Steamed Zebra Cake - Merry Christmas To You!

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

Prawn Spring Roll - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

Peanut Butter Cookies - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

Grilled Mixed-Mini Seafood - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

Green Tea Swiss Roll - Christmas Count Down

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!

Croquette with Chicken Ragout Filling - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

Grilled Corned Beef Stuffed Jalapeno - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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

Choco Chip And Walnut Cookies - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

Snow White Cookies - Christmas Count Down

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

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.

Duo-Trio Layers Cake (Lapis Surabaya) - The Economic Version!

Some preggo crave for something during their pregnancy. Some are lucky enough to get what they wanted for. I was one of them. When pregnant with Bianca, 4years ago, I craved for this specific cake which require a lot of egg yolks, known as Lapis Surabaya. I do not know where it got its name from and why they pick Surabaya, a city in East Java to name it. Anyway, I got someone kind enough to make it for me at that time.
And when we moved to other town, I have no one to bake this cake, so I decided to try it on my own. But since, it was my first trial, I did not dare to use a lot of egg yolks, so I chose this economic version.
Oh, I got the recipe from here.

Ingredients:

A:
- 8 egg yolks
- 9 egg
- 300g fine granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 150g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp ovalet/emulsifier

B:
- 150g all purpose flour
- 25g corn starch

C:
- 250g melted margarine

D:
- 1/2 Tbsp rum
- 1 tsp chocolate paste

Filling
- strawberry jam

Directions:

Mix and whisk A until fluffy. Add B and mix it under low speed. Add C and mix it well. Divide into 2 or 3 part (as you like, you may use just 2 layers or 3). Take one part and add D into it and mix it well. Pour the batter into 22x22cm cookie tin/tray which was lined with parchment paper before (you may use 2 0r 3 trays according to how many layer you like). Bake at 175C for 25min until done. Cool it off. Take one layer and spread the filling and arrange another layer on top of it. Cut edges to complete.

Starbucks Giveaway from Salad For Breakfast

For you Starbucks lovers!
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Green Tea Frappucino - would you do anything for love?

Many people say they would do anything for love, but how far would you really go? Some are willing to go to the ends of the earth for their significant others (read: I gave up my comfort zone in Australia and moved to a cold place called "Can I duh?" to unite w/ my ex-boyfriend-now husband), while others are not so ready to give up their freedom and still make a way to keep the relationship strong.
Found a nice quote about it recently: Do everything with so much love in your heart that you would never want to do it any other way (Yogi Desai).
Okay, I would not say much about this love and sacrifice things, instead I would like to share our drink related experience.

One of those hot summer days, we went to Starbucks to get something cool to drink. I got this green tea frappe, and husband got something else, dont remember what it was. Then he took a sip of mine, and since then he loves this drink. We then often go to Starbucks just to get this particular addicting drink. Since he loves it that much, I thought I would try to make it on my own (and I've already stocked up some green tea powder before) just for convenience, so that I can make it every time he wants it (am I doing anything for love here? you may say so). I browsed around on the net, and found many recipes, quite similar though. Thus I tried mixing and combining, and here is my version of green tea frappe. Would you do anything for love?

Ingredients:
- 1.5 tsp green tea powder
- 120ml hot water (not boiling)
- 2Tbsp of sweet condensed milk (may be replaced with granulated sugar)
- 120ml fresh 2% milk
- 60ml cream
- ice cubes
Optional: vanilla flavoured syrup

topping:
whipped cream

Directions:
Dissolve the green tea powder in hot water, add sweet condensed milk and mix it well. Transfer it in a blender, add milk, cream and ice cubes and blend it until smooth. Pour it in a tall glass and spray the whipped cream on top.
The recipe is good for 2 tall glasses.

Note: you may blend it without ice cubes, then keep it in a freezer until half frozen. Take it out and blend it again briefly. The result will be smoother.

Balinese Stuffed Grilled Chicken (Ayam Betutu)

Who has never heard about Bali? Someone asked me before, when I said I am from Indonesia.."Where is Indonesia? Is it close to Bali?"..Oh my..I was speechless for a moment, trying to find a nice way to explain without insulting. Well I am not gonna explain where and what about Indonesia, I think that explain much of how famous Bali is, the paradise island. Beside its richness of beautiful scenery, Bali is rich of culture, including food. I am lucky to be able to try and enjoy Balinese culinary. One of them is this grilled chicken. I made this for our thanksgiving family dinner, since we are not that keen into turkey.

The original recipe is here, but a little modification was made.

Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken, cleaned
- 1 pack of ground cassava leaves (app. 200g)
- vegetable oil for sauteeing
- banana leaves for wrapping

Spices to ground:
- 7 big red chilli and 5 chili paddy, adjusted into your preference (I used about 25 chili paddy)
- 8 roasted candle nuts
- 10 cloves of shallot
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp fermented shrimp paste
- 1 Tbsp ground coriander
- 2 stalk of lemongrass, chopped
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 4cm of galangal, cut
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 5 kaffir lime leaves
- 4cm of ginger, cut
- 1 Tbsp ground kencur
- salt and sugar to taste

Directions:

Grind all of the spices in a blender, and then sautee with a little bit of vegetable oil until fragrant. Cool it off and divide into 2 parts. Mix one part with ground cassava leaves. Stuff it into the chicken cavity. Close the opening with tooth picks. Cover the whole body with the rest of ground spices and stuff it under the skin too. Wrap the chicken with banana leaves. Broil in a preheated oven at 180C for 2-3hours. It may be steamed for 45min prior to broiling to cut off the broiling time into just an hour. Cut and serve with steamed rice.

I would like to share it with my fellow Indonesian foodie for the monthly event masbar.

Steamed-Ground Shrimp Stuffed Tofu - Putting My Palate-Memory into Real

To be frank, not many good Chinese restaurants in Edmonton (or I might not explore much, I would say). One which we often come for a lunch or dinner is Wok King, the one in China town. It is family oriented restaurant, it is not big, only have 6-4 seater tables and 2 or 3 round bigger tables. It ain't fancy either. But what we love about this restaurant is the taste of the foods they serve mostly are close to what we have back home. One of the foods we regularly ordering is this steamed ground shrimp stuffed tofu.

When we were there I tried to memorize the taste and think of what seasoning they put on, and one of these days I had a chance to try to make it at home. And this is what I want to share with you.

Ingredients:
- 3 blocks tofu, cut into rectangular shape (as shown on the pictures)
- 2 green onion

Stuffing:
- 200g shrimp, peeled (I added some ground chicken too)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 clove of shallot
- 2 tsp of oyster sauce
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- 1Tbsp corn starch

Sauce:
- 6Tbsp soy sauce
- 1Tbsp rice wine
- 1Tbsp sesame oil
- 1Tbsp fine granulated sugar

Directions:
In a food processor, process all of the ingredients for stuffing, except corn starch until smooth. Transfer it into a bowl and add the corn starch and mix it well. Scoop out some of the center part of tofu to place the stuffing. Place the stuffing at the center of tofu, then steam it for 45minutes.
While waiting, prepare the sauce by mixing all of the ingredients for sauce. Warm it up in a microwave for 40seconds to allow the sugar to be easily dissolved.
To serve, place the steamed tofu on a serving plate, pour the sauce over and sprinkle some freshly cut green onion.

And score!

Deep Fried Shrimp ala Bie Fong Tong - CSN Giveaway and Indonesia Eats Cook-Up

I am pleased to be invited to join the event of CSN Giveaway and Indonesia Eats Cook-Up by its own wonderful host and dear friend Pepy. And I am lucky to be able to join this special event (many foodie bloggers do not reside in US and Canada thus not eligible to join). I admire her blog which is rich with information and knowledge of foods. And it is with a pleasant heart I follow one of her recipes. My choice went for deep fried shrimp ala Bie Fong Tong.
Enjoy this super duper garlicky deep fried shrimp..I sneezed a lot when stir-frying the chili, but it paid off when eating it...hmmm...yummm...
I also want to share this recipe and picture for the event of Masbar, the theme for this month is seafood. Oh..and..HAPPY FALL SEASON!


Ingredients:
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, but leave the tails on
ground white pepper
seasalt
1 egg, beat until peaks
100 g corn starch
3 bird eyes chillies, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, bruised, to stir fry
vegetable oil

Sprinkle
200 g or 3-4 bulbs of garlic, chopped
1 green onion, finely sliced

Directions:
Bie Fong Tong style fried garlic for sprinkle
1. Clean and drain off the chopped garlic, sun-dried the garlic to reduce the moist (I used the oven to dry off).
2. Bake the garlic with a small amount of oil or deep fry until crispy and golden brown.
3. Garlic ready to use as Bie Fong Tong seasoning

Deep Fried Shrimp ala Bie Fong Tong
1. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the shrimp, combine.
2. Sprinkle with a small amount of corn starch, combine.
3. Add beaten egg, combine.
4. Coat the shrimp with the rest of cornstrach.
5. Deep-fry the shrimp until golden brown. Set aside.
6. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir fry the bruised garlic and bird eyes chillies until fragrant. Add the deep-fried shrimp, stir. Add fried chopped garlic, green onion, black pepper and salt, stir. Remove from heat and serve.

Chicken Porridge with Yellowish Seasoned Broth (Bubur Ayam Kuah Kuning)

It is almost end of September and we definitely have to say good bye to summer. I am so not ready for winter, especially Canadian one. When the season changed kids easily get sick, runny noses is what you can expect. Well not only kids, but adults too. I was having sore throat and won't go for any fried foods. Since one of our good friends just got tooth extraction, she ordered some "soft and easy to chew" food. The choice went for chicken porridge. And this was what we have. (PS: the picture is an old file from last year though).

Ingredients:
For porridge:
- 3cups of jasmine rice
- 1 stalk of lemon grass, cut into 5cm in length, bruised
- dash of salt
- 2L water

For yellowish broth and chicken:
- 5 whole chicken leg
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 3 cloves of shallot
- 4 candle nuts
- 1tsp of coriander powder
- 1tsp of cumin powder
- 1tsp of turmeric powder
- 1 stalk of lemon grass, cut into 5cm in length, bruised
- 4 lime leaves
- 4 Indonesian bay leaves
- water
- 1Tbsp of vegetable oil
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying

For egg satay:
- 3 can of quail eggs, discard the water
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 cloves of shallot
- 4 candle nuts
- 1tsp of coriander powder
- 1 tsp of cumin powder
- 2Tbsp of shredded palm sugar
- 1 stalk of lemon grass, cut into 5cm in length, bruised
- 4cm of galangal, bruised
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 2Tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- 600mL water

Side dishes:
- Fried soya beans
- Chinese cruller/long doughnuts
- Fried onion
- Chopped fresh green onion
- Sweet soy sauce
- Chili sauce

Directions:
Making porridge:
In a big pot, mix the rice, lemon grass, salt and water all together. Cook until the rice soften and form porridge. Add some more water as needed. Keep it aside.

Making the yellowish broth and chicken:
In a blender, crush garlic, shallot and candle nuts until smooth. With a little bit of oil, saute it until fragrant. Add the rest of the spices and continue to saute for another minute. Add the chicken and water. Cook under low heat until chicken tender. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Take out the chicken, drain off the broth. Then fry the chicken until golden and crispy. Shred the meat and keep it aside.

Making the egg satay:
In a blender, crush garlic, shallot and candle nuts until smooth. Mix all of the spices in a pot with water, stir well. Bring to boil. Add the eggs and continue to cook under low heat for 20min. Take out and drain off the egg and arrange them in a skewer.

To serve:
Put the porridge in a bowl, add the shredded chicken on top of it. Pour some yellowish broth. Then sprinkle some fried onion and add other side dishes. Serve it warm.

Color My Life - Black Pepper Stir Fried Beef

Don't you just love colors? Imagine the world without colors, will be so boring! I love autumn, when leaves are changing colors, red, yellow and orange... And with the food, I love to have colorful foods on my table, and I try to get the natural ones as much as I can. So as autumn is just around the corner, I would like to share a recipe of classic stir fry using colorful veggies and beef. Hope you like it!

Ingredients:
700g beef meat/rump, thinly sliced
2 red and yellow bell pepper, cut into squares
1 onion, chopped
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
1-2Tbsp of oyster sauce
1tsp of sesame oil
water app. 100ml or as needed
1-2tsp ground black pepper
oil for sauteing


Directions:
Saute onion and garlic with a lil bit of oil until fragrant. Add beef, stir and cook until color changed. Add oyster sauce and some water. Continue to cook until beef tender. Add ground black pepper and bell pepper. Cook for another 2minutes, do not overcook. Adjust the taste with oyster sauce or water. At last, turn off the heat and add the sesame oil and stir well.

Sweet Chicken Satay (Sate Ayam Bumbu Manis)

Again I push back this posting until the last day of submission...! And thank to one of my beloved readers who left a comment on my previous posting and reminded me that the closing was approaching. For August 2010 edition, we gotta share recipes of GRILLING, check out other great recipes here.
It was our last chance to enjoy summer this year with some outdoor activities here in Canada, as fall is just around the corner and temperature has been unpredictable lately (even we had hailing the other day). And barbeque-ing is one of those activities. The picture I posted here were taken during summer 2009, but have not been published since then. Unlike chicken satay which normally found in Indonesia which is eaten with peanut sauce, these chicken satay were marinated in thick spices and do not require peanut sauce. So enjoy these sweet and juicy chicken satay..

Ingredients:

- 1kg boneless skinless chicken thigh, cut into small cubes
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 6 cloves of shallot
- 6 candle nuts
- 4cm of galangal
- 1 block of palm sugar, grate it
- 1 lime, use the juice only
- 2Tbsp of ground coriander
- 1tsp of ground cumin
- 1Tbsp of ground black pepper
- 6Tbsp of fine-granulated brown sugar
- 100ml sweet soy sauce
- 2Tbsp of soy sauce
- 6Tbsp of fish sauce

In a blender, blend garlic, shallot, 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, and keep it in a fridge. I normally marinate it overnightly. 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 the spicy soy sauce, see the recipe here.

Cherry-Banana Crumbs Muffin

Finally I come back with a recipe to share. Been very busy with the kids and home lately and missing blogging a lot. This time I would like to share a banana recipe together with some Indonesian foodie bloggers in the event of MASBAR. As some of you may know this is a monthly event, where we share our passion of cooking together, and each month we have a theme to accomplish.

My husband loves these banana muffins, he can have them 3 in one go. I like the smell of cinnamon and the crunchiness of the crumbs. I got the recipe from here, and modified it by adding some cherries.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup of half-cut maraschino cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin tins or line it with muffin papers. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Add the cherries and mix well. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 Tbsp flour and cinnamon. Mix in 1 Tbsp butter until coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins. Bake for 18-20min, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

TELUR MASAK TAOCO (Fermented Soybean Paste Seasoned Egg)

Here is my entry for Masbar event May edition. It is a simple meal, but so homey. My Mom used to make it for us and now is my turn to serve it for my family. You know, I can have it more and more, emptying a full bucket of steamed rice..:)
Without further babbling, here is the recipe..

Ingredients:
8 hardboiled egg
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cloves of shallot, chopped
2-3 Tbsp of soybean paste (taoco)
6 green thai chili (add more as preferred), chopped
3 lime leaves
1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce (Indonesian-kecap manis)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil for sauteeing
water as needed
salt and sugar


Directions:
In a wok, saute garlic and shallot with oil until fragrant. Add chili, lime leaves and soybean paste. Continue to saute for another minute. Then add some water (approx. 75ml), stir it well. Add some soy sauce and adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Bring it to boil. At last add the hardboiled egg, and turn down the heat and continue to simmer for 10min. Serve it with warm steamed rice.

Black Glutinous Rice Sweet Porridge (Bubur Ketan Hitam)

You may find this kind of sweet porridge sold at street vendor in Indonesia. Normally it is sold together with mung beans sweet porridge, and most of the time the seller mix them in one bowl just before serving. But for me, I rather have the black glutinous rice one only. I like it more than the mung beans. And it has not changed, even though my husband loves to have the mung beans one. So at home I normally prepare it separately at a different time.
People have it at breakfast time or as snack.


Since Masbar event's theme for this month is sweet porridge, I decided to use my old file picture (yes, you are right..the year of the pictures is 2009 and indeed it was taken last year) which never been published before to share it with my beloved readers. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:
250g black glutinous rice, washed and soaked overnight in water, drained
2L water
2 pandan leaves
90g granulated sugar, added as desired
4cm ginger, cracked it with pestle
1tsp salt

sauce:
300mL coconut milk
1/2tsp salt
1 pandan leaf


Directions:
Boil the glutinous rice with 2L water until cook. Add sugar, ginger and pandan leaves and continue to cook until done/soft and thick. Remove from heat.
Boil the coconut milk with salt and pandan leaf and stir while boiling. To serve, put the sweet porridge in a bowl and pour the coconut milk sauce over.