Simplified Batavian Style Soup (Soto Betawi Sederhana)

This was a request from my husband, since he missed it so much. And it was the first time for me to make it from scratch, no instant seasoning added. Many recipes I found from the Internet, but it seemed too complicated for me, so I just simplified it.

Ingredients:
- 750gr beef flank, cut into small cubes
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 6 cloves of small red onion
- 4cm of ginger
- 4cm of galangal
- 6 candle nuts
- 1 lemon grass, cut into 4cm in length, crack it with pestle
- 4 Indonesian bay leaves
- 4 lime leaves
- 1tsp of ground turmeric
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- 1tsp of ground coriander
- 1can of coconut milk
- water
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute

Side dishes:
- tomato, cut into 8
- green onion, chop thinly
- fried onion
- fried melinjo crackers
- fried potato
- boiled eggs
- lime juice
- crushed chili



Directions:
In a blender, blend garlic, onion, ginger, galangal and candle nut until smooth. Then saute it with a little bit of oil in a pot until fragrant. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the meat, coconut milk, water, salt and sugar, and continue to saute for 2minutes. Add the beef and stir while cooking until changed color. Add water (app. 1.5lt) and continue to cook until boiling and the beef tender. Add coconut milk and stir it instantly. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar and continue to cook until boiling again.
To serve, in a bowl, place fried potato, cut tomato, and half of boiled egg. Pour the soup with meat over it. Sprinkle some fried onion and chopped green onion. Add crushed chili and some lime juice. Add melinjo crackers at the side. Eat it while it is hot.

"Me Style" Spiced Up Sardines

On one of my hectic days, when we were still staying at our friend's town house, I had to prepare something for our lunch, but it should be in blink of eyes as I did not have much time to spend in the kitchen. Safe by canned food...!! Luckily I stocked up some cans of sardines. But we do not normally eat canned food straightly from the cans..we normally add something else and cook it.
So this is what I did to my canned sardines...

Ingredients:
- 1 can of sardines in tomato sauce
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 3 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 6 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 tomato
- 4cm of ginger, cut thinly
- 3 potato, peel off the skin, cut into small chunk
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying
- water



Directions:
In a frying pan, fry cut potato with oil until brownish. Put it aside.
In a pan, saute garlic, onion and chili with a little bit of oil for 2minutes. Add ginger and tomato and continue to saute for another 2minutes. Add some water app. 100ml. Continue to cook until boiling. Add the sardines with all the sauce. Continue to cook until boiling again and stir occasionally. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Serve it warm with steam rice.

Rambutan Balls Soup (Sup Bakso Rambutan)

I made this soup almost two months ago, when I was still living in Montreal. But since I promised Deetha that we would post it at the same time I had to wait for her to make it first. After she made it around last month, I did not have time to write the recipe due to my moving and laziness as well, so I asked her to postpone the date to post.
Today I pushed myself to type it and share it with you my beloved readers...and today is the day that we agree to post it.

First we have to make the meat balls.
Ingredients:
- 300gr of ground chicken meat
- 300gr of ground prawn meat
- 100gr of clear vermicelli, boil with water until cooked and cut into short strings
- 100gr of black fungus, boil with water until cooked and chop into small pieces
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 4 cloves of small red onion
- 1Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 2Tbsp of fish sauce
- 1Tbsp of sesame oil
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 2Tbsp of tapioca flour
- 1 egg
- sugar
- oil for frying
- water for boiling



Directions to make boiled and fried meat balls:
Grind garlic and onion until smooth and then put it in a mixing bowl. Mix it with all of the ingredients, except tapioca flour, oil and water. Mix it well. Add tapioca flour and mix it well again. You may add more egg if you think it needs more liquid, do not add water. Prepare boiling water on a stove. Make a ball using two spoons and place the ball in the boiling water. Do it again and again for half of the mixture, leave another half for the fried ones. Once the ball comes up to the surface, take it out of the pot and keep it aside.
To make the fried ones, make the ball with two spoons and then deep fry it with hot oil under medium high heat until brownish. Keep it aside.



To make soup:
Ingredients:
- Boiled and fried meat balls
- 4 carrots, peel of the skin and cut into small pieces
- bunch of sweet peas, discard the hard edges
- bunch of pak choi, cut into 6cm in length
- 3 green onion, chop thinly
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 block of chicken broth
- 1tsp of ground nutmeg
- 1tsp of ground white pepper
- water
- salt
- sugar
- oil for saute
- fried onion



Directions to make soup:
In a pot, boil some water. Once it is boiling, add 1 block of chicken broth, nutmeg and pepper. Stir it well. Add carrot and cook for 3minutes. Add pak choi and continue to cook for 2minutes. Add sweet peas and while doing it, saute garlic and onion with a little bit of oil in a small pan until fragrant. Instantly pour it into the pot. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar and turn off the heat. At last sprinkle green onion. Serve it hot and sprinkle some fried onion if you like.

Grilled Ribs

I made this grilled ribs two weeks ago, but somehow I misplaced the picture files, and just found it yesterday. So I am glad to share the simple recipe for you...
I used the left over of marinating sauce for sweet satay.

Ingredients:
- 600gr of spare ribs, could be pork or beef
- 1 lime, use the juice
- left over of marinating sauce for sweet satay, you may find the recipe here



Directions:
Cut the ribs according to the size you like. Drizzle some lime juice over it and keep it aside for 10minutes. Then place all the ribs into the marinating sauce and marinate them for at least 1hour (I prefer to do it overnightly in the fridge ). Arrange them in an aluminum pan or other oven dish and grill them at medium heat for 45minutes to an hour. Flip it over to distribute the heat evenly. Serve it hot with some salad.

Water Morning Glory with Blackbeans Sauce

I made this veggie menu to eat with the spicy mackarel which I've previously posted. Quite simple yet tasty.

Ingredients:
- bunch of water morning glory, wash and cut into 7cm in length
- 3 blocks of tofu, cut into small cubes, fry until half cooked
- 150gr of beef, cut thinly
- 3Tbsp of blackbeans sauce
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 3 cloves of small red onion
- 8 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- sugar
- oil for saute
- water



In a wok, saute garlic and onion until fragrant. Add the beef meat and cook until changed color. Add chili and blackbeans sauce and continue to cook for 2minutes. Add a little bit of water as needed. Stir it well. Add water morning glory and stir it to distribute the heat evenly. Add fried tofu and continue to cook until the veggie changed color. Adjust the taste with a little bit of sugar. Do not overcook, turn off the stove as soon as the veggie changed color.

Grilled Banana Leaf Wrapped Mackarel (Pepes Ikan Makarel)

I have been missing this food for a long time. The reason I kept procrastinating in making it was that I did not have banana leaves...hehehe..not a strong reason, is it? So the other day when we did a visit to an Asian store and saw frozen banana leaves, I decided to buy the fish and prepared it for this food I long for. I made it quite spicy since my husband likes spicy foods. And this time I did not steam it first as what we normally do, I just grilled it in an oven.

Ingredients:
- 4 good size mackarel, wash, remove the scales and volume inside the stomach cavity and make 3 good cuts on each side of the body
- 1 lime, use the juice
- 6 cloves of small red onion
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 16 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 tomato
- 6 candle nuts
- 4cm of galangal
- 4cm of turmeric
- 4cm of ginger
- 2 lemongrass, cut into 4cm in length
- 8 lime leaves
- 8 Indonesian bay leaves
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- bunch of lime basil leaves (I skipped it this time)
- 1tsp of shrimp paste
- 2tsp of ground black pepper
- salt
- sugar
- water
- banana leaves and toothpicks for wrapping

Drizzle the lime juice over the fish and let it immerse for 15minutes. While waiting, blend onion, garlic, chili, tomato, candle nuts, galangal, turmeric, ginger, and shrimp paste in a blender until smooth. Add a little bit of water as needed. Pour it in a big container and add pepper, salt, sugar, and green onion. Mix it well. Fill up the fish's stomach cavity and cover the body with the seasoning. To wrap the fish, first place 1 lime leaf, 1 bay leaf and 2 cut of lemon grass on a piece of banana leaf. Then place the fish on it and top it up with another lime leaf and bay leaf. Wrap it and seal it with toothpick. Do it for all the fish. And then place them on an aluminum pan or other oven dish and put it in an oven. Set the oven at low heat grill program, to avoid fast burning of the banana leaves. Grill it for 45minutes to an hour, and flip it over at half way.
Serve it warm with warm steam rice.