bellytummyjelly

Ketoprak Jejadian

2012-01-06T00:44:00.005+08:00

Demi sang suami yang sudah berminggu-minggu minta dibuatin ketoprak (saya belum pernah bikin ketoprak sebelumnya), akhirnya dua hari ini terkabul juga permintaannya, di rumah kami ada ketoprak jadi-jadian alias ketoprak asal jadi. Tapi percayalah, rasanya bener2 kayak di tukang ketoprak, cuma ya karena terbatasnya ini itu jadi sejadinya saja :)

Basically saya nyontek sana sini untuk resepnya - tentu saja, karena saya bukan tukang ketoprak, dan tidak punya saudara atau teman yang berprofesi sebagai tukang ketoprak :D Semua resep yang pernah saya coba dan saya tulis di sini nyontek kok, cuma biasanya memang saya ga nyontek persis2 satu resep saja, tapi liat sana sini trus ambil kesimpulan dan langsung terjun ke dapur.

Kalau mau ikutan nyontek, google saja "Resep Ketoprak", pilih yang blognya kira2 mantap dan bisa dipercaya, trus ikutin aja salah satu. Atau kalau nggak seperti saya, liat beberapa resep dan ngarang sendiri ini itunya.

Ketoprak Jejadian ala Ibu Koki

Salah satu resep ketoprak yang bisa dicontek misalnya ini. Tapi seperti saya cerita tadi di atas, ini ketoprak jadi-jadian. Jadi saya ga ikutin persis resep2 di internet karena menyesuaikan dengan bahan yang ada.

Karena saya cuma punya tempe (ketoprak yang versi kemarin pakai tahu tapi ga pakai lontong, hari ini pakai lontong tapi tahunya diganti tempe), jadi ketoprak jejadian saya hari ini isinya: lontong, tempe goreng, soun (harusnya bihun, adanya soun :D), dan tauge yang sudah direbus. Disiram pakai bumbu kacang, tabur bawang goreng dan kerupuk, jadii deh :)

Ga ada yang susah kan? Memang kebetulan semua ada di dapur sih. Karena pasar itu letaknya sekitar 3 kilometer pulang pergi dan saya masih harus naik sepeda untuk berbelanja (jalan kaki malah lebih capek, bahkan hamil seperti ini pun saya milih naik sepeda kalau harus bawa barang2 berat daripada harus jalan kaki), plus kenyataan saya suka masak dan lebih sreg kalau bahan makanan ada di dapur, jadi memang barang2 standard seperti santan, soun/bihun kering, saus sate, kerupuk biasanya distok di rumah.

Nah, balik ke ketoprak jejadian ini, bagian yang paling membuat saya malas buat ketoprak itu ada dua: bikin lontong (suami bilang pakai nasi itu ga original) dan buat bumbuya. Saya sudah tiga kali bikin lontong, pakai aluminum foil, daun pisang dan terakhir plastik... dan semuanya gagal. Yang terakhir ini bentuknya sudah seperti lontong, itu juga beli beras di plastik siap kemas di toko Asia yang tinggal direbus... tapi itu pun gagal. Bentuknya dah benar, tapi kelembekan. Untunglah kemarin lewat di warung makanan Indonesia ternyata mereka jual lontong jadi. Meskipun harganya bikin meringis, 2.5 Euro satu batang (tapi besar siihhh, bisalah buat bbrp porsi). Tapi dibanding buang2 listrik untuk masak lontong selama 3 - 4 jam saya rasa alternatif ini ok juga. Mungkin lain kali kami akan beli saja, hemat energi :D

Masalah kedua adalah bumbu ketoprak. NAH! Yang ini saya punya shorcut jitu. Baru nyoba kemarin juga sih setelah niat suci bikin dari awal (goreng kacang) langsung punah karena kelelahan. Akhirnya saya pakai bumbu kacang semi jadi (ituloh yang tinggal ditambah air panas) plus satu atau dua bawang putih dan cabe rawit yang digiling (pakai blender kering), tambah sedikit gula merah dan air jeruk nipis (malas pakai asam jawa). Jadi deeeeeeh :D

Begitulah sekelumit cerita soal ketoprak jejadian. Untuk yang jauh dari tanah Betawi dan rindu ketoprak, silakan dicoba ya. Sangat simple dan mudah untuk dibuat :)

Tom Yam Soup with Salmon

2011-12-03T00:42:00.002+08:00

Oh of course I feel lazy to write this down – it was simply because I don’t use any measurement to cook this one. This dish is not really a simple one if you make it from scratch, and usually I make things right from zero – but never with Tom Yam. I guess I just trust the Thai Tom Yam Paste enough to serve this one delicious thing in my life.

So if you ever had Tom Yam before, just trust your tongue and feeling, because really my posting here might be not helpful at all.

Ingredients:

For the soup base:

Tom Yam Paste – use anything you find, I found that the more Thai language on the jar, the more original the taste. I used the one in the glass jar, not the one in the sachet. Basically the paste contains of all the spices needed to make the soup base, but of course to make it tastier, you have to add some things. I used about 5 tablespoons of this paste – just add and add until you got the taste right.

1 medium size onion, slice

4 cloves garlic, smash

1 lemon grass, slice (and I still added many many sprinkles of lemon grass powder – it’s cheaper than buying the fresh one and I found the taste is still satisfactory)

Few cm galangal (again I used the powder one)

About two or three teaspoon of tamarind paste

Two or three tablespoon of lime juice

4 kafir lime leaves, shredded

Many sprinkles of dried coriander leaves

100 ml coconut milk

1 chili padi (poor husband, he loves it hot but my chronic gastric won’t allow me to have it so hot)

In the soup:

About 600 gram of salmon (I used two big salmon steak, slice to medium chunks)

200 gram brown mushrooms cut 4 each

About 7 fish balls, cut 2 each

Note: You SHOULD use prawns and squid (oh dear, I’m dying only to imagine them!). They are wonderful, sweet, and very very delicious. But I have written myself some records of being brought hospital in my sake of loving seafood, so I’m just helping myself to be realistic here by substituting them with anything that doesn't kill me.

How to:

Prepare the soup base first.

Stir-fry the garlic and onion, put in the tom yam paste and everything else, cover with water (about 1 liter or more, to your need), add the coconut milk, bring to boil, and taste, taste, taste.

Throw in the salmon, mushrooms and fish balls, boil until they’re cook. And taste, taste, and taste. Add anything you think necessary to make your tom yam tastes right.

See? I’m not really helpful here (as I wasn’t in many of my recipe :D) anyway you’ll always have Google and all the best for your Tom Yam Soup!

Stuffed Tofu Soup aka Sup Tahu Isi

2011-11-22T20:52:00.002+08:00

There were times in my university days, I got submitted to hospitals – and trust me, those days were many. My mom would rush to go to Bandung (she lives in Jakarta, different city from where I studied), and she would stay for a while to take care of me and make sure I was having enough nutrition and sleep.

This soup was one of her weapon to force me to eat. She would by the best stuffed tofu from Chinese Store and she would make the soup – the most delicious soups I had ever had in my life. Well, I don’t know about being a mother – does it make you an excellent cook? Humbly I say that I can cook well – my friends and family say so. And I love to cook. I love to spend hours in the kitchen cooking something for my beloved ones. I even enjoy cooking complicated dishes. But my Mom? She always prefers to cook anything simple and fast. And sometimes she’s too lazy to cook. But this I tell you, her cooking is always waaay more delicious than mine.

Well, maybe it got something to do with being a mother. Hope my daughter would say the same about me :)

So please find the recipe here (I’m too lazy to do this in English, will translate it at another time)

Ingredients:

Stuffed Tofu (Tahu Isi):

4 Tahu putih yang besar, potong dua jadi segitiga (di sini tahu putihnya besaaar dan panjang, jadi saya cuma punya satu, dipotong 4, dan dipotong 2 lagi jadi 8 potong segitiga). Keruk isi tahu, kerukan tahu bias dicampur ke adonan daging nantinya

400 gr ikan (saya pakai fillet pangasius beku)

300 gr daging giling (enaknya ini dicampur udang, tapi saya alergi udang dan teman2nya)

5 bawang putih, cacah

1 bawang daun, cacah

1 wortel ukuran kecil, cacah

1 sendok kecap ikan

1 sendok saus tiram

1 sendok tepung tapioka

Garam, lada putih, gula

Soup Base (Kuah Sup):

1.5 liter air

300 gr leher ayam

5 bawang putih, cacah

1 bawang Bombay, iris2

1 wortel ukuran besar, dipotong agak tebal (ini dipakai di kuah sup supaya kaldunya agak manis)

1 bawang daun, potong2 (tapi jangan diiris halus), hanya untuk kaldu saja

Gula, garam, sedikit ketumbar bubuk, dan sedikit fennel seed (untuk memaniskan kaldu)

1 blok kaldu ayam

How to:

Untuk tahu isi:

Keruk tahu sehingga berlubang dan bisa diisi.

Haluskan ikan dan daging giling, campur dengan bumbu2 yang lain (I used a food processor so I just threw everything in)

Masukkan adonan yang sudah dihaluskan ke dalam tahu, kemudian kukus sampai matang (warna adonan akan berubah dan hasilnya akan agak mengembang)

Adonan ini jadinya banyaaak sekali, jadi saya pakai untuk pangsit rebus juga. Isi adonan ke kulit pangsit, rebus sampai matang.

Untuk kuah sup:

Tumis bawang bombay dan bawang putih, masukkan leher ayam dan bahan2 yang lain, rebus sampai mendidih, kecilkan api, rebus dengan panci tertutup sampai satu atau dua jam. Saya suka masak kaldu sampai leher ayamnya lunak – they will go for my husband :D

You can add more water so you can have a soup base if you want to eat the stuffed tofu with noodle or bihun. Or you can eat the stuffed tofu and the steamed dumpling with peanut sauce (eat them as siomay).

Yellow Rice Everyone :)

2011-11-15T20:18:00.002+08:00

There was a pot luck held in our church last Sunday and I wanted to participate and introduce the beauty of Indonesian food to our friends. Because it was an international church, the idea was to get everybody bring their native breakfast or lunch menu – which left me dumbfounded: Indonesian eats big meal at breakfast, lunch and dinner! If I bring one dish then I must bring the rice… so I decided to cook yellow rice and shredded chicken to bring to the church. It’s the simplest version of real yellow rice I can make (it should be more complete with many other dishes, but it was lovely, and my husband was very very happy because he got a traditional yellow rice as his breakfast :D

Ingredients:

5 cups of white rice (I used the cup comes with the rice cooker, it’s about 180 ml)

4 cups of coconut milk plus 1 cup of water (I used the same cup)

5 cloves of garlic

1 big onion

1 teaspoon of blue ginger powder

1 teaspoon of lemon grass powder

4 or 5 teaspoons of turmeric powder (I’m not a spice-powder type of girl but our previous housemate left a lot of spices powder behind, and the best way to get rid of them is to cook with them :D)

2 Indonesian bay leaves (daun salam)

3 kafir lime leaves

Sprinkle of salt

How to:

Grind garlic, onion, plus the spices powder to make paste.

Cook the coconut milk, water and the spice paste, put in the bay leaves and kafir limes, until it boils.

Put in the rice, cook and stir until the liquid is all absorbed by the rice.

Steam the rice for about 40 minutes until it’s cooked. (I got very nervous and keep peeping to the pan looking if my rice was ready, since it’s my second time to cook yellow rice this way – and the first time was about many years ago and it was a disaster, and especially this time I cooked it for others, so it must be successful! Plus my pan was too small, so you know how difficult it was :D)

Serve the rice with the shredded chicken, fried onion, prawn crackers, scrambled egg – anything you want to add, just add it :D

This would make a bit too much rice for two person (I cooked it for many anyway), you can reduce it as you want. I want to make it again smaller portion using our little rice cooker. I’ll let you know if it works out :D

Bubur Ayam Kuah Kuning aka Chicken Porride with Yellow Sauce

2011-11-10T20:24:00.003+08:00

This is a typical Indonesian breakfast, if you live in Jakarta you can find the Porridge Cart almost everywhere, with people in queue for their healthy breakfast (actually it’s not so healthy if you know how those men wash their cutlery, but trust me, it will make you tougher!:D)

Basically this is rice porridge with Soto Sauce, it’s not so simple to make but trust me, it’s not THAT difficult. If you want to save some energy and get double result, I suggest you make Chicken Soto, put aside some of the broth and make it thicker, and serve it for the porridge. Keep them in the fridge so you’ll get Soto and Chicken Porridge ready for a couple of meal times :)

Ingredients:

For the porridge:

Rice about 2 cups

2 or 3 liters of water, just add when you feel your porridge needs them

A sprinkle of salt

3 Indonesian Bay Leaves (Daun Salam)

For the yellow sauce:

4 or 5 shallots ( I used one big onion or bawang bombay)

6 cloves of garlic

2cm turmeric

2cm blue ginger (laos)

1cm ginger

2tsp coriander

5 candlenuts

Salt, white pepper, lemon juice, sugar to taste

2 or 3 kafir lime leaves

2 stalks of lemon grass, crush the white bottom

About 10 pieces of chicken necks for the stock. I know this sounds a bit scary, but that’s the cheapest and easiest way to get a real chicken stock for me here, instead of buying the whole chicken only for the stock :D

For the topping:

1 fillet of chicken breast (boil along with the chicken broth)

Cakue (you can buy in the Asia store, my friend said it’s in the freezer section – will definitely try it next time)

Fried soy bean (I didn’t have it and it was too cold to go out, but next time will get it :D)

2 stalks spring onion and celery, finely sliced

Fried onion

Melinjo creakers (Emping) and Shrimp Creakers

Boiled Egg (if you want ;D)

How to:

Cook the rice with the water and bay leaves until you get the porridge with the nice texture. I suggest just used cooked rice to cut the times shorter.

Grind the shallots, garlic, turmeric, ginger, blue ginger, coriander and candlenuts into a paste, sauté the paste with two or three table spoon of cooking oil until it smells good. I added kafir lime leaves and lemon grass too and stir fry them again until it smells good.

Add the chicken necks and the chicken, stir fry for a while and add 1 or 2 liters of water. Bring to boil (you can use high heat) and after some times, lower the heat and boil the stock for another one hour until the chicken become soft. Personally, I don’t eat chicken neck. I fear them. But my husband loves it so I will cook them until they are soft and bitable.

Shred the chicken breast – if you cook it until very soft, you don’t have to shred it, just press it with a fork and it will be shredded :)

Serve porridge in a bowl, add yellow sauce (the chicken broth), shredded chicken, sliced spring onion, Asian celery, fried onion, fried soybean, cakue, and the crackers.

The original Abang-abang (Porridge man) will use a kind of salty soya sauce, which taste differently with the one we buy at the store. So this recipe doesn’t make the porridge exactly taste like theirs (and I always wonder why), but it is close enough and it can make our family happy :)

Bruinebonen Soep aka Red Bean Soup

2011-10-23T18:18:00.007+08:00

I had a few grams of pork meat stayed in my freezer – and I was running out of ideas of what to do with them. Then I remember my mother often cooked red bean soup with meat, which I love so much, and plus several cans of kidney beans left by our ex-housemate in the kitchen – I think the red bean soup will be a great idea for today.

I learned that red bean soup in Indonesia was originally inspired by the Netherlands colonial. And now I’m myself living in the Netherlands, I want to make the original version of the Bruinebonen Soep that had been so famous in my own country. There are various recipes and techniques can be found in the internet, and since I’ve never eaten the soup made by locals here, so I had to choose which one I thought is the closest to the original one. And I couldn’t make up my mind.

But since I noticed that mostly the soup here is thick and made by puree, so I decided to make my own version, combining those recipes I read last night before we went to bed.

Ingredients:

400 gram of pork meat – it is said that I should use bacon or meat with more fats, but I just used whatever I had in hand. Cut in small cubes and boil in 500 ml of water.

3 medium size carrots – 1 was cut as big chunks and I boil with the meat, then I made them to be puree using blender. Slice 2 other carrots.

6 or 7 cloves garlic, 1 big onion – instead of slicing/cutting them, I just used my blender to grind them.

3 pieces of cloves

3 pieces of cardamoms

A medium chunk of cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon of nutmeg powder – or to taste

Some sprinkler of chili powder – I used cayenne pepper, that’s what I had anyway

Dash of salt, white pepper and sugar

3 tomatoes, 2 made to be puree using blender, 1 cut in small cubes.

2 cans of kidney bean – I’m not a big fan of canned food, but that’s what I had and since the stores are closed on Sundays so as the parents told us, ‘you gotta live with whatever you have with you’ :P

2 green onions, slice.

How to:

Cut and clean the meat, boil them in 500 ml of water. Slice big one of the carrots and boil it for a while, then make it a puree using blender. Do this while you do the other preparations, so your meat has some time to tender itself.

With different wok, stir-fry garlic and onions using some amount of butter or margarine (I used margarine here). Pour in the meat and the stock into your wok (make sure you work with a big one). Add some water if you like.

Add in the spices and the tomato puree. Add the sliced carrots and the tomato cubes. I blendered little amount of the kidney bean too to make the soup thicker.

Add in the kidney bean – minus the canned water.

Taste the stock, and add in spices up to your taste. I’m not a so responsible recipe writer as I never really measured my ingredients and spices, but trust yourself honey, and your cooking will even be better than mine J.

Wait until the ingredients blend in the soup and the meat become tender, and near the end, add in the green onions. I waited about more than half hour then I laid myself in bed and writing down this recipe before I got too lazy to do it.

I believe the Dutch serve this soup with hard-crust bread, but this either is not available at home so I think we’ll eat the soup with rice. We’re Indonesian anyway ;D

Oh ya, please don’t be intimidated with the amount of the spices and the many steps. My mother’s red bean soup was much simpler than this, but no one can beat the wonderful taste of her soup. I said no one. Not even the most expensive restaurant. So, remember, we gotta live with anything we have instead of those things we don’t have ;)

Fried Dumpling

2011-03-22T02:05:00.004+08:00

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

2011-03-18T02:11:00.008+08:00

*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… :)

2011-03-18T01:58:00.002+08:00

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 :)

Back to the Kitchen :)

2010-06-16T22:36:00.011+08:00

Yeaah, so happy! (and so tired :P)

After moving in with my brother for six months, today is the first time I baked again. Been talking about food and food and food with a friend for about two weeks time, and I felt like the kitchen calling me :) Finally I got the guts and energy to play in my kitchen again :)

Not baking for so long has made me a bit worry tough. I’ve been staring at some recipes for several days and asked myself, ‘De, can you make it?’ Even the simplest thing like basic muffin worried me.

Anyway the food talking had really driven me to the edge. I must cook! Well, since I can’t eat much these days, poor me, at least I can cook and make some people smile :) So last Sunday I took out all my tools, pans, mixer and everything and washed/cleaned them. I had planned to make martabak manis (sweet pancake), had bought the pan for a year and haven’t tried it. But suddenly I changed my mind tonight. Why?

Why, because bread pudding never goes wrong, that’s why :D

This is my dear friend - Puspi’s favorite dessert. Sigh, I wish she was here and not so far away :(

Cinderella must return to bed now, or she'll turn back to be an architect too late tomorrow morning hehe. Happy enjoying ;)

My oven back on duty

This is it :)

(mantan) Ibu Koki - if you ever wonder who wrote these babbling thoughts

My pans, clean and ready, yay! :D

*Thanks for a dear friend out there who somehow encouraged me to bake again :)

Strawberry Cake - for a commitment to drink a healthy juice every day

2009-01-07T12:52:00.001+08:00

I had forgotten that I had a box of strawberry left in the office refrigerator. It’s been the holiday season - Christmas followed by New Year holiday and half day off for each eve – mixed with deadline to submit the Project Report, I completely had forgotten all about it.

I had made a promise to myself to eat or at least drink fruit juice everyday – in attempt to keep my health. But sometimes we’re just too busy (or too lazy) from day to day, right? So when I finally remember about the strawberry-being yesterday, it was not in its best look to drink.

Okay, so I’ll make some strawberry cake instead. I searched in internet for Strawberry Cake recipe but couldn’t find one which suit to my stock and to my mood. Finally I decided to make my own version – modified the steam cake recipe. It should be just fine if only I didn’t (try to) improve using some gelatin powder – what on earth would I use it? It has nothing to do with the cake! X(

So the cake ended up… mmh, you know… it’s nice, edible, but it’ s just not a cake. I mean, not really a cake. Steam cake? Chiffon? Cotton? Sponge cake? Any normal-cake name wouldn’t fit it well. It really tasted like steamed pao. You know? Like bakpao? Hahaha.. anw, enjoy :)

*I take back my words, I just tried the cake yesterday and actually it's moist and good :D Hohoho, so glad..

Love is All the Reason: Bread Pudding

2009-01-06T10:46:00.001+08:00

I needed a bold reason to bake again. Love was the only reason I started baking in the very beginning.

After some time living in a deep silence, it freaked me out to get into the kitchen again. I hid in the reasons of being tired of deadlines, get interested to another hobby I haven’t ventured like crocheting or sewing, got no time because I had to meet other commitment like church, got attached to some good novels, the must to do the mountain-stacked laundry. But in the end I have to admit the only reason I’ve been avoiding to start doing anything in kitchen again – you.

Haha, how to make this posting not as sad as it is? Anyway, I know I have to live on. I’ve made that promise years ago, and I will live it on. So last night I decided to start doing something. My kitchen, here I am coming!

As love is always be the main reason – gosh, I’ll never make it to be a good business woman :P – I needed a bold reason to bake again. I thought I would start from the nearest one to me – my circle of friends.

I have a very dear friend at my office - Puspi as I call her. She loves bread pudding – and other things as well, and I’ve promised to make her one but thanks for the love to delay things, that promise was still a promise. So I’m glad I can make this bread pudding for her. I hope it makes her day. Puspita, I hope you like it.

The original recipe was taken from here, but I halved the recipe and made some adjustment here and there to suit the food stock.

Bread Pudding

Ingredients
7 slices of normal white bread – the one you buy in supermarket
1 tbsp of butter – I used margarine
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup of fresh milk
¼ cup white sugar + some bit amount since the original requires ¾ cup
Some amounts ground cinnamon – I didn’t want to use too much since I thought cinnamon won’t go to well with cheese
Some amounts of grated cheese – for the pudding and also topping
Some amounts of almond slices
Some amounts of chocolate chips
Some amounts of vanilla extract – which I forgot to use

Direction:
1.Spread the bread generously with margarine (The recipe and other recipes will ask to melt the butter. I’ve been using that method but last night I thought I’d like to try my luck – the bread pudding looks okay at the end).
2.Cut the bread into cubes.
3.Combine eggs, milk, grated cheese, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla (if you remember :P)
4.Mix with the bread cubes, let the bread covered and soaked in the egg mixture.
5.Pour the whole thing in your baking pan. I used a nice rectangular 15 cm square ceramic baking dish – given by my colleague, Mr Wong – plus two personal size glass baking dish from Ikea.
6.Bake in the preheated oven temperature 175° C for 45 minutes.

The Beginning

If you ever wonder what kind of oven I use. It's very much saving money :)

The End

Sorry for your inconvenience in looking at the pictures. It was nearly 12 am, the Cinderella must return to the bed or she will turn to be a pumpkin :P

Tomato Muffin - AD Baking Time

2008-11-08T02:50:00.001+08:00

I must be in a high level of stress *__*
I've baked two items in one night.. Cheese Biscuits and Tomato Muffins...

Oh no, another muffins? Err.. so sorry yes it's another muffin. Why? Because I don't have any mixer here, and muffin doesn't require any (I miss my Tang-O so much!). And why tomato? Because I had four big ones I haven't touch since last week.

Baking here requires more trick and strategy. I brought along with me muffin tins and paper cup. Ms. Lingling has a set of cup and measuring spoons. The rest is about estimating and converting grams/litter to cups/spoons :D

I also have a mission to finish all baking stuff I've brought before I go back to Sg. Because it will be a waste if nobody uses them here. Another thing is to use whatever in the fridge since so many times Ms. Lingling (and plus me now) tend to buy things but forget to eat them.

So here we are with tomato muffins :D

Well, I used my basic muffin recipes, but I think the taste is not so nice :(
I should have made savory muffin with tomato instead making a sweet one. This one is lost in between - mmh, ok, next time will be better :)

Cheese Biscuit - AD Baking Time

2008-11-08T01:36:00.000+08:00

Mhh these biscuits are way too salty :(
I used Edam Cheese and slightly salted Lurpark Butter - maybe I should use the unsalted butter, but they're really too salty for me. Must eat it with coffee or hot chocolate...

And today all my meals got cheese inside... Hoo, Singapore, will I return to you in a good shape? :P

HB Famous Macaroni Schotel - AD Baking Time

2008-11-01T18:31:00.001+08:00

It's weekend and for the past few days I'm absolutely in my baking moods. Me and Ms. Ling Ling went to Abu Dhabi Co-op yesterday, it's like Singapore's NTUC Fair Price - a hypermarket owned by goverment, I think.

It wast the most fun outing :P since I got the chance to spend quite times there and browsing around - studying what they have here in Abu Dhabi compared to Singapore or Indonesia. I found that baking stuff is quite hard to find (please, anyone lives here, correct me if I'm wrong). I've tried Carrefour and this Co-op but the selections are very limited. But they do have more options with cheese and somehow their cheese is so cheaper than Singapore. Huwww... it's not fair :P

So I've made my plan to make baked pasta and today here it is :) It's one of Hihihi Bakery's signature food, and the recipe taken from Ci' Ine's blog - modified by me (Ci Ine, terimakasih banyak untuk resep2nya). Actually months ago I've made a posting about it, but anyway, enjoy the pictures here.

I used big macaroni elbows, and some Iranian herb cheese

(I can't really remember the names or the origin)

Fresh baked and ready :)

Would you like some?

Mmh, want some more ma'am?

This is actually Mark and Spencers can soup - I added carrot, beef ham and salami and some cheese cubes inside. Mmhhh, tak terkatakan!

White Grape Muffin - AD Baking Time

2008-11-01T04:23:00.000+08:00

It's quite challenging since it's not my kitchen and I don't have my equipment with me. Now it’s been the 2nd time I baked here and I feel veerrry happy :D

When my boss assigned me to go to Abu Dhabi for three weeks, kitchen and baking were ones of my biggest concerns. I couldn’t get away so long from baking… even if I have deadlines, usually I still do baking at least once a week. So I was so curious whether the office apartment has an oven or not :P

It’s a good thing I wouldn’t stay in a hotel – but in my branch office apartment – so at least there should be a kitchen. So I was really hoping that the kitchen has an oven – and when one of my colleague said that Ms. Lingling – one of AD staff who lives there – ever told him that she’s tried to make cakes, I was so happy because it means she has an oven. Hehehe… so easy to make me happy :P

So I started to think of things which don’t require too many things like mixer etc. So I remember reading mbak Vania’s blog about her moving to Mumbai, where she brought along muffin tins and baking powder with her because muffin is the easier thing to make. I thought it’s a brilliant idea, so between my clothes, shoes, toiletry, and 4 kg of documents and a very big laptop (from the office – whew they’re really trying to kill me), I put 2 muffin tins, some amount of paper cups, baking powder and baking soda, and two measuring spoon and cup inside my suitcase.

My mind was filled with ideas – what can I make without mixer (and scale :P) – muffin, brownies, baked pasta, and bread pudding. Mmh… I was glad I’ll have something to do with my free time there – and baking always makes me happy.

Last weekend I made cream cheese brownies. I brought the recipe with me along the way from Singapore – printed in A4… one of my surviving kits :D

Tonight as I didn’t know what to do after the whole afternoon, I started to think about baking again. I remember there are some white grapes in the fridge, and coincidentally we also have white grape juice. The other basic ingredients are in hands, so I browsed the net for basic muffin ingredients.

I found one in Allrecipes.com, looked at a glance at the reviews and marched in to the kitchen. I halved the recipe and substituted the milk with the grape juice – actually because I thought I didn’t have any milk (but then I had). I reduced the sugar a bit and substituted the oil with melted butter.

I put amount of white grapes (they’re quite ripe), put them in the oven, and voila…

They’re done and I was as happy as a happy bee: D

Kaastangel

2008-10-05T02:18:00.000+08:00

Me not like it yet :(

Choux Pastry aka Kue Sus

2008-10-05T02:03:00.000+08:00

Ayeeee, finally I'm brave enough to make this :D

Original recipe was taken from Mbak Riana's blog (Mbak, makasih lagi untuk resepnya :D)
Yesss, of course the bla bla bla will come later :P
See you around :)

Another Chocolate Puding

2008-10-04T23:14:00.000+08:00

It's another chocolate puding. This time I managed to write down the ingredients while I was cooking. I'm not satisfied enough with this version - yet my friends said the puding was nice - something wasn't there but I'm not sure what it is. No idea at all.

Ok, another promise to write more next time...
Time to rest :)

Green Pancake aka Dadar Gulung

2008-10-03T00:07:00.000+08:00

Well, if you don't like "green pancake" as its name, do me some favor and tell me what is the exact english name for it. I don't like it either but can't think much when I got this stomach cramp - not so much fun :S

Original recipe was taken from Mbak Shinta's kitchen (Mbak, trimse berat ya resepnya... hasilnya bagus dan enak, dan hitungannya pas hihihi, tapi saya musti latihan lagi bikin dadarnya supaya bisa pas tipisnya)

Ok, I'll write again some other time, meanwhile, just enjoy the pic and remember - practice makes perfect! Bubyeee

Choco Cookies for Hari Raya

2008-09-14T16:49:00.000+08:00

I got the recipe from internet - from some *errr, what my friend said about it - spam, junk mail, or whatever, I'll update later*, as I read the recipe, I thought this could work out. Especially it required some big amounts of oatmeal - something I never be able to finish from my stock - where most recipes ask for quick-cooking oatmeal and I only have (loads of it!) instant oatmeal.

I tried the cookies several months ago, it was nice despite they weren't so crunchy - thanks for the unstability of my old oven. Last week when my parents visited me, they brought along a new oven for me :)

I tried to bake some banana cupcakes with new oven, but then I learned that what people saying are true - you must know your oven well. It ended with a burnt big batch of banana cakes :(

So today I tried baking the cookies in three batches - all with different time and temp.

First one is following the recipe 190 C (where's the symbol for degree here?) for 10 minutes -> turn out well, almost overbake and very crunchy.

Personally I don't like cookies - I don't like to eat my own baking exactly. So it's very difficult to decide which one is better - crunchy cookies or chewy ones. Of all my friends that have tried my cookies before - all of them have different opinions, some would prefer crunchy, some would prefer chewy.

So I baked the second batch with 150 C, 15 minutes. The cookies were chewy - it's also ok. But I started to have some doubt in my mind - is it cooked well? How if some people protest on this? So much for a li'l (or low?) self confidence.

I baked the third batch with 150 C, 25 minutes. I thought "ok, i'll get the perfect one this time. All the wonderful taste between chewy and crunchy." But the temperature was out of control for some first minutes. It was so HOT, and I lowered down the heat, then I wait, and I wait, and I did something else, and I remember I haven't got my cookies but I thought I would be just fine - I used a very small heat. I took the pans out, and put the cookies on the cooling rack. They look a bit darker than usual and they were a bit burnt *_____* what an experiment :P

Anyway, these are the pictures :) I'll post the recipe sometime later, I'm so sleepy :P
Enjoy :D

This cookies use oat, so we can say it's kindda healty :P

Use the blender to grind the oat

Add the choc chips

Add the melted choc - the recipe called to grate the choc, I found it was so handful, so I just nuked it

Final batter, ready to put in baking pans

Ready to bake, yay, you're sooo pretty XD

Freshly baked mmhhh :D

My Cookie Jar :)

Tump, remember when I made my cookies for the very first time?

Potato & Broccoli Schotel with Cheese Sauce (Again!)

2008-09-02T00:56:00.001+08:00

Blogger, you ate my posting! How dareeeeeeee you *____*

Ok, this should be a very short one. I baked it tonite, and it's almost finish in 15 minutes. Tonite all the girls were loosing sense of diet - oh no my parents are coming and I will receive these double comments - Mom would say "stop eating, keep your diet", and Pap would say, "Ha, this' nicer. You always look like a skeleton. You should see your mom when she was your age - she's montok, and beutiful".

- ok please, any Singaporean or English language reader - don't ask what that words means. XD

Original recipe was taken from Mbak Anne's blog (oh mine, I've written this part for three times now) - (Mbak Anne, makasih banyak ya sharing resepnya... sangat enak, saya minta ijin untuk posting ya :D)

Before baking - layers of potatos - broccoli - cheese sauce

Fresh from the oven :D

Errr... 10 minutes later? - I'll make it 15 so it's not so shameful XD

oohoo no... I keep the rest in the fridge, believe me :D

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam

2008-08-30T12:32:00.002+08:00

What do you get if you mix chocolate, peanut butter and strawberry jam?

-other than bellytummyjelly, I mean :P

I spent my childhood in Bandung, a small town 3 hours from Jakarta (thanks to highway technology, they've made it 2 hours ride now). The city was cool - it was much colder in my childhood time - and of course it hold so many good foods.

One of my favorite foods was ROTI BAKAR aka Toast Sandwich. Anything related to bread was the responsible agent for my bellytummyjelly - I would say. We could choose our own filling - chocolate or strawberry or peanut were the basic ones. More luxurious options would be mince meat (aka cornet beef) with eggs or cheese.

But though I might choose the expensive one - of course I used to have big brothers or aunty or anyone to treat me on this :P - I would prefer the cheaper ones (hey, I'm a simple girl with a modest preference!), and Chocolate-Peanut-Strawberry would be on top of my list! Yeah, now you can call me greedy, ahahhahaa…

But this time my posting isn’t about toast sandwich. But of course it still has something to do with chocolate, peanut butter and strawberry jam :)

Few days ago I made a birthday cake for my colleagues, and I used chocolate cream as a topping. Got the recipe from Pak Sahak when I went back to Jakarta – it should be my posting below, so just wait for it - and I had some small amount of leftover cream. The cream consisted (of course sinful things) of whipped cream, dark chocolate covertures, strawberry jam and peanut butter :D

I could use them for frosting some cup cakes – I did give it a thought – but I need something more effortless so I was thinking of making pudding. I have some sachets in my stock so I spent some li’l time in my kitchen this morning. Please don’t try to ask for the recipe because this time I just put things into to the pan :D

The taste is sooo yummy – too bad I didn’t measure the ingredients so next time I must do a trial again. I did give some additionalstrawberry jam, milk, and sugar :D

As sinful as it can be, ladies and gentlemen, I present you the other version of my childhood favorite food!

I just bought a new set of baking dish from IKEA - first time using and I like it so much :)

add some vanilla sauce - or strawberry would be nicer - and you will join my club! :D

Birthday Cake for Laura, Tammy and Dion

2008-08-27T17:06:00.001+08:00

So You Know about Good Food?

2008-08-23T13:36:00.000+08:00

When you say good food, what’s in your mind?

Chocolate Rice Sandwich, I would say :P
I love it very much that I never get bored of eating it. Never, since my childhood until now :P

You may wonder why I put chocolate rice in my sandwich (my Singaporean friend asked me in astonishment when she saw me once). She thought I had too much chocolate rice in my baking stock so I used it for sandwich. Ahahahhahaa… if she only knew :P

For Indonesian (and yes, I’m Indonesian and am proud of that :P) it’s very common to eat chocolate rice sandwich. And of course, you must know the best brand – CERES – is the best ever since I was a child. Never want to change, and never want to live without it :P thanks to my friends, whenever they go back to Indonesia they used to bring me some. Oohohoho, how I love them :D

We use margarine instead of butter. The famous brand in Indonesia is BLUE BAND – it’s very tasty and although it’s margarine, but the texture is firm enough to replace butter in baking. I once tried PLANTA, I believed it’s a sister-brand of BLUE BAND since their package look similar. But the taste is not the same. So one day I bumped into MEADOW LEA margarine, and I would say it’s the closest thing I can get to Blue Band, and I never buy other brands until now :P

For the bread I prefer to have White Bread. Yeah of course it would be so much healthier if you make your own, but bread-making is so time consuming and too much to do for one’s personal pleasure (dont' remind me of my decision to buy Bread Machine :P It's still a lot things to do even with bread machine, ahahaha exusesss! :P) My friend once said, “You know whole wheat is so much better than the white ones, my mom would never allow me to eat other than whole wheat”. Yeah, so much for the wheat, but personally I think White Bread is the best combination for chocolate rice, ever. The plainness of the bread strengthen the chocolate taste :P

Spread the margarine - thin layer will do :P

Dont' forget the chocolate rice - the more the better, but you must watch your diet :P

This's just nice :)

TAdaaaaaaaaaaa.... hey old friend, nice to see you again! (And again and again and again tomorrow)

You may wonder why I used the last slice of the loaf - some people hate it and even throw it away - but I like it very very much :D

This same sandwich was the one to be blame for ruining my diet 10 years back when I weighed around 12 kg heavier than now, ahahhahahaa… what a day :P

*And yes, the morning I took pictures for this posting, I bought a new loaf of bread. I spent the whole Saturday at home - making steam cakes for selling at the Embassy yesterday and it was raining heavily so going out would be too much trouble - and yes, I finished the whole loaf that day. Ahahahhaa... only eating bread for the whole day XD

To Overcome Fear

2008-08-22T10:58:00.001+08:00

How do you know you're truly in love with someone?

You don't think about him all the time

You don't talk to him often

You hardly meet him everyday

You don't meet him in your dreams either

And when you close your eyes

still you can't see his face.

How do you know you're truly in love to someone?

It's not even the 'ocean-rage feeling' type

You hardly laugh or cry

No heartbeat attacks when you talk to him

No hug, no embrace, no chance to hold

How do you know you're truly in love with someone?

Last nite I was back to my kitchen. Since the day I failed in making steam cake, I was overwhelmed by the misery of losing the knack to cook. It was developing to great despair since nothing was rite. Not even one single thing. It's like I was also loosing my passion in baking. Thanks to my friends, they gave me courage to carry on :)

But this bread I bought last Sunday is not getting fresher - I skipped breakfast for the whole week (not to mention I did skip dinner as well - just can't eat, sigh) and I also have bananas waiting for me. I used to make banana juice - I mix it with any fruit I have in hand, but nowdays it seems too troublesome to make.

I used to bake almost every day, so I have blocks of chocolate, cheese, cartoons of milks and so many things in my kitchen. I thought I really had to do something. Had this thought in mind to make a bread pudding. My previous bread pudding got good responses from my friends (though I don't really like it). So I decided to make a bread pudding again - this time plus banana and Nutella.

I visualized the recipe in my mind - modifying the previous recipe and adding bananas and Nutella in it.

Everthing went well and I was ready to put the things in the oven when I realized

- o h m y g o d o n c e m o r e ? -

I forgot to put in melted butter :( I rushed to my bedroom turning on my computer googling to find out what it would be without butter? Still it be ok? I noticed that every recipe I had opened content butter in it. Oww owww... :(

Haaaaa...

But then I recognized this warm feeling inside my heart.

"No girl, this is not the time to give up. Get up and go back to the kitchen, you know what to do."

So I melted the butter (not to mention I also forgot to add vanila ahahhaha) and added it in the batter. The butter wasn't mixed well with the rest of the batter but anyway, just do it lah :P

The pudding turned out OK, and my friends like it very much :)
Yiippppp!!! :D

Banana Bread Pudding with Nutella

(this is ¾ part of the original recipe, taken from Ibu Esti’s blog, I used small aluminum cup, makes 15 medium cup)

Ingredients:
7 or 8 slices of bread (can’t remember *_*)
2 big ripe bananas
Nutella spread (can’t tell how much)

3 Medium Eggs
75 g Caster Sugar (personally I think this’ too sweet)
60 g Butter/Margarine – melt it
450 ml Milk (on 1st trial I used Heavy Cream – made the pudding moister)
¼ tsp Vanilla Extract (forget to use it either *~*)

Some cheese (did not weigh it) for the top of the pudding

Instruction:
Spread the Nutella on each bread slice
Add the banana inside and roll the bread
(I’m bad in writing in English, so someday I’ll show you how in pictures)
Slice the bread and put the slices in the bake pan

Beat the eggs and the sugar until light
Add in vanilla extract, milk and melted butter
Pour the batter to the bake pan
Steam for around 10 minutes, put on the grated cheese
And bake for 15 minutes, 180°C
(what an instruction! I’ll re-write again soon :P)

I can overcome this fear inside, that's how

Don't let the sun catch you crying

2008-08-20T01:42:00.003+08:00

Don't let the sun catch you crying

The night's the time for your tears

Your heart may be broken tonight

But tomorrow in the morning light

Don't let the sun catch you crying

-Don't let the sun catch you crying by Gloria Estefan

It's very sad when suddenly you lost your magic touch.

It's been two weeks since I started to bake again after being ill. And ever since that day, I never made any single thing rite. Potato croquette, Bread pudding (this one is still ok but only so so), 2 times banana cakes, Carrot cake, and now the steam cake..

Hihihi Bakery will be closed (again hiks) for unknown time. I'm definitely losing my magic touch ;(

I hope tomorrow I can smile again. Don't wanna let the sun catch me crying.

Carrot Cake - still faulty :(

2008-08-18T09:56:00.000+08:00

Last nite I pushed myself to bake again. Bit hard to bake since I made awful mistakes several times last week. And I - you know they say you must cook with love and I think that's just true - was not really feeling like baking.

But we got some carrots in the fridge waiting helplessly :p and I've been wandering in internet looking for carrot cake recipe last week so I think I really had to do something about the carrots.

Started quite late at nite - around 10 something - I knew this one is going to end up at midnite. So I determined myself to start :)

Weighing and halving the recipe always been my problems lately - since I was back to kitchen again after being ill, don't know why it's very hard to concentrate on numbers :(

But then this time everything went ok. Original recipe was taken from Mbak Riana's blog, with some modification. (Mbak, pamitannya dah nyampe ga ya? Minta ijin nge-link ya :D)

I do have some problems with the oven, it's really too small for the amount of my baking these days. I burnt some of the cakes :P

I bought (err, my Mom did) the smallest one thougt it's only for learning yet now it's not enough hehehehe... anyway, I did took the picture this morning and I'm happy with the result :D

Can't wait to try again!

Carrot Cake
(Source: Bogasari Baking Center Cake Baking Course – from Mbak Riana’s blog modified by me)

I halved the recipe, made 18 medium cupcakes – just nice.

Ingredients:
3 medium Eggs
150 g Caster sugar -> some say the cake is bit too sweet, can reduce to 140g
¼ tsp Salt
½ tsp Emulsifier
130 g All purpose flour
½ tsp Baking soda
¼ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Cinnamon powder ->the original recipe from Mbak Riana gives each 1 g for Baking Soda, Baking powder, and Cinnamon powder. When I wanted to halve the recipe I found the ½ g will be odd. So I added the amounts, hoping everything to turn out fine. It’s seems ok :)
220 g Carrot – I grated the carrot with a fine grater
75 g Canola Oil

Instruction:
Beat eggs, sugar and salt in high speed until thick.
Beat in emulsifier, continue beating until pale, creamy, and very thick (the beater is leaving a trace that doesn’t disappear for quite awhile).
Shift the dry ingredients. Using the lowest speed, beat in the flour mixture into the egg batter. Turn off the mixer.
Fold in the blended carrot, mix well with spatula.
Slowly fold in the oil, make sure you mix everything well before pouring the batter into the pan.
Pour the batter into cup cakes cases.
Bake in preheated oven at 180ºC for 25 minutes (do the toothpick test).

Cheese Cream Frosting
(Source: Philadelphia Cream Cheese package – from Mbak Riana’s Blog modified by me)

Ingredients:
60 g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
20 g margarine
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 drop of Lemon Paste

Instruction:
Beat the Philadelphia Cream Cheese and margarine for 4-5 minutes or until soft and light (fluffy).
Beat in the icing sugar lemon juice, continue beating for 30 seconds or until mixed well.
Frost the carrot cake.

Bolu Kukus Stowbery Going Trendy (aka Strawberry Steam Cupcake)

2008-08-16T01:25:00.001+08:00

I modified the normal Steam Cake, by adding some strawberry jam inside and adding some strawberry essence and red colouring.

One of my faithful costumer :P kept nagging me to make red and green steam cake instead the normal chocolate one I used to make. So I tried out this one, but since I was quite afraid the cakes wouldn’t rise because of the jam’s mass, I randomly put it the jam in only three cakes.

Couldn’t tell them which one has filling/not. Sometime later, I got some hysterical responds from those who get the cakes with filling :P
Turned out to be very much OK! :D

li'l satisfied customer :P

Macaroni Schotel

2008-08-15T12:01:00.000+08:00

Original Recipe was taken from Ci' Ine's blog. Ci' Ine.. gimana niy, bukannya saya mau plagiat, tapi mau minta ijin di multiplynya dia maksa saya jadi anggota multiply, hiks.. dan saya belum tahu blogging terlalu banyak, jadi ga tahu gimana lagi minta ijinnya.. Ci' Ine, pamit ya masang di sini..

Banana cake turns me crazy

2008-08-15T11:11:00.000+08:00

It’s been the second time I made banana cake, and the result was great in texture and form. The cakes were moist and nice, except somehow I always made mistakes in putting the ingredients. Aarrrggh.. should I follow the recipe, then everything must have been perfect! :(

On the 1st trial, I decided to halve the recipe. Putting all dry ingredients to the bowl then I realized that I put the baking powder and cinnamon for 1 recipe! Oh my… I tried my best to take out some of them but they’ve already mixed with flour then nothing much I could do that time. The next mistake is when the recipe required 300 grams of banana and I used 2 bananas, which weighed around 200 something… it was not a fatal error, but it resulted in a too dense cake.

So yesterday, I decided to make the second one. Thinking that this time everything should be just all right – since I’ve identified all that might be wrong and promised myself to be careful…
Everything went smooth. I enjoy weighing the sugar, putting in the eggs to the bowl, weighing the flour and add in baking powder, cinnamon, and ready to shift them all when I suddenly realized… O H M Y G O D…

I just put in NUTMEG POWDER! Not cinnamon powder… AAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhh I really really really felt completely brainless and stupid and anything you name me!! I’ve done once more a mistake and this time it’s even more fatal than before :0

I usually use nutmeg for beef… and now I just poured one table spoon of it to the flour. And I made the whole recipe which make so many cupcakes… Oh Gosh ;( surely I did my best to take it out and replace it with cinnamon powder. The cakes turned out to be ok, it’s moist and fluffy, the amount of banana was just nice… but the taste… hihihihiihi…

Hhh… me and my broken heart…

3rd time trial must be perfect!!! Go fight girl!

The recipe was taken from Mbak Vania's blog... (mbak, saya ikut nge-link ya, mohon maaf kalau mohon ijinnya belum diterima, ini juga masih belajar nge-link hihihihi)

but for the 3rd trial I want to make some changes.. hopefully it won't end up in disaster again :P

Bolu Kukus (Steam Cake)

2008-05-14T01:43:00.000+08:00

Original recipe was taken from Mbak Shinta's blog. Makasiy ya mbak sudah sharing :) Ini menu favorit temen2ku :)

Risoles and Potato Souffle

2008-05-11T01:12:00.000+08:00

Risoles - I wonder if it's the plural form of Risol - is a common snack for Indonesian. It's almost the same as a spring roll - nah, I'm absolutely lying here. I never really eat any spring roll before, and I wasn't really fond of Risoles so it's absolutely hard for me to tell the difference, hihihi. But at least the look is quite the same :P

I remember when I was in senior high and my Mom was running her catering business, she made around 400 risoles every day (hahaha, I should ask my Mom about the exact number :P), and it's like almost everyday she put one big plate of risoles on our dining table as breakfast. I swore I never wanted to eat any risoles any more, hahhaha...

But somehow I miss this snack, and with a thought that I might satisfy my new customers (hahaha, thanks indo-surbanian :D) with their hometown food, then I thought it would do no harm to try.

This is my first attempt to make Risol(es). The skin making is a bit tricky, the first skin was to thick, others was having holes, some are too thin, whooaaaa :P And I was not happy too about the filling, since it didn't look really nice (not what I had hoped for), and it's not enough to do all the skins.

But after I finished frying the Risoles, I felt happy because I think it's nice; they're not consistent in size, but the taste is delicious. I should practice more to make them neater :)

Last week when I went back to Jakarta, I joined one day cooking course with Pak Sahak as the teacher. I got this Potato Souffle recipe from him, with changes here and there (adjusting the recipe to the content of my refrigerator), I made this souffle (is this an english word or what? :P).

Quoted from wikipedia:

A soufflé is a light, fluffy, baked dish made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means "to blow up" or more loosely "puff up" — an apt description of what happens to this combination of custard and egg whites.

The combination of whipped cream (I wasn't sure should I whipped it or not, but I did it anyway) and beaten egg whites makes this souffle very light and soft.