Indonesia - Tinutuan

Background
This recipe is adapted from the book Indonesian Regional Cooking by Sri Owen. The recipe is from the city of Manado which is on the north east tip of Sulawesi. We had to vary to recipe at several points. The original recipe called for water spinach instead of kale and fresh lemongrass instead of dried. We omitted the turmeric leaf. The effect of these substitutions on the final product are discussed in the results section.

Ingredients
1/4 cup white rice
3/4 cup of frozen sweet corn
10 oz of peeled and cubed butternut squash
2/3 cups bamboo shoots
1 tsp salt
2 cups of boiled frozen yuca, cubed.
1 tbsp of dried lemon grass
8 oz of fresh spinach
8 oz of fresh kale
20 fresh basil leaves
1 turmeric leaf (optional)

Procedure
Soak rice in cold water for 30 minutes
Bring 5 cups of water to a boil and add rice.
Add corn, squash, bamboo, and salt. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
Add yuca and simmer for a few minutes.
Refrigerate the soup over night
Reheat soup until hot
Soak lemon grass in 1/4 cup hot water for a few minutes and add to soup.
Add spinach and kale and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add basil leaves, season, and serve hot.


Results and Discussion
The preparation was very straight forward and can be easily done the night before which is what we did. We made several poor choices in our substitutions. Kale was a poor choice for young spinach as it is very chewy and tough. I have not chewed this much at breakfast ever, but I have met my daily fiber requirement. The dried lemongrass was also not a good substitution for fresh. As a result the basil taste of the soup was very strong and lacked a counterpoint. I believe the turmeric leaf would also help with this problem. The texture of the broth was very nice and had subtle sweetness. I would like to try this recipe again with better lemon grass and a green softer than kale.