Sweet and Spiced Fried Beef (Empal Daging)

I had lean meat and thought it would be good for empal. I like the taste, like it like it like it...but I hate the preparation...and I hate the time spent for cleaning up after cooking, coz it is quite long process and needs both pot and pan meaning lot of things to wash. Oh well, got to take it anyway...ssstttt...luckily I have a wonderful husband who did the cleaning for me...woohoooo...

Here is the recipe...

Soto Mie (Soto Soup with Egg Noodle)

When I missed my beloved country, Indonesia so much...and all of the convenience things you can get there...yes I am talking about the place where you can easily buy any yummy food as cheap as or even cheaper than if you have to cook them at home...where there are many hawkers and food stalls open almost all day long...(I am literally crying now....)
Since I could not just fly right home, I just prepared something that makes me feel at home..
Find the recipe here and enjoy the pictures.

Kung Pao Chicken - My husband's Favorite Chinese Dish

We have special dish to order when we dine in a Chinese restaurant. I normally order congee (either chicken or seafood) share it with Bianca, and my husband would pick fried rice or kung pao chicken and chinese broccoli with oyster sauce. Seems like we never get bored with our order.
So one of those day, I tried to prepare my husband's favorite Chinese dish, kung pao chicken. You know why he likes this Szechuan dish? Coz he likes every thing spicy with his chicken or meat...

I browsed around on the internet and found one on this site.

I copied the recipe without any modification.

Ingredients:
-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks, marinade with:
-2 tsp soy sauce
-2 tsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
-1 tsp sesame oil
-1.5 tsp cornstarch

Sauce:
-1.5 Tbsp dark soy sauce
-1 Tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
-1 tsp sugar

Other:
-8 small dried red chili
-2 cloves garlic
-2 green onion
-4 Tbsp frying oil
-1 tsp Szechuan peppercorn (optional)
-0.5cup peanuts or cashews
-a few drop of sesame oil (optional)

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Directions:
Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Combine with the marinade ingredients, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the chicken for 25 minute
While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce and vegetables: In a small bowl, combine the dark soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. Set aside.

Cut the chilies in half so that they are approximately the same size as the chicken cubes. Remove the seeds. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Cut the green onion on the diagonal into thirds.

Heat the wok over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken. Stir-fry until it turns white and is 80 percent cooked. Remove from the wok.

Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and stir-fry until aromatic (about 30 seconds). Add the chili peppers and the Szechuan peppercorn if using. Stir-fry briefly until they turn dark red.

Add the sauce to the wok. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken back into the pan. Stir in the peanuts and the green onion. Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame oil. Serve hot.

Click! April 2009 - Spring/Autumn - Snack in a Sac

I feel like my blog is running from one event to another...and this time is Click! submission again. This month theme is Spring/Autumn, and since I am living in the Northern hemisphere, I guess I should pick Spring. And here is my entry:



Spring is always associated with cleaning, means working out and healthier life style as well. Therefore, I would like to present a healthy snack, edamame and it comes in a beautiful bright sac with some leaf buds - the sign of spring - at the background. Happy Spring every one!

Onde Onde (Glutinous Rice Balls with MungBeans Filling)

April theme for "Masak Bareng Yuuk!!!" event is traditional snacks with rice or glutinous rice ingredients. Firstly I thought I would not be able to join the event, since I was quite busy lately and did not have enough time to specifically prepare for this event. While I went through my photos file and found this "Onde-Onde" snack, I was so happy thinking that I will be joining the MBY again. Luckily I have not posted it before. So here is my entry...Thank you Rita and Rurie for sharing the recipe (source: Yasaboga).

Ingredients:
Skin:
- 250 grams glutinous rice flour
- 25 grams sago flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 175 cc warm coconut milk from ½ coconut
- 100 grams white sesame seeds, rinsed, drained and dried

Filling:
- 200 grams skinned mung beans (I just used the whole mung beans with skin on)
- 50 cc water
- 150 grams sugar (I replaced it with sweet condensed milk)
- 1 pandan leaf or vanilla (I chosed vanilla essence)
- oil, for deep frying

Directions:
• Filling:
Soak mung beans for about 1 hour, steam until done and mash while still hot. Mix with water, sugar and vanilla, cook on low heat and stir constantly until the mixture can be shaped. Cool and make balls with a diameter of 1 ½ cm. Set aside
• Skin:
Mix glutinous rice flour, sago flour and salt. Pour in warm coconut milk, a little at a time, kneading constantly until the dough can be shaped. Divide into 12 parts.
• To assemble:
Take 1 part of dough, shape into a ball and flatten to ½ cm thickness. Place 1 ball-shaped filling in the centre, close the dough around it and reshape into a ball. Roll ball into sesame seeds, pressing slightly to ensure that the seeds sticks to the dough. Or dip ball quickly into water to dampen the surface before rolling into the sesame seeds. Heat oil over medium fire and deep-fry the rolls until golden brown and done. Drain. Enjoy it with your afternoon tea/coffee.

Indonesian Food Week - Sego Gandul

This is a reposting of my previous post and my entry for Indonesian Food Week held by NCC organized by Siany.

Sego Gandul or Nasi Gandul, literally means hanging rice...but do not expect that you will find the way it means by words. It is a traditional meal from Pati, Central Java. Somebody told me that because it is served with a piece of banana leaf lining the plate, it does not touch the plate, that's why they call it "Gandul", whereas "sego/nasi" means rice.
I was born in Pati, but I confess I had never made this meal before until the other day when I saw Titi and Ayin made and posted it on their blogs.
A year ago, my sister sent me the recipe through email and last week I went through my old inbox to find that particular message with the recipe in it, and I was happy to find it was still there. My sis got the recipe from a lady that lives in Pati, so I trust it is a genuine recipe.

Ingredients:
- 800gr of beef meat with a little fat (I do not like it too much fat)
- 4cloves of small red onion
- 8cloves of garlic
- 5 candle nuts
- 4cm of ginger
- 1tsp of shrimp paste
- 2tsp of ground coriander
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- 1tsp of ground cummin
- 1tsp of ground kencur
- 4cm of galangal
- 4 lime leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 10 of blanched chili paddy
- salt
- sweet soy sauce
- 1Tbsp of palm sugar
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- oil for saute

Side dish:
- fried onion
- fried tempeh
- shrimp crackers (I did not serve it this time)

Directions:
Boil the beef with water until tender, keep the broth a side for later use, and cut the beef into small cubes. Crush onion, garlic, candle nuts, ginger and shrimp paste in a blender until smooth. Saute it with a little bit of oil for 2minutes. Add coriander, pepper, cummin, kencur, galangal and lime leaves and stir it well. Add the meat and stir it. Add blanched chili, cinnamon stick, salt, sweet soy sauce, broth and palm sugar. Cook and stir until boiling. Continue to cook for another 10-15min, until all the seasoning immersed. Discard the cinnamon stick and then add coconut milk. Cook until boiling again and turn off the stove.
To serve, line a plate with a piece of banana leaf. Place a scoop of warm steam rice and then pour Gandul over. Sprinkle some fried onion and add some fried tempeh at side. Originally instead of spoon, they used "suru"-a small long piece of banana leaf to eat (see the first picture).