MFM#2 NOVEMBER 2009 - WORLD CUISINE - APPLE CRISP

This time I am early in submitting my entry to the MFM (well it could be the host that so actively encouraging me to post a world cuisine recipe). I picked Apple Crisp as my entry related to this month theme. Apple crisp in the US or apple crumble as it is known in UK is categorized as dessert. It consists of baked apples topped with a crispy crust. It has become an American and British tradition especially during autumn when there are lots of apple harvested. It also common in Canada to mix it with berries. I personally like the recipe I got from Joy of Baking, where they add cinnamon and nutmeg to enrich the flavor. So here is the recipe..

Ingredients:
Topping:
65g flour
50g granulated white sugar
55g brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
84g unsalted butter (cut into pieces)
30g old fashioned rolled oats (I used quick oats)
40g chopped walnuts

Filling:
1.2kg apples (cut into chunks, I used Granny Smith)
1/2 lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
40g granulated white sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F, prepare baking dish. Make the topping by mixing all of the ingredients in a food processor until crumbly and then set aside. For the filling, place the apple chunks in a large bowl. Add some lemon zest and toss with lemon juice and sugar. Transfer to a baking dish and then spread the topping evenly over the apples. Bake for 30-40min until bubbly and the topping turns golden brown.
You may add some berries into the filling and serve the apple crisp with your favorite ice cream.

Mie Kangkung (Water Spinach, Chicken and Mushroom Topped Noodle)

What can be miserably missed out of my time spent in Jakarta's boarding house? (other than going out to the nearby mall almost every weekend). Yes, you are right! Foods!! And the food which associated with that nearby mall is this kind of noodle with chicken, mushroom and water spinach topping...my fave! And I just tried to adapt it into my kitchen. Here is the result...

Ingredients:
-1 package of shanghai noodle, boiled, drained and oiled
- bunch of water spinach/kangkung, boiled

To make the soup:
- 1.5L of fresh chicken broth
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 green onion, chopped
- 2egg
- 1Tbsp of corn starch
- salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Boil the broth and add previously sauteed garlic. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste. You may add some broth block to enrich the taste (I prefer sa-cha sauce thou..). Crack the egg and stir it instantly. Mix the corn starch with a little bit of water and then pour the liquid into the boiling broth and stir until thicken. At last add the chopped green onion.

To make chicken topping:
- 4 cooked whole chicken leg
- 1 can of quail egg
- 2 can of whole straw mushroom
- 4cm ginger
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
- 3 green onion, chopped
- ground white pepper
- sugar
- water
- sesame oil for saute

Shred the chicken meat into small pieces or cut into square chunk and discard the bones. In a pan, saute the garlic and ginger for 2min. Add the shredded chicken meat, continue to stir. Add fish sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and sugar. Add mushroom and then sweet soy sauce, stir constantly. Add water as needed. Add quail egg, green onion and adjust the taste.

To serve in a bowl, place the noodle first, and then kangkung and chicken topping. Pour the soup on top of it. Sprinkle some fried onion. Add some chili sauce if you like it spicy. Serve while it is hot.


I am glad that I am able to join the fun at Presto Pasta Night for the second time by submitting this noodle recipe, and this week is hosted by Sara.

Chili Soy Sauce for Satay (Sambal Kecap Untuk Sate)

Indonesian food is known as spiced food and has a lot of condiments. One of the condiments is sambal, literally means something to add the hotness/spiciness and mostly using chili as source of this hotness/spiciness. There are many kinds of sambal which represent the origin of it. They could use various ingredients and specifically made for different kind of foods. This time, together with my fellow Indonesian foodie blogger, I would like to share our favorite sambal which usually specifically made to accompany satay for this month Masbar event. It is called sambal kecap for the main ingredient is soy sauce.


Ingredients:
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili (reduce or add the number of chili to adjust the hotness to your preference)
- 5cloves of garlic
- 4cloves of shallot
- 1 tomato, cut into small squares
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- 1/2 lime
- 1/3c of sweet soy sauce
- salt, sugar

Directions:
Thinly chop chili, garlic and shallot. Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl, except lime. Drizzle the lime juice over it. Mix it well. Add some water as needed to adjust the taste and consistency. Add some salt and sugar as needed.

I would like to submit the above picture for Click! event. This month's theme is Allium.

PPN#128: Beef and Spinach Lasagna - My Heaven...

Thing that makes my husband and me so different is pasta...I love them to die...but he is not a big fan of them. Thus I rarely cooked pasta at home. However, since he's joined the health and fitness club, got his own trainer and nutritionist to monitor what he's eating, he started to consume more pasta, especially whole wheat ones. That's yeay for me...
The other day, I prepared this beef and spinach lasagna. Got the recipe from here. I omitted some of the ingredients to match what I had in my kitchen.
I would love to submit this writing to "Presto Pasta Nights". This month is hosted by Helen. It is my very first entry for this wonderful event and I am so excited!


Ingredients:
- 1kg ground beef
- 3 cloves onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 plum tomato, cut into small chunks
- 160ml tomato paste
- 250ml spaghetti sauce
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- salt and pepper
- 500g ricotta cheese
- 50g parmesan cheese
- dried parsley leaves
- 2tsp dried oregano
- 2 eggs, beaten with 1/2 cup milk
- bunch of spinach
- 750g of Mozzarella cheese, grated
- 50g parmesan cheese for topping
- 20 lasagna, cooked

Directions:
Cook ground beef with some olive oil, then add onions, garlic and continue to cook until browned. Drain off all fat. Add tomato and mix well. Stir in tomato paste and spaghetti sauce, oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste and bring it to a boil. Stir occasionally and simmer on low heat for 45minutes uncovered until thick. Preheat oven to 180C. Mix ricotta, parmesan, dried parsley, and oregano in a bowl. Add egg and milk mixture and stir well. Keep it aside. In a lasagna pan, arrange noodles layered with some meat sauce, then mozzarella cheese, more noodles, spinach and then ricotta cheese mixture. Layer by layer, again and again and end it up with a layer of noodles. Toss some meat sauce over the top layer and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 45minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Sate Udang (Prawn on Skewer)

As it is the last day of the month, I guess I should post my entry for the Masbar event. This month theme is "Aneka Sate Nusantara". There are whole range of satay in Indonesia using various meat/main ingredients and different spices. My pick goes to prawn on skewer.

Ingredients:
- Prawns
- 1 lemon
- 5cloves of small red onion/shallot
- 8cloves of garlic
- 2stalk of lemon grass, cut into 1cm in length for easy grinding
- 4cm of galangal
- 4cm of ginger
- 4 lime leaves
- 4 Indonesian bay leaves
- 5 candle nuts
- 1tsp of shrimp paste (Indonesian-terasi)
- 1/2 block of palm sugar
- 1Tbsp of granulated brown sugar
- 100ml water
- salt

Directions:
Drizzle some lemon juice all over the prawn. Let it immersed for 10minutes. Then grind all of the remaining ingredients in a blender until smooth. Marinate the prawn with the smooth seasoning for 20minutes. Arrange them on skewer, 4 prawns for each. Grilled it on bbq grilling until done for both sides. Serve it with warm steamed rice and fresh vegetable salad.

Putu Ayu (Indonesian Steamed Cupcake with Shredded Coconut)

I have been away from blogging world for a month or so. Kinda missing it, have to admit that I could hardly manage my time since we are trying to settling in our new place and adjusting living under one roof with my in laws. But I can not miss Click the Photo event...simply because I do not want to.
So the picture above is my entry for Click! This month's theme is Bi-Colour. The steamed cupcake has two colour, green and white on top. Check it out to join the fun!


For recipe, please click here.