Good Morning, Friends!
I have a traditional food from Indonesia that normally is sold by street food vendors. Some say it's poor people's meatballs, as they are without meat. Some would also refer it as vegetarian meatballs, and most of the times it is always served with peanut sauce. These balls are made of tapioca flour, so some would call them as tapioca balls.
Where these balls are originally from, the people speak Sundanese, not Indonesian. The Sundanese refer tapioca flour as ACI, and as they would poke the balls either with fork, with a toothpick, with a skewer, and the act of poking in Sundanese is DICOLOK, hence these balls are called CILOK, shortened of aci dicolok 😊
Here are the ingredients!
500 ml water
A generous pinch white pepper powder
1-2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1/2 - 1 tsp garlic powder
250 g flour (about 2 c)
1 tbsp crushed chives
1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 egg
250 g tapioca flour (about 2 c)
A block of tofu
1/2 - 3/4 c flour
2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
Water for boiling
Peanut oil
Boiled eggs, for serving
3 garlic
3 candlenut
1 shallot
1 bird eye chili
1/4 c water
3 tbsp peanut oil
3 kafir lime leaf
2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 c smooth peanut butter
1/2 - 1 c water
Chicken bouillon powder to taste
Indonesian sweet soy sauce to taste (kecap manis)
Dark brown sugar to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Bring to fully simmering water, garlic, chicken bouillon powder and white pepper powder, then pour into flour, mix. Cool for 8-10 minutes, until warm to the touch. Then crack in an egg and dump in tapioca flour, chicken bouillon powder, garlic powder and crushed chives, mix to combine well.
Pour enough water for boiling, add in a tsp or too.
Form balls and drop them into boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes, until floating. Take out with slotted spoon
Slice tofu into finger stick, then roll it on flour that's been seasoned with chicken bouillon powder. Dip coated tofu on beaten egg, then coat with flour again. Air fry for 20 minutes at 360 F.
Into a food processor, make a fine paste of shalot, garlic, bird eye chili, candlenut and water. Pour mixture into a pan. Add in kafir lime leaf, peanut oil, and the rest of the ingredients. Stir and cook until peanut butter is combined well, and turn into sauce. Add more water if you'd like to have thinner sauce or leave as is if you prefer thicker sauce
On serving plate, halve boiled eggs, place some tapioca balls and air fried tofu, pour enough peanut sauce on top and serve immediately
Enjoy!