KennethT

That gets pretty much anything off! I used to do that all the time with pans that had a lot of polymerized oil around the slope of the fry pan.

Green chilli flakes? I don't think I've ever seen that. I also didn't realize it was possible - I figured the green chillies would turn red while sitting out in the drying process.

An update for my photo from about a month ago. This is the cabe keriting (long curly chilli) plant - with flowers: I've been pollinating the flowers manually - hopefully I'll get some chillies!!! I don't think they exist in the USA - at least that I can find. This is the kencur (sand ginger) - originally in the solo cup it had about one leaf or so... it had really started to fill out in the solo cup so I gave it some more room in a 1 gallon fabric pot. The rhizome grows really slowly, so this is still probably only 1 rhizome with more leaves/shoots. These are what they call cabe rawit in Indonesia - typically translated as Thai chillies, they're a lot more plump than a standard thai chilli so I'm curious as to how these will do.

I'd also recommend Laurel's Heirloom Tomato plants. They have an amazing variety and you can buy just one plant (or you could years ago back when I did so - I don't know if they've changed their policy).

I am curious as to what you personally would think of the results... ATK's opinions aside... TBH, I've never been a big fan of them, maybe even less so when CK was there.

I've found that if I salt only and let it sit like 10 minutes, it starts getting a bit limp. That's why I don't throw the chillies in until the very end because they DEFINITELY get limp quickly since they're sliced thinly. One way to turn your belief into reality is to try it yourself both ways.... I'd be curious to see what you find.

It's a quick pickle.... smash cucumbers, removing seeds. For about a pound of cucumbers, I cover with about a tablespoon of sugar, mix well, then rest 10-15 min to draw out moisture. Then drain well, and add a bunch of salt (I don't really measure, but probably a couple teaspoons?), about 1/2t MSG, 1/3t chicken powder, minced garlic and/or sliced shallots and 2T rice vinegar or lime juice or a combination thereof. Let sit 5 minutes minimum, taste and add more salt if needed, then add the sliced chillies just before serving so they don't start wilting. The Chinese YouTube chef, Wang Gang, once said that using the sugar first will keep the cucumbers crisp even once in the salt for a while and I find that it works well. Since you wind up draining the sugar water, they're not too sweet - just to set off the vinegar.

Upon further reflection, I'm thinking about the language. From what I understand from when I was looking to get one while in Indonesia, the mortar/pestle combination was called cobek/ulekan. Ulek meaning to grind or ground, and adding the "an" at the end makes it the noun - the thing doing the grinding. Similar to the word goreng which means fried (ayam goreng = fried chicken) and gorengan is "fried food".

Thanks! I'm laughing like a loon right now. If I had known that, it could have saved a lot of trouble!!!!

Did they mention how common it was for people to use the raw paste as a condiment by itself? I think I've seen something like it as a condiment to soto ayam (chicken soup) - I strongly remember a nuclear hot orange ground chilli in Jogjakarta. I didn't think about it at the time (it was one of our first trips to Indonesia) but I couldn't tell you if it was just chillies and salt or if there were other ingredients. It definitely wasn't fried, but I wouldn't know if the chillies had been blanched prior to grinding. I'm curious as to how popular it is when compared with other sambal. Is it mainly used at home because it's not a lot of work like other sambals can be?

Interesting. Thank you. I knew that the pestle was called an ulek but I never made the connection to that and oelek.

Indonesian style bison patties (v2.0) with sambal ijo Cucumber pickle

I would. Not all plastics used in refrigerated packaging are heat safe.

A traditional Indonesian padang classic - ayam balado. I'm sure when we're in Jakarta in July, I'll have something balado-ified every day.

Yikes.... I hope she never travels to Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore... they put turmeric in EVERYTHING!