Fried Chicken with Crispy Flakes (Ayam Goreng Kremes)

I remember I used to have this fried chicken every time I visited one of my good friend in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. She owns a restaurant which serves this menu and martabak manis with banana-cheese-chocolate filling too. Last Saturday all of a sudden I wanted to eat this chicken and since I'd never made it on my own before, I browsed around on the internet and found one on Rumah Maya Mamiek Syamil. After asking her permission, I copied and adapted the recipe in my kitchen. It turned out very good, the crispy flakes even stayed crispy and crunchy until the next 2-3days.

Ingredients:
- 6 pieces of whole chicken legs
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 4cm of ginger
- 3 lime leaves
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4cm of galangal
- 1Tbsp ground coriander
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- 1tsp of ground cumin
- 1tsp of ground turmeric
- salt
- oil for frying
- water

In a blender, blend onion, garlic and ginger until smooth. Place it in a pot and add water, chicken legs and the rest of the ingredients. Bring it to boil and stir the broth. Continue to cook until chicken tender. Take out the chicken legs and drip off the broth and then deep dry it with oil under medium high heat until golden brown.

To make crispy flakes:
- 200ml seasoned chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp of rice flour
- 1 egg
- water

Mix the rice flour with a little bit of water (just to make a solution). Mix it with 200ml of the seasoned broth which came from cooking the chicken legs. Add egg and mix it well. Deep fry it under high heat by placing one laddle full of the mixture into hot oil until golden brown. Do it again and again until you've got enough flakes.

To serve, place the fried chicken leg on a plate and sprinkle with some flakes on top or side. Add sambal terasi, cucumber and tomato at the side. Eat it with warm steam rice.

Fried Battered Tempeh (Tempe Goreng Tepung)

This is our family favorite's nibble. It goes fast after frying, Bianca likes it too. It is also good to eat as side dish with steam rice and veggies.

Ingredients:
- 1 block of tempeh, cut into 12 slices
- 3 cloves of garlic, grind it until smooth
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 2 Tbsp of Kobe flour
- 2 Tbsp of rice flour
- 1 Tbsp of ground coriander
- water app. 150ml
- salt
- frying oil

In a mixing bowl, mix well all the ingredients, except tempeh and frying oil. Add water as needed. Do not put too much salt, since Kobe flour has already contained salt. Batter the tempeh with this mixture and deep fry it under medium high heat until golden brown.
Serve it with chili or hot sauce.

Spicy Eggplant/Aubergine (Balado Terong Ungu)

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. Instead of asking me to cook fancy foods, he asked me to make balado terong the spicy one. So yes, I made this specially for him and I made it really really spicy.

Ingredients:
- 3 eggplant/aubergine, cut it in the middle longwise, and then cut into 5cm in length, put it in an oven for 30min at 350F, flip it over in the mid way.
- 16 chili paddy/bird's eye chili (consider to reduce the number please...)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 5 cloves of small red onion
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tomato, cut into 12
- 3 lime leaves
- salt
- sugar
- 100ml water
- oil for saute

In a chopper, chop chili, garlic, onion, tomato and shrimp paste until coarse smooth. Saute it with a little bit of oil for 3minutes. Add salt and sugar and continue to cook and stir constantly. Add some water and continue to cook until boiling. Add the lime leaves and stir it well. Add the baked eggplant, stir it and cook for another 10minutes.

To accompany this spicy food, I also made fried vermicelli (see the recipe here). In Chinese's belief, consuming any kind of noodles on your birthday is a symbol of long-life wish. Happy birthday dear!

Pork with Sweet Soy Sauce (Babi Kecap)

This menu is for Bianca, since now she is enjoying rice more than cereal or porridge.

Ingredients:
- 750gr of pork meat, boil until tender and cut into small cubes
- 4 potato, peel of the skin, cut into small cubes and fry it until cooked
- 5 egg, boil and peel of the shell
- 6 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4cm of ginger, crack it with pestle
- 2 Tbsp of soybean paste (Indonesian-taoco)
- 3 Tbsp of sweet soy sauce, add more as prefers
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- salt
- sugar
- 500ml of broth from boiling the pork
- oil for saute

In a wok, saute garlic and ginger with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add soybean paste, sweet soy sauce and pepper and stir it constantly until boiling. Add pork and boiled eggs, stir it well. Add broth and continue to cook until boiling again. At last add the fried potato. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar.

Note: normally it is better to serve it on the next day, since all the seasoning will immerse to the meat and eggs.

Stir Fried Mixed Veggies (Cah Sayur Campur)

Worrying that my bean sprout would turn bad, I decided to make this stir fried. It is quite simple yet easy to prepare. You may add any kind of veggies as you like.

Ingredients:
- 1 napa cabbage, cut into small pieces
- bunch of bean sprout
- 1/2 can of sweet green peas
- 200gr of headless shrimp, cut into 2 each
- 200gr of meat (chicken/pork/beef), boil and cut into small cubes, use a little bit of the broth
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 2 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp of maizena or corn flour, mix it with a little bit of water
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- oil for saute

In a wok, saute onion and garlic with a little bit of oil until brownish. Add shrimp and continue to cook until it changes color. Add meat and sesame oil and stir it well. Add oyster sauce and app. 200ml broth and cook until boiling. Add napa cabbage and cook for 3minutes (do not overcooked). Add bean sprout and sweet green peas. Pour in the maizena solution and stir it instantly until the water thicken. Adjust the taste with salt, sugar and pepper.

Smoked Fish in Coconut Milk (Mangut Ikan Asap)

This food is originally from Pati and its surrounding area (Kudus, Jepara, Semarang) in Central Java, Indonesia. Normally, smoked Stingray fish is used, but I was not able to find this specific fish here in Montreal. So I used smoked deboned Milk fish to replace it. I copied the recipe from Ayin's page and made a little modification (thank Yin..).

Ingredients:
- 1 smoked deboned Milk fish, cut into 5
- 1 block medium firm tofu, cut into triangle shapes, fry until half-cooked
- 1 block tempeh, cut into triangle shapes, fry until golden brown
- 3 bilimbi, cut into small pieces
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4cm of galangal, crack it with pestle
- 3 lime leaves
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 4 candle nuts
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tsp of ground turmeric
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying and saute
- 1L of water

In a chopper, chop chili, onion, garlic, candle nuts and shrimp paste until smooth. Saute it with a little bit of oil in a pan for 2minutes. Then transfer it into boiling water in a pot. Add bay leaves, lime leaves, galangal and ground turmeric. Continue to cook until boiling again. Add fried tofu, tempeh, and bilimbi. Add coconut milk and adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Stir it while cooking. At last add the smoked fish and continue to cook for another 3minutes.
Serve warm with steam rice.