Longing for holidays that was exactly what I felt and would like to send this greeting to everyone and whatever your religion is. This year, I finally had a chance to go for boxing day sale on December 26. In the past, I always took time and a half shift. In Canada, Boxing Day is similar to Black Friday in the US where stores reduce prices.

Some people go crazy by camping outside the stores the night before boxing day. I am not that nuts with the boxing day sale, but I admitted that I woke up in the morning to go for shopping since most of the stores opened at 6 AM.

On Christmas eve, I was glad I managed to get home before the highway's condition was getting worst. We had a major winter storm that day. On December 24, my office was closed at 12 PM. Leaving Boissevain around 12.30 PM, I had a hard time to drive. Even though, it took me four hours to drive since I had to turn down the speed due to snow and visibility's reduce.

The pictures above and one below here were taken when I waited in the car for my husband who is CDs freak, went to the record store in the Exchange area. Without opening the car's window, I took two random photos. It is a picture of wall which full with posters on.

Our "Must to Go" list:
Restaurant and Kitchen Stores
Record Stores
Bookstores
Electronic Stores
Camera Stores
Some stores at Polo Park mall


We went to Henry's photo, just to see what deal they had. They had deal on tripods for all brands. Not really a great deal, honestly. We left and decided to go to Indigo bookstore. I was tempting to buy Jamie at Home cookbook by Jamie Oliver. Again! I don't feel like to buy it.


Moved to another bookstore, McNally Robinson. We went to the bargain books' part where the prices were reduced. Since it was a boxing day sale, they were taken another 50% off of the reduced prices.


I found my toys at
d a Niels Gourmet Kitchenware - 485 Berry Street
Homesense - 15-1585 Kenaston Boulevard
Don's Photo - 1839 Main Street
McNally Robinson - 1120 Grant Avenue


To Rita, here is the book that I bought. Happy Birthday to you, girl!

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One day, I stumbled upon Serge the Concierge. Serge Lescouarnec, the owner of the blog offered a Cooking and Manga on Menu for Everyday Harumi book contest part 3. I submitted my answer of a Manga on Food and Cooking. Manga was a part of my childhood. I still recalled, I used to watch "Born to Cook" or "Mr. Ajikko" on TV every Sunday morning. I wouldn't have my breakfast until this series was on. I was so happy that the Manga's story brought me to get Everyday Harumi cookbook.

Eventually, I couldn't see the book since I asked Serge to send it to my Winnipeg's address. As I work out of Winnipeg which is in Boissevain, I used to be back on the weekends. However, I hadn't returned to Winnipeg until this weekend.

I was so glad to see that the book has a guidance on how to make dashi from scratch, so I don't need to deal with MSG. The ingredient that I have been trying to avoid and is used in most dashi products.

Making dashi was easy!!! All you need is water, kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobushi (Dried Bonito Flakes). I went to Arirang, a Korean store that has widely selection of Korean and Japanese products. For your information, in Winnipeg, most Japanese/sushi restaurants are owned by the Koreans.

Another information that I need to share, bonito is made from tuna. For Indonesians who live in Sumatra area, you may to substitute bonito with ikan kayu (Acehnese dried skipjack tuna).

On page 19 and 20 of Everyday Harumi cookbook, it is stated that many people who make their own dashi stock will make what is known as ichban dashi (fisrt brew) and niban dashi (second brew). The first is usually used when we need a pure dashi flavour and the second when it is mixed with other ingredients.

You will notice that the Ichiban dashi has a darker colour than the niban one.

Ichiban and Niban Dashi
by Harumi Kurihara

Ingredients:
2x4 inch pieces kombu seaweed (dried kelp)
2 oz katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
8 cups water

Directions:

Ichiban Dashi
1. To rempve any excess saltiness from kombu, either quickly wash under cold runnung water and then pat dry or wipe with a damp cloth.

2. In a large saucepan, soak kombu for 30 minutes in 4 cups of water.

3. Put the saucepan over high heat and remove kombu just before the water comes to a boil.

4. Add katsuobushi, bring back to a boil, and then immediately turn off the heat. Let it stand until all the flakes have sunk to the bottom of the saucepan.

5. Pour the mixture through a strainer lined with cheesecloth, leave to cool, keep the dashi stock in the refrigerator until ready to use. Do not discard the used karsuobushi if you want to make a niban dashi stock.

Niban Dashi
1. Add the previously used kombu seaweed and katsuobushi to a saucepan together with another 4 cups of water.

2. Put the pan onto medium heat.

3. Remove kombu just before the liquid comes to a boil, then cook for further 3-4 minutes.

4. Pour through a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Cool and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

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Terribly forgetful to post this recipe!!! I had photos' project about a year ago for Natural Kiwifruit Del Mi�o based in Portugal. To create five dishes with kiwi as one of the main ingredients as well as the picture.s The photos should represent its logo colour, green and red, but the red should not overpower the green.

Since I was a full time student and part-time commercial kitchen staff at that time, I did that project for few months. I was glad that my client could understand my situation.

Me know Spanish? Big No! I had to figure out how to name this recipe in Spanish words. I asked Luciano, the one who works for the company and contacted me to do this project.

I still remember how hard I tried to make a fusion flan since I never made the classic one either. Played around with the measurement as this recipe was my own creation. I twisted the classic flan recipe with greenish sweet sour fruit from New Zealand, Kiwi and pandan flavour, one of Asian favourites in cooking or dessert stuff.

It would be a perfect treat for you who celebrate Christmas...

Flan de Kiwi y Pandan
- Kiwi Flan with Pandan -
recipe of Spain Recipes, modified by me

Ingredients:
3 - 4 kiwis (depend how big they are), peeled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 can (14 oz) can condensed milk
6 eggs
1/4 tsp pandan paste (it can be found at Asian markets)

Caramelized Sugar Topping
1/2 cup granulated Sugar
pomegranate for garnish

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Caramelize the Sugar for Topping
1. Put a heavy skillet or saucepan over medium heat for 30 seconds.
2. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
3. With the back of a wooden spoon, keep sugar moving constantly in skillet until sugar is completely melted, and of a rich medium brown color (caramelized).
4. Pour caramelized sugar into each of the ramekins. Set aside.

Prepare Flan
1. Place the kiwis, sugar eggs and condensed milk in to a food processor or blender and blend until kiwis are minced and all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
2. Ladle the kiwi mixture into each ramekin. Cover each ramekin with aluminum foil.
3. Place Ramekins in a Water Bath
4. Place each ramekin into a large open, oven-proof pan, such as a broiler pan.
5. Add very hot water to the pan. The ramekins should be submerged approximately 3/4 in the water.
6. Carefully place the pan on to the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, carefully remove each ramekin from the water, uncover and to allow to cool.
7. Once cool, place in refrigerator to chill.
8. Whenever you are ready to serve, run a paring knife around the outside of each ramekin to loosen the flan.
9. Place the serving plate on top of each one and flip it over. It may be necessary to tap the ramekin to force the flan to fall out onto the plate.
10. Garnish with fresh poemgranate. Serve.

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Don't get bored if I'm posting another soup today. A week ago, it still felt like fall, but as of three days ago, snow has made everywhere white. I guess Manitoba will have a white Christmas this year.

A short cut to make this soto babat was a yellow broth that I kept frozen. However, I will post the correct way to prepare soto babat.

What is soto babat? I keep saying it, but haven't explained it clearly. Soto means any meat/chicken broth soup. It can be with or without coconut milk. Babat is the Indonesian word for beef tripe.

Let's see how good my memory is to name varieties of soto in Indonesia...
Soto Ayam (Chicken Soto)
Soto Daging (Beef Soto)
Soto Lamongan (Lamongan style Soto)
Soto Betawi (Jakarta style Soto)
Sroto (Pekalongan style Soto)
Soto Medan (Medan syle Soto)
Oppsss too many, I can't remember all.

I am glad that I didn't have to scrub the hell out of the tripe before cooking it, since it is sold clean at the stores here. Some recipes for soto babat call for coconut milk. For me, there is already too much cholesterol in the tripe, so no coconut milk this time.

Feel free to substitute tripe for beef or chicken chunks, if you don't like tripe.


Soto Babat
- Beef Tripe Soup -

Ingredients:
500 g beef tripes
1/2 L water
4 Indonesian bay leaves
4 kaffir lime leaves, tear
2 lemon grass, take the white parts and bruise
1/4 tsp corriander seed
1/2 leek, take the white parts and slice
2 tbsp oil
1 1/4 L homemade broth (you can use either beef or chicken)
ground white pepper as desired
salt and sugar to season

Spices (Rempah) to grind:
3 shallots
2 garlics
3 candlenuts
2 cm length ginger, peeled
1 tsp turmeric powder

Complements:
1 cup bean sprouts, blanched
200 g potato, peeled, thin sliced and deep-fried => to make chips
1 bulb garlic, thin sliced and fried
Chinese celery leaves, chopped
lime
sambal rawit (bird's eye chili sambal)

Directions:
1. Bring water to boil. Add tripe,2 Indonesian bay leaves, 2 kaffir lime leaves, corriander seed and 1 lemongrass. Cook for 30 minutes. Drain and cut as desired.

2. Stir fry rempah, 2 Indonesian bay leaves, 2 kaffir lime leaves, 1 lemongrass and leek until fragrant.

3. Add sliced tripe, stir until mixed. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Season with salt, sugar and white pepper.

Serving:
In a bowl, add bean sprouts and tripe with the broth. Sprinkle over chips, fried garlic and Chinese celery leaves. Serve with sambal rawit and lime.

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I don't mean to give this recipe a long name, but that is what the main ingredients are.

Being so picky with the store-bought' choices, I always love making my own broth from scratch. Yes! It means, boil the water with vegetables, shittake mushroom and herbs. I sometimes add shrimp skins in. In another word, you can make from any leftover fresh veggies and carcass.

I saw potatoes in my pantry and leeks, mushroom, provolone cheese, cilantro in the fridge, I was tempting to make a western style soup. I guess :)

The soup was served with toasted spelt bread. What is spelt? Spelt is a species of wheat that has been grown since 5000 BC. Spelt, emmer and eincorn are considered to be "ancient" wheat species, since there has been very little breeding of these crops. Some people with wheat allergy or wheat intolerance can tolerate spelt. Spelt does however contain gluten, and people with gluten allergies (celiac disease) are likely to be allergic to spelt, similar to wheat and other gluten grains.

Hey! Did I mention this one for my submission to the MFM2 November 2009 - World Cuisine? This November event is hosted by Rurie. Thanks Rurie for volunteering to do this.

Cheese, Leek, Mushroom Potato Soup
recipe by me

Ingredients:
2 dried bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 stalk celery, cut into 1/2 cm diced
4 leeks, white parts only, washed well, thinly sliced
2 shallots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
750 g Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into -inch pieces
250 g white/button mushrooms, chopped
300 g provolone cheese
5 cups Homemade Vegetable/Chicken stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Make a bouquet garni: first wrap bay leaves, and rosemary in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie with a piece of kitchen twine, and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium stockpot. Add celery, leeks, shallots, and garlic; cook on medium-low heat until very soft, about 45 minutes, stirring only occasionally. Do not brown.

3. Add mushroom, potatoes, stock, and reserved bouquet garni.

4. Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook until potatoes are very tender, about 40 minutes.

5. Remove bouquet garni, and discard.

6. Add cheese and stir with a hand blender, until all smooth.

7. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with bread.

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Bubur Ayam or Chicken Rice Porridge is a breakfast style of people who live in western part of Java island in Indonesia. I used to consume this once I moved to Bogor.

To get the sense of street food hawkers in Indonesia, I purposely looked for the specific bowl. A bowl with cock's pattern which is widely used for the food hawkers to serve bakso (meatballs soup), bubur (rice porridge) and mie ayam (a noodle dish with savoury ground chicken. I was so happy to see this bowl for purchased at one of Asian grocers in Winnipeg.

I care less about chicken innards sate that is complement for bubur ayam, so my choice was yellow chicken sate as the substitute here. The recipe was adapted from Bubur Ayam Sukabumi - Sukabumi Style Chicken Rice Porridge. Somehow, I played around and not really followed the directions.

Bubur Ayam
-Chicken Rice Porridge-
modified by me

Ingredients:
Rice Porridge
200 g rice
1 L water
2 L homemade chicken stock (I used leftover chicken carcass and veggies to make stock)
1 pandan leaf
2 Indonesian bay leaves

Yellow Chicken Sate:
300 g chicken chunks
skewers

Grind rempah (spices) into a paste:
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2 cm length turmeric, roasted and peeled
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tbsp ground coriander seed
3 candlenuts
ground white pepper and salt as desired

Complements:
sambal
emping nut crackers.
tapioca crackers
cakwe (Chinese long donut), sliced => for people who live in western Canada, it can be found at Superstore (bulk bakery section). Also, sold frozen at Asian grocers.
fried soybeans
fried shallots
Chinese celery leaves, chopped
green onions, sliced


Directions:
Rice Porridge
1. Wash and drain the rice. In a pot, mix water and rice. Bring to a boil and cook until soft.
2. Add chicken stock and the leaves. Reduce the heat and continue simmering until porridge is ready. No separation between liquid and rice is the sign that porridge ready. Add salt and ground white pepper to taste and mix.

Yellow Chicken Sate
1. Stir fry rempah until fragrant. Add a small amount of water and chicken chunks. Cook until the liquid evaporates.
2. Thread the wooden skewers onto chicken chunks. Grilled until done.


How to fry soybeans to perfection: (courtesy of Mariena of Resto Mariena)
Soak soybeans in hot boiled water. When the water's temperature is low or colder, drain soybeans. Place on paper surface to speed up the drying process. Fry until golden brown. Drain and store in an air tight container.

Plating the bubur ayam:
Place bubur (rice porridge) in a bowl. Sprinkle fried soybeans and shallots, green onions, chopped celery leaves, tapioca and emping nut crackers. Put sambal on the spoon.

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While people in the US celebrated Thanksgiving on November 26, in Indonesia and all Muslims around the world celebrate the holy sacrifice day, Eid ul Adha or Hajj Eid on November 27. No special dishes that I made or am going to make as I'm staying in Boissevain. Pretty jealous with my brother's girl friend who put her status "I'm eating Iyuk's opor". Opor is a Javanese braised chicken in coconut milk.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrate it.

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Padang seems familiar to you, doesn't it? About a month ago, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the city of Padang, killing at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble. Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra province, it is a home to the Minangkabau ethnic group, whose traders spread its traditions - including their famed spicy food - as they settled across the country.

Culturally, it is known for the unusual matrilineal system of the Minangkabau, whereby inheritance passes from mother to daughter. Padang women are seen as being particularly forthright and powerful. The region also has strong literary and musical traditions, though it is Padang's spicy cuisine that has perhaps won most renown as the city's traders set up restaurants across Indonesia.

Kepiting Saus Padang is similar to Singaporean Chili Crab. In fact, kepiting saus padang is not sold at Padangese resturants, but it's available at most seafood restaurants in the country, especially street food hawkers.


Kepiting Saus Padang
(Crab in Padangese Sauce or Crab in Spicy Chili Sauce)
modified by me

Ingredients:
2 dungeness crabs (about 1.5 kgs)
water for boiling the mussels
6 tbsp vegetable oil
6 cm length gingerroot, minced
1 fresh pineapple, peeled and blended/grated
3 tbsp fresh key lime juice
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tbsp Indonesian hot sauce (or put as much as desired), I used sambal cap jempol
3/4 cup clam juice
water to boil (you will need more ginger and garlic) or oil for deep frying
sugar and salt as desired

Spices to grind
5 bird chilies (you can put as less/much as desired)
2 red pepper, roasted (for giving red bright color to food)
15 shallots
9 garlic
1 1/2 tsp terasi (dried shrimp paste)
3 candlenuts

Directions:
1. You can do two ways, either place the crabs into hot boiling water that consists ginger and garlic or deep fry the crabs until golden brown

2. In a large skillet or saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and ground spice and saute over moderate heat, stirring often until fragrant. Add ketchup, hot sauce, and sugar (if you need it, I don't add any).

3. Add clam juice and crabs. Put salt as desired in also (I don't add any, since I used terasi), cook until bubbling. Add pineapple and lime juice; stir. Bring to a boil and let the sauce thicken.

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It was the day when we had to look for goat feta cheese. We went to one of cheese specialty store on Corydon avenue. That store doesn't have it. I told to my husband, we should check Greek Market which is located on Corydon ave too. I used to this store to get my tiramisu on a cup. Love tiramisu, but I don't want to make it by myself since my tempation is only for a small piece.

Yes!! I am right this store has 3 kinds of feta cheese, cow, goat and sheep. I felt like bringing my husband to toy's store. It has most everything he likes, not many meat products are sold.

See what we got beside feta cheese.

Greek Market
1440 Corydon Ave
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3N 0J3
Phone: 1-204-488-6161
E-mail: info@greekmarket.ca

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(These pictures are also old stocks, so you will find 2008 as the year)

This recipe is not the Indonesian's classic sate variants. I myself like to use a word sate rather than satay. However, we can make sate with whatever you feel like, including tofu and tempe. Yupss make it vegetarian. Literally, sate means sate, cumi (pronounced: chu mee) means squid and kecap (pronounced: ketchup) means sweet soy sauce. Sate Cumi Kecap can be translated as Squid Sate with Sweet Soy Sauce.

Rustle up something that you have been yearned for so long, is not that easy, for I have been hectic. Particularly, provided your squids are frozen :D.

As I glanced through several pages on the internet, I stumbled on mbak Ima's multiply and this link which have the same recipe; hence, I settled on those recipe by adapting them. Mine is slightly different with theirs.

I enhanced with candlenuts, lemon grass, coriander seed, and calamansi. However, kecap manis and peanuts are still used, just like the classic Indonesian sate.

I chose organic peanut butter rather than the regular one. Based on my experience, putting regular peanut butter will change the taste after the sauce simmered. Organic peanut butter usually only contains peanuts and seasalt or sometimes just ground peanuts. You also can go to some stores that provide peanuts with the grinder; thus, grind them by yourself there, and you will get fresh peanut butter.


Sate Cumi Kecap
(Squid Sate with Sweet Soy Sauce)
adapted from mbak Ima, modified by me

Ingredients:
2 lbs squids
1/2 cup Indonesian kecap manis
2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter (preferably organic peanut butter)
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1 tbsp ground frozen lemongrass
small skewers as many as you need

Ground Spices
8 shallots (in case you use smaller size as I had while I was in Indonesia, you may require 16 shallots)
7 cloves garlic
3 candlenuts
1 cm ginger
1/4 tsp ground star anise
1 tsp ground coriander seed

Additional:
some more shallots, sliced
chillies, sliced
calamansi

Directions:
1. Rinse off squids and marinate with ground spice, kecap manis, peanut butter, ground lemongrass and melted margarine for an hour.

2. Soak skewers in water for about 20 minutes so skewers don't burn over heat.

3. Place a squids on a skewer, do until all squid finished.

4. Grill or broil until cooked through. Brush squid with leftover marinade while cooking. I used a pan grill.

Peanut Sauce:
Place leftover marinade in a saucepan and simmer until bubbling. Combine with sliced shallots and sliced chilies. Squeeze calamansi over and mix. Serve this with squid sate and warmed rice.

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I know tteokochi or ddeok-kkochi when I volunteered for the Korean pavilion-Folklorama in 2006. It reminds me of cilok (West Java) or pentol (in East Java) in Indonesia. The differences, cilok or petol is made from sago or tapioca flour and enhanced with a very small amount of beef. The sauce is kinda close with spiceness of chili while some cilok/pentol have a choice of spicy peanut sauce too.

They have another similarity, sold by the street food vendors.

Anyway, after the training, I just drove around Grant avenue and saw a new Korean store. I was thinking to give a try and found a bag of frozen rice that was pretty cheap. I used to go to Arirang on Portage avenue for Korean food stuffs.

I didin't want to make Tteobokki or Ddeokbokki since I don't have any fish cake and cabbage.

Tteokkochi//Ddeok-kkochi
adapted from http://koreanfood-koreanet.blogspot.com/2009/08/tteokkochi-and-rabboki.html

Ingredients:
50 pieces of rice cake (25 pieces if you use longer pieces)
10 skewers
water
oil

Sauce
2 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp honey (you can substitute for corn syrup)
1/2 tbsp sugar ( I used 1/2 tsp sugar, but it was still too sweet for me. My suggestion, skip the sugar)
1 tbsp onion juice ( you can get this by using a garlic mincer, I used 1/4 of onion and grated instead)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp cooking wine (Mirim in Korean or Mirin in Japanese) -> you can substitute for vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped peanuts
1 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:
1. In a pot, bring water to a boil and put the rice cakes in. Boil frozen rice cakes for 1 minutes or until soften. If they are not frozen, boil them for 30 seconds.
2. Drain the soften rice cakes.
3. Thread 4 or 5 rice cakes onto the skewer.
4. Pan- fry them until golden brown with a small amount of oil. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, you can make the sauce.
6. Coat cooked rice cakes with the sauce and ready to eat.


Sauce
Mix all sauce's ingredients in a sauce pan. At medium heat, bring to boil; stir occasionally.

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I finally posted a recipe of Lontong Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang or Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk with Rice Cakes as the last series of Eid ul Fitr dishes 2009.

Traditionally, lontong is made by partly cooking or soaking raw rice, draining and packing tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf packaging is fastened with bamboo picks and cooked in boiling water about 2 hours or so. Once, lontong is cooled and solid, you can cut lontong into bite-sized pieces.

Basically, lontong can be eaten with any kinds of soup/stew or sauce base. Whenever I visited my beloved maternal grandmother in Probolinggo, I always had bakso (Indonesian meatballs soup) with lontong. In Surabaya/Sidoarjo, there are ample of dishes that accompany with lontong. Sate ayam, lontong kupang, lontong mie, lontong cap gomeh, rujak cingur, gado-gado, lontong balap, tahu tek (known as tahu gunting), lontong kikil, you name it!

In this posting, you will find two separated recipes for making Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang and Lontong.

Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang
(Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk)
recipe by me
Ingredients:
500 g green pepaya, peeled and julienned
300 g medium size shrimps
2 lemongrass, bruised
3 cm galangal, bruised
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 tsp ground dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi)
2 pkgs cream coconut powder
1.5 L homemade shrimp stock*
oil to stir fry

Spices to grind into a paste
6 shallots
3 cloves garlics
3 red chillies
3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
1 tsp dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malay: belachan), roasted

Directions:
Preparation
*Homemade shrimp stock can be made ahead from shrimp heads and skins
Combine shrimp stock and 1 package of coconut cream powder; stir occasionally. Bring to a boil and set aside.

Cooking
1. Stir fry spices paste/ground ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, add salam leaves, galangals, and lemongrasses, cook for another 1 minutes until fragrant.

2. Add julienned pepayas another package of coconut cream powder, stir until mixed.

3. Add shrimp stock and shrimp, stir and boil for another 10 minutes or until the shrimps are done.

4. Serve with lontong, sambal and kerupuks (any kind of kerupuks, either tapioca or shrimp ones).



Lontong
(Rice Cake in Banana Leaves Wrapped)
adapted from an Indonesian cookbook "Variasi Menu Sehari-Hari" by Hayatinufus A. L. Tobing

Ingredients:
1.25 kgs rice, rinsed off and drained
about 20 sheets of banana leaves

Directions:
1. Take a sheet or 2 sheets of banana leaves. Roll leaves into 5 cm diameter log-shape. At the edge of the rolled leaves, fasten one side with a bamboo tooth pick. Through another side, fill 3-4tbsp rice into the rolled leaf. Fasten the other edge with a tooth pick. Redo it until all rice are filled into the roll leaves.

2. In a large pot, place all the uncooked lontong. Fill in with water until all lontong sunken.

3. Cook for 2-3 hours or untill all done. Add some more water if the water evaporates and is lessened.

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Tauco are salted fermented soybeans and pronounced tow chow. They were brought to Indonesia by Chinese immigrants. It has cooperated with Indonesian culinary for centuries. Each regions of Indonesia have different type of tauco.

It can be combined with fish, chicken, vegetable, tofu etc. Tauco are sold in whole and paste. It's similar to miso in Japanese cuisine.

Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco means stir fry bittermellon with anchovies and tauco. This doesn't categorize as special Eid ul-Fitr dish either. I wouldn't make this dish for Eid ul-Fitr if my husband didn't request it. For Indonesians, this is just daily food for accompanying the rice.

Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco
adapted from Yusy Wijaksa, modified by me

Ingredients
2 bittermelons, halve, discard the seed and cut into 3/4 cm thick
150 g frozen anchovies, thawed and baked/fried
4 tbsp tauco
1 tomato, diced
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 cm length galangal
2 green chilies, discard the seed and angle cut
1 tbsp ground bird eyes chilies*
salt and sugar to season (I didn't add this as the tauco is pretty salt for my tastebuds)
oil for stir-frying

Spices to grind:
5 shallots (If you use smaller size, use 8)
1 clove garlic

Directions:
1. Sprinkle salt over bittermelon and squeeze softly by hand until wilted.
2. Let bittermelon sit for 10 minutes, rinse off with water and drain.
3. Stir fry all the spices, except green chilies until fragrant. Add anchovies and bittermelon, cook until done.
4. Taste and season with salt and/or sugar as desired.

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Today, On September 20th 2009, all muslims around the world celebrate Eid ul Fitr. Eid ul Fitr is a religious festival of Muslims. It is celebrated on the 1st of Islamic month Shawwal.or Syawal Muslims keep fast during the holy month Ramadan and when the month of fasting ends they celebrate Eid ul-Fitr.

Wish you the joys and wonder of Eid ul-Fitr.

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Don't be overwhelmed by the title! True, I used two kinds of berries, strawberry and Saskatoon berry.

I never feel regret that I had to move out from the city due to my work's location. I live close to the farmers where the food begins. My neighbour sometimes offers me to have some fresh vegetables from their garden.

Out of the blue, one of the local people came to the office. She brought a pack of fresh strawberry from u-pick farm. They were totally awesome, sweet and really red. Totally different with the store bought ones! I decided to keep some of them frozen and ate the rest for smoothie and snack.

The next two week, my husband and I went for Saskatoon berries u-pick. I came to conclusion to make New York style Cheesecake with adding Saskatoon Berries as compote. The story of Saskatoon Berry will be posted later.

Since I played around with the recipe, I thought it would be failed. Voila!!! I modified by adding flour as I enhanced by fresh/frozen strawberry in cream cheese filling, and of course the compote.

New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake
recipe by Ricardo Larriv�e, modified by me

Ingredients:
Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs =>I used Italian �Savoiardi� Lady finger cookies, then grind
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup melted butter => I reduced to 3 tbsp

Cream Cheese Filling
4 x Container (250 g/8 oz each) cream cheese, at room temperature=> I used 3 containers
1 1/4 cups sugar => I reduced into 1 cup sugar
4 x eggs
1/2 cup 35% cream => I substituted for plain natural yogurt
1 tbsp vanilla extract => I skipped this
1 cup fresh/frozen strawberry
1/2 cup flour (I suggested to reduce to 1/4 cup)
2 tsp konyaku jelly powder (I suggested to reduce to 1 tsp)

Directions:
Crust

1. In a bowl, combine the ingredients. Press lightly into the bottom of a 20-cm (8-inch) springform pan. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350�F. Let cool.
2. Wrap the outside (bottom and sides) of the springform pan with aluminum foil, making sure it�s watertight
3. Turn the oven temperature down to 170�C (325�F).

Cream Cheese Filling

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Pour onto the crust.
2. Prepare a bain-marie: Place the springform pan in a large baking dish. Fill the baking dish with boiling water until it comes halfway up the side of the pan.
3. Bake in the middle of the oven until the filling is set at the edges but the centre trembles slightly when shaken, about 70 minutes. Turn off the oven, leaving the cake inside with the door slightly ajar for 1 hour. Remove the pan from the bain-marie. Remove the foil from the pan. Run a thin knife around the inside edge of the pan. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 4 hours.

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The picture is my submission for Click-Agust 2009 with a theme Allium.

Idea of the picture? Why the heck did I put red onion on top of the jar with water in it? Here is the clue, by utilizing the green parts for cooking and leave the red bulb in a jar with water, the greens will grow back and you can use them again, as long as you keep the bulb under water. This method can apply for green onions or scallions as well.

In Indonesian culinary, allium has been used widely, especially shallot which is often in one recipe it is called more than 3 pieces of shallot. The specialty Indonesian nasi goreng also uses shallot, not garlic.

A part of my work�s schedule every Friday is to visit the local farmers� market (FM). On that day, I will bring home a big bag of organic fresh salad mix which is so cheap only $ 2.50. The salad mix frequently contains edible flowers.

About a month ago, I realized that I couldn�t get the usual shallot that I used to get whenever I am in Winnipeg. Instead, I bought a bunch of fresh red onion from the FM and the onions still had the green stalks attached. Anyway, I only keep one bulb of the red since I used the bulb for cooking, my shallot�s substitution for the time being. :)

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It was like my ambition to have a cute picture of blueberry since two years ago. Hence, I never got the best shot until last week. I wish I had time to go for blueberry's picking at the Manitoba's local farm. Anyhow, I got a pack of British Columbia's grown blueberry from the store, it's still Canada's producer, eh!

Set up my blueberries on the patio's table, also a small white napkin with blue strip that I got from the local store in Boissevain, The Station.

Lidia told me about the Click July 2009 edition's theme "Bi-Colour" that was perfect for my blueberry's picture. Blue and White is my submission for Click.

I do love taking pictures, but I am pissed off lately as I found two pictures of mine have been stolen by a blog, asiarecipestips dot blogspot dot com. To whoever take food pictures from another blog, use them without telling the owner and eventually you are making money from your blog. You are convicted of stealing.

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According to wikipedia, Canada Day (French: F�te du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Conf�d�ration), is Canada's national day, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country, which was in turn composed of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally. Happy Canada Day!!!!

Back to my day off, I celebrated by cooking. I was in Winnipeg to spend my day with my husband and kitchen :). What did I make? Still, something spicy and fishy. Pepes Ikan Woku! It can be translated as Steamed Fish with Woku Spices in Banana Leaves. Woku spices are rich Manadonese mixed spices.


Pepes Ikan Woku
recipe by Yohana Halim and Sedap Sekejap, modified by me

Ingredients
500 g fish steak (I used halibut steak)
calamansi
4 sprigs of lemon basil leaves (kemangi leaves)
1 turmeric leaves
7 kaffir lime leaves, 5 leaves for shredded and tear off the rest
1 pandan leaf, cut into 2 cm length
1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
banana leaves for wrapper
tooth picks

Grind into a paste
8 shallots
10 red chilies or as desired
4 candlenuts, toasted
3 cm long turmeric, roasted and peeled
3 cm long ginger, peeled
3 tbsp ground frozen lemongrass
salt as desired

Directions
1. Squeeze calamansi over fish and mariante for 30 minutes.
2. Rub fish with spiced paste and let it for 15 minutes.
3. Place fish, spiced paste, the leaves ingredients in banana leaves, wrap them up and pin with wood tooth picks or tie wih strings. Steam 45 minutes or until done.

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As of June 15th, I moved to a small cattle producer town in Manitoba, Boissevain due to my current job. I still go back to Winnipeg once every two weeks.

The little small town has caught my intention with flowers around the area. I was so happy I finally found lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi) plants for purchased here, at the greenhouse where I bought them. Lemon basil is a fragrant herb that is commonly used in Indonesian cuisine.

The warmness and friendliness feeling that I enjoy the most from people in this town. The most important I don't need to see lots traffic like in Winnipeg! :) Absolutely, I enjoy driving here.

A cozy coffee area in the giftware shop is also part of my morning coffee break. It's only one block away from my office with magnificent things that foodies love. Care to see the history of The Station, please visit the website at http://www.the-station.ca/. Thanks to Audrey Hicks to let me taking pics of the store. If you go to the US border or enter Canada through highway 10 please do visit Boissevain and The Station.

The Station
406 South Railway Street
Boissevain, MB
Canada R0K 0E0

The Front Look and The Black and White Corner...

The Red Lovers...

The Blue Lovers...

The Eco and Antique Lovers...

There, you go, my spot for coffee break...

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Have you ever had berries cheese snack before? The product was pretty innovative by combining mozzarella cheese and Saskatoon berries. To create a packaging for the product, my friend asked me a favour to take few shots of the product as his team group who were developed for their class project. Shots were taken a place at the Food Science's kitchen of my university.

For those who are interested to develop this product, you may contact my friend by sending me an email.

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Matcha or green tea powder in Japanese has become popular ingredient all over the world. You can name a number of different bakery or coffee shops which are selling their goodies/beverages with matcha included. Not only the good taste but the healthy effect of green tea is the reason why green tea is so famous.

I was so tempting to make this dessert for so long and I didn't remember anymore until the CAM Boga case. CAM Boga is a publisher who published few cookbooks by using Indonesian foodie bloggers' pictures without permission. This publisher used green tea pudding picture of Indonesian women magazine, Femina.

The original recipe was posted at Femina-Online. Due to the lack of ingredients, such milk and heavy cream in my pantry and too lazy to go out, I substituted for sweetened condensed milk and skipped the sugar. I also didn't make the sauce as directed

Please see the recipe by clicking read more.

Matcha Pudding
recipe by Femina, modified by me

Ingredients:
1 L water
7 g green tea powder (I used the organic green tea powder)*
1 package (7 g) of agar powder
1 cup (250 ml) sweetened condesed milk

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients, except green tea powder.
2. Separate two mixture into two small pots.
3. Add green tea powder into pot 1 and bring to a boil at medium heat, stir occasionally.
4. Prepare moulds by rinse off with cold water, then add the boiling mixture into the moulds. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, bring pot 2 into a boil and stir occasionally. When the green mixture has set, add the white mixture into the moulds. Fridge them until ready to serve. You can serve with almond cream sauce as well.

*If you don't have matcha or green tea powder just use sencha (green tea leaves) then grind.

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The smoothie plus picture is my contribution for CLICK!, a photo event is hosted by Jugalbandi. With "Spring/Autumn" as the theme I decided to participate at this event with Smoothie Plus. Spring has sprung, in which bring all the fresh ingredients together in the kitchen. Luscious fresh fruits are becoming more available and less expensive.

Smoothie Plus! Why? Let's see. There were strawberries, blackberries and mangosteen. Did you know that mangosteen is one of the hottest new superfoods? For people who grew up in Indonesia or other South East Asian countries, mangosteen was not a new food. I grew up with mangosteens and enjoyed them as my fruit snack.

Smoothie Plus (1 portion)
recipe by me

Ingredients
strawberries
blackberries
mangosteen
banana
soy milk

Directions:
Blend together until smooth and serve.

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