Crispy Chicken with Red Wine Sauce

Today we had a guest coming from Toronto. She is a good friend of my in laws. Early morning I opened the fridge to check what we have there, and found nothing except carrots and green bell pepper. Hmm..what should I cook? This question hanging inside my mind for the whole day. Christian left for work and there I was with my little princess, still had the same question in my mind. As a routine I gave Bianca a bath then fed her and brought her to nap. I had lunch myself then showered and did laundry. By the time the laundry was ready to be dried, Bianca woke up and it was already 3pm. So I picked Bianca and dressed her warmly and took her to do some grocery shopping nearby. While I was at the store, I decided to make something with chicken and veggies for the guest. Went home and put the laundry in the drier and started to cook. Before I finished cooking, the guest has already arrived. So I continued cooking while she played with Bianca. We waited for Christian to be home and had dinner together. The guest commented that the chicken is yummy and Christian gave me a kiss on my forehead...(I am flattered..).

Ingredients:
- 600gr chicken breast fillet, thinly cut
- 1/2 pack of Kobe seasoning flour
- 1 pack (300gr) of baby cut carrot
- 1 green bell pepper, wash and cut
- 1 can of sweet green peas
- 1 pack of St Hubert Red Wine Sauce (powder)
- 6 cloves of garlic, finely chop
- 4 cloves of small red onion, finely chop
- 1 tomato, cut into 8
- 3 green onion, wash and chop
- pinch of sugar
- 1 tsp white pepper
- frying oil
- 300ml cold water

On a plate, batter the chicken meat with the flour. Deep fry the battered chicken until brownish.
Place it in a big casserole bowl.
In a small bowl mix the sauce powder with the cold water and stir it evenly. Put it aside.
In a pan, saute garlic and onion with oil for 1-2minutes. Add the baby carrot, green bell pepper and tomato. When they are half cooked, add the sauce mix and stir slowly until it thicken. Add some sugar and white pepper and taste it. At last add the sweet green peas and chopped green onion.
Pour the sauce and cooked veggies on top of the chicken.

Note: Kobe flour can be replaced with tapioca flour and corn flour mix seasoned with salt and pepper. Or if you want it crunchier, you can use bread crumb too.

Spicy Pork Satay

Last Friday, October 26 '2007 Christian prepared this meal for my birthday. Well, I told him that he doesn't have to do it for me, since we have already gone for late lunch at a restaurant with friends on my birthday last Sunday. However, he insisted to make it for me and to invite good friends to come over for dinner Saturday evening. This is one of his favorite recipes which he got from his aunt - Ida. As for him, spicy means really really hot...so I know what to expect..

Ingredients:
- 1kg pork meat (shoulder part), cut into small cubes
- 8 pcs lemongrass
- 4cm of galangal
- 4cm of ginger
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 10 cloves of small red onion
- 8 pcs lime leaves
- bunch of basil leaves
- chili paddy=bird's eye chili=cabe rawit-Indonesian (as many as you like)
- 1 lime
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Put all the ingredients except lime, vegetable oil and the meat into a blender and blend it until smooth. In a big bowl, put the meat and mix it with the smooth blended spices and add lime and vegetable oil. Mix it well and then keep it in fridge for 24hours.

On the next day, take the bowl out of the fridge and place the meat on the skewers (4 cubes each). Broil until well cooked.

Note: 1kg of meat is good to make approx. 40 skewers. The spicier it is the better! (Christian's philosophy). It clears out your nose...
Good thing that we have smokeless broiler at home, so we are able to grill it inside when the outside temperature is not friendly.

Pork/Chicken Rica-Rica

During my uni years, I used to live in a boarding house that have a Manadonese staying. I got along quite well with her and some of her friends too. She likes to cook and one day.. lucky me..she taught me to make Rica-Rica. In the native language, Rica means spicy or chili.

So watch out! for you who can not take spicy food, you better minimize the number of chili you add. I am not responsible for burning lips...

Ingredients:
- 600 gr of Pork (shoulder part is preferred) or chicken thigh, cut into small pieces
- 4 lemongrass, use 3/4 from the bottom
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 8 cloves of small red onion
- 4 cm of ginger
- 2 cm of turmeric
- a bunch of basil leaves
- 4 lime leaves
- chili paddy= bird's eye chili pepper= cabe rawit (you decide the number)
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute

Put all the ingredients in a blender except the basil leaves, meat and oil. Blend all together until smooth. In a frying pan, saute the smooth blended spices for 1-2minutes. Put the meat in, lower the heat and stir occasionally until cooked. Put the basil leaves at last.
Taste it and adjust your preference with sugar and salt.
Eat while hot with warm steam rice and fresh cucumber or lettuce.

Note: In the picture, instead of putting the basil leaves at the end I blended it together with all the spices, so you can not see the leaves. Some people may like to put tomato, I don't coz tomato makes the food easily spoil.

Lidia's Fried Chicken

Christian came back from grocery shopping and brought me some chicken drumsticks. I did not have enough time to sleep the night before (Bianca's coughing made me worried and stayed awake the whole night) and I was a bit lazy to cook, but I had to...so I decided to cook something simple yet yummy. I came up with this simple recipe...

Ingredients:
- 6 chicken drumsticks
- 6 cloves of garlic, finely chop or crush
- 1 Tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 4 pcs Indonesian bay leaves
- salt
- sugar
- 1lt water
- frying oil

In a small pot put all the ingredients except the frying oil and chicken. Mix it well. Add the chicken and bring it to boil (put the lid on), lower the heat and wait until chicken tender.
Drain the water and fry the chicken until brownish.

Note: It is good to eat with Belacan chilli paste (sambal terasi) and warm steam rice.
I said it was too salty...but Christian said it was tasty! What a compliment...

Clear Chicken Soup

This is the simplest recipe of soup. Having said that, people with no or limited experience in the kitchen will be able to cook this yummy soup. Hey ya...and winter is just around the corner, why not make it for your own?

Ingredients:
- 3 chicken leg (some may call it chicken maryland, no idea where they got this name though), cut into 4 pieces each
- 3 carrot, peel, wash and cut into small pieces
- 4 potato, peel, wash and cut into small pieces
- 3 green onion (or leek...but I prefer green onion), chop into small pieces
- 1 lb snow peas, clean the hard part and wash
- 2 celery, chop into small pieces
- 1 onion (bawang bombay-Indonesian), chop into small pieces
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- salt
- pinch of sugar
- oil for saute
- 2 lt water

Put chunky chicken into a pot and add water. Bring to boil and throw away the blackish flake from the broth. Add potato and when it is half cooked add carrot, celery and snow peas. Add nutmeg, white pepper, salt and sugar. Cover the pot for 2minutes.

In a frying pan saute the chopped onion with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add the green onion and continue to saute for 1minute. Put the whole thing into the pot.
Do not forget to taste it and adjust the amount of nutmeg, pepper, salt and sugar as you like.
Done! and it's enough for the whole family...(approx. 6 serving).

PS: I do not like to put garlic, since it makes the soup looks unclear. No MSG added...I replace it with a little bit of sugar, so it's healthy!