Fried Dumpling

Today is surely a tiring Monday, but a half-pack frozen fish is waiting for me, so I got to get myself in the kitchen anyway. So this is what we’ll have tonight on our table – inspired by our visit to a Chinese restaurant yesterday. Enjoy :)

Fried Dumpling

PS: Recipe will follow, Cinderella is still busy in the kitchen :D

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*As promised, please find below the recipe (again in Indonesian)

But before that, maybe I should let you know why I don't like to write recipe and cooking instruction in English. OK, I would say when you read my blog, you might think that my English is just on 'average level'. Well, it's true. I guess it's not so bad, and it's not perfect either. But in general, I can use English well both in written and oral. Expect on food (and many other things like using those strange terms in Economic articles or Architectural Report *did I told you I was an architect once? :D* or any other difficult matters). But I went through some oral tests at the English course back in school times - and the most dreadful part was when we had to talk about food. Food names, ingredients and how to prepare them is a big NO NO for me. I just didn't know what to say... I was hardly able to express those words - cut, slice, peel, - arrrrggh it was sooo confusing. Luckily I managed to pass the tests and went to higher levels. As I grew up, foods and recipes in English are less intimidating to read, but still I find they're difficult to write. Let say my lowest IELTS test was on writing :D

So here is the recipe in Indonesian - maybe someday I'll do it in English :D

Bahan:

400 gr ikan (daging putih) *saya pakai ikan beku

150 gr daging giling

1 bawang bombai

4 siung bawang putih

satu ruas jari jahe

1 wortel (selalu ada wortel di kulkas saya hehehe)

1 batang bawang daun

garam, gula, lada

kulit pangsit siap pakai (saya pakai khusus buat yang digoreng)

saus tiram

Kikkoman sauce

Caranya:

Potong2 bawang putih, bawah bombay, daun bawang dan wortel

Haluskan daging ikan

Campur ikan, daging dan potongan bawang/wortel

Bumbui dengan garam, gula, lada, saus tiram dan Kikkoman sauce (akan lebih enak kalau ada kecap ikan, tapi saya ga punya hehehe)

Adonan ikan ini dimasukkan ke dalam kulit pangsit kira2 satu sendok makan, lipat dua kulitnya (jadi segitiga). Goreng dalam minyak dengan api sedang, sajikan dengan saus tomat. Jadi kira2 30 pangsit goreng.

Mengutip email Mama saya - akan 'maknyuussss' rasanya :)

Cheesy Baked Chicken with Potato and Mushroom

*Oh what a long title hehehe...

Cheesy Baked Chicken

We have made it our custom to make a 'no-rice day' each week, and tonight I baked chicken and potato, garnished with mushrooms and cheese sauce.

The original idea was taken from here, but I changed the sauce a bit (I simply used plain yoghurt, mozzarella and young cheese plus salt and pepper and a pinch of Italians herbs). Then in the top of the chicken and potato mix, I put a layer of white mushrooms (happened to have a box of them in the fridge), covered with the cheese sauce and baked them for about an hour.

It’s a bit burnt, but I hope it’s as delicious as its aroma :) (My husband hasn’t got home yet, so I guess we must wait :D)

Updated (March 18, 2011):

Finally my husband came home and we were ready to taste the chicken. I was a bit afraid it didn't turn out good - because this Mozarella chesse we have here in Nederland is quite different with the Mozarella we have in Asia... so the chicken was somehow 'watery'. It seemed the water came out from the Mozarella - I had the some problem when I used it to bake pizza some weeks ago. Anyway, I managed to get rid of the excessive water without damaging the chicken, so I'm quite happy with the look of the chicken :)

It was a bit 'strange' at first, since I never cooked anything (but cakes) with yoghurt. "Is it to salty?" I asked my husband. "No, it's good." "Oooh, it IS good. How did you make the chicken so soft like this?"

Our chicken meat turned out to be sooo tender, that it melted in your mouth. I guessed it was the yoghurt who did the job. It also tasted a bit Greek(y) somehow, so overall, we both agree that we love this dish :) My husband kept asking me, can you use the same method to other meat? Let's try with pork. Ha ha ha.

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As per my sister's request, please find below the recipe *my version* in Indonesian (maybe later I'll get myself to write it in English -you'll never know, I'm very lousy in writing cooking instruction in English):

Bahan2:

500 atau 600 gr daging ayam (fillet)

3 atau 4 kentang ukuran sedang

1 bawang bombay

1 batang bawang daun

1 wortel ukuran sedang

4 - 6 siung bawang putih

lada, garam

some amount of Provence dried herbs (giliran nulis bahan jadi bingung bahasa Indonesianya apa hihihi)

250 ml plain yogurt

250 gr keju cheddar (saya pakai young cheese)

200 gr mozarella

150 gr jamur putih - cut in medium slices

Caranya:

Potong ayam dan kentang sekitar 2 x 2 cm

Rendam ayam dalam perasan jeruk nipis, cuci

Bumbui ayam dengan bawang putih (saya pakai garlic crusher), garam dan lada - tinggalkan di kulkas kira2 1 jam

*please don't get intimidated by the amount of time - you just have to leave it in the fridge and free yourself to do other things :)

Campur yogurt, keju parut, keju mozarella parut, bawang bombay, bawang daun, Provence Herbs dan wortel jadi satu. Untuk campuran ini (kecuali yogurt dan herbs) saya ga memarut atau memotong2, tapi langsung saja dimasukkan ke chopper :)

Masukkan potongan kentang ke dalam pinggan kaca yang sudah diisi ayam tadi, tuang saus kejunya, tabur dengan lapisan jamur potong, tutup dengan saus keju lagi.

Panggang dalam api sedang selama satu jam.

PS: di Belanda sini, mozarella tidak seperti di Indonesia/Asia - bentuknya bulat, lembut dan warnanya putih dan ga menimbulkan efek melted seperti Mozarella yang kita pakai untuk baking pasta di Asia. Saya juga belum tahu kenapa. Rasanya juga lebih tawar (tidak seasin yang saya expect) - efeknya agak beda dengan yang saya harapkan, baking dish ini jadi berair dan saya harus buang airnya. Saya juga pakai lebih banyak yogurt dibanding yang dianjurkan dalam resep dan metode yang saya pakai juga tidak persis sama - hasilnya ayamnya melted di mulut karena cukup lama dipanggang dalam yogurt, dan bumbu keju/yogurtnya juga sangat meresap (teori saya sih gitu hehehe).

Seperti biasa, ini resep campursari saja, jadi jangan takut untuk merubah2 komposisinya, dan kalau bahan2nya ga ada di tempat anda, ubah2 aja, saya bikin begini juga menyesuaikan dengan yang ada di sini:)

Hihihi Bakery Re-opened - Someday, Someday… :)

Sometimes I missed my good old days, living on my own in Singapore and sold cakes and foodies to my colleagues at the office. It was not even a real bakery; it’s just me giggling every time, offering the breakfast menu for the next day through our office emails. I’d received about ten or fifteen responses and I would go home at night – sometimes straight from the office, sometimes I still had to go to church for prayer meetings then just after that, I would start baking – mostly at nine or ten PM at night. I know a lot of great bakers started their business that way – juggling between the reality and the passion for baking, but unfortunately I wasn’t strong enough to keep the routine, I got sick and all, and now here I am, in a very different world from where I came last time.

Before I was working in an international architecture firm in Singapore, but day by day I grew to love cooking and baking more and more and I was blessed to have bunches of friends *and they were also my customers* who were loyally giving me encouragement to keep developing my hobby. Now I have moved further from home to Europe to join my husband who works here, and I’m no longer the busy bee I used to be. So I’ve got plenty of times at home and cooking has been one of my ways to release my energy :)

I’m blessed that my husband is truly a food lover and he’s always been really supportive of my passions. And though I haven’t got any other customer but him here, every night watching him enjoy every bit of my cooking is always very heartening :)

We were spending our breakfast in a very lovely small English café in Amsterdam one day, when I enthusiastically re-told him about my dream of having a very small and homey café or cake shop just like that place. He smiled at me and softly (but seriously) told me, “but sweetheart, you’ve got to be strong like them to stand for hours servicing the customers.” Oh sigh, of course that’s always been the problem. “Ooh.. don’t be so blatantly serious and just let me enjoy the dreams,” I said and we both laughed.

Hihihi Bakery will be reopened someday. Someday. I don’t know when or how, but someday, I’ll invite you all to a very small cake shop in the corner, full of a home-baking goods, baked with love.

I hope, someday :)