Week 4: Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia is an archipelago of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited). Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority nation (over 86% Muslim); however, no reference is made to Islam in the Indonesian constitution. They speak Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, and local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese. Sounds like coffee. Indonesians love chasing that shuttlecock all day long and badminton is one of the most popular sports in Indonesia. The endangered Sumatran Orangutan is indigenous to Indonesia. It sounds as delicious as it is indigenous, but we decided to use beef in the traditional Beef Rendang that we prepared for this week's main dish.

The Beef Rendang doesn't take long to prepare, but required long simmering. We simmered the beef in the sauce for 3.5 hours as per the recipe. The delicious aroma filled our house and we were eager to eat. When we finally tried the beef and sauce over rice we decided the aroma was better than the flavor. All that simmering reduces it to a uniform flavor and there are so many spices going on we felt it was a little bland, even with the heat of the chilis.