Saturday, December 25, 2010

Steamed Zebra Cake - Merry Christmas To You!

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Christmas is here! What a joyful day! I just want to thank you Lord for the gift of your Son, the greatest gift of love!
On this Christmas day, I would like to share this simple steamed cake recipe for you. Oh btw, it is my husband's favorite cake...:)

Steamed Zebra Cake ala Ny. Liem
Ingredients:
I:
425ml egg white
200g fine granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
10g emulsifier/ovalette
1/2 tsp vanilla

II: mixed, shifted
200g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

III:
1 tsp rum
50g margarine (melted)

IV:
1 Tbsp chocolate paste

Directions:
Beat egg white until foamy, and then gradually add sugar while mixing. Add salt, emulsifier, vanilla, and continue to mix until fluffy and thick. Add ingredients II little by little and mix well. Add ingredients III and mix well again. Separate 1/4 of the batter and mix it with IV. Pour into round baking pan (I use round 9inch cheese cake pan) which was layered with parchment paper, the white and chocolate batter alternately. Steam for 45min.

Merry Christmas Every One!
Love from us,
The Sianturi

Lidia

Friday, December 24, 2010

Prawn Spring Roll - Christmas Count Down

Shrimp Spring Roll

It was two hours before Christmas' Eve, when I wrote this post...and I had to type 2 posts at once and set the schedule for the second post for tomorrow. Yes, we are going away for Christmas. We'll have a little family reunion in Calgary, about 3h driving away from home. And sure it will be good! Foods are always served in our family get together, and snacking/nibbling is one of them. So here is prawn spring roll recipe, I usually make for snacking at home.

Ingredients:
- 20 prawn, deveined, leave the tails
- 10 pieces of spring roll skin, cut diagonally into half. (so it makes 20)
- 1 lime
- 1Tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1tsp ground white pepper
- frying oil
- 1 egg yolk, briefly whisked

Shrimp Spring Roll2

Directions:
Slit the inner side of the prawn so it won't be curled when fried. Sprinkle lime juice and pepper over. Add hoisin sauce and mix well. Place one prawn on the triangle skin, then roll it and seal with egg yolk (this video might be useful to show how to roll it). Deep fry it until golden brown. Serve them warm.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Peanut Butter Cookies - Christmas Count Down

Peanut Butter Cookies

Don't you love failure-free baking? This cookie is one of them, you'll never fail to prepare it..and it tastes so good too. Let say it is also nice for gift basket goodies (for allergic-free family of course!).
And hey..it's 2nd day of Christmas...uh ah..(running around, packing and preparing for our trip tomorrow).

Read the original posting in Indonesian language here.

Ingredients:
-250g all purpose flour
-90g fine granulated sugar
-125g smooth peanut butter
-110mL vegetable oil
-1Tbsp milk powder
-½ tsp salt
-1Tbsp butter

For glazing+topping:
2 egg yolk,
briefly whisked
crushed peanut

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Directions:
Mix well sugar, peanut butter, oil, milk powder, salt and butter. Add flour and mix well. Flatten the dough with roller and cut with desired cookie cutter. Place them on a layered cookie tin. Glaze them with egg yolk and sprinkle some crushed peanuts on top. Bake at 150C until done.

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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Grilled Mixed-Mini Seafood - Christmas Count Down

Grilled Mixed Seafood

I intended to put "mini" on the title of this post..yes..when I said just grilled mixed seafood the other day, one of my friends said "wow..it's luxury"..he might have thought bout lobster, salmon, king crab, or any other giant-expensive seafood...Too bad, none of those cooked this time. I just purchased the mixed cut seafood, the one with small-tiny-little creatures...But don't worry, it still taste heavenly when you know what to put with and how to cook.
So we are just 3 x 24h away from Christmas..and this should be good for dinner.

Ingredients:
- 2 packages of mixed seafood
- 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil for sauteing
- 6 cloves of garlic, grated
- 4cm of ginger, grated
- 70g of crushed baked peanut (I like it smooth)
- 1 Tbsp of ketchup/tomato sauce
- 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 4 Tbsp of Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
- 1 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- 100ml water

Grilled Mixed Seafood2

Directions:
Sprinkle lime juice over the seafood and let it stand for 15min. Saute grated garlic and ginger with a little bit oil until fragrant. Add crushed peanuts and the rest of the ingredients, except the seafood. Mix it well and continue to cook until boiling. Add the seafood and stir. Continue to cook for 3min. Take out all of the seafood (do not discard the sauce) and place them on a baking tray. Broil them for 10-15min until done. Continue to cook the sauce until boiling again and serve it as a side dish.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Green Tea Swiss Roll - Christmas Count Down

Green Tea Swiss Roll3

I have been crazy to every thing matcha (green tea)..yup...I have tried to bake matcha chiffon cake, to make matcha frappe, and last time I decided to make matcha swiss roll. I do not know why..maybe coz I feel it is somewhat healthy? Let's just believe it...:D

So on this 4th day before Christmas, I would like to share this recipe with you all! Got the recipe from here.
And since I have some left-over batter, I just made it as cupcakes. Had fun decorating it with kids as well...
I am not gonna type the recipe here, since I think it is better to read the original posting.
Next to try is: matcha truffles..stay tune!

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Monday, December 20, 2010

Croquette with Chicken Ragout Filling - Christmas Count Down

Kroket

Wow..Christmas is less than a week away. And on the 5th day of Christmas, I would like to share these 5 croquettes filled with chicken ragout. These are good for afternoon tea snacking during our cold days.

Ingredients:
- oil for frying
- bread crumbs/panko (apparently panko is crunchier than bread crumbs)
- 3 egg white, whisk briefly

To make potato skin:
- 7 potato, peel off the skin, wash and cut into small chunks, deep fry it with hot oil until cooked
- 5Tbsp of cheese spread
- 2Tbsp of fresh milk (you may skip)
- 1 egg

To make ragout:
- 200gr of boiled chicken thigh and cut into pieces
- 2 carrot, peel of the skin and cut into small cubes
- 2 potato, peel of the skin and cut into small cubes
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 1 cloves of shallot, chop thinly
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 60ml of chicken broth
- 200ml of fresh milk
- 2Tbsp of all purpose flour
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute

Kroket2

Directions:
Prepare ragout by sauteing garlic and onion until fragrant. Then add chicken pieces and stir. Add cut carrot, potato and cook until done. Add chicken broth, pepper, salt and sugar, stir well. Add flour and instantly stir to avoid burning, then add milk and stir well until thicken. Add green onion, mix. Keep it aside.
To make the potato skin, mash the fried potato while it is still hot until smooth. Add the cheese spread and milk and mix it well. Let it cool down to room temperature and then add the egg. Mix it well.
To make the croquette: take a scoop of the skin and roll it on hand to form a ball and then flatten it on the palm of hand. Fill it with a spoon of ragout and then roll back the potato skin to cover the filling. Dip it in bread crumbs and then in egg white and again in bread crumbs. Deep fry it with hot oil under medium high heat until golden brown and crispy at the outside.
Serve it warm with hot sauce or mayo.

Note: the recipe is good to make 15pieces of medium sized croquette.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Grilled Corned Beef Stuffed Jalapeno - Christmas Count Down

Grilled Corned Beef Stuffed Jalapeno

To be honest, I prefer something salty-savory over sweet things. While my husband likes something sweet and spicy (read=hot), and his preference of hotness is to the extreme (emm...I may say all of his preference is to the extreme, like sooo salty, sooo sweet, sooo spicy..:D). Thus at home, I normally cook a portion of meal then separate some for our kids and then add lot of chili pepper to the rest. And still I prepare some sambal (crushed chili) at the side.
On this 6th day of Christmas, I feel like sharing something savory and spicy. Here is an easy recipe of grilled corned beef stuffed jalapeno.

Ingredients:
- 1 can of corned beef, work it with a fork to separate the meat
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp of thyme leaves
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- 3 chili paddy/bird's eye chili, chopped (optional)
- dash of salt
- olive oil
- 8 big size-jalapeno pepper, cut in half and discard the seeds

Grilled Corned Beef Stuffed Jalapeno

Directions:
In a bowl, mix well corned beef, thyme leaves, salt, pepper, chopped chili and egg. Fill it into the jalapeno. Arrange them on a baking tray and spray some olive oil over. Broil it in an oven for 15-20min or until crispy and done.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Our Gingerbread House - Christmas Count Down

So here we are 7days away from Christmas..oh wow..the clock is ticking and I have not done enough baking and cooking...**panicking**..**panicking**
Not that we make it a very big event..no..just that what I've expected is way beyond my capacity..**deep breathing**..**deep long breathing**...relax Lidia..chill out and just enjoy every moment..(note: no baking for these past 2days..).
For this 7th day before Christmas, I would like to share one of our activities during pre-Christmas, sorry no recipe this time, instead expect a lot of photos...
Here is a fun day making and eating Gingerbread House with kids.

Since I was panicking and running out of time, I did not bother to make it from scratch (and I don't think I could do it). There is a shortcut by purchasing the kit from stores and they were on sale last week (only 9$).
In case you are wondering how it looks like, here is the picture of the whole kit. It comes with the prebaked Gingerbread cookies, icing sugar, tray and of course lotta candies.

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The prebaked gingerbread cookies are easily to arrange to become a house by gluing it with icing sugar and let it set for 15min. I did not let the kids doing it up to this step.

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I just let them helping me with the decoration. Choosing the color and putting the candies on the house. It was a total fun! Look at this beautiful result...Well done kids!

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And some closer looks of the gingerbread man, the fancy roof and the Christmas tree..

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When daddy got home from work..it was time to eat the Gingerbread House...Look at their happy (messy) faces..

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And here is our poor Gingerbread House..at the end the adults should finish the cookies all up...

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Friday, December 17, 2010

Choco Chip And Walnut Cookies - Christmas Count Down

Choc Chip n Walnut Cookies4

One of those days, Bianca was asking for some cookies, but I was too lazy to go to the store. I checked my pantry and found all I need to bake some for her. This was the first time I baked chocolate chip cookies and it turned out really good. No wonder they named it the best chocolate chip cookies and it's easy for beginner like me. The best part is that you can adjust the sweetness to your preference (I found out in North America cookies and cakes are way to sweet to my taste).
So here is my 8th day before Christmas recipe: Choco Chip and Walnut Cookies..

Ingredients:

- 1c butter, softened
- 1c white sugar (I reduced it to 3/4c)
- 1c packed brown sugar
- 2 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3c all purpose flour
- 1tsp baking soda
- 2tsp hot water
- 1/2tsp salt
- 2c semisweet chocolate chips
- 1c chopped walnuts

Choc Chip n Walnut Cookies

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Snow White Cookies - Christmas Count Down

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I was supposed to write this Christmas count down post 3 days ago, so that I could fit to my 12th day before Christmas version. But I hardly find time to sit and type on my computer, an excuse of having frozen brain..**blame it to the weather, the heater does not help**
Oh well, so here is my 9th day before Christmas post. Enjoy!

Today I would like to share our fave cookies recipe...we call it Putri Salju (snow white cookies), coz it is coated with icing sugar. The common recipe does not have cheese in it, I added Edam and Old Cheddar this time, and I like it.

Ingredients:

- 225g butter (I like the salted one)
- 100g fine granulated sugar
- 200g ground baked cashew nuts
- 250g all purpose flour
- 100g grated cheese (mix of Edam and Old Cheddar)

For coating:
- 120g icing sugar


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Directions:
Whisk butter and sugar until smooth and pale. Add the cashew nuts, flour and grated cheese and mix them well. Make a ball of the dough and cover it with plastic wrap. Keep it in a fridge for an hour. Preheat the oven to 300F and layer the cookie tin with parchment paper. Take the dough out of the fridge and form half-moon shapes. Place them on the tin, give space in between. Bake for 20min at 300F. When it is done, take out and cool off for 3min, then coat them with icing sugar. Keep them in an airtight container.


Putri Salju Keju