Coconut Oil

Some people say that Indonesian food must be cooked in coconut oil, and there is perhaps a barely perceptible difference in flavour between this and vegetable oil. However, I certainly do not consider coconut oil by any means essential, and it has one serious drawback; it quickly goes rancid. Oil which is the least bit ‘on the turn’ will ruin your food. I always use vegetable oil, and vegetable oil is specified in most’ of the recipes in this book, except for a few cases where olive oil is definitely to be preferred.