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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I got a bag of apples and didn't know what to do, too many recipes out there.  Apple sauce, apple pie, chicken apple, you name it!

Then, when I stopped by at Hyundae mart, I found a great deal on roasted buckwheat (kasha) and beans.  Beside buying more miso, I grabbed some beans and kashas.  Hyundae mart used to be a Kosher food grocer,  I guess the Korean took over the management, changed the name and added more Korean and Japanese products.

Thanks to Irma for her Eid goodies that was sent from Germany.  I have few packages of almond flavour to boost my baking.

The mix of almond flour and buckwheat is used to substitute  the oat which contains gluten.

Apple Buckwheat Crumble
adapted from Canelle et Vanille
Yield: 10 ramekins

Ingredients:
400 g apples, cored and diced
2 key limes, zest and juice
1/8 tsp almond flavor*
25 g sugar
15 g cornstarch

Topped:
100 g butter, cold and cut into small pieces
100 g sugar
100 g buckwheat
100 g almond flour
1/4 tsp salt



Directions:
Toss apple, key lime, almond flavor, sugar and cornstarch together in a bowl.

Mix the sugar, buckwheat, almond flour and salt in a bowl. Add the cold diced butter and work it into the flour until a crumb forms and small pieces of butter remain.

In small ramekins or a pie dish, add apple mixture and top with buckwheat and almond crumble.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until fruit starts to bubble over. If the crumble turns dark before the fruit is bubbling, cover with aluminum foil.

The rest of the unused crumble may be frozen until next time.

*Almond flavor can be used interchangeably with vanilla pods, powder or flavor. Almond flour can be substituted for soy flour.

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I envy you whoever can buy and get chocolate sweetened condensed milk in a can

For those who have never been to Indonesia, I bet you will say what Chocolate Sweetened Condensed Milk is. In Indonesia, we know two kinds of Sweetened Condensed Milk, one is the regular and another one is flavoured with chocolate.

We use this milk for our avocado shake, cake and dessert thingy, drizzle over our bread and beverages. Well, for you guys who live in Singapore, you can get that flavoured milk at www.belanja.com.sg.

For your information, the well known brands of sweetened condensed milk in the country are cap bendera (frisian flag), indomilk and dairy farm. Are there any other new brands come out? I have no idea. Those three are the ones that I recalled.

I have been in Winnipeg for 5 years and not seen the flavoured sweetened condensed milk yet. If I want to get it, I have to buy it from Indonesian food online stores.

Then, I decided to make the homemade version as I have a chocolate bar, El Rey Gran Saman Dark 70%. This chocolate was a gift from a good friend of mine, Mindy or I call her Mindoel. She resided in Caracas, Venezuela and this August, she moved back to Germany for good. Thanks, Ndoel! Hope you settle soon and we can chit chat again :D.



By the way, I also made my own chocolate spread and syrup with this chocolate bar.  How to make this homemade chocolate sweetened condensed milk? Sorry, no measurement here.


"You will use a double boiler method. Just mix and melt the chocolate bar and a can of sweetened condensed milk in a bowl. In case your mixture is too thick, add evaporated milk. You may put some more of sweetened condensed milk, but I found it will be too sweet for me."

So, what is the difference between evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk? Those two are very similar, but the sweetened one add more sugar. There is a bit distinct between sweetened condensed milk South East Asia and other places. In SE Asia, the sweetened one is also added by palm oil to reduce the cost.

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This is not a typical food that I cook everyday. I only make if I'm lazy or no time to cook.

As I'm a person who likes using a bit heat in food, I throw some slices of red chili. The dish looked too pale for me, so add parsley to give more colour. Three things that didn't come from a package were onion, parsley, and red chili.

When I was a kid, I vividly recalled that I enjoyed snails as sate bekicot (snail sate) and snail chips. Let see how those snails or the French says "Escargot" came in a can.




How did I make this lazy meal?

You will need:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 red chili, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 can garlic butter snail
1 small jar (170 ml) marinated arichoke hearts, drained and chucked
200 g macaroni
water
pepper

Methods:
1. In a pot, boil water. Add salt, a bit olive oil and macaroni. Cook macaroni until al dente. Drain and save a bit of water from cooking pasta.

2. In a skillet, combine olive oil and butter that you saw on top of the snail can, with yellowish colour. Saute onion and red chili for a minute.

3. Add macaroni, a bit water from cooking pasta, artichoke hearts and snail. Cook until they mix. Sprinkle over, parsley and pepper. I don't add any salt since the snail already salty enough. Ready to serve.

» Read More...

July 26, 2010 Update: This post was featured on FoodBuzz Top 9 today

Pickerel is actually a name for Walleye (Sander vitreus, formerly Stizostedion vitreum).  In wikipedia, it's explained that Walleye (Yellow Pickerel) is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch.

Damn for sure I had no idea what perciform was until I followed through the link from wikipedia. Perciformes means perch-like.

This dish is the fruit of my love to Canadian and Indonesian ingredients, pickerel and lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi). The cheeks of pickerel are large enough to use. They are boneless, skinless and considered a delicacy in this province.

Speaking about lemon basil, it is an Indonesian favourite of basil. We often eat it raw with sambal. It's also flavouring the pepes (steamed/grilled fish or chicken wrapped in banana leaves), gulai (curry) and stir fry.

Since lemon basils are not common to be purchased at groceries, I have to grow them. Luckily, most of nurseries in Manitoba sell the plants of lemon basil.

In this recipe, I substituted the buttermilk and flour for almond milk and rice flour. Instead of butter for pan frying, I used mix EV coconut and olive oil.

Wait! Did I say recipe? Honestly, no exact measurement of ingredients will be written. It will be just ingredients and how to make it.

Pan Fried Pickerel Cheeks with Lemon Basils 
recipe by me

Ingredients:
pickerel cheeks
lemon basils, finely chopped
chili flakes
salt
ground black pepper
rice flour
almond milk
mix EV coconut and olive oil

Directions:
Combine rice flour, chili flakes, lemon basil salt and pepper. Dip pickerel cheeks into almond milk and dredge in flour mixture. Put a shallow skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and get the skillet hot. Add the cheeks and cook until browned on 1 side, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the fish and continue to cook until desired doneness, about 2 minutes more. Be careful, it's very easy to overcook.

Enjoy with your favourite sauce. This time, I dipped them into sweet chili sauce.

» Read More...

Still, this time is a part of cleaning out my freezer stuffs. What do you do with your Mahi-Mahi?

I usually do easy-pan grilled with teriyaki sauce or just with salt, pepper and olive oil. You can also put different kind of sauces/marinate such as tandoori or gochujang or kecap manis or whatever you feel like.

Mahi-mahi has a firm white flesh, sweet flavour and less fishy tasting compare to many other fish.

Mahi-mahi until recently, was frequently called a dolphin fish even though they are not related to dolphins and are not mammals. Since many people have negative associations with dolphin deaths associated with fishing, the name mahi-mahi is now more frequently used in stores and restaurants.

If you are an environmental consciousness person, you may need to read the label on the package.  According to wikipedia, the The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) classifies mahi-mahi caught by line/pole in the US as "Eco-Best" in its three-category system, but classifies all mahi-mahi caught by longline as only "Eco-OK" or "Eco-Worst" due to longline "high levels [of] bycatch, injuring or killing seabirds, sea turtles and sharks.

This time, I saw a simple recipe from Flavours magazine spring issue 2010.  I used pomelo or Chinese grapefruit instead of regular pink grapefruit.  I applied scotch bonnet pepper instead of jalapeno.  Other than that I followed other ingredients that the recipe mentioned.

Seared Mahi-mahi with Spicy Pomelo and Orange Salsa
recipe by Brandon Boone of Flavours magazine, modfied by me

Ingredients:
1/2 pomelo (original recipe: 1 grapefruit)
1 orange
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced avocado
1-2 tsp finely minced scotch bonnet pepper
2 tsp lemon (original recipe: 2 tsp lime)
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
5 cherry tomatoes
1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
2 (175 g) mahi-mahi fillets
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Cut peel and pith pomelo; cut between membranes to release the segments. Do the same with the orange. Cut pomelo segments in fourth and cut orange segments in half.

2. Place 1/2 cup of pomelo and orange segments in a bowl.

3. Combine with avocado, onion, scotch bonnet pepper, lemon juice, cilantro and tomatoes.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover until ready to use.

5. Season both sides of each fillet with alt and pepper. Heat butter and oil in a skillet set over medium-high heat; add fish and cook for about 5 minutes a side. Serve fish with large scoop of salsa and serve immediately.

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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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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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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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For some reason, it happens if you were born as an Indonesian, you would not need any recipe to make your own Nasi Goreng. Nasi means rice and Goreng means fried, so it is literally translated as Fried Rice. We grew up with it as we often have it for breakfast or supper. Ample versions of Nasi Goreng were developed. My family used to make Nasi Goreng from Sambal Terasi (Terasi/Belachan Sambal), shrimp and left over cold rice from the night before. We enjoyed it with fried egg or omelet, acar (pickled cucumber, shallot and chili), emping melinjo (melinjo nut crackers) and/or kerupuk udang (shrimp crackers).

I came up with Nasi Goreng Pedas, pedas can be translated as spicy/hot and it means we use chili either red chilies, bird eye's chilies or green chilies. In this version, I combined Indonesian chili paste, sambal oelek and Thai chili paste, nam prik-pao. My own preference, I don't really relish store-bought sambal ulek/oelek as it is too salty and vinegary, so I used a homemade sambal oelek that I keep in the freezer. If I want the store-bought version, I will buy Kokita sambal terasi.

Nasi Goreng

recipe by me

Ingredients

left over cold rice

shallot, sliced
homemade sambal ulek/oelek
nam prik-pao
Thai basil, chopped

eggs

ground white pepper

olive oil

Directions:

1. Put a half portion of sambal ulek/oelek and nam prik-pao on top the cold rice.

2. Beat the egg with nam prik-pao and ground white pepper. In a skillet, add a small amount of oil and heat it up to medium-high. Add beaten egg and make into scramble. Cook until done and set aside.

3. Use the same skillet, add another small amount of oil, saute shallot for a minute, add the other half portions of sambal ulek and nam prik-pao; stir. Place mixed cold rice and scrambled egg in the skillet, combine and stir until all mixed. Add chopped basil and stir. Serving suggestion: transfer into a plate, put fried shallot over and ready to eat with kerupuk udang.

Don't forget to join (Almost) Forgotten Indonesian Culinary Herritage

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Homemade Vegetarian Stock is easy to make, especially if you are really concerned about your diet. By making your own stock, at least you know what the ingredients are. A number of store-bought stocks contain MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) which I have problem with.

I have followed this recipe twice. Just throw the vegetable you have in a roast pot. As you notice, most of my recipes are barely used store-bought stock or broth, I usually make my own stock and keep it the freezer.

This vegetarian stock is modified from Canadian Living magazine issued on October 2006. Great stock for your mushroom cream soup.

Homemade Vegetarian Stock
recipe by Canadian Living magazine, modified by me

Ingredients:
3 each carrots, onions and stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 cup (250 mL) sliced shittake mushroom stems or caps
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp (10 mL) vegetable oil
3 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
3 sprigs sage
10 peppercorns, cracked
2 Indonesian bay leaves (salam leaves)
8 cups (2 L) cold water
seasalt as desired


Rosemary and Wilted Sage

Directions:
In large roasting pan, stir together carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, garlic and oil to coat. Roast in 450�F (230�C) oven, stirring halfway through , until softened and browned, about 40 minutes. Transfer to stockpot.

If you like, add 1 tsp (5 mL) crumbled dried mushrooms for even deeper flavour. Add thyme, sage, rosemary, peppercorns, Indonesian bay leaves, and all but 1 cup (250 mL) of the water to stockpot. Pour remaining water into roasting pan, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, over heat if necessary. Scrape into stockpot and bring to boil; skim off any foam. Reduce heat to medium; simmer for 40 minutes.

Strain through fine sieve, gently pressing vegetables. Stir in seasalt.


Notes:

• Servings: 5 cups (1.25 L)
• Make-ahead: Let cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate, uncovered, in airtight container until cold. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 4 months.
• The original recipe used Bay Leaves which actually have different flavour with Indonesian Bay Leaves.
• Be Creative

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First food that I made on January 1, 2009. Seeing King Oyster Mushroom many times at Asian stores, but I hadn't tried yet. I wondered how King Oyster Mushroom tasted like, did King Oyster Mushroom have the same taste as Oyster Mushroom? So far, in Winnipeg, King Oyster Mushroom can only be found for purchased in Asian stores. I haven't seen yet at any retail grocers, such as Superstore and Safeway.

According to recipetips.com, King Oyster Mushroom with a scientific name, Pleurotus eryngii, is a variety of mushroom that grows in clusters developing a trumpet-like shape and appearance as a wild or cultivated mushroom. With a blunt cap above and a stout stem beneath, the King Oyster mushroom develops a thick, white flesh that is firm-textured and meaty from the base to the cap. Also referred to as the King Eryngii, Eringii or Royal Trumpet and a trademarked variety known as Trumpet Royale, this mushroom receives some of its names from its shape. The King Oyster is typically harvested when the stems reach a length of several inches, but can grow to a size of 6 to 8 inches in length. As the mushrooms age for several days and depending on the storage provided, the flesh may darken or turn slightly tan to brown in color, but the quality of the mushrooms should be unaffected.




King Oyster Mushroom can be braised, breaded, broiled, grilled, saut�ed, or stewed to be added to soups, stews, sauces, pasta, vegetable dishes, meats, and seafood. If prepared whole, allow a longer cooking time for this meaty mushroom, cooking it until it is nicely browned. When storing, place in a paper bag and refrigerate for use within 10 days. If necessary, Matsutake mushrooms can be used as a substitute.


Since the original recipe was used bacon, I skipped it. I added more seasoning, curry powder garlic powder, and ground white pepper


Breaded Curried Oyster Mushroom
Recipe by Golden Gourmet Mushroom, Modified by me

Ingredients:
6 large King Oyster Mushrooms
Vegetable oil for deep fry
Flour batter (rice flour will be better)

Egg wash
Jamaican curry powder
garlic powder
ground white pepper
2 eggs, beaten

Bread Crumb batter
panko (Japanese bread crumb)




Directions:
Cut mushrooms in half lengthwise with a paring knife. Mix ingredients for egg wash. In 3 steps, flour, eggwash and bread crumb batter the mushroom
Deep fry at 340�F in a pan. Add any favorite sauce/condiment to your taste, I used Indonesian sambal sauce.

Suggestion:
If you like, you can add grated candlenuts into the egg was mixture.

» Read More...

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) belong to the same family (Chenopodiacea) as beets and chard. Spinach origanted in southwestern Asia or Persia as wild plant. It has been cultivated in China and many other areas of Asia for at least 2,000 years. It was used as an important medical plant in many traditional sytems of medicine.

A 1-cup serving spinach has only 41 calories, but it is extremely nutrient-dense. It is an excellent source of Vitamin K, carotenes, vitamin C, folic acid, manganese, iron, and vitamin B2. In addition, spinach is also a good source of vitamins B6, E and B1.

It has been a terrible weather lately, made me lazy to go to Asian stores to buy Kangkung which I used to make for this kind of stir fry. Since I still have a package of frozen whole spinach, I'd better use it. In 2006, I posted a recipe of Stir Fry Spinach with Terasi and Tiny Shrimp, which becomes different's name in Indonesia for the dried one and the fresh one. Ebi is for the dried shrimp and Rebon is for tiny shrimp.


Stir Fry Spinach with Terasi and Dried Tiny Shrimp
[Indonesian] Tumis Bayam Ebi Terasi
Recipe by me

Ingredients:
1 frozen package whole spinach (about 300 gr), thawed as package direction and put into an icy waterbath bowl
1/4 cup dried tiny shrimp (trasi shrimp/Indonesian: ebi)
3 shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malaysian: belachan), roasted
1/2 tsp ground fresh bird chilies*
2 Indonesian bay leaves (salam leaves/Indonesian: daun salam)
salt and sugar as desired
coconut oil
red chilies, angle cut

*I used to buy lots chilies, ground them and keep in the freezer, whenever I need for making nasi goreng or sambal, I have them.

Ground Terasi and Dried Tiny Shrimp

Directions:
1. Heat wok in high heat and add oil, saute shallot, garlic, ground chilli and terasi until fragrant. Add a very small amount of water/broth and tiny shrimp, stir.
2. Add spinach, sugar and salt (if necessary, because terasi is salty), stir fry until 2 minutes. Garnish with red chilies cut and serve with steamed rice.

» Read More...

The majority of people in the North and South America continents know this spread or dipping as guacamole, but for people who grew up in Indonesia, avocado is used to make a sweet blended shake for a beverage or a dessert. No wonder, a number of my multiply readers were asking; how does the savoury avocado taste like?

Mayoness is a condiment that ample people use for their sandwich, but I barely apply it. For the health purpose, we have been reducing mayo's utilization on sandwiches. Avocado gives the creamy texture as mayo does. Easy and fast to make. I suggest to use Hass Avocado, also known as Guacamole Avocado or Alpukat Mentega in Indonesia. Hass avocado or alpukat mentega is perfect for Indonesian avocado shake (Indonesian: jus alpukat) as well.

You can add any kind of herbs as you desire and green onion or red onion. In this case, cilantro and chopped red onion were added, do not forget lemon squeezed; for, it is reduced the browning that is a result of the oxidation process.

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Pursuing what I studied in Indonesia, and trying to go back to my old career are my concentration right now. Since Canada has a different system is not that easy. However, food is still my obsession. In order to focus on my school, away from multiply and blogspot for a moment as the school started may be the choice; nevertheless, I will still post once a while. I apologize to my readers for this reason.

On my busy days between class and work, I sometimes crave for one of my comfort food. Spaghetti is one of them, ever since I know arrabiata sauce, I don't really relish marinara sauce anymore. Arrabiata is perfect for a person who loves hot spicy, like me.

You will not need a recipe for this one, for I just added minced garlic and sliced onion to cooked spaghetti and mixed with the sauce. It will be good if you prefer enhance with ground beef, mushroom, and other vegetables.

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Tempura for the craveness! Have you ever get bored of of this Japanese crunchy deep-fried? I never ever get tired of them; furthermore, you will perceive another post of tempura next time. that I have kept since I have been busy with my routine. Eventually, I will post them.

Red Pepper Tempura
Modified by me

Ingredients:
2 red peppers
1/2 pkg tempura mixed flour ready to use
3/8 cup cold water (4C or 40 F)
1 - 2 tbsp coconut cream powder

Directions:
1. Remove the stem and seeds from each pepper, cut them in quarters, then cut them a half.

2. Combine flour, coconut cream powder and water; whisk quickly. Dip gently red pepper slices into batter. Deep fried in hot oil until it turn golden brown and cooked through. Serve with tentsuya.

» Read More...

Due to my busy days, I barely posted each recipes that I have tried, created or modified the past two months. However, laziness is still with me.

I still had 2 small BBQ potatoes from Father's day at my laws family. I had fresh ground salmon that I bought at superstore, might as well I made salmon burger. I always like adding curry powder to make any burger patties.


Salmon Burger Patties
recipe by me

Ingredients:
100 g fresh ground salmon
1/2 tsp Jamaican curry powder
1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
2 small BBQ potatoes, peeled and mashed
1 egg white
salt and pepper as desired
1 tbsp Italian seasoning bread crumbs

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients, shape into patties and grill them until done.

2. Serve with buns, lettuce, tomato and other condiments. I served these patties with with crispy baked sweet potatoes fries, instead of french fries.

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It's a vegetarian treat who still consume cheese or dairy products. Most of the Greek restaurants that I have been to, have a triangle shape for spanakopita. I kept delaying to make this, because I was thinking we just can't be such in a rush while we work with fillo pastry and have to be gentle. I bought the fillo pastry at the special store due to the L-cysteine issue.

I had 3 different shape of spanakopita, two shapes were round just different in size, another shape was triangle. To be honest it was easy to make the the round one, just put the fillo into several layers, add filling and put on several layers again.


Spanakopita
Recipe by several sources on the internet

Ingredients:
1 pkg phyllo/fillo pastry, cut into the pan size
Melted butter or olive oil (to brush on the phyllo/fillo)

For the Filling:
400 g frozen spinach
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 green onions, including green stems, finely chopped
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
300 g feta cheese, crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp Olive oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven at 350F

Filling:
1. Thaw frozen spinach thoroughly, drain really well by pressing down /squeezing the water from it. Place in large mixing bowl.

2. Place frying pan on stove at over medium to high heat, add the olive oil. Add onion, stir and cook until translucent; add green onion,and garlic, stir and cook until soft. Just before they are ready, add dill. Toss the pan and do a quick mixing with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

3. Combine dill mixture with spinach, add egg and feta cheese, season with freshly ground black pepper and salt. In this case, I didn't add salt since feta cheese is already salty enough.

Assembling
1. Take a muffin pan, brush the bottom with a small amount of melted butter. Separate a sheet of fillo from under damp tea towel and place it into the pan. Fillo pastry must be covered at all times with a damp tea towel or it will dry out. Brush a layer with butter, place another sheet of pastry on top. Brush with butter as well. Continue layering until you have used 4 sheets of filo. But do not add the butter to the top sheet.

2. Pour in the spinach mix over the top of the pastry layers. Push down and spread it evenly around the pan using your spoon. Carefully top it with 4 more layers of the fillo with the same steps as we do for the bottom layers. The different is, you need to brush on the very top layer with butter.

Finishing
Transfer the dish into the centre of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until it is crispy and a light golden brown then remove.

These steps above are applied for mini round shape of spanakopita. For the triangle one, it will be different on assembling parts and baking time. Please do refer to this link to have more explanation regarding the triangle one.

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Raise your hand if you love coriander as I do! Love the flavour of coriander seeds, that is why I like to keep as they are and grind them only if I need.

The seed of the cilantro plant is known as coriander. Although cilantro and coriander come from the same plant, their flavors are very different and cannot be substituted for each other. Some countries refer to the cilantro as coriander, so any references to "fresh coriander" or "coriander leaves" refer to cilantro.

In Indonesian cuisine, coriander seed is widely used, but not the leaf or cilantro. Chinese celery leaves are more popular and being used in our cooking. I started knowing about cilantro while I learned about Mexican and Thai cuisine.


Coriander Calamari Rings
Recipe by me

Ingredients:
454 g (1 lb) frozen calamari rings, thawed*

Marinate:
1 tsp freshly ground coriander
1/8 tsp turmeric powder

Breaded:
1/2 cup rice flour
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp freshly ground coriander
salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs with a touch of dried parsley or dried cilantro

Notes:
* Tips to thaw: Place unopened bag of calamari under cold running water for 10 to 15 minutes. Open bag and let drain in colander for about 2 minutes

Directions:
1. Marinate calamari rings with coriander and turmeric and let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Combine rice flour, garlic powder, coriander, salt and pepper. Coat the calamari rings in rice flour mixture, shaking them out to get rid of any excess.

3. Dip them into egg. Dip them into bread crumbs, coating them well, and shaking off any excess.

4. Up to this point may be done in advance, and the calamari rings refrigerated for a couple of hours, until you are ready to fry.

5. While you ready to fry the calamari, heat the oil (the secret to crispy calamari is hot, hot oil, just below the smoking point). Fry the rings (in batches) about 1 minute, or until they are golden. I enjoyed calamari rings with my favourite hot sauce, Indonesian hot sauce. If you feel tartar, honey mustard, mayo, mustard, ketchup or tzatziki for dipping, go ahead.

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