves and cilantro. Add sliced boiled eggs if you like.

A squeeze of lime, some sambal ulek or sriracha sauce and/or kecap manis may be added according to personal taste.