Why eat out when you can cook it yourself?

Indonesian culinary demonstration:

Chrisni MENDIS

"Today, we will not show you how to cook, because everyone has their own specialty in cooking, but we will show you some specialties from our Indonesian cooking," Indonesian Ambassador's wife said at the Indonesian Culinary Demonstration held last week at the Indonesian Embassy.

The moral was basically, why you would need to go out and eat when you can simply cook it yourself. The demonstration included lessons on how to make two traditional Indonesian meals: Nasi Goreng and Sate.

Nasi Goreng literally means 'fried rice', and it is as simple as adding some pre-cooked rice, stir-fried in a small amount of vegetable cooking oil with sweet soy sauce, shallot, garlic, chili and a meat of your choice (preferably chicken or prawn). Easy isn't it.

This national dish knows no social barriers. In Indonesia, Nasi Goreng is a dish that could be enjoyed in a tin plate on a roadside stall or a sophisticated compilation of garnish on porcelain in restaurants and dinner parties.

The next dish on the agenda is Satay, a children's favourite. Meat-lovers, be prepared with the mouth-watering, tongue-exploding appetizer. It is a definite must try in Asian restaurants such as Prima or Siam House. Satay is a definite must-try for anyone who loves to eat meat.

With extra advice from the Indonesian demonstrators, and little tips on how to tackle different situations, the cookery demonstration really helped the women on blossoming into experts in Indonesian Cookery.