Nasi Campur

Nasi Campur refers to a dish with a scoop of nasi putih (white rice) accompanied by small portions of several other dishes, including meat, vegetables, peanuts, eggs etc. Nasi campur is a ubiquitous dish around Indonesia and as diverse as the archipelago itself. There is no exact rule, recipe or definition of what makes a nasi campur. In fact, Indonesians and Southeast Asians commonly consume steamed rice surrounded by side dishes consisting of vegetables and meat. [Wikipedia]

When in Indonesia, we eat like Indonesians. This has as much to do with the ingredients that are available as with our love of their food. We eat rice most days, and I usually make sambal to go with it. Chilli, garlic and shallots keep well on the boat, so they feature in most of our meals during our cruising.

Table of Contents

Our Nasi Campur consisted of octopus skewer, tempe, kangkung and sambal.

Skewered Octopus with Lime and Basil

Marinate octopus in olive oil, lime juice, garlic and chopped basil leaves. Refrigerated for about an hour, then skewer the octopus on small skewers. Grilled on the BBQ, and I served them with Nasi Campur.

Kangkung

I probably do the kangkung differently every time I cook it. Still, generally speaking, I fry up quite a bit of garlic (usually garlic slices), sliced shallots and a bit of chilli in a little oil. I then add the washed, roughly chopped kangkung, season with salt and pepper and sauté for a minute.

Tempe Goreng

Tempe is fermented soybeans. Slice prepared tempe into bite-size pieces and fry in hot oil until brown and crispy. Remove from the oil and mix in a little kecap manis.

Sambal

I usually make raw sambal by smashing up chillies with garlic and a small shallot, in my mortar with a pestle. However, my favourite is sambal matah, and I’ll make it if I have lemongrass on board. Sambal matah is lemongrass and shallot sambal. It will often have shrimp paste in it, but I usually make mine without the paste. I just love the taste of fresh lemongrass.

Smash up lemongrass, shallot, a little chilli, some thin slices of kaffir lime leaves, salt and oil. It is delicious.