Sari Kacang Ijo (Mung Bean Juice)

Mung beans is so popular in Indonesia and consumed mostly as bubur kacang hijau, also used as filling for some traditional snack (bakpia, kue ku, etc.). It is rich in fiber and vitamin B. I used to like to drink this mung bean juice which comes in a tetra package and easily found in a grocery store. Now that I live abroad, I could not find that mung bean juice, except by making it myself. So the other day, I prepared this juice and enjoyed every sips of it.

While sharing the recipe, I also want to participate on IDFB Challenge 3 (Indonesian Beverages).

Ingredients:

150g mung beans, soaked overnight

1L water or more

4cm of ginger, bruised

1 pandan leaf

1 block of palm sugar

1Tbsp of granulated sugar

1tsp of vanilla essence (optional)

Directions:

Rinse the soaked beans and drained off the water. Boil in water until cracked and soft (approximately for an hour). Cool it off and crush it in a blender, add some water as needed. Using a kitchen strainer, separate the juice from the pulp. While straining, stir the blended juice occasionally. You may re-do the blending and straining procedures with the pulp and discard the last pulp. Then re-boil the juice and add the remaining ingredients. Adjust the taste to your preference with granulated sugar. Discard ginger and pandan leaf before serving. Serve it as warm or cold drink.

Es Sirsak Manado (Manadonese Style Soursop Shake) - Red and White Food Photo 2011

It has been more than 7years I had not had soursop (read: not seen it anywhere around me). So last week when I saw it in an Asian store, no more thinking twice, it was bought! When I got home, I just realized it was soooo expensive..it cost me more than 11$ for 2Lbs of it...what a rip-off! O well..I really want it, so 11$ got to be good then. One of my fellow food blogger suggested me to make this shake, to be honest, it was the first time for me to hear the name of it...never heard about it before and sure never had it before either. Thus I check her blog out, and found the recipe here (thank you mb Ria). A little modification was made and here is my version:

Ingredients:
- 1.5cup of soursop, discard the skin and seeds
- 1 cup of coconut juice

- 0.5 cup of shredded coconut meat

- 0.5 cup of nata de coco, discard the sugary water

- 0.5 cup of red palm seeds, discard the sugary water

- 1 cup of longan, discard the sugary water

- 1 cup of shaved ice

- 2Tbsp of sweet condensed milk

- 1Tbsp of cocopandan syrup (red color)

Directions:

Blend soursop, coconut juice and meat in a blender until smooth. Put some of nata de coco, palm seeds and longan into a serving glass. Add the soursop shake and top it up with shaved ice. Drizzle some sweet condensed milk and cocopandan syrup on top.

The recipe is good to make 3 tall glasses of shake. Serve immediately.

I would like to submit the first picture to the Red and White Food Photo 2011, in order to celebrate our National Independence Day. Happy 66th Independence Day Indonesia!

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.

Young Coconut and Rambutan Drink (Es Kelamud Rambutan)

I can not believe, this place could get warmer now, and it feels like summer already. So couple days ago, I just prepared this drink for evening "snack"...yes, it sounds a bit weird when I said it's snack, but it's true...we had it as our snack, not just a drink...a refreshing snack. And Bianca loves it...yes she loves any drink and snack...and yes it is a snack and drink as well, so she loves it...

Ingredients:
- 1 can of rambutan with pineapple filling
- 1 package of frozen shredded young coconut (available at asian store), thawed
- ice cubes
- water
- cocopandan syrup

Directions:
In a punch bowl, mix well all of the ingredients except the syrup and ice cubes. You may use the sugar solution from the canned rambutan too. Then add some cocopandan syrup to taste. At last add some ice cubes or you may keep it in fridge for an hour before serving.

Wedang Cemoe (Hot Ginger Drink with Young Coconut Meat)- An (Almost) Forgotten Indonesian Culinary Heritage

This is my entry for a great foodie event called (Almost) Forgotten Indonesian Culinary Heritage hosted by my dear friend Rurie...

Like some of my foodie blogger friends, I found it a bit hard to decide what the (almost) forgotten Indonesian culinary heritage is. The main reason is because geographically I have not resided in Indonesia for almost 5 years and I am not sure whether what I thought to be an (almost) forgotten is almost forgotten and that indeed it is hard to find there in its origin. Even though at heart I am still attached to Indonesia. Thus I just go with memory of my childhood.

I was born and raised in a small village in Pati, Central Java until finishing my high school and then moved to Yogyakarta to study. When I was studying in Yogyakarta, my family decided to moved to Solo, which is an hour away from Yogyakarta. Since I spent my life time longer in Pati than in Solo, I have more fond memories of my home and childhood in Pati. Even though Pati is at coast, it can get a bit cold and wet during rainy days. I remember my Mom used to make this hot ginger drink for us to keep us warm and to comfort us when we had cold or flu. It is called cemoe. It is not just a hot ginger drink, but the uniqueness is on the other ingredient/s added.
In Pati, normally young coconut meat is the only additional ingredient, whilst in Kediri it can be roasted peanut, sago pearls, bread, glutinous rice and coconut milk that are added.

Cemoe is mentioned in a literature and fiction book written by Umar Kayam "Para Priyayi" as a drink of Para Priyayi which has been hard to find. Therefore I believe, this hot drink is an (almost) forgotten Indonesian culinary heritage. The reason why it is (almost) forgotten may lay on practical things. As modernization comes along the way, people choose every thing instant and ready to use. They do not bother to cook/prepare it from scratch. There is instant ginger drink and people can just add some hot water and stir and drink it instantly, no need to peel, no need to boil water nor to add sugar...it all comes in one small package and it is widely available at stores. As for me, the one from real ginger is still the best. So let me share the recipe which used to be our family favorite drink during rainy days.

Ingredients:
- 150g ginger roots, peeled and bruised
- 500ml water
- 1 block of coconut sugar (Indonesian-gula jawa)
- 1/2 can of young coconut meat, cut into small squares
- 3Tbsp of sugar

Directions:
In a pot, bring water into boiling. Then add ginger and continue to cook for another 3minutes. Add coconut sugar and sugar and stir it well until all dissolved. Remove it from stove. To serve, place 2Tbsp full of cut young coconut meat in a cup/glass. Pour the ginger drink in it and serve immediately.

Source: Mom's recipe

Es Lengkeng Merdeka! (Simply..Longan Drink)

This is my entry for Red and White Foodie Photography Contest, a collaboration of three foodie bloggers, Dhi-Fitri-Dwi. After a little while and lot of hesitation and procrastination, eventually I've finished writing this post.

In the spirit of August-month of our Independence day, red and white which represent the color of our national flag is used as a source of our creativity in food photography. As I am a beginner in food photography, I do not expect much, I just want to have fun by joining this event and make the event merrier! Here is the picture I've submitted.

The story goes behind the picture...
I have been living overseas for a better of 5 years. Even though I live far away from my beloved country-Indonesia, I feel attached to Indonesia. There are some reasons why I feel so attached to Indonesia..
- I am married to an Indonesian guy, so our every day life is full of Indonesian cultures..we try to maintain the good ones, eliminate the bad ones and compile it with good Western cultures too.
- My husband prefers Indonesian foods than Western ones, so mostly I prepare Indonesian foods and keep Indonesian spices in my kitchen.
- I speak to my 16mo old girl in bahasa Indonesia...so bahasa is our first language at home.
- Sweet soy sauce is my husband's forever favorite condiment...and it should be made by Indonesian company, he loves one particular brand.
- We have some Indonesian friends that gather every Sunday afternoon for Bible studying and prayer meeting, and we do speak Indonesian during the sessions. Oh yeah and the best part is we share Indonesian food after the meeting...

Even though I feel so attached to my country, it does not mean that I do not miss Indonesia. Indeed, I do miss Indonesia terribly much. I miss my extended family whom mostly still reside in Indonesia, I miss the real Indonesian foods sold on street-so I do not need to spend time cooking, I miss shopping good things at a bargain price, I miss "becak" a tricycle public transportation-so I do not need to walk to get to short-medium distance, and a lot more..my list would go longer than you expected. Well, life goes on...I love my country but the fate brought me to live far away from it...

Thus, to celebrate the Independence day, I want to take a part of this special event...even though it is small, I believe I may contribute this way..

Inspired by red and white, I made this simple longan drink. It is very easy to make and suitable to our current weather. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
-1 can of longan fruits in syrup
-5Tbsp of cocopandan flavor syrup (made in Indonesia)
-4glasses of cold water
-ice cubes

Directions:
In a big bowl, mix all of the ingredients and stir it well. Keep it in the fridge to make it cooler. To serve, place it in clear glasses. The recipe is good to make 5glasses of the drink.

Happy Independence Day Indonesia....! We do love you...

Banana-Strawberry Smoothie

The other day I bought lot of bargained banana in a wholesale store coz all of us love bananas. And seemed like they would turn bad quick and I have to use it up. So in order to use up the banana, I made this fresh smoothie. I still had some fresh strawberry too, so why not mix them up?

Ingredients:
- 2 banana, cut into small chunks
- 10 strawberry, cut into half
- 350ml fresh milk
- ice cubes
- 3Tbsp of sweet condensed milk



In a blender, place all of the ingredients, and blend it at high speed for 2minutes. You may add some vanilla ice cream if you like. Then transfer it into 2 glasses (the ingredients is good to make 2 full glasses of smoothie). Add some more ice cubes as you wish.

Durian Juice (Jus Duren)

It is summer here in North America and it can get so hot and humid that you just need something refreshing and quenching your thirst. My husband is crazy for durian and every time we went eating at Vietnamese restaurant he always order durian juice.
Last week when we went to an Asian store, he saw Montong durian that looked round and perfect, so he decided to buy one. It cost more than regular durian, but he still wanted to buy it because he imagined it would taste as good as the price.
When we arrived at home, he opened it up right away. However to his surprise, it did not taste as good as he expected. It was kind of hard..well it was still good in term of sweetness, but no alcoholic aroma exposed. Seems like it was not ripe enough when they harvested it.
I had an idea to consume it in another form by making juice, so that we would not taste the hardness of this fruit. And my husband loved the idea.



Ingredients:
- 6 stones of Montong durian, discard the stones
- 3 Tbsp of sweetened condensed milk
- 400ml of "half and half" creme
- 10 ice cubes

Directions:
Put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend it at high speed for 2-3minutes. Then pour it in two glasses. The recipe is good to make 2 glasses of durian juice. If you want it chiller, keep it in a fridge for a while. I normally keep it in the freezer for 10minutes, for I love it to be a little bit frozen.



As you may notice, I took all of the above pictures during night time just with regular lighting in my living room, no additional lighting, my camera, no flash, no tripod and included on the list is my busy -trying to help-but disturbing- Bianca...(there was an accident when she poured half carton of the creme on our living room carpet...oh dear!)

Cendol (Tapioka Bubbles Drink)

I have been talking about making it since two month ago, but keep postponing. I'd already had all the ingredients needed, still no desire to make it. Eventually last Monday I made it for my friend's birthday party. People loved it as the weather was warm outside.

Ingredients:
To make bubbles:
- 1 package of hunkwe powder
- 70gr of rice flour
- 35gr of tapioka flour
- 4drops of pandan essence
- 200ml of water
- 400ml of boiling water
- 1Tbsp of sugar
- pinch of salt
- ice cubes and cold water in molding pot

To make coconut milk mix:
- 1can of coconut milk
- 100ml of water
- pinch of salt

To make sweetener:
- 2blocks of palm sugar
- 3Tbsp of brown sugar
- 180ml of water
- 4 pandan leaves

Optional adding:
- 1can of jackfruit in syrup, discard the syrup, cut into small pieces
- 1can of grass jelly, cut into small pieces



In a bowl, dissolve hunkwe powder, tapioka and rice flour, sugar and salt with water. Add pandan essence and mix it well until all color distributed evenly. Prepare the boiling water on stove. While boiling, add the flour mixture little by little and stir it instantly and continuously until thickening and boiling again. Prepare the molding pot with ice cubes and cold water inside. Then pour the hot thick mixture and press it using a wooden laddle, so that the mixture will come out of the holes and form bubbles. The bubble which drops into cold water and ice cubes will harden and would not stick to each other. Do it until all done. Keep it aside.

In a small pot, mix well coconut milk, water and salt. Bring it to boil. Put it aside.

In a small pot, bring to boil water. Add pandan leaves. Then add palm sugar and stir it well until all dissolved. At last add brown sugar, stir it until all dissolve and wait until boiling again.

To serve, in a glass, put some bubbles, jackfruits and grass jelly. Then add coconut milk and the palm sugar sweetener. Stir it well. Add some ice cubes as it is good to serve it cold.

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.