East Timor - Batar Da'an

East Timor is the east side of the island of Timor plus other small islands. It's name comes from the Indonesian word for East (Timur) so is actually called East East O_o

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh or frozen corn
½ cup dried mung beans
1 cup squash (pumpkin or butternut squash)
2 cups water
1 onions
4 cloves garlic


The night before you make this you need to soak the mung beans in cold water then the next day boil them for 15 minutes until almost soft.

 Dice the onion and chop up the garlic. JD kindly chopped the garlic because I hate smelling of it.

 Chop up the squash into small cubes.

 Saute the onion and garlic in some oil until soft.

 Now add the water, sweetcorn, mung beans and squash.

 Simmer for about 15 minutes until the water has disappeared and the dish is thickened a bit. Season with salt and pepper.

It was delicious. Neither of the kids tried it but JD and I really enjoyed it. We commented while we were making it how there are no spices used to flavour it and we were worried it would be really plain. It was really flavourful though with a lovely taste that must have been the mung beans. I feel ashamed that I eyed the mung beans suspiciously as they soaked, more than once! East Timor must be full of geniuses perfectly combining foods to maximise taste without the use of spices. Using butternut squash is a bit of a cheat though as it makes everything delicious. Nevertheless, well done East Timor :D