One of the first posts I wrote for our blog was titled, Tropical Fruits of Indonesia. As the name suggests it's a brief list of some fruits found in the supermarkets and pasars of Jakarta, that I was less familiar with at the time of writing. Well, that was over 18 months ago and in that time not only have most of the fruits from that original list become staples in our kitchen, I have also expanded our family's dietary repertoire through 'trial and error'. This involved me dropping either a new fruit or vegetable into our shopping trolley on a regular basis and learning how to include it in our diet. As a result, the likes of jeruk bali, bengkuang, oyong, snake beans and malang apples have become regular additions to our shopping list.

Today's ajb recipe uses the Indonesian apple variety, the Malang. Its firm texture when cooked, along with its tart flavour makes it an excellent substitute for the Granny Smith apple (- We think they are a great addition to a cheese platter too).

We hope you enjoy our recipe.

Happy Baking!

Jo :)

Indonesian-inspired crumble-stuffed apples
(3 servings)

Ingredients
3 Malang apples (cored and peeled if you like)
2/3 C rolled oats
2/3 C plain flour
1/3 C coconut sugar
60g butter (softened and cubed)
1 tsp nutmeg
1tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC
2. Wash and core three apples (preferably Javanese-grown Malang apples). Ensure hole in the middle is generous enough to accommodate plenty of crumble mixture. Peel if desired
3. Into a mixing bowl place oats, flour, sugar and spices. Mixed well

4. Add cubes of softened butter to the oat mix and using your clean hands, rub in the butter to create a  crumbly mixture

5. Stuff each apple with plenty of crumble and with any excess, create a 'cap' on top of each apple, patting firmly

6. Sprinkle the top of each apple with extra sugar and cinnamon
7. Transfer apples into a lined baking dish (or baking dish sprayed with baking oil)

8. Bake in pre-heated moderate oven for approx. 30 minutes or until apples are soft (test with skewer)

9. Serve warm with vanilla custard (recipe below) and/or vanilla ice cream.

Vanilla Pod Custard
(4 servings)

Ingredients
1 C milk
1 C thickened cream
2 vanilla pods
4 egg yolks
1 Tb cornflour
1/3 C caster sugar

Method
1. Into a small saucepan add milk and cream
2. Using a sharp knife, split each vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Add the pods and seeds to the milk/cream mixture
3. Warm milk/cream mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until very hot (but do not allow mixture to boil)
4. Remove saucepan from heat
5. In a heat-proof bowl, whisk egg yolks, corn flour and sugar until well combined. Remove vanilla pods from milk mixture and in a steady stream, pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly
6. Return mixture to a low heat and cook, stirring constantly for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the custard coats the back of a metal spoon and appears thicker in consistency **Make sure custard does not boil**
7. Serve custard warm with baked apples

Interesting facts about some of the ingredients in these recipes:

Malang apples - Malang apples were first introduced to the island of Java in 1908 by the Dutch. Today, apple orchards can be found on the steep slopes of Daerah Kecamatan Batu, located on the outskirts of the City of Malang in Eastern Java. The conditions in Batu are cool and fresh -  perfect for growing this variety of apple.

Cinnamon - Most cinnamon sold in supermarkets and pasars in Indonesia is likely to be derived from the dried bark of the Cinnamomum Burmannii tree. This evergreen tree grows up to 7m in height and is native to South East Asia. Cinnamomum Burmannii trees are most prolific on the island of Sumatra.

Nutmeg - Is derived from several species of tree in the genus Myristica. The nutmeg itself is the egg-shaped seed of the tree and the outer membrane of the seed is where the spice. mace comes from. The most important commercial species of nutmeg is the evergreen tree, Myristica fragrans. This species is indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas ('Spice Islands') of Indonesia.

Vanilla pods - Vanilla is the flavouring derived from the orchid pods of the genus, Vanilla. Although the most common vanilla throughout the world comes from the Mexican species, Vanilla planifolia, Madagascar Vanilla is the most common variety of vanilla in Indonesia.

Interested in finding out more about Tropical Fruits of Indonesia? or what about recipes that include tropical fruits? Click on the links below..
Tropical Fruits of Indonesia
How to make our Javanese-style Rujak
Cacao & Coconut Energy Balls
Pineapple upside-down cake
Jeruk Bali, goats cheese and pearl couscous salad

Words: Jo Stevens   Photography: a journey bespoke