Hive Top Chef: Young Fern Leaves With Grated Coconut

An authentic dish taught by my parents in ancient times to utilize the wealth of natural resources.

Fern? Yes, you heard it right. In our area, we are used to consuming edible fern leaves. But not just any fern.

For safety, I never look for fern directly in the forest. Usually, I will buy edible fern leaves directly at the traditional market.

In fact, I am very grateful that currently there are many local farmers who cultivate fern planting. So, local residents here never have difficulty getting supplies of edible fern leaves.

So, coincidentally this time there is a challenge from the Hive Top Chef Competiton, about leaves. So, that's why I will make an authentic menu from these beautiful and yummy fern leaves.

Actually, in Indonesia, we serve fern leaves like salad. It's just that, because people's tongues and tastes are still used to spicy food. So we serve this fern leaves dish, of course with a spicy taste. To complement this taste, we use local ingredients that are abundant in our area, namely coconut.

So this time, I will combine fern leaves with coconut. Specifically, grated coconut.

For an authentic delicious taste, I use various spices and herbs, such as lemongrass, aromatic ginger, bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves. It will create a delicious aroma that cannot be expressed in words. Let the tongue do the talking!

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THE INGREDIENTS

• 2 bunches of fern leaves
• 1 small coconut

seasoning

• red chilies, according to your taste
• 10 grams of aromatic ginger
• 20 grams of garlic
• 20 grams of shallots
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into two parts, flattened
• 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of coriander powder

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Cooking Instructions

STEP 1

Prepare the coconut first to be grated. Indeed, here grating coconut is quite time consuming. However, we are used to doing that. So, it doesn't matter at all. The most important thing is that the overall dish will be delicious. First, I will carefully remove the coconut meat from the coconut shell. To do this, it takes precision and habit so that the fingers are not injured by the tool used to remove the coconut meat. Then after the coconut meat is removed, then we can grate the coconut. Here I only use a cheese grater. Because the type of coconut meat that I will grate is relatively small. So, I can still use a cheese grater. However, if the coconut meat to be used has a thicker texture and large size, then we must use a larger coconut grater.

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STEP 2

After finishing grating the coconut, next I move on to preparing the fern leaves. Only use your hands, take only the young leaves and young stems. With your hands, we can feel the texture of the young stems that are still soft and not hard. Discard the hard fern stems.

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STEP 3

After preparing the coconut and also the fern leaves, then here I will prepare the seasoning that will be used for this dish. Blend red chili, with garlic, shallots, aromatic ginger, with 1/4 cup of water. Set aside.

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STEP 4

Prepare a cooking pot. Boil water with a teaspoon of salt. Then, add the fern leaves. Cook for 5 minutes. Then, remove and drain. If you have a supply of ice water, then it would be better to put the fern leaves in the ice water bath. To keep the color better.

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STEP 5

In a cooking pot, heat a little vegetable oil. Then add the spices that have been blended earlier. Add bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves, also flattened lemongrass. Keep stirring them until they become fragrant just for a while, don't let it sit for too long.

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STEP 6

Add sweet soy sauce, salt, and coriander powder. Then, stir well. At this stage, you have to be more careful because this seasoning will burn more easily. Don't leave them, make sure to keep stirring them until they are evenly mixed for a while.

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STEP 7

Add grated coconut then stir well. Be careful, because this grated coconut will burn more easily. Stir the grated coconut with the seasoning until it is evenly mixed and their color changes.

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STEP 8

It's time to add the boiled fern leaves. At this last stage, we don't need to cook them for too long. We just need to mix them evenly so thata later the taste will be more absorbed and ready to be served.

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THE RESULTS

Fern leaves have turned into an authentic dish combined with grated coconut rich in spice flavors. Really, my family and I can finish this dish quickly. It's like a salad dish but our style because it's served with a spicy taste.

In fact, we can add pickled cucumbers and other ingredients such as potatoes and tofu to this dish. Because the taste will still match if added with other ingredients.

Well, have you ever tried this dish? Maybe a similar dish? Make sure you get a supply of edible fern leaves and ask the experts on edible leaves beforehand. Because these fern leaves are easily available in my local market, so I don't need to worry about the safety of these edible fern leaves. See you at my kitchen Story. ❤️

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Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari

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