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.

Do You Really Love Me?.... Please Vote

A while ago I was interviewed by bloginterviewer.com and my blog is shown there. Each month they will have 18 winners to get the prizes as the most voted. Please help me to get more votes by clicking the blue small "vote now" box underneath the title here. And you may add some comments too there. Thank you so much for supporting! And see you soon with more easy recipes and drool worthy pictures...

The Answer of My Long Waiting - Cup-Carrot-Cake with Raspberry and Cream Cheese Frosting

It was in August 2009 when I took this shot to participate in photos competition celebrating our Independence Day. The theme was The Beauty of Red and White as it is our national flag's color. I came up with an idea to put raspberry on cream cheese frosting over a cup-carrot-cake to suit the theme. And just last month, after a long waiting, I got an email notifying me that my picture won the edibility category. Thank you judges for such an honor to win this, I am nothing but far from perfection. For complete result, please see this.



I adapted the recipe of carrot cake into cupcakes. See the source here.