Kakul is the Balinese term for freshwater snail. In Indonesian term, it's known as keong sawah. As you may notice that Indonesia is a country with many dialects, I have known two other names; kreco in Surabayan (East Javanese) and tutut in Sundanese (West Javanese).

This recipe was adapted from the Bali Cookbook by Lonny Gerungan. Lonny is a famous chef in the Netherlands. I bought this book few months ago through amazon.ca. For you who are interested to learn about Balinese cooking and not able to speak Indonesian, this is a perfect guide for you since the book is in English and written by a Balinese native.



Thou I'm an Indonesian native, I still have to learn about other foods from many different ethic groups. I know more about Sumatran and East Javanese cookings since those two are where my ancestors came from.

Lonny has described how he loves this dish. It brings his childhood memories in Bali. As he explained we have to suck the meat out of the shells and when we have done it, nine out of ten, the meat off course will shoot right into our throat. The soup is fun to eat.

Anyway, this spicy soup goes for Masbar October 2010 with a theme "Variety of Balinese Dishes". The recipe has been slightly changed from the original as I used more freshwater snails than the recipe was stated.


Kakul Mekuah
- Bali Style Frehswater Snail Soup -
serves 4


Ingredients:

• 1 lb (454 g) fresh water snails
• 2 1/4 tsp tamarind pulp
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin coconut oil
• 1.2 L water seasalt
• 7 salam (Indonesian bay) leaves

For the spice paste

• 8 toasted candlenuts
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp toasted terasi (dried shrimp paste)
• 1 1/2 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 4.8 oz (135 g) peeled shallots
• 0.7 oz (20 g) garlics, peeled
• 9 cayenne peppers (can be substituted for bird eyes chilies), sliced
• 1.4 oz (40 g or 6-cm long) fresh ginger, peeled 7 cm long fresh turmeric, peeled

Methods:

To make the spice paste, if you use a mortar and pestle, chop shallot, garlic, ginger and turmeric first.  Then, pound candlenuts, coriander, terasi and peppercorns to a fine paste.  Add shallots, garlic, chilies, ginger and turmeric; pound again to a paste.

Rinse off the snails with cold water and drain them.  Take the white parts of lemongrass, cut into 3-cm long and bruise them with side of a heavy knife.

Heat the oil in a wok and stri fry the spice paste for about 3 minutes.  Add water and season with seasalt.  Add snails, tamarind pulp, lemongrass, and salam leaves.  Simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes.  Serve with warm long grain rice.

Note:
If you live in Winnipeg and wonder where to get these freshwater snails, Young's sells them in the frozen section. On the package, it was saying "rice snails and made in Vietnam"

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Has anybody ever heard about So Nice brand? I'm not going to have a promotion about this soy beverage which I use a lot. So Nice has organized a Green Contest. In this contest, the participates are asked to share their idea on how to make a better organic world in less than 300 words.


I have submitted my idea last week and would like asking you to vote for me. My idea was "NO GO! FOR G.M.O" To read more further about my idea, you can clink the link below and please vote for me at So Nice Green Contest. Thank you very much!

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These pictures were taken at the park in Winnipeg that honestly I forgot the name. It is close to where one of my buddies lives. Out of the blue, this buddy called and asked me to go to the park for pictures. It was in the middle of September. With rush, before the dusk, I drove to her house and picked her up. She brought me slices of brownies. Thanks!

Here are two other shots that I have the permission to post.

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Cassava (Manihot esculenta), also called yuca or manioc, is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America. There are two names for cassava in Indonesian, singkong and ubi kayu. According to wikipedia, it is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates.

There are many different recipes of this cassava cake. This snack is popular among most SE Asian nations. If you are a reader or follower of SE Asian food bloggers, you will notice that the Filipino has this classic dish as well as Indonesian and Malaysian. I recalled back when I was reading mbak Wien's blog, she said "this cake is a recipe of my mother's mainstay." Yet, I don't follow her recipe as I brought this cake to my laws for the Thanksgivng dinner, so I wanted to have a richer taste by adding more condensed milk, cheese and reducing the sugar. Some people also like adding coconut meat/flesh in the cake.

There are ample fresh cassava roots for purchase at Asian stores and Superstore, but I was too lazy to peel and grate so I just bought frozen grated cassava.

Kue Singkong Keju
- Cassava Cheese Cake -

Ingredients:
Batter:
2 packs grated cassava
400 mL coconut milk (use thin coconut milk for lighter taste)
1/2 can condensed milk
2 free run eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used white cheddar cheese)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (depend on how sweet do you want)

Topping:
melted butter
grated cheese
condensed milk

Methods:
1.  Preheat oven at 350 F
2.  Combine the grated cassava, butter, condensed milk, vanilla, cheese, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly
3.  Add the coconut milk and stir well to combine.
4.  Grease the baking dish then pour the batter mixture.
5.  Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6.  Take the baking dish out.  Brush melted butter on top of the cake.  Sprinkle grated cheese and drizzle condensed milk over.
7.  Broil the cassava cake until colour turns light brown.

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There are so many Vietnamese restaurants in Winnipeg. I heard about Pho No 1 from some other Indonesian friends. One time, I was meeting up one Indonesian foodie who lives in Winnipeg as well. Fitri was suggesting to meet at Nou Eul Tor, a Korean restaurant on Sargent. However, the restaurant was closed on Tuesday, so we decided to go to another Asian restaurant. She said let's try Rice Bowl, a Filipino, Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant. I was more interested to try one dish of Vietnamese there. When I took a look the menu, both of us were saying the same "not many Vietnamese choices here". I said let's move to Pho No 1 since Fitri likes this place better.

The room was full, only one table was empty. The waiter was asking us to sit there. We finally sat down inside Pho No 1 and read the menu. I observed the place and people. Most of the customers were non Caucasians, but I did see some Caucasians.

After about 3 minutes, I saw there was another empty table which close to the window. I requested to move to that table.

After flipping some pages on the menu, I decided to go for a bowl of Bun Bo Noung (Rice Vermicelli and Grilled Beef). The beef was seasoned perfectly and tender. This place has reasonable prices with bigger portions too. I definitely will go back there to try other Vietnamese dishes. This place is always packed during lunch and dinner time, so you may avoid those hours.

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With many different style of chicken noodle soup in the country (depend on the region off course), this one was not the soup that I grew up. Yet, I felt in love right away!

Being raised in Java island (thou my dad originally was from Medan), I wasn't aware of this Peranakan street food until I heard from many foodies who live in Medan. Thanks to Jun of Indo-Chine Kitchen for the recipe. I still have to learn a lot about Peranakan cooking in Medan from you, Jun.

To describe this dish, it's like describing Medan; a city where has a perfect blend of Chinese, Malay and Indian descendants in Indonesia. This chicken noodle soup has more flavour compare to the one that I used to have in Java. The aroma of cinnamon, clove, star anise, nutmeg, cardamom was flavouring the air when I cooked the broth.

For this recipe, I also recommended using green cardamom that has more flavour compare to the black one. I slightly changed some measurements to my preferably palate. I didn't deep fry the chicken, but broiled it instead.

Mie Sop Ayam Medan
- Medan-Style Chicken Noodle Soup -
adapted from Indo-Chine Kitchen

Ingredients
Spices to be ground
15 g (about 3 cloves) garlic
50 g (about 2) shallots
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tbsp sea salt
3/4 cm fresh gingerroot, peeled
2 candlenuts (you may use macadamia nuts if there no candlenuts)

Whole spices for broth
1 star anise
2 cm length cinnamon stick
4 pieces cloves
1/2 nutmeg
1 -2 green cardamoms

Other ingredients
2 L water for broth
2 leg-thighs (you can add more chicken bones to have deeper chicken taste)
50 g Chinese celery (divide into two, chopped finely for condiments and the other half for broth)
2 green onions (same as above)
150 g tomato (quartered)
150 g jicama (quartered), can be substituted for carrot
150 g yellow fresh/dry egg noodles (I used fresh ramen)
150 g dried rice vermicelli
fried shallot flakes
red and white tapioca crackers (fried till fluffy)
slices of lime (optional)
sambal cabai hijau/green chilies (optional)

Methods:
In a large stock pot, boil water and add star anise, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom. Boil over high heat for 10 minutes. Lower heat to a simmer

Grind the spices till smooth using a spice grinder (or pound away with mortar and pestle). In a skillet, heat 1/4 cup of vegetable cooking oil and quickly stir fry the ground spices till turned brown, for about 5 � 7 minutes.

Add the spices into the stock pot, and throw in tomato, jicama and chicken. Turn the heat to medium. Cook for another 10 minutes or till boiling. Reduce heat to a simmer and remove the chicken breast from the broth. Add celery and spring onion to the broth

Broil chicken leg-thighs for 2-3 minutes till the skin turned brown and crunchy. Shred the chicken meat to small pieces or cube them.

Prepare the egg noodles and vermicelli by blanching them quickly with hot water for 2 � 4 minutes and drain well.

Remove the tomato, whole spices, jicama, spring onion and celery from the broth before serving.

To serve, first put cooked egg noodles and vermicelli in a deep dish or bowl. Add chicken bits and chopped celery and spring onions on top. Pour the boiling broth on top of the noodles. Add one tablespoon of sweet soy sauce and one teaspoon of tomato sauce. Sprinkle some shallot flakes and crackers. Serve with green chili sambal.

Note :
I still served the jicama and tomato on top as well.

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I first interested after reading my Winnipeger's foodie buddy, Zollipop. Back when she posted about it, I somehow forgot about this place. Then, two days ago at the urbanspoon, I found people posted some pictures of this cafe. One of them was a picture of different hot sauces on this cafe's table.

You might be curious why I was so fascinated just because a picture of hot sauces. Well let me tell you. I grew up at a place where all restaurants have a bottle or bowl of chili sauce or sambal on the table. I came to the country where I have to ask for hot sauce at some restaurants unless I go to the Asian ones. Sriracha, tabasco and chili oil are pretty common to be offered here, but this cafe offers sambal ABC sauce or labeled as tropical chili sauce in Canada and Thai sweet chili sauce. Now, you got what I meant. Yes, I grew up with this kinds of sambal sauce (preferably jempol and belibis brand), but since sambal ABC is the easiest to get in Winnipeg, I like buying it.





The Sherbrook area, the one that is closed to Misericodia hospital has some places to dine in for vegetarians such as Stella's Cafe, Cousins Deli & Lounge and Charisma Indian restaurant. In my honest opinion, with a great concept and settled in the right neighbourhood, Boon Burger Cafe will do considerably. Plus, it is owned by conscientious people.

Take a look what this place has promised...


The place is not that big yet very efficient. It has two communal tables inside and two small round tables at the patio. The communal table really reminds me of traditional warungs (read: small restaurants) in Indonesia where you can have a chat with the strangers next to or in front of you. Strangers are just friends you don�t yet know. Don't you think?

As an omnivore who often makes vegetarian foods for the better half, I enjoyed my Salsa Burger from Boon. Salsa Burger contains grilled mushroom-rice patty, chunky salsa, avocado, a slice of daiya vegan cheese, red onion and lettuce. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the salsa. I don't find the salsa is perfect balance for this burger. However, I took a bit of my husband's Buddha Burger and loved it! Buddha Burger has curried chickpea patty, mayo, creamy cucumber sauce, peach chutney, sliced cucumber, tomato, red onion and lettuce.


In fact, I didn't eat in. I just recreated how Boon serves the burgers for the sake of picture; serve on a square wood plate. Thanks goodness for my food props at home! I have almost the same as Boon has, so I can take a picture of my meal. Plus, I have my own sambal ABC sauce too

Boon's baked sesame fries was tasty too. Yummmm.

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