Food Truck Friday - Santi's Kitchen

Food Truck Friday headed to Indonesia (in the culinary sense) this week, visiting Santi's Kitchen.







On my first visit, I couldn't help myself but to order the Spicy Chicken (aka Ayam Balado) ($8.50), a Sumateran dish of chicken thighs cooked in a chili sauce with onions, green beans and green peppers. It was served over rice in what I consider the classic Asian fast food style. It was awhile back that I tried it, but recall enjoying it. American dining has been so breast obsessed when it comes to chicken (with the exception of fried chicken), I was glad to see the flavorful, moist thighs being featured.





This week, I wanted to try something else and opted for the "Chicken Peanut Sauce" ($8.50), making the false assumption it would be a similar dish, but with a peanut sauce rather than the chili sauce. I was thinking maybe a Swimming Rama style dish. Boy, was I wrong.







Instead, it was a very thin soup (and a lot of it) served in a plastic tub, with a box of rice on the side. The soup was way too thin to pour over the rice without making a huge mess, so instead I added the rice to the soup. I found it pretty bland. It also had lots and lots of celery. I hate celery. Can't stand the smell or taste of it, raw or cooked, except when it's used as part of the classic mirepoix (carrot/onion/celery) that is cooked down completely for stocks, etc. This was not cooked down. I recognize I'm largely alone in my disdain for celery (except my husband, who shares it), and I had the completely wrong expectations about what the dish would be, which is on me - mostly.





My lack of familiarity with Indonesian cuisine led me to order a soup, but I do have to say that if the menu had said it was a chicken peanut soup rather than chicken peanut sauce, I would've ordered something else. Now that I'm reviewing the menu online (which I highly recommend if you aren't already familiar with this cuisine), I realize they have several dishes containing candle nut (known in Hawai`i as kukui nut), so may have to go back to try one of those out... but not before more research.