Soto Mie (Soto Soup with Mixed Noodle)

Missing Indonesia so much and drooling over Deetha's page are the main reason I spent more of my time in the kitchen the other day just to prepare this soto mie. The result was good, but still could not ease my feeling of missing Indonesia.
Here is the recipe I copied from Deetha's (with a little modification).

Ingredients:
- 300g beef meat with some fat, boil and then cut into small cubes
- 2000ml water for boiling the meat
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 3 lime leaves
- 1 lemon grass, cut into 4cm in length and crack it with pestle
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili (I did not use it while cooking, I just added it before eating)
- 20 cloves small red onion (I reduced to 6)
- 10 cloves of garlic (I reduced to 6)
- 7 candle nuts (I just had 3)
- 3 cm of turmeric (I used 1tsp of ground turmeric)
- salt
- ground white pepper

Side dishes:
- 150g egg noodle, boil and then drain, mix with a little bit of frying oil
- 100g vermicelli, boil and then drain, mix with a little bit of frying oil
- 2 tomato, cut into 12 each
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- cabbage, chop (I did not use it)
- fried onion
- vermicelli rissole, cut into 1.5cm in thickness
- lime juice
- crushed chili
- sweet soy sauce

In a chopper, chop onion, garlic, and candle nuts until smooth. Then saute it until fragrant. Add bay leaves, lime leaves, lemon grass, and ground turmeric. Stir it until change color. Add the boiled meat and broth. Continue to cook until boiling. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, in a bowl place boiled noodle, vermicelli, cabbage, tomato and cut vermicelli rissole. Pour the soto soup (with the meat) in. Then sprinkle some fried onion, green onion and drizzle some lime juice. Add sweet soy sauce and crushed chili, if you like. Serve it hot.

To make vermicelli rissole

Ingredients:
For making skin:
- 150g wheat flour/all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 350ml milk
- salt
- 1 Tbsp melted margarine

Mix all the above ingredients, if needed blend it in a blender, just like what I did to get an even mixture. Prepare a nonstick-pan by heating it on a stove. Then pour just a little bit of the mixture and distribute it evenly on the surface to get a thin pancake-liked layer. Cook it for sometimes, do not overcook. Do it again and again until all is done and you got enough layer of skin. Put it aside.

For filling:
- 60g vermicelli, boil, drain and add some sweet soy sauce and soy sauce and mix it well
- 3 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 1.5 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp of fish sauce
- ground white pepper

In a wok, saute the chopped garlic until fragrant. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce and pepper. At last add the vermicelli and mix it well. Cook for another 3minutes. Put it aside.

To finish it up, place 1.5 Tbsp of the filling on a skin layer. Roll in like an envelope and glue the margin with egg white. Deep fry it in hot oil under medium heat until golden brown. Flip it over as needed.

Stir Fried Baby BokChoy

I personally like to cook baby bokchoy, since it is no need to be cut, meaning less preparation time needed. Moreover the cooking time is not that long and the result is fresh crunchy veggie. It is normally cooked with other veggies or meat. However, this time I just cooked it all by itself and added some ginger and oyster sauce. That's it...simple right?

Ingredients:
- bunch of baby bokchoy, wash to get rid of the dirt
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 5cm of ginger, peel off the skin and slice thinly
- 2 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
- oil for saute


In a wok, saute garlic, onion and ginger with a little bit of oil until fragrant. Add fish and oyster sauce, stir it. Add washed baby bokchoy, stir and cook for 4-5minutes. Serve with steam rice and other dishes.

Glutinous Rice Balls Coated with Shredded Coconut (Klepon)

These past days I have been having throat infection and cough. A friend of mine suggesting me to drink plenty of warm water and ginger drink (Indonesian-wedang jahe). Firstly, I made the instant wedang jahe, but it did not do any good to my cough. So I decided to make it from scratch. While making the fresh ginger drink, my imagination went at large and thought about having glutinous rice balls with it (Indonesian-wedang ronde) and also glutinous rice balls coated with shredded coconut (Indonesian-klepon)...hmmmm..yummm...
So the next day I could not bear not to make it myself.

Ingredients:
- 200gr of glutinous rice flour
- 200ml lukewarm water
- 2 drops of pandan essence
- 200gr shredded coconut, mixed with ½ tsp salt and microwave it
- 12 tsp grated palm sugar


In a mixing bowl, pour the flour in and add lukewarm water little by little while mixing it with spoon until forming a flexible-non sticky dough. Add pandan essence and mix it well again. Keep it in a fridge for 15minutes to avoid cracking while boiling.
Take a teaspoonful of the dough and shape it into a small ball (app. 3-4cm in diameter) using both of palm hands. Make a hole by pushing a finger in the middle of the ball and put 1/2 tsp of palm sugar in. Seal and roll it back to make the ball shape again. Meanwhile, boil water in a pot. And then place the balls into the boiling water and cook until it is done. Once they float, it means they are cooked, take it out with a laddle and roll it in shredded coconut.

Note: the recipe is good to make 20-25 balls, depend on the size. Serve it warm or at room temperature.

Crispy Prawn Fritter (Gimbal Udang)

Some people may say it is rempeyek udang, but I am used to the term gimbal udang since I was a little girl. Thus I prefer to use the name gimbal udang rather than rempeyek. It is very good to eat with Sayur Asem and steam rice.
To be honest with you, this one here is a recycling product of what I had left from making crispy flakes for fried chicken the other day which I kept in my fridge. Later on I will include the original recipe (not the recycled one), but first I would like to share the recycled recipe.

The recycled recipe
Ingredients:
- 200ml of what I had left from crispy flakes mixture, see the recipe here
- 3 Tbsp of rice flour
- 1 Tbsp of tapioka flour
- 1 egg
- 12 good size of headless shrimp
- 75g dried small shrimp
- 3 lime leaves, chop thinly
- salt
- oil for frying

Let the mixture warm up to room temperature and then add egg and the rice and tapioka flour, mix it well. Add chopped lime leaves and mix it well. Add salt sparingly and put the shrimp and dried shrimp in. Mix it well again. Deep fry it with oil by pouring one laddle full at the side of the pan and spread it in hot oil, so it will form thin layer. Try to position the big shrimp in the middle. Fry until golden brown and flip over to the other side. Do it again and again until all is done.


The original recipe
Ingredients:
- 80gr rice flour
- 50gr tapioka flour
- 12 good size of headless shrimp
- 1/2 can of coconut milk and add water with a ratio of 1:1
- 1 egg
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4 candle nut
- 1tsp of ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp of ground turmeric
- 4 lime leaves, chop thinly
- 50g of dried small shrimp
- salt
- oil for frying

In a chopper, chop garlic and candle nut until smooth. Place it in a mixing bowl and then add egg and coconut milk+water. Add coriander, turmeric and lime leaves and mix it well. Add the flour little by little while mixing it. Add salt, small shrimp and shrimp and mix it well again. Add some more water as needed. And then deep fry it using the same method as mention above.

Fried Meat Balls (Bakso Goreng)

Last week, when we came to visit our good friend, she served us this yummy finger food. This time, I made it myself for my little family. My husband loves it and brought it to work. Bianca loves it too, she can finish the whole ball at once, of course bite by bite...

Ingredients:
- 200gr ground pork/chicken
- 200gr headless shrimp, discard the shells and tails
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 4 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 2 tsp of ground white pepper
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 2 Tbsp of maizena/corn flour
- 1 egg
- oil for frying

In a chopper, chop garlic and shrimp until smooth. Mix well all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl (remember to add the flour at last). Using two spoons, make balls and deep fry it with oil until golden brown. Serve it as snack or side dish, add chili sauce if you like.

Somen Soup (Misua Kuah)

This menu is for my Bianca...it is easy to prepare and she loves it. Sometimes I put egg drops too, but not this time.

Ingredients:
- 100gr of somen noodle/misua
- 2 luffa, peel off the hard skin, cut into 1cm in thickness
- 2 carrot, peel off the skin, cut into 1cm in thickness
- 150gr of headless shrimp, discard the shell and cut into 4 each
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 3 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 block of chicken broth
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- oil for saute
- water
- egg (optional)
- fried onion

In a pan, saute garlic and onion until fragrant. Add shrimp and saute until changed color. Add luffa and then carrot and continue to saute for 2minutes. Add water and cook until boiling. Add chicken broth and mix it well. Add green onion and adjust the taste with salt, sugar and pepper. At last add the somen/misua and cook for 2minutes. If you like to put some egg, drop it before you add the somen, and wait until boiling again.
To serve, sprinkle some fried onion.

Spicy and Sweet Beef Satay (Sate Sapi Pedas Manis)

I was a bit disappointed of the picture I took..it looks like the satay burnt. In fact it was not...but since I edited the brightness it turned out to be like this, and I was not able to safe the original picture. Oh well, bear with the burnt appearance okay? The taste was still good tho...

Ingredients:
- 1kg beef meat, cut into small cubes
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 6 candle nuts
- 4cm of galangal
- 1 block of palm sugar, grate it
- 2 lime, use the juice only
- 1tsp of ground turmeric
- 2Tbsp of ground coriander
- 1tsp of ground cumin
- 1Tbsp of ground white pepper
- 6Tbsp of fine-granulated brown sugar
- 100ml sweet soy sauce
- 2Tbsp of soy sauce
- 6Tbsp of fish sauce

In a blender, blend chili, garlic, onion, candle nuts, galangal and palm sugar until smooth. Place it in a big container and add the rest of the seasoning. Mix it well. Marinate the meat cubes for at least 1 hour, the longer it takes the better, in a fridge. Take it out of the fridge and then arrange the cubes on a skewer, 4-5 pieces each. Grill it until cooked. Flip it over as needed. Serve it with spicy soy sauce (Indonesian-sambal kecap) at the side.

To make sambal kecap:
- 5 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 1 tomato
- salt
- sugar
- sweet soy sauce
- 1 lime, use the juice only
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper

Chop thinly chili, garlic, onion and tomato. Place it in a small bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Then mix it well.

Mixed Fruits Dessert (Es Buah Campur)

I could not sleep well for having very bad coughing. And since I do not want to disturb Bianca and Daddy from their long sleep, I just sitting in front of the computer. First I was doing nothing, but then I thought it may be a good time to post my draft which has been kept in for several days.
We have been having very nice weather for a week. The temperature is quite warm, between 21-26C. And since we had un-installed our air conditioner due to our preparation of moving out, we felt too warm inside our apartment. So my husband made this yummy cold dessert for us.

Ingredients:
- 1 can of longan
- 1 can of rambutan
- 1 can of jackfruits
- 1 can of palm seeds
- 1 can of grass jelly
- 2 can of coconut juice
- 1 can of evaporated milk
- ice cubes


Cut all of the fruits and grass jelly into smaller pieces so that it will be easier to eat. Pour it all in a big container/fruit punch bowl, including the juice/sugar. Add the coconut juice and the evaporated milk and stir it well. At last add some ice cubes and keep it in a fridge.
Serve it cold in a glass or small bowl.

Sticky Rice with Shredded Coconut (Ketan Urap)

I remember my mom used to make this when I was a little kid...and I like the savory taste of it. Last Saturday I made it for Sunday's breakfast.

Ingredients:
- 250 gr of sticky rice, soak it at least for 8h..(depend on the variety of the sticky rice, normally it is written on the packaging of how long to soak it)
- 2 pandan leaves, cut into 2 each
- 4 Indonesian bay leaves
- 3 lime leaves
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- salt
- water
- shredded coconut, microwave it for 2minutes

To make seasoned soybeans sprinkle/powder (Indonesian-bubuk kedelai):
- 150gr of oven roasted soybeans
- 4 cloves of oven roasted garlic
- 4 dried chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 tsp kencur powder
- 2 oven roasted lime leaves
- 3 Tbsp of brown sugar
- salt

In a pot, boil coconut milk, water, pandan-bay-lime leaves until boiling. Add the drained sticky rice and stir it well. Continue to boil with the lid on until cooked and stir it occasionally.
Meanwhile, prepare the seasoned soybeans powder by grinding all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Adjust the taste with salt and brown sugar. To serve, take one spoonful of the cooked sticky rice and make a ball. Roll it on the shredded coconut and then place it on a plate. Sprinkle some seasoned soybeans powder on top. Serve it warm.

Indonesian Veggie Salad with Peanut Sauce Dressing (Gado Gado)

According to Wikipedia, Gado-gado is a traditional dish in Indonesia cuisine. It is a vegetable salad served with a peanut sauce dressing. In Indonesia, you may find it served in big restaurants or just in small food stalls or street vendor. Even it is widely served in Indonesian restaurants overseas.
I made this gado gado using instant peanut sauce dressing available in Asian stores. You may need to add some seasoning if you like.

Ingredients:
- bunch of water morning glory (Indonesian-kangkung), cut into 6cm in length
- bunch of long bean, cut into 6cm in length
- 2 chocho, peel off the skin, discard the core and cut into small cubes
- bunch of bean sprout
- 3 potato, boil, peel off the skin and cut into small chunks
- 3 eggs, boil, peel off the shell and cut into 8 each
- 1 block of tempeh, cut into small squares and fry until golden brown
- 2 blocks of tofu, cut into small squares and fry until half-cooked
- 1 package of instant peanut sauce dressing
- water
- oil for frying

Side dishes:
- rice dumpling
- shrimp crackers
- gnetum gnemon crackers (Indonesian-krupuk melinjo)
- fried onion


Boil all the veggies in water until cooked (do not overcooked), then drain the water and put it aside. Meanwhile, make the dressing by dissolving the instant peanut sauce dressing with hot water until the desired consistency, or you may boil cold water and then cook the dressing and mix it well. Add any other seasoning, ex. chili, palm sugar, salt, etc...as you wish.
To serve, arrange rice dumpling, cooked veggies, boiled egg and potato, fried tempeh and tofu on a plate. Then pour the peanut sauce dressing on top of it. Add crackers and sprinkle some fried onion.

All-dressed Soup (Sup Kombinasi)

When it came to name this post, I just remember that for pizza and sandwich, they have all-dressed ones, meaning it comes with all of the ingredients. Therefore, I just name this post with all-dressed soup, since I put a lot of stuff for the soup. It is easier to name it in Indonesian...sup kombinasi...and people will understand.

Ingredients:
- 2 whole chicken leg
- 20 chicken balls
- 10 cocktail style-smoked sausages, slice into 4 each
- 1/2 can of luncheon meat, cut into small squares
- 1/2 package of washed carrot, cut into 2 each
- 1 can of peaches and cream corn
- 1/2 can of sweet green peas
- 1 onion, chop thinly
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- 2 tsp of ground nutmeg
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute
- water
- fried onion

In a pot boil the chicken legs with water until tender. Take out the chicken and then cut the meat into small squares and discard the bones and skin. Put back the cut chicken meat into the broth.
Add carrot and then chicken balls, sausages and luncheon meat. Continue to cook until boiling. Add corn and green peas. Add pepper, nutmeg, salt and sugar. Taste it and continue to cook for another 3minutes. While waiting saute the onion with a little bit of oil in a pan until brownish. Pour it in the pot (together with the oil). At last sprinkle green onion and turn off the stove.
To serve, place it in a bowl and sprinkle some fried onion.

Pizza for Brunch!

I have had this pizza base sitting in my freezer for more than a month. And since I was all by myself during the day (of course I was with my little Bianca..I mean my husband was not at home), I wanted to make pizza for my brunch. And I still have some pepperoni, red pepper and shredded cheese...so I was set to go! It's so easy, coz I just added the topping and then baked it and enjoyed the fresh warm pizza!

Ingredients:
- 1 pizza base
- 1 package of pizza sauce which came with the base
- pepperoni sausage, cut into thin slices
- red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
- shredded cheese (I used Italian mixed)


This time I did not use conventional oven, instead I used my electric skillet.
First, prepare the skillet by heating it up at 250F for 5minutes. Place the base on it and then spread the sauce evenly. Add whatever topping you prefer (for me this time is pepperoni and red pepper). And at last sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
Put on the lid and baked for 8minutes or until the cheese melted.

Note: by using this electric skillet, it reduces the cooking time significantly. Thus it reduces the energy consumed. Moreover the result is crunchier than the one I baked in a conventional oven.

Quail Eggs with Black Shrimp Paste (Telur Puyuh Bumbu Petis)

Initially I wanted to make soup with quail eggs, but then I found out that I did not have enough veggies to put it together. At the end I just browsed around some recipes online, and chose this one from eresep.com and made modification, since I do not have black fish paste (Indonesian-petis ikan), I replaced it with black shrimp paste (Indonesian-petis udang).
The taste is a combination of spicy, sweet and savory with strong aroma which came from lemon grass and lime leaves.

Ingredients:
- 20 quail eggs, boil and then remove the shells
- 1 block of tempeh, cut into small squares and fry it until golden brown
- 3 blocks of medium hard tofu, cut into small squares and fry it until golden brown
- 6 cloves of garlic, chop it thinly
- 5 cloves of small red onion, chop it thinly
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 3 Tbsp of black shrimp paste
- 3 lime leaves
- 2 lemon grass, cut into 4cm in length and then crack it with pestle
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- water
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute and frying

In a wok, saute garlic and onion with a little bit of oil until fragrant. Add lemon grass, lime leaves and chili, continue to saute for another 2minutes. Add app. 200ml of water and black shrimp paste. Stir it well and continue to cook until boiling. Add quail eggs, fried tempeh and tofu, stir it well. Add coconut milk and stir it while cooking. Wait until boiling and adjust the taste with salt and sugar.

Skewerless Beef Satay (Daging Bumbu Sate Kemiri)

I still have more than 2kg of beef and bones inside my freezer and wanted to make something easy. Considering that we had some friends coming on that day, I prepared this menu for them. And yes...I made up the recipe myself and they loved it.

Ingredients:
- 1kg of beef and bones or ribs, cut into small chunks
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 6 candle nuts
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
- 2 tsp of ground coriander
- 2 tsp of ground white pepper
- sweet soy sauce
- salt
- sugar
- water
- oil for saute

In a chopper, chop garlic, onion and candle nuts until smooth. Then saute it with a little bit of oil in a pan until fragrant. Add cumin, coriander, pepper, water (app. 150ml) and sweet soy sauce, and stir it well. Continue to cook until boiling. Add the beef and bones and continue to cook until boiling again. Once it is boiling, lower the heat and cover the pan. Once awhile stir it up. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Stop the cooking when the meat is tender.

Stir Fried Broccoli and Shrimp

Couple days ago I had no idea of what to cook, so I just gathered what had been left in my fridge-freezer and made up a recipe.

Ingredients:
- bunch of broccoli, separate each of flower head
- 250gr of matches-cut carrot
- 150gr of bean sprout
- 250gr of headless shrimp
- 6 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar
- water

In a wok, saute garlic and onion with sesame oil until brownish. Add shrimp and continue to cook until change color. Add fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, pepper and app. 100ml water. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Add broccoli, continue to cook for another 4minutes. Then add carrot and bean sprout, stir it well and cook for another 2minutes. Do not overcooked.

Baked Spicy Flaked Tuna (Abon Tuna Pedas)

Got the recipe from Bou Bulan-Chris' auntie...It turned out so good. If you make it really dry, you may keep it for a week without refrigerating.

Ingredients:
- 3 cans of flaked tuna in water, discard the water
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili, chop thinly
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 4cm of galangal, cut into 2 and crack it with pestle
- 4 lime leaves
- salt
- 3 Tbsp of sugar
- oil for saute

In a pan, saute garlic and onion with a little bit of oil until fragrant. Add chopped chili, galangal and lime leaves and continue to saute for another 2minutes. Add flaked tuna and stir it well while cooking. Add sugar and salt, mix it well. You may add some more sugar to get sweeter result.
Preheat oven at 350F for 5minutes. Place the seasoned tuna in aluminum pan and put it in the oven and bake it for 40minutes or until you get the desired dryness. Stir it every 10minutes to get an even heat distribution. Keep it in a dry container after cooling off.

Caramel Chicken with Sweet Soy Sauce

When I dated my boyfriend-who is now my husband, one of the memorable time was when he cooked this chicken for me. I really like the combination of crunchiness, sweet and fragrant (of the lime leaves) and of course his willingness to cook for me. This time even though the recipe originally came from my husband, I modified it with caramelizing sugar to make it more aromatic.

Ingredients:
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop it thinly
- 5 cloves of small red onion, chop it thinly
- 4 lime leaves
- sweet soy sauce
- sugar
- salt
- ground white pepper
- water
- oil for frying and saute

In a pan, deep fried the chicken drumstick with hot oil under medium high heat until brownish and crunchy. Dry off the excessed oil by placing it on paper towel, and then put it aside.
In a wok, saute garlic and onion with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add lime leaves and continue to saute for another 2minutes. Add app. 4 Tbsp of sugar and stir it until caramelized. Add a little bit of water to avoid burnt. Add sweet soy sauce and continue to stir until boiling. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper. At last add the fried chicken, mix it well and continue to cook for another 5minutes.

Tinutuan (Manadonese Mixed Porridge)

When I went to a university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia I had many friends from other provinces. It was a great time to know other cultures, including their foods. My first impression of this Manadonese porridge was not that appealing...seemed like they just put everything in a bowl...However, when I tasted it, I felt in love with this food. Lucky me, I got a chance to learn how to cook it from a friend when we lived in a boarding house together.
Last week, when I made it..surprisingly enough, my 1y old daughter loved it, of course without the side dishes...

Ingredients:
- 2 cups of rice
- water
- bunch of spinach (or water morning glory)
- 1 lemon grass, cut into 5cm in length then crack it with pestle
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 3 green onion, chop thinly
- bunch of lime basil leaves
- 2 medium sized sweet potato (or squash), peel off the skin and cut into small chunks
- 1 can of corn (sweet and peaches)
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute

Side dishes:
- fried onion
- fried tofu or anchovy fritter (this time I only had fried anchovy and veggie fritter)
- fried salted fish (I did not have it this time)
- Manadonese chili paste-dabu-dabu or sambal terasi

In a big pot, boil rice, lemon grass and water until cooked and become porridge. Add some more water as needed. Add sweet potato and continue to cook until soft and then crush the sweet potato. Add corn and green onion and continue to cook until boiling again.
Meanwhile, in a pan saute garlic with a little bit of oil until brownish and then add it to the pot. Adjust the taste with pepper, salt and sugar.
At last add spinach/other veggies and basil leaves and continue to cook until boiling again.

To make dabu-dabu:
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 1 tomato, cut into small chunks
- 1 lime
- salt
- sugar

In a chopper chop chili, garlic and onion until coarsely smooth. Place it in a small bowl. Add cut tomato, salt and sugar. Drizzle some lime juice and mix it well.

To serve, place the porridge in a bowl and add the side dishes. Sprinkle some fried onion on top.

Note: Please bear with the blurry picture, since I was shaking when taking it...too starving maybe!

What we had on Bianca's and Daddy's birthday party

Green Jackfruit Gulai

April is month of birthdays in the Sianturi family. There are lots of our relatives who was born in April, including my husband, my Bianca, my mother in law, father in law, sister in law-Shinta, and some of my husband's cousins (Kezia, Cherry, Sarah..and...any one else?). Sorry if I forgot to mention someone's name.
Last Sunday after church service, we had a small party to celebrate Bianca's and Daddy's birthday with all our church friends. I cooked green jackfruit gulai as seen above and stir fried spicy chocho as seen below. The recipes can be seen here.

Stir fried spicy chocho

I also asked my good friend, Lucia to cook rice dumpling, Indonesian crackers (kerupuk), and sambal terasi. Thank you Lus...your sambal terasi is definitely the best as it is so spicy!

Rice dumpling

Side dishes: Vegetable fritter, Indonesian crackers, sambal terasi

There were some side dishes to accompany the main dish, which includes vegetable fritter, Indonesian crackers and sambal terasi as seen above. You may find the recipe of vegetable fritter here.

Birthday cake

Celebrating birthday is not complete without birthday cake and blowing candle. For birthday cake, this time I did not bother to make it myself, as some of you may know I'd never baked before. So we just ordered it from a bakery shop. Initially I wanted to order something kiddie..however considering that it was not only Bianca's, I changed my mind and ended up with this blackforest cake. It's not funny to have "winnie the pooh" cake with a handsome-mature man blowing candles, right?...can you imagine?
The blackforest cake was so good coz it had real cherry crushed as filling.

Vanilla and cocoa pudding

Unexpectedly, one of our church member, Ibu Tiana, brought some vanilla and cocoa pudding. It was so yummy..and Bianca loved it! Merci beaucoup...

Pandan roll cake

On that weekend I also found out that Widi, our friend here in Montreal was having birthday on the same day as Bianca. And on Monday she came to our apartment and brought us this yummy pandan roll cake. Thank you Widi, it was a very nice of you! Once again happy birthday...

Even though I felt so tired after, I feel so happy that one phase of my daughter's development had passed. She is one year old now, a big girl! Time flies by...

Happy birthday my girl, you are a princess of my heart as always!
Happy birthday daddy...thank you for sharing today and the future with us!

note: for special report on their birthday, visit my other blogs later on next week: A Devoted Wife and Daddy's Little Princess

Blueberry Muffin

This time I would not share any recipe as I made these muffins from ready-mixed package sold in supermarket. I just added 2 eggs and 100ml of milk (in the instruction it should be just plain water, but I wanted it a bit creamy..so instead of plain water I added milk).
My husband loves it for breakfast...and my neighbour too...
So enjoy the pictures folks!

Fried Chicken with Crispy Flakes (Ayam Goreng Kremes)

I remember I used to have this fried chicken every time I visited one of my good friend in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. She owns a restaurant which serves this menu and martabak manis with banana-cheese-chocolate filling too. Last Saturday all of a sudden I wanted to eat this chicken and since I'd never made it on my own before, I browsed around on the internet and found one on Rumah Maya Mamiek Syamil. After asking her permission, I copied and adapted the recipe in my kitchen. It turned out very good, the crispy flakes even stayed crispy and crunchy until the next 2-3days.

Ingredients:
- 6 pieces of whole chicken legs
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 4cm of ginger
- 3 lime leaves
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4cm of galangal
- 1Tbsp ground coriander
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- 1tsp of ground cumin
- 1tsp of ground turmeric
- salt
- oil for frying
- water

In a blender, blend onion, garlic and ginger until smooth. Place it in a pot and add water, chicken legs and the rest of the ingredients. Bring it to boil and stir the broth. Continue to cook until chicken tender. Take out the chicken legs and drip off the broth and then deep dry it with oil under medium high heat until golden brown.

To make crispy flakes:
- 200ml seasoned chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp of rice flour
- 1 egg
- water

Mix the rice flour with a little bit of water (just to make a solution). Mix it with 200ml of the seasoned broth which came from cooking the chicken legs. Add egg and mix it well. Deep fry it under high heat by placing one laddle full of the mixture into hot oil until golden brown. Do it again and again until you've got enough flakes.

To serve, place the fried chicken leg on a plate and sprinkle with some flakes on top or side. Add sambal terasi, cucumber and tomato at the side. Eat it with warm steam rice.

Fried Battered Tempeh (Tempe Goreng Tepung)

This is our family favorite's nibble. It goes fast after frying, Bianca likes it too. It is also good to eat as side dish with steam rice and veggies.

Ingredients:
- 1 block of tempeh, cut into 12 slices
- 3 cloves of garlic, grind it until smooth
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 2 Tbsp of Kobe flour
- 2 Tbsp of rice flour
- 1 Tbsp of ground coriander
- water app. 150ml
- salt
- frying oil

In a mixing bowl, mix well all the ingredients, except tempeh and frying oil. Add water as needed. Do not put too much salt, since Kobe flour has already contained salt. Batter the tempeh with this mixture and deep fry it under medium high heat until golden brown.
Serve it with chili or hot sauce.

Spicy Eggplant/Aubergine (Balado Terong Ungu)

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. Instead of asking me to cook fancy foods, he asked me to make balado terong the spicy one. So yes, I made this specially for him and I made it really really spicy.

Ingredients:
- 3 eggplant/aubergine, cut it in the middle longwise, and then cut into 5cm in length, put it in an oven for 30min at 350F, flip it over in the mid way.
- 16 chili paddy/bird's eye chili (consider to reduce the number please...)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tomato, cut into 12
- 3 lime leaves
- salt
- sugar
- 100ml water
- oil for saute

In a chopper, chop chili, garlic, onion, tomato and shrimp paste until coarse smooth. Saute it with a little bit of oil for 3minutes. Add salt and sugar and continue to cook and stir constantly. Add some water and continue to cook until boiling. Add the lime leaves and stir it well. Add the baked eggplant, stir it and cook for another 10minutes.

To accompany this spicy food, I also made fried vermicelli (see the recipe here). In Chinese's belief, consuming any kind of noodles on your birthday is a symbol of long-life wish. Happy birthday dear!

Pork with Sweet Soy Sauce (Babi Kecap)

This menu is for Bianca, since now she is enjoying rice more than cereal or porridge.

Ingredients:
- 750gr of pork meat, boil until tender and cut into small cubes
- 4 potato, peel of the skin, cut into small cubes and fry it until cooked
- 5 egg, boil and peel of the shell
- 6 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4cm of ginger, crack it with pestle
- 2 Tbsp of soybean paste (Indonesian-taoco)
- 3 Tbsp of sweet soy sauce, add more as prefers
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar
- 500ml of broth from boiling the pork
- oil for saute

In a wok, saute garlic and ginger with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add soybean paste, sweet soy sauce and pepper and stir it constantly until boiling. Add pork and boiled eggs, stir it well. Add broth and continue to cook until boiling again. At last add the fried potato. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar.

Note: normally it is better to serve it on the next day, since all the seasoning will immerse to the meat and eggs.

Stir Fried Mixed Veggies (Cah Sayur Campur)

Worrying that my bean sprout would turn bad, I decided to make this stir fried. It is quite simple yet easy to prepare. You may add any kind of veggies as you like.

Ingredients:
- 1 napa cabbage, cut into small pieces
- bunch of bean sprout
- 1/2 can of sweet green peas
- 200gr of headless shrimp, cut into 2 each
- 200gr of meat (chicken/pork/beef), boil and cut into small cubes, use a little bit of the broth
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 2 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp of maizena or corn flour, mix it with a little bit of water
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- oil for saute

In a wok, saute onion and garlic with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add shrimp and continue to cook until it changes color. Add meat and sesame oil and stir it well. Add oyster sauce and app. 200ml broth and cook until boiling. Add napa cabbage and cook for 3minutes (do not overcooked). Add bean sprout and sweet green peas. Pour in the maizena solution and stir it instantly until the water thicken. Adjust the taste with salt, sugar and pepper.

Smoked Fish in Coconut Milk (Mangut Ikan Asap)

This food is originally from Pati and its surrounding area (Kudus, Jepara, Semarang) in Central Java, Indonesia. Normally, smoked Stingray fish is used, but I was not able to find this specific fish here in Montreal. So I used smoked deboned Milk fish to replace it. I copied the recipe from Ayin's page and made a little modification (thank Yin..).

Ingredients:
- 1 smoked deboned Milk fish, cut into 5
- 1 block medium firm tofu, cut into triangle shapes, fry until half-cooked
- 1 block tempeh, cut into triangle shapes, fry until golden brown
- 3 bilimbi, cut into small pieces
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4cm of galangal, crack it with pestle
- 3 lime leaves
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 4 candle nuts
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tsp of ground turmeric
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying and saute
- 1L of water

In a chopper, chop chili, onion, garlic, candle nuts and shrimp paste until smooth. Saute it with a little bit of oil in a pan for 2minutes. Then transfer it into boiling water in a pot. Add bay leaves, lime leaves, galangal and ground turmeric. Continue to cook until boiling again. Add fried tofu, tempeh, and bilimbi. Add coconut milk and adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Stir it while cooking. At last add the smoked fish and continue to cook for another 3minutes.
Serve warm with steam rice.