Sri Owen's Indonesian Food [Hardcover]

The cover is truly beautiful, linen embossed with a mythical batik pattern; the photographs of Indonesian scenery and food are enticing and Sri Owen's stories of her family and life are fasinating. The book is divided up into a mix of Sri Owen's culinary journey through life and the basics,methods and ingredients, of Indonesian cooking. So the first chapter is entitled Early Days 1939-1952,followed by 1952-1964 Starting Out and 1964-2007 The View From Abroad. Chapter 4 is devoted to Staples and Basics - Coconut, Tamarind, Tempeh,Rice and this section includes discussion and recipes on all of the aforementioned as well as Stocks, Sweet Corn Sago, Fish and Shellfish. In the penultimate chaper Sri Owen deals with Methods and Techniques which apart from all the methods already familiar in the Western kitchen explains and illustrates with appropriate recipes the very Indonesian techniques of Sambal and Sambal Goreng, Wraps and Banana Leaves and Kalio and Rendang.And the final chapter looks at Food for Celebrations and Special Occasions focussing on Satay and Selematan. There is also an excellent glossary on Indonesian ingredients.

I have all Sri Owen's previous books on Indonesian cooking in my library and I throughly enjoyed reading about her early life in Indonesia and her Sumatran grandmother. I also found much to interest me in her discussions on the various culinary topics and the anecdotes. So far so good but the recipes let the book down.

The first point to note is that if you already have any of her previous Indonesian cookbooks there is little new material here. Some recipes such as Rendang, Satay and Nasi Goreng are so essential and ubiquitous that it is impossible to leave them out of any Indonesian cookbook. But this is not what bothers me. Although I haven't engaged in a recipe count I would say at least half the recipes can be found in her previous books. This is fine if this is the first book of Sri Owen's you buy but rather disappointing otherwise to discover there is so little new material.

The second point is that I have found that a lot of her recipes are just simply not very good. I say this from the viewpoint of someone who is very much at home with Indonesian cooking having travelled extensively in the region and done a good deal of research myself into traditional Indonesian recipes. Sri Owen's Rendang recipe just doesn't cut it in my house compared to the recipe I use or to Rendang eaten in situ in Indonesia. Her Gule Kambing is not a patch on the one I sourced from a rumah makan in Lombok where they assured me it's origins were Arab which fascinated me. And when I tried out the recipe for Gulai Bagar the result was nondescript and rather tasteless.

On the other hand two of her recipes which are winners and which I have cooked from her first book for many years but which are omitted here are recipes for chicken: Ayam panike and Ayam tauco. In fact the book only has two recipes for chicken which I find inexplicable as Indonesians do eat chicken far more than beef or lamb. And both these recipes (Ayam goreng and Nasi Kebuli ) are in her first book. I won't go on - suffice to say I have generally found most of her recipes wanting and bearing not much resemblance to either the food I cook or that I have eaten in Indonesia.

This is a lovely book to dip into for Sri Owen's anecdotes and prose but a book to leave on the shelf rather than a kitchen companion.

Cooking recipes from this book is a real treat and i always look forward to it. every single thing i have tried has been delicious and more-ish. I live on my own so have to adapt the portion size a little bit but that is not difficult. a great book with all the classics + inspiring new (for me) recipes.