Quick Indonesian Rawon and Baked Perkedel

Did I just click "Publish" before typing anything? Sorry guys, accidents happen. Oooops. (This is not the first time, and probably ain't gonna be the last time :p).

I have a situation.
- There is a Rawon event, hosted by my blogger friends
- I love Rawon (Indonesian Black Beef Soup)
- I want Rawon
- now I really really want Rawon
but
- I have no time to make Rawon from scratch
- I don't have the ingredients to make Rawon from scratch
- I am lazy to make Rawon from scratch
- Heck, I don't know how to make Rawon from scratch

What to do?
Thank God for Indofood Rawon Instant Seasoning Mix!
Background music: Handel's Hallelujah Chorus

...what else can I do to make
Indonesian Beef Rawon
more of a weekday quick dish?
- Change the beef chunks with Sukiyaki style beef for record-breakingly quick cooking time
- Remove most of the frills which aren't readily available in my pantry (beansprouts, salted eggs, prawn crackers)
- Change the chilli sauce to just freshly chopped chilli
- Try to modify the fried perkedel (potato cake) side dish to the baked version, and fail miserably


Recipes
Quick Beef Rawon
- 1 lb sukiyaki style sliced beef (if possible with nice marbling)
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1-2 packs of rawon instant seasoning mix (depends on how intense you want the flavor to be)
- 200-400ml hot water (depends how soupy you want it to be)
- olive oil
- lemon
- red chilli
- fresh corriander
Saute ginger in hot oil, add beef, when the color turns (it happens really quickly), add hot water, rawon instant seasoning mix, bring to boil. Turn the heat off, squeeze some lemon juice, garnish with fresh corriander, serve with steamed rice and additional lemon slices and red chilli on the side.

Baked Perkedel (Indonesian Potato Cakes)
- 2 large potatoes
- 1/2 small clove of garlic, finely chopped/grated
- salt, pepper, sugar, nutmeg
- 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 220C. Wash potatoes, peel skin off, dice to about 2x2 cm cubes, pat dry, microwave until soft (I did on high, for about 7 minutes), mash, add finely chopped garlic, season with salt, pepper, sugar and nutmeg, form into small shapes (they are originally in a slightly flattened disk shape, but I also did small balls and ovals, just for fun). Line baking sheet with foil, brush with olive oil, lay the perkedels, brush with egg wash, bake until golden brown (mine was about 20 minutes), remove from oven to let cool, serve.

Mine turned out much lighter and fluffier than the normally firm perkedels. They taste alright, but they are a gadzillion miles away from the authentic perkedel T_T.

My friend, Lily, suggested boiling the potatoes until soft (with skin), drain, pat dry, peel skin off, mash with a bit of milk, roll into shape, dip in egg white, roll in breadcrumbs, pan fry quickly and pop in the oven to crisp. I am sooo gonna try this method next time.

You can also add minced meat/spam/ham/bacon/shrimps/fish or just the classic fried shallot and chopped spring onion in the mashed potatoes before rolling.

Gosh. My perkedels rants kinda stole the limelight from the Rawon, didn't they? Opppps (again).

This post is for the folks at Masak Bareng (Cooking Together) Event (February 2009 Edition): my apologies for being such a lazy ass and using instant seasoning mix. Opppps (I realised that saying "oppps" too many times did not make me any cuter or more forgiven hihi)