Yellow Rice Everyone :)

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

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

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

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 :)