Baked Broccoli Cup

This is the menu of this month...our kunti family have got fever of making this broccoli cup, since Judith initiated it in the beginning of March. So last night while visiting one of our best friends, I asked her if it is alright to do the baking at her place. Quickly she said yes, and I came with my arm full of ingredients and tools needed to make this baked broccoli cup. The kids love it, so do we, but not my husband as he is not into snacking.

Here is the recipe I translated from Judith's page (with a little modification)...
Ingredients:
- 8 medium-sized potato, peel off the skin, boil with water until cooked
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melt it
- 2 carrot, cut into very small squares

- 80gr bacon bits, or 6 bacon slices cut into small pieces
- 150gr broccoli, wash and separate each of the flower heads

- 1 egg

- 3 Tbsp wheat flour
- 2 Tbsp maizena/corn flour

- 2 green onion, chop thinly

- shredded cheese (I used Italian mixed shredded cheese)

- 100ml milk

- margarine/frying oil for the cups

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 3 cloves of small red onion

- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg

- salt

- 1 block of chicken broth, crush it until smooth or use the powder one

- oil for saute

In a mixing bowl, mash the potato with melted butter until smooth. Wait until it is cold enough to add egg so that it would not be harden. Add milk, egg, cut carrot, green onion and mix it well. Add wheat and corn flour and then mix it well again. Put it aside.

In a chopper, chop onion and garlic until smooth. Saute it with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add bacon bits or cut bacon and continue to saute for another 5minutes. Add it to the mixture in mixing bowl and mix it well. Add all the rest of seasoning and mix it again.
Prepare the muffin tin by swapping some margarine/frying oil so that it would not stick. Fill up the muffin tin with enough mixture (app. 2-3 Tbsp) one by one and place one flower head of broccoli on each of them. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Bake it in an oven at 350F for about 30minutes or until it is brownish.
Serve it warm with mayonnaise or chili sauce.

Note: you may find it too soft to remove the broccoli cup from the tin while it is still hot. Wait until it is warm to easily remove it. I prefer to cook the whole potato (with skin and piercing it with forks to release the moisture) in a microwave for 15-20minutes, this way it will not add some extra water content to the potato and the mixture will not end up too soft/wet.

Prawn-Meat Balls Soup (Sup Bola-bola Udang dan Daging)

Seems like I had been serving tempeh to my family for the whole week for the past week. From simply deep-frying it to stir frying and making spicy sambal. Last Thursday I felt like giving my family anything but tempeh. Therefore I made this soup.

Ingredients:
To make prawn-meat balls:
- 200gr skinless prawn, grind with chopper
- 150gr ground meat (chicken, beef or pork)
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 3 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp maizena/corn flour
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- oil for saute

To make soup:
- 4 chicken drumstick
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- a bunch of sweet peas, discard the hard part
- a bunch of cut carrot
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- water
- margarine/oil for saute
- ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar

In a pan, saute garlic and onion with a little bit of oil for 2minutes. Move it to a mixing bowl and mix it well with ground prawn and meat and green onion. Add pepper, nutmeg, fish sauce and egg and mix it well. Add flour and mix it well again. Put it aside.
In a pot, boil chicken drumsticks with app. 1.5L water. When it is boiling, take a small amount of the prawn mix and make a small ball and then put it in the boiling water. Do it again and again for all the mix. Wait until it is cooked. The balls will come up on the surface when they are cooked. Add carrot and sweet peas and continue to cook for 3minutes. While waiting, saute onion with a little bit of margarine or oil in a pan for 2minutes and then pour it into the soup. Taste the soup with pepper, salt and sugar. At last add the green onion.
Serve it hot and sprinkle some fried onion.
This time, I add some Palembang fish crackers as side dish.

Stir Fried Tempeh-Tofu with Soybean Paste (Oseng Tempe-Tahu Bumbu Taoco)

Since I have tempeh in stock and drooled over bucil's Buto Ijo, last week I made this stir fried menu. It is simple yet delicious.

Ingredients:
- 1 package of tempeh, cut into small squares, fry until golden brown
- 1 block of medium hard tofu, cut into small squares, fry until half-cooked
- a bunch of haricot beans, slice
- 6 of big green chili, slice thinly
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili, slice thinly
- 4cm of galangal
- 2 Tbsp of soybean paste (Indonesian-taoco)
- 2 Tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- 1 tomato, cut into 12, you may replace it with tamarind juice
- water
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying and saute

In a wok, saute garlic and onion with a little bit of oil for 2minutes. Add green chili, chili and galangal and continue to saute for another 2minutes. Add soybean paste, sweet soy sauce and app. 200ml water, mix it well and continue to cook until boiling. Add tomato and fried tempeh and tofu and mix it again. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Continue to cook until boiling again. Serve it with warm steam rice.

Fried Tempeh with Chili (Sambal Tempe)

My in laws were in town during Easter long-weekend, spending times with us and especially with their granddaughter. They also brought me some packages of tempeh-fermented soybean, which we ordered from their town..well I should say lots of it, it was like 100 packs and we intended to sell it to our friends in Montreal considering that it is kinda hard to find tempeh in Montreal. Moreover the taste of this tempeh is much better and the price is cheaper than what they have here.
Sunday morning, the last day they stayed in our place, was quite hectic for us...I did not have much time to prepare fancy meal for them, so I just made this sambal tempe before they were heading home. Everybody enjoyed the sambal..especially my husband who likes spicy food.

Ingredients:
- 2 packages of tempeh, cut into 12 pieces each
- 7 cloves of garlic (3 cloves for marinating and 4 cloves for making sambal)
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 12 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 Tbsp of ground coriander
- 2 tsp of ground lesser galangal (Indonesian-kencur)
- oil for frying
- salt
- sugar
- water

Crush 3 cloves of garlic until smooth and then place it in marinating bowl. Add ground coriander, salt and water and mix it well. Immerse the cut tempeh in the bowl and let it marinated for 20minutes. Take it out, drip off the water and then deep fry it with oil under medium heat until golden brown.
In a stone/wood grinder (Indonesian-cobek), grind onion, garlic, chili, lesser galangal, salt and sugar. Add the fried tempeh and crush it and mix it well with the sambal (crushed chili and other ingredients). Pour a little bit of oil which has been used to fry tempeh and mix it well again. Serve it with warm steam rice, fresh cucumber and sweet peas or with sayur bening bayam.

Fried Stuffed Tofu with Peanut Dressing (Batagor)

Got some leftover fried meat-stuffed tofu, the next day I decided to make batagor-fried stuffed tofu with peanut dressing, originally were sold at street stalls in Bandung, West Java Indonesia. And since I still have some meat filling, I also made fried wonton.

Ingredients:
- Fried meat-stuffed tofu
- Fried wonton
- lime

To make peanut dressing:
- 200gr skinless peanut, roast in an oven or fry without oil until brownish
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4 lime leaves
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 block of palm sugar, shred it
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tsp of ground lesser galangal (Indonesian-kencur bubuk)
- 2 Tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- water

In a blender, put all ingredients to make dressing except sweet soy sauce, salt and sugar. Blend it until you get smooth mix, add some water as needed. Pour it into a pot and boil it. Add sweet soy sauce, salt and sugar to taste.
To serve, arrange cut fried stuffed tofu and wonton in a plate. Then pour the dressing over it (you may add some more sweet soy sauce). Drizzle some lime juice if you like.

Fried Meat-Stuffed Tofu (Tahu Isi Daging)

Initially I wanted to make siomay Bandung, but changed my mind during the preparation. So I just made these fried meat-stuffed tofu. It is good to accompany a cup of tea during our afternoon family time.

Ingredients:
- oil for frying
- 4 blocks of firm tofu, each block is good for 8 triangle shaped cut, scoop out the middle part and use it for filling (see picture below)


To make filling:
- The crumb from middle part of tofu
- 200gr of ground meat (chicken/pork/beef/fish)
- 12 headless shrimp, peel of the skin and discard the tails
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 3 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 3 Tbsp of maizena or corn flour
- 1 egg
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 2 tsp of ground white pepper
- sugar

In a chopper, chop shrimp, crumb tofu and garlic until smooth. Place it in a mixing bowl. Add fish and oyster sauce, egg, pepper and sugar. Mix it well. Add green onion and corn flour and mix it well. Take a spoon of it and stuff into the hole of tofu one by one until all is done. Put it aside.

To make skin:
- 3 Tbsp of rice flour
- 2 Tbsp of maizena/corn flour
- 1 egg
- salt
- 1 tsp of ground coriander
- 1 tsp of garlic plus seasoning

In a small bowl, mix well all of the ingredients and use it to dip the tofu before frying it (to get crunchy skin).
Deep fry stuffed tofu under medium heat until brownish. Serve while warm with some fresh chili and a cup of tea.

Chicken Meat Balls Soup (Bakso Ayam)

Despite I have craved for meat balls since I was 6w pregnant and had 3 bowls of it when coming to a friend's house last month, having a look at Tutut's blog urged me to make it myself.
So I bought a package of chicken meat balls and some beef bones when I did shopping at an Asian store.

Ingredients:
- 1 package of chicken meat balls (available at Asian stores)
- 400gr of beef bones
- 5 cloves of garlic, crack it with pestle
- salt
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- sugar
- water app. 1.5lt

Side dish:
- 1 package of egg noodle or vermicelli, boil in water until cooked, drain, then add some sesame oil and mix it well
- fried/boiled wonton
- fried tofu
- crushed chili
- sweet soy sauce

Garnishing:
- 4 green onion, chop thinly
- preserved cabbage-tongcai
- fried onion

In a pot, boil beef bones with water to get the broth. Discard the surfaced foam. Add garlic and adjust the taste with salt, pepper and sugar. Add the chicken meat balls and continue to cook until boiling again.
To serve, in a bowl place some cooked noodle or vermicelli, fried tofu, wonton and then pour some of the soup with some chicken meat balls. Add crushed chili and sweet soy sauce and garnish with green onion, tongcai and fried onion. Serve while it is hot.

Chicken Soto (Soto Ayam)

I had some leftover mashed potato from our dinner last night, so this morning I made some potato fritter out of it. Just by adding ground white pepper, ground nutmeg, green onion and eggs and then deep fry it...voila! some yummy potato fritters were there....
But the fritter itself was not enough for our lunch today, so I made chicken soto as main dish.

Ingredients:
- 6 chicken drumstick
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 5 candle nuts
- 2cm of turmeric, peel off the skin
- 4cm of ginger, peel off the skin
- 4cm of galangal, crack it with pestle
- 1 lemon grass, cut into 5cm in length
- 2 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4 lime leaves
- 1 Tbsp of ground coriander
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar
- water

Side dish:
- potato fritter
- boiled egg
- homemade thin potato chips
- boiled clear vermicelli (Indonesian-soun rebus)
- sweet soy sauce with chili (Indonesian-sambal kecap) - see picture below


Garnishing:
- chopped Asian celery
- chopped green onion
- fried onion and garlic

In a blender, blend onion, garlic, candle nuts, turmeric and ginger with a little bit of water until smooth. Place it in a pot and add app. 1.5lt water and all the remaining seasonings. Add chicken drumsticks and then cook until boiling and the chicken tender. Take out the chicken, shred the meat and put it aside. Adjust the taste of the soup with salt and sugar. Continue to cook until boiling again.
To serve, in a serving bowl place a small amount of steam rice and arrange the shredded chicken and side dishes on top of it. Then pour the soup over it. Garnish with chopped celery, green onion, fried onion and garlic and add the sweet soy sauce with chili. You may add some crackers to eat with it.

Note: to make the sweet soy sauce with chili, chopped some chili paddy or bird's eye chili and add sweet soy sauce. Drizzle some lime juice and mix it well.

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon (Salmon Panggang Bumbu Teriyaki)

Last night we just wanted to have something simple, easy and quick to prepare. This salmon needs a little time to prepare, yet so tasty.

Ingredients:
- 2 horseshoe shaped salmon
- 200ml teriyaki marinating sauce
- 4cm of ginger, peel of the skin, wash and slice thinly

Side dish:
- a bunch of broccoli, cut, wash and steam it for 6minutes
- mashed potato

In a bowl, marinate the salmon with teriyaki sauce for 15minutes. Place it in an aluminum pan and add some thin slices of ginger on top of it. Grill it in an oven at 400F for 30minutes. Flip it over on the mid way. Place the remaining sauce in a small pot and add some ginger. Cook it until boiling and stir it constantly.
To serve, place the grilled salmon on a plate and pour some cooked sauce on top. Add the steamed broccoli and mashed potato at the side.

Fried Cassava (Singkong Goreng)

It is not that hard to find cassava in Montreal. Normally it is preserved with paraffin wax. It is good to eat with a cup of tea in one calm afternoon.

Ingredients:
- 2 cassava root, peel of the skin, cut into 5cm in length and wash
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- 3 cloves of garlic, crush until smooth
- 1 Tbsp of ground coriander
- 1 Tbsp of salt
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 100ml of water
- oil for frying

In a pot, mix well all of the seasoning, coconut milk and water. Put the cassava inside the pot and cook it with a lid on until it changes color or cracks. Then take it out, drain it and deep fry it with hot oil under medium heat until yellowish-brownish (see the above picture).

Stir Fried Bean Sprout and Carrot (Orak-Arik Taoge-Wortel)

I made this simple stir fried veggies to accompany the spicy anchovy for dinner yesterday. My mom used to make it when I was little, instead of using bean sprout normally she used cabbage. Since my husband and I are not a big fan of cabbage, I used bean sprout this time.

Ingredients:
- 200gr of bean sprout, wash
- 3 carrot, peel off the skin, wash and cut into matches-liked sticks
- 3 green onion, chop thinly
- 2 eggs
- 1 block of chicken broth
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- water
- oil for saute

In a wok, saute onion and garlic for 2minutes. Add carrot and continue to saute for another 2 minutes. Add app. 150ml of water and continue to cook until boiling. Add chicken broth, salt and pepper and adjust the taste with sugar. Add bean sprout and chopped green onion and cook for another 2minutes. Drop the eggs and stir it instantly until cooked.

Spicy Fried Anchovy (Teri Sambel Ijo)

Drooling over Mel's post, I made this one yesterday. I made it really-really spicy and yes this time it hit my husband's taste buds (and the baby inside my womb was complaining too).

Ingredients:
- 250gr dried anchovy
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 30 green chili paddy
- 6 green chili pepper
- 1 tomato
- 1/2 lime
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying

In a pan, fry the dried anchovy with enough oil under medium heat until brownish and crunchy. Place it in a serving bowl and put it aside.
Place onion, garlic, chili, tomato in a small bowl and then pour a little bit of oil, and microwave it for 1.5 minutes. Let it cool off and then chop in a chopper.
In a pan, fry the mix chili with a little bit of oil. Add some salt and sugar, stir it constantly and continue to fry under medium heat until cooked. Drizzle the lime juice over it. Mix it well.
Pour the fried chili over the fried anchovy in the serving bowl and mix it well with a spoon.
Eat it with warm steam rice and some veggies.

Steamed Seasoned Shredded Coconut (Bothok Kelapa)

Been wanting to eat this steamed coconut, but I had no luck to get the recipe online. I called my sister and she gave me the recipe but it was just a brief one. Eventually Mel sent me the recipe through email. Thank bunch Mel! Oh ya..btw, I modified the quantity and added some candle nuts and shrimp paste to make it tastier...

Ingredients:
- 300 gr shredded coconut (available frozen at Asian stores)
- 1 fistful dried anchovy
- 10 shrimp, peel of the skin, discard the tail and cut into small pieces
- 100ml coconut milk
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 15 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 4 candle nuts
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- 4 Indonesian bay leaves
- salt
- sugar

In a chopper, chop onion, garlic, chili, candle nuts and shrimp paste. Mix shredded coconut and coconut milk in a mixing bowl. Add the chopped seasoning, salt and sugar and mix it well. Adjust the taste. Add the anchovy and chopped shrimp. Wrap a little portion of this mix (3-4 Tbsp) with banana leaf. Do not forget to place a piece of bay leaf at the bottom. Steam it under high heat for 40minutes.
This time instead of wrapping it with banana leaf, I just steamed it inside steaming container (or you may use aluminum foil too).
Serve it with warm steam rice.

Galantine

I do not normally post my cooking right away, but today is exceptional, since my lil sis, Diajeng Kunti-su-Deetha asked me to send this meal to her. Instead of sending it all the way to Indonesia and let the meat rotten, I chose to send the recipe and picture. Here it this...it is all for you dear...

Ingredients:
- 400gr ground beef
- 150gr bread crumbs
- 4 boiled egg
- 2 raw egg
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp maizena/corn flour
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying

Side dish:
- 3 carrot, cut into sticks and steam it for 8minutes
- 150gr harricot beans, discard the hard part and steam it for 8minutes
- french fries

Crush onion and garlic until smooth. In a mixing bowl, mix well all the above ingredients except boiled egg and corn flour. Mix it for sometime, until it is well mixed. Then add corn flour and mix it again. Place 1cm layer of this meat mix on aluminum foil and put the boiled egg in the middle (one for each). Wrap it as cylinder. Place all the cylinders inside a steamer and steam it for 45minutes. Cool it off and then fry it with enough oil under medium heat.

To make the sauce:
- 1 clove of onion (Indonesian-bawang bombay), chop thinly
- 1 tomato, cut into 12
- 3cm ginger, crack it with pestle
- 1 carrot, chop small and thinly
- 1 can of sweet green peas
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- salt
- sugar
- ground white pepper
- water
- oil for saute
- 1 Tbsp maizena/corn flour

In a wok, saute the onion and ginger for 3minutes. Add tomato and continue to cook and stir. Add some water, app. 300ml. Add cut carrot and cook for 5minutes. Add tomato paste and adjust the taste with salt, sugar and pepper. Add green peas and lower the heat. Add the corn flour solution (which was mixed with some water beforehand) while stirring it until the sauce thicken.

To serve, cut the meat cylinder and place it on a plate. Arrange the side dish on the same plate as well and then pour the sauce on top.

Stir Fried Squid with TomYum Paste (Cumi Bumbu TomYum)

Like I mentioned before, I served this meal for Saturday dinner. Initially I did not have any idea of what to prepare. I remembered I had some squid in the freezer. First thought was to make salt and pepper calamari. However, I run out of frying oil...you know, to make salt and pepper calamari you need big quantity of oil for deep frying. So, I created this recipe..and my loyal taster -husband said that it was yummy.
And yes, not forget to mention that I found frozen bilimbi in Montreal...yippie..!!

Ingredients:
- 1kg squid, clean out and cut into small rings
- 3 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 3 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 12 dried chili paddy
- 3cm ginger, crack it with pestle
- 4 lime leaves
- 2 bilimbi (Indonesian-belimbing wuluh), cut into 5 each
- 3 Tbsp TomYum paste
- a bunch of lemon basil leaves
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute
- 200ml water

In a wok, saute onion, garlic, ginger and galangal for 2minutes. Add the squid and stir for 5minutes. Add chili, lime leaves and TomYum paste and stir it well. Add water and continue to cook until boiling. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Continue to cook until the squid tender. At last add basil leaves and bilimbi.

Stir Fried Water Morning Glory with Fermented Soybean Paste (Kangkung Cah Taoco)

This is what we had for dinner last Saturday. We had it with the squid (I will post it later on) and warm steam rice. I made this and the squid while chatting with wonder-women (in alphabetical order-Ayin, Deetha, Judith and Mel). We surely had a good time...

Ingredients:
- a bunch of water morning glory (Indonesian-kangkung), wash and cut into 8cm in length
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 8 dried chili paddy, cut into 3 each
- 3cm ginger, slice into 6
- 3cm of galangal, cut into 2
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 1 tomato, cut into 8
- 3 Tbsp fermented soybean paste (Indonesian-taoco)
- 2 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute
- water

In a wok, saute onion, garlic, ginger and galangal for 2 minutes. Add bay leaves and continue to saute for another minute. Add tomato and soybean paste, stir it well. Add sweet soy sauce and 200ml of water, and then stir and continue to cook until boiling. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. At last put in the water morning glory and cook for 4minutes. Do not overcooked.

Chop Chop Fried Rice

It was snowing so hard on Saturday, therefore we did not go out anywhere. My husband chose to have instant noodle for breakfast and I wanted something more filling, so I decided to make fried rice. However, since I was very hungry, I made it on a very quick way, yes I just chopped all of the seasoning, instead of grinding it. It tasted good...or maybe coz I was really really hungry..

Ingredients:
- 1 plate of leftover steam rice
- 1 fistful of mix veggies
- 2 beef balls, slice into 4 each
- 2 prawn balls, slice into 4 each
- 1 egg
- 3 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 3 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 chili paddy or bird's eye chili, chop thinly
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
- salt
- oil

In a pan, make thin egg omelet, add a little bit of salt. When it is cool, cut thinly and put it aside.
In a wok, saute onion and garlic with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add chili and continue to saute for 2minutes. Add beef balls and prawn balls and cook and stir for another 5minutes. Add fish sauce and sweet soy sauce. Add the mix veggies and stir well. Add the steam rice and mix it well, until all of the seasoning distributed evenly. Adjust the taste with salt.
To serve, place the fried rice on a plate and then sprinkle cut omelet on top of it. Add some fresh tomato or cucumber as preferred.

Lamb Gulai (Gulai Kambing)

I've still got some lamb meat inside the freezer, so today I made lamb gulai. I copied the recipe from keseharian.com with a little modification. It is good to eat while the weather is cold outside. Speaking bout the weather, I've really got sick of winter this year. It is March and we still have snow storm coming up. On the television, there is poll asking people: Will we have summer this year or we go directly into next winter? sound so desperate...

Ingredients:
- 1kg lamb meat with bones
- 4 potato, peel off the skin and cut into small pieces
- 5 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 lemon grass, cut into 4 cm in length
- 4 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 5 clovers
- 1 tomato, cut into 8
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- salt
- oil for saute
- 1.5lt water
- fried onion

To crush:
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 15 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 5 candle nuts
- 3cm of galangal
- 2cm of turmeric
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a pot boil water and lamb meat-bones until tender. Discard the surface foam. In a pan, saute chopped onion for 2minutes. Add the crushed mix, lemon grass, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and clovers into the pan, and stir it well for 4minutes.
Transfer it into the pot which has tender lamb meat and water inside. Add coconut milk and stir it while it is boiled. Add potato and continue to cook for 7minutes. Add tomato, salt and sugar to taste. Serve it with warm steam rice. Sprinkle some fried onion as preferred.

Clear Spinach Soup (Sayur Bening Bayam)

Every time I made this soup, I always forgot to take picture of it, coz we normally eat it right away considering that spinach is only good to eat while it is freshly cooked . Two days ago when I made it again, my husband took the camera and placed it on our dining table so that I would not forget to take a picture. Thank hubby!

Ingredients:
- a bunch of spinach, wash and cut into 8cm in length
- 200gr of sweet corn-creamy and peaches
- 5 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 1 block of chicken broth
- salt
- sugar
- water

In a pot boil some water, app. 1.5 lt. When it is boiled, add chopped onion, garlic and chicken broth. Stir it well. Add some salt and sugar to taste. Add corn and continue to cook for 6minutes. At last add the spinach and boil for another 2minutes (do not overcooked).

Note: I normally eat it with steam rice, fried steamed mackerel and belacan chili paste.

Tofu Salad with Peanut and Black Shrimp Paste Dressing (Tahu Tek)

Being bored of eating meat, I prepared this meal for our dinner last week. My husband likes it so much. I believe this meal is originally from East Java.

Ingredients:
- 2 blocks of medium firm tofu, deep fry and then cut into small pieces
- 2 eggs, boil, peel of the shell and cut into 8 each
- 2 potato, boil, peel of the skin and cut into small pieces
- 150gr of bean sprouts, boil and drain off the water
- 4 small packages of rice dumpling, boil, cool down and cut into 6 each
- fried onion
- oil for frying

To make dressing:
- 150gr of peanut, fry it without oil until brownish
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili, add some more if you prefer spicy one
- 1 tsp of tamarind
- 2 Tbsp of black shrimp paste (Indonesian-petis udang)
- 1 block of palm sugar
- 2 Tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- salt
- water

Side dish:
- prawn crackers
- Gnetum Gnemon crackers (Indonesian-emping melinjo)

In a small glass, pour some hot water app. 100ml, then add tamarind. Stir it well until it form tamarind juice. Discard the stone and hard part of the tamarind. In a blender, put all ingredients to make dressing except sweet soy sauce and salt. Then add tamarind juice and blend until you get smooth mix, add some water as needed. Pour it into a small bowl. Add sweet soy sauce and salt to taste.
To serve, arrange cut rice dumpling, potato, egg and tofu on a plate. Then add bean sprouts on top of it. Pour the dressing over it (you may add some more sweet soy sauce). Add the crackers and sprinkle some fried onion.

Note: The ingredients is good to make 2-3 plates of this meal.

Javanese Spicy Vegetable Salad (Urap Sayur Pedas)

Again, mind the English title...I realized how hard it is to translate typical Indonesian food names into English. This salad is good to eat with yellow rice or savory one.

Ingredients:
- a bunch of water morning-glory (Indonesian-kangkung), wash and cut into 4cm in length
- a bunch of long beans, wash and cut into 4cm in length
- 150 gr of bean sprout
- 100 gr of grated coconut (available frozen in Asian store)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tsp of ground lesser galangal or sand ginger (Indonesian-kencur)
- 3 lime leaves, discard the hard part
- 1/2 block of palm sugar, grated with knife
- salt
- water

Boil some water in a pot and cook the water morning glory, long beans and bean sprout separately. Do not overcooked. Put it aside. Put frozen grated coconut in a microwavable bowl, add a little bit of water and microwave it for 1 or 2 minutes. Put it aside.
In a chopper, chop garlic, onion, chili, lime leaves, shrimp paste and palm sugar until smooth.
Mix it well with grated coconut and add some salt and ground lesser galangal.
To serve, mix the cooked vegetables with seasoned grated coconut.