Pecel

Name: Pecel
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 50 g raw peanuts; 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 clove garlic; 2 red bird's eye chillies; 5 g fresh kencur; 1 kaffir lime leaf; 15 g palm sugar; 1 tsp tamarind paste; 0.5 tsp salt; 60 g bean sprouts; 80 g water spinach; 50 g long beans; 50 g white cabbage; 5 g kemangi leaves; 80 ml hot water; 1 rempeyek cracker

A Javanese salad of blanched vegetables under a warm, spicy peanut sauce sharpened with kencur, palm sugar and tamarind. Eaten as a light meal on its own, or with warm rice and a crisp rempeyek cracker on the side.

Mains

35 min15 prep · 20 cookEasy693 kcalper serving

Instructions

Warm 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat and fry 50 g of raw peanuts, stirring almost constantly, for 6-8 minutes until the skins darken and the nuts smell toasted and are golden right through. Lift them out with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper and leave to cool and crisp.
In the same pan and remaining oil, fry 1 clove of garlic, 2 bird's eye chillies, 5 g of kencur and 1 kaffir lime leaf over medium heat for about 1 minute, until fragrant and just softened but not browned. Tip onto the paper with the peanuts.
Pound the fried aromatics in a stone mortar with 15 g of palm sugar, 1 tsp of tamarind paste and 0.5 tsp of salt until smooth, then add the cooled peanuts a handful at a time and pound to a coarse, slightly oily paste with a little crunch left in it. Taste: it should be sweet, salty, sour and hot all at once.