Hi Hi... Just want to take some rest while I'm still busy on packing and cleaning. Actually this setup was made on September 18, 2007 as well as the picture was taken. I don't translate what setup is in English, since I have no idea what setup is in bahasa Indonesia either in Javanese ^_^. Setup itself is just like another version of kolak without coconut milk added. You can see a kolak recipe on mbak Retno's blogspot. You can add any kind of fruits to your setup.

Setup was one of the desserts that my mom used to make for iftar. It reminded me of my childhood.

Ingredients:
1 kg plantain, peeled and cut as desired
500 ml water
200 g sugar
5 cm cinnamon stick
3 cloves


Directions:
Add water, sugar, cinnamon stick, and cloves in a pot, bring to a boil. Add plantain and cook until done. Transfer into the glass and add ice cubes before serving.

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No idea to cook since I did pack almost all my spices in the pantry due to moving in to another apartment by October 1st. I apologize if you don't see me around to visit your blogs, folks.
See you around!

Picture was taken on May 2007

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Zaldi (one of my multiply contacts) was wondering about a recipe of bihun goreng jawa that I posted 6 days ago on my multiply. He asked whether bihun is what he calls for sotanghun in the Phillipines. Since the Filipino community is the largest immigrant in Winnipeg, sometimes I know some Tagalog food terms and I explained to him that bihun is what the Filipinos call for bihon and sotanghon is what the Indonesians call for soun or suun.

We use soun sometimes for Indonesian meatballs soup or what we call for bakso.

Ingredients:
200 g bean thread noodles, soaked
4 cloves garlic, crushed
300 g medium-sized shrimps, peeled, tails intact
2 green onions
50 g shredded cabbage
50 g yuey choy, washed, cut as desired and blanched
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame and soy oil (you can use regular sesame oil)
2 bird's eye chilies, finely angle cut
5 tsp kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
1 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
5 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a pan over high heat, stir fry bean threads until appears slick and shiny. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat, add cabbage and shrimps. Stir until the shrimp has changed color.
3. Add chillies, green onions, oyster sauce, kecap manis, soy sauce, and sesame oil; stir evenly.
4. Add bean threads and blanched yuey choy, cook thoroughly until done. Remove from heat and serve.

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I had been craving for bihun goreng jawa since mbak Winda (one of my contacts on multiply) posted the pictures. Bihun or the Javanese call as Mihun is also known as rice vermicelli, rice noodles, or rice sticks.

It just reminded me of buying bihun goreng or bihun kuah from street food hawkers/vendors in Indonesia. In Jakarta and West Java areas, they usually have bihun goreng with pouring peanut sauce over before they eat. However, in East Java areas, they usually have this with biting bird's eye chilies.

As I posted on my multiply in bahasa Indonesia, everybody who lives in abroad, keeps asking me where I got those cute kerupuk tersanjung. Believe me, I didn't get those from any oriental store in Winnipeg, but two of my multiply's contacts who live in Indonesia, sent me a package, including fresh spices such as andaliman, asam gelugur, kencur etc.


Ingredients:
200 g dried rice vermicelli
150 g peeled shrimps, chopped
2 green onions, finely sliced
100 g yuey choi (sawi hijau in Indonesian), cut as desired
100 g sliced cabbage
1 tomato, diced
125 ml homemade shrimp broth (you can substitute for any kind of broth or water)
3 tbsp olive oil
kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce), as desired
2 eggs, beaten

Ground Spices :
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp dried shrmp paste (terasi in Indonesian, belacan in Malay)
1/2 tsp ground corriander seed
3 toasted candlenuts
sambal ulek as desired
salt as desired


Condiments:
Thin omelette
Fried shallots
Onion crackers (kerupuk bawang in Indonesian, I used kerupuk tersanjung, don't ask me why they gave a name kerupuk tersanjung)
Cucumber, shallot, and bird's eye chili pickled (Acar Timun Bawang Cabe)



Directions:
Acar timun bawang cabe:
1. Cut cucumber into julienned, add salt as desired; let stand for couple minutes.
2. After cucumber a bit soften, add shallots and bird eye's chilies. Add sugar and vinegar as desired. Toast until mixed evenly.

Bihun Goreng Jawa
1. Soak dried rice vermiceli with very hot water or as directed on the pacakge. Drain.
2. Make a thin omelette from 2 beaten eggs. Slice an omelette into length strips.
3. Stir fry ground spices until fragrant, add diced tomato, continue to stir fry untill all spices is cooked.
4. Add cabbage and shrimp, stir until shrimp has changed into pink color.
5. Add 125 ml shrimp broth and kecap manis; stir evenly. Add rice vermicelli, yuey choy, and green onion. Stir until all mixed and cooked
6. Transfer into a serving plate, add omelette strips on top and sprinkle fried shallot over. Serve with kerupuk bawang and acar timun bawang cabe. Selamat Makan!!!

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The cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which include squash and the same genus as the muskmelon. Cucumbers are commonly harvested while still green. They can be eaten raw or cooked, or pickled. They have less nutritious than most other fruits, fresh cucumber seeds are still a source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium, also providing dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B6, thiamin, folate, pathothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and manganese.

If you go to Acehnese restaurants in Indonesia you will see this beverage on the menu. It's perfect combination for Acehnese food which is spicy. It's so refreshing and also good for people who have high blood pressure. I'm used to serve this iced cucumber limeade when I host a dinner party at my house.

This is my entry for Monthly Mingle: Liquid Dreams, hosted by Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey?.

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise, discard the seed (if you like the seed, don't discard), and shave.
ice, crushed

Limeade syrup
500 ml water
100 gram sugar
1 lime, juiced

Directions:
1. Limeade syrup : Bring water, sugar, and lime juice to a boil until sugar dissolved. Remove from heat. Cool down at room temperature.
2. Serving : In a glass, add cucumber shaved and crushed ice. Pour limeade syrup over. Serve.

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Don't have to go to work. Woke up late and turned on my computer. One email that was really bother me from one of my girl friends who lives in Eden. It's about 2 hours 35 minutes from Winnipeg. She told me that somebody used a food picture of mine that I was taken in 2006, and put on his blog without any permission. I don't mind if somebody want to use my pictures (which are very amateur) as long as they ask me first. It was a recipe of Sop Konro and Grilled Konro (literally Makasar Style Beef Ribs Soup and Grilled Beef Ribs) which I posted on my multiply. The recipe was also translated by me from an Indonesian cookbook that I brought from Indonesia.

Ohh well, sometimes people just don't care about that. They think it's not a big deal, it's just a blog. My first step was leaving comments on his blog and now just wait for his respond.

Anyway, back to my lazy Saturday. Little bit chill this morning, I went to Van Loi on Mc. Phillips st, and Dong Thai on Notre Dame ave. At Van Loi, you can buy South East Asian fruits, such as Rambutan, Mangosteen, Duku etc. Sometimes I saw those fruits are sold at Dong Thai too. Van Loi is a bigger Asian grocery store than Dong Thai, but still I like going to Dong Thai more, due to variety of Indonesian stuffs and also I make a good friend with the owner.

After browsing around and bought some stuffs at those two Asian grocery stores, I went back home and prepared this semur which I didn't have it for so long. It's just an ordinary semur for me.

Ingredients:
350 g white pomfret fish
1 lime, squeeze to get the juice
garlic powder
ground turmeric
salt

2 tofus, cut each tofu into four same size pieces
2 potatoes, cut into bite-size chunks
50 g bean threads (also known as soun or suun in Indonesian, cellophane noodles, Chinese vermicelli, bean thread noodles, or glass noodles), soak in hot water for couple minutes and drain
1 tomato, cubed
2-3 tbsp kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
600 ml water
oil for deep fry and stir fry

Ground Spices:
4 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground white pepper
salt as desired

Directions:
1. Clean fish by cleaning out the stomach cavity, removing the gills and surrounding tissue, then clean well with tap water.

2. Rub fish with lime juice, garlic powder, turmeris and salt. Marinate for 15 minutes. Deep fry until golden brown. Set aside.

3. Deep fry tofus and potatoes until lightly golden brown. Set aside.

4. Stir fry ground spices until fragrant. Add tomato and kecap manis, stir evenly.

5. Add fish, tofus, potatoes and water. Let them simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Add cooked bean threads, stir evenly. Remove from heat and transfer into a serving plate.

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I saw a recipe of Sambal Serai Udang in Indonesian women magazine �Kartini� through bacamajalah.com . Served twice a year every Eid-ul Fitr and Eid-ul Adha on tradition �Menjunjung Duli� in the Sultanante of Deli, Medan, North Sumatra. At those days, Maimun Palace or Maimoon Palace is opened for public to say Happy Eid to Sultan of Deli and the families. The current Sultan of Deli is Tuanku Sultan Mahmud.

According to wikipedia, Maimun Palace or Maimoon Palace (Indonesian: Istana Maimun), is a well-known landmark at Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra. It was built by Sultan of Deli, Sultan Makmun Al Rasyid Perkasa Alamsyah in 1888, the palace covers 2,772 m2 and has 30 rooms. The Palace has become a tourist destination not solely because of age but also because of the unique interior design of the palace, mixing elements of Malayan cultural heritage, Islam, Spanish, Indian, and Italian style.

This recipe can be substituted for Kerang Kepah (a kind of clam that I�m still not sure the English name, whether littleneck clam or manila clam). You should be ready to use 20 lemongrasses as I substituted for � to � cup ground lemon grass. Frozen ground lemon grass can be found on frozen vegetables section at Asian grocery stores.

Asam Gelugur

Ingredients:
500 g prawns
1 lime
Salt as desired
200 ml coconut milk
20 lemongrasses (I substituted for � cup ground lemon grass)
2 cm fresh galangal, crushed
asam gelugur as desired (Malay: asam gelugor)

spices to be ground
10 long red chilies
7 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 cm fresh turmeric (I substituted for � - � tsp ground turmeric)
salt and sugar to season

Directions:
1. Squeeze lime and sprinkle salt over the prawns. Marinate for 15 minutes.
2. In a pan, add oil and heat the oil at medium-high. Stir fry ground spices, galangal, and lemon grass until fragrant.
3. Add prawns, stir evenly, then add coconut milk, salt, sugar and asam gelugur. Cook until hydrated. Set aside. It was suggested to serve this with ketupat (rice cake in coconut leaves).

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Have you ever heard about Molokhia before? I didn't notice until Sefa posted a recipe Waraq Molokheyia bil Dajaj (translated as Molokhia Leaves with Chicken in English) at her multiply.

Molokhia Leaves (picture courtesy of gourmetsleuth.com)

According to gourmetsleuth.com, Molokhia leaves (also known as egyptian spinach, jew's mallow, nalta jute, tussa jute, corchorus olitorius) - a type of edible green found in the Middle East and used in an Egyptian specialty "molokhia soup". The leaves have a mucilaginous (thickening) quality that helps thicken the soup. The ingredient is rare if at all available in the U.S. fresh but it can be found canned and sometimes frozen in Middle Eastern grocery stores. However, I didn't need to go to Middle Eastern grocery stores to get frozen molakhia. I saw molakhia by accident, when I went to Superstore to look for frozen mixed berries.

I modified Sefa's recipe by adding dried anchovies instead of chicken and using vegetable broth canned. Vegetable broth canned can be found at Asian grocery stores, which has a nice aroma and also very tasty for your wonton soup.

Molokhia Package// Thawed Ground Molakhia

Vegetable Broth

Category:		Soups & Stews
Style:		Middle Eastern

Ingredients:
1 package (1 2/3 cups) frozen ground molokhia, thawed
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp ground corriander
2 long red chilies, angle cut
500 ml vegetable broth ready to use
1/2 cup dried anchovies
fresh lemon juice as desired
olive oil to stir fry

Onion Pickles
1 small onion, thinly sliced
vinegar as desired
lemon juice as desired
hot water as desired

Directions:
Molokheyia bil Samak:
1. In a small pot, add 250 ml vegetable broth and dried anchovies until anchovies tender.
2. Stir fry garlic and cilantro until fragrant. Add chilies, coriander, ground black pepper, and salt as desired; stir evenly. In this case, I didn't add any salt.
3. Add ground molakhia, stir. Add anchovies mixture and 250 ml vegetable broth, cook for 10-15 minutes. Serve the soup with warmed rice and onion pickles.

Onion Pickles
Combine all ingredients for the pickle.

My turn to pick some lucky ladies to get the award of

Here they are:
mbak Arfi of Homemades
mbak Rita of Gifts from the Kitchen

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