I’m that kind of person with the ability of killing a plastic cactus. Once, a golden pothos perished on my hand. PERISHED. A gardener once went agape when I mentioned to them that I once killed a mint plant. Mint is a very invasive, strong plant — it even considered as garden weed. And I killed it.
Anyway, that doesn’t stop me from trying. Yesterday, I bought myself a Thai chili plant, bayleaf plant, and kaffir lime plant. Bought a couple of jade plants too, so I’m happy.
(Left to right) Thai chili, golden pothos, bayleaf (on the back), kaffir lime (on the front,) and three golden pothos plantsThe succulents!
And I found out that I’m proud plantmom! ?
LOOK AT THAT TINY CUTIEPIE, OKAY. SOMETHING ACTUALLY ALIVE AND THRIVE UNDER MY CARE — or, uh, neglect. Because sansevieria thrives on neglect.
AND ANOTHER ONE. YES. ANOTHER ONE!
I was so confused when I water the smaller sansevieria because it supposed to stay on the center — while I noticed it seems like slightly moved to the side and the pot seems crowded.
I tilted the pot and I noticed a wee smaller plant next to its bigger sibling! Yay!
Please wish me luck! Hopefully the plants are staying healthy and happy!
My sister, Retno Widya, has been developing her OC (original character) and combined with her interest in Javanese culture, she created a comic titled ‘Abdijiwo’ (in Indonesian.)
Translated from abdi (servant/humble servant) and jiwo (soul), the story is about three cursed souls who serve their living human hosts. A combination of drama, Javanese culture, and lots of comedies, you can find the comic ‘Abdijiwo’ in LINE Webtoon Indonesia. The comic is still in Indonesian language.
Ooookay, I’m not super sure the English term for it, but it’s basically another Indonesian take at sambal (if we could put sambal on everything, we would—wait.) Kentang is potato, sambal is, well, sambal (chili paste — mixed with garlics, shallots, salt, sugar, pepper, and sometimes, shrimp paste,) and goreng means fried.
This dish is not exclusively for Eid, and many households cook it as side dish (yes, it has potatoes AND we eat it with rice) and one of folks’ favorites because you can keep it and re-heat it for the next meal.
Potato is the main ingredients, and folks add another protein on it: quail eggs, chicken livers and gizzards, and (sometimes, if you — and your nose — are strong enough,) stinky beans.
A bit of warning, this dish has lots of chilis and shrimp paste. This is not for the faint of heart.
Sambal Goreng Kentang
With chicken gizzards because that’s how I like it
For 4-5 people; and you can keep it for 2-3 days in a fridge
Cut and diced: 800 grams potatoes (you can round it up to 1 kg. This depends on how much you like this dish, though.) 300 grams chicken gizzards
Spices, blended: 10-15 pieces red chilis (I don’t know its exact English name, but in Indonesia, we call it “cabe keriting” (curly chilies.) In Malaysia, though, I’m using Johor chili) 5 pieces bird-eye chilis (if you like it really, really spicy) 6 garlics 10 shallots 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste (belacan/terasi) (heat the shrimp paste first to exude its aroma) 2 candlenuts 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder (optional)
Spices, mashed/tear: 3 kaffir lime leaves 3 bay leaves 2 cm ginger 2 cm galangal
To taste: Salt Sugar Pepper
Cooking oil
Deep fried the potatoes and the gizzards separately. Set aside.
Put a bit of oil on the wok (you don’t have to use new oil; you can use the oil from previous fry (potatoes and gizzards) and heat the blended spices. Add the mashed spices/herbs. Heat it until it’s fragrant.
Put potatoes and gizzards into the wok and mix it thoroughly. In Malaysia, we had this term: Pecah minyak; in Indonesia, my aunt mentioned to me to cook it “until dry” — meaning that you need to mix it on the hot wok until the sambal sticks on the potatoes and gizzards and you could see the oil “separated” from the dish. You shouldn’t see some kind of “chili soup” on the wok. The sambal needs to look like marinated the potatoes and the gizzards. And yes, it needs upper arm workout to handle this dish.
Serve with warm jasmine rice or ketupat.
quick blurbs
Saw this site mentioned the other day on Slack: neocities.org.
Scroll down and you will see “Featured Sites”. Never knew it brings back early 2000s, and it makes me so, so happy.
Webmaster
Nindya. Kapkap.she/her. Indonesian in Malaysia. Millennial. Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Lo-fi. Murder mysteries genre.
