Lesung & Cobek

In the olden days or rather during veteran mothers' era - lols - it is not uncommon to see this handy non-electric kitchen tool - aka the twin - mortar and pestle in most households.

mortar and pestle aka batu lesung dan anaknya lols

Mortar is the bowl while pestle is the heavy stick. This tool set is made either from stone, wood, marble or even brass. It comes in different sizes and shapes.

A mortar and pestle act as your manual food processor and is used to crush or grind any type of food or ingredients like peppercorns or even mix-crush garlic, ginger and shallots. It may not be as smooth as when you are blender-ing or grinding them with food processor or electric grinder. The minimal crushed ingredients can give out some ummpphh aromas to your cooking.

Besides, you can also make sambal or paste using the mortar and pestle. It will taste totally different.

Cobek set

You are in control of the mortar and pestle. Be gentle but firm when grinding or crushing. Whatever you do, don't beat down or letting out your steam of anger on it.

Place the food in the mortar (bowl), then use some downward pressure over the food with the pestle (pounder) and turn it in a circular motion around the mortar. The pestle will catch the food and grind it.

It is so easy and you will get used to it pretty quickly. To keep the surface of the mortar smooth, do pound some grated coconut in it - before or after using.

Ikan Merah Masak Bali

CQ wants to share a simple dish that requires you to use the mortar and pestle set to grind the ingredients.

Pound 3 cloves of garlic and 2 seeded red chillies. Put aside. Sautee the mixture til fragrance and add 4 large chopped tomatoes and fry well. Five minutes later, add 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup, season accordingly and stir well. Then add the fish - fried much earlier. Enjoy with hot rice =)