Preparing
Indonesian cuisine does not require any complex equipment. One important item you
will need is a solid wooden
chopping block and the
bigger the block size is the better. Another item that is equally important as the
chopping block is a heavy
cleaver. These two items
does everything from chopping up a while chicken to mincing meat and seafood, bruising a
stalk of lemongrass to smashing cardamom pods so they release their fragrance.
One task of cooking Indonesian cuisine that is very important is grinding or
crushing the seasonings that form the basis of countless Indonesian dishes. To do
this, traditionally and still popular nowadays especially in Indonesia itself, a saucer-shaped granite grinding stone
together with a granite pestle is used. This granite saucer also often used to serve sambal (chili
sauce). However, in this modern era and in other countries other than countries in
Asia, it is probably hard to find this tools. Therefore, food processor or blender
should be sufficient to do this task.
Chinese woven bamboo steamer is always good to have in preparing many
Indonesian dishes. The steamer made with bamboo is preferred to a metal steamer
because it absorbs more moisture rather than letting it fall back into the food and this
steamer is also could perfectly sits inside a wok just above the boiling water.

Wok is very ideal for deep frying because it
requires less oil then a conventional deep fryer. Moreover, it allows just the right
amount of evaporation for those dishes which begin with a large amount of liquid and
finish with a thick sauce. Not to forget, a frying shovel or spatula is an essential partner of a wok. |