Recipes
stranger like desire
you will come
into the desert
to know me
you will touch me like a stranger
as many strokes
as many surfaces
as many names
as many hungry palms
as your servant can carry
so empty this
your lick across the burning sand
electricity of my thirst
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
you will come (hekein)
into difference (diaphora)
with them
// 232δ
ἥξεις αὐτοῖς εἰς διαφοράν
//
red (palm) sugar
you will come
into the dessert
to taste them
you will eat fried plantains
ripened until soft and sweet
crunchy with red sugar
too hot for wasted time
i almost burn my tongue
flesh tender and yellow
greasy fingers with coconut
oil and sticky lips
but did you really
//
iced kepo
iced kepo is freshly-squeezed
orange juice with just-cracked
coconut water over ice
on a hot
day before the rain
comes
maybe the traffics religion is
theres something superficial
about s-e-x
//
(kepo also means gossip)
//
🌔
//
sambal tomat
9 cloves garlic
11 purple shallots
23 birds-eye chillies
3 tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lontar palm sugar
coconut oil for frying
cut the garlic, shallots, chillies, and tomatoes into small chunks; heat a generous glug of oil in a wok or frying pan over medium-high flame; stir-fry garlic, shallots, and chillies until sweated and fragrant, around 60 sec; add tomatoes, stir-fry another 15-30 sec so they lose their rawness; remove from heat, add salt and sugar, cover loosely (for bugs and geckos) and allow to cool; blitz with a stick blender, blender, or mortar and pestle until smooth but still textured; accompanies anything; refrigerate leftovers.
can make a big approx triple batch with one lovin’ handful garlic, two judicious handfuls shallots, three or four reckless handfuls of chillies, 9 tomatoes, etc.
notes:
bawang merah were called purple shallots in the USA but maybe something else in other places; size here is variable around 1-inch.
cabe rawit are called birds-eye chillies elsewhere; the small but plump yellow/orange/red ones have a fruity heat and are better for this than green chillies. don’t skimp on chillies because heat balances sweet; neutralize heat with extra nasi to build tolerance; adjust proportions over time to develop family khas.
don’t skimp on garlic; needs garlic.
locals use ubiquitous plum tomatoes but i prefer small- to medium-sized globe tomatoes, which render best umami with the brief cook time.
gula merah or red sugar from the lontar palm is bought in solid form and grated before use; could sub jaggery or earthy brown sugar; rich and buttery like caramel.
//