Soto Mie (Soto Soup with Mixed Noodle)

Missing Indonesia so much and drooling over Deetha's page are the main reason I spent more of my time in the kitchen the other day just to prepare this soto mie. The result was good, but still could not ease my feeling of missing Indonesia.
Here is the recipe I copied from Deetha's (with a little modification).

Ingredients:
- 300g beef meat with some fat, boil and then cut into small cubes
- 2000ml water for boiling the meat
- 3 Indonesian bay leaves
- 3 lime leaves
- 1 lemon grass, cut into 4cm in length and crack it with pestle
- 10 chili paddy or bird's eye chili (I did not use it while cooking, I just added it before eating)
- 20 cloves small red onion (I reduced to 6)
- 10 cloves of garlic (I reduced to 6)
- 7 candle nuts (I just had 3)
- 3 cm of turmeric (I used 1tsp of ground turmeric)
- salt
- ground white pepper

Side dishes:
- 150g egg noodle, boil and then drain, mix with a little bit of frying oil
- 100g vermicelli, boil and then drain, mix with a little bit of frying oil
- 2 tomato, cut into 12 each
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- cabbage, chop (I did not use it)
- fried onion
- vermicelli rissole, cut into 1.5cm in thickness
- lime juice
- crushed chili
- sweet soy sauce

In a chopper, chop onion, garlic, and candle nuts until smooth. Then saute it until fragrant. Add bay leaves, lime leaves, lemon grass, and ground turmeric. Stir it until change color. Add the boiled meat and broth. Continue to cook until boiling. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, in a bowl place boiled noodle, vermicelli, cabbage, tomato and cut vermicelli rissole. Pour the soto soup (with the meat) in. Then sprinkle some fried onion, green onion and drizzle some lime juice. Add sweet soy sauce and crushed chili, if you like. Serve it hot.

To make vermicelli rissole

Ingredients:
For making skin:
- 150g wheat flour/all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 350ml milk
- salt
- 1 Tbsp melted margarine

Mix all the above ingredients, if needed blend it in a blender, just like what I did to get an even mixture. Prepare a nonstick-pan by heating it on a stove. Then pour just a little bit of the mixture and distribute it evenly on the surface to get a thin pancake-liked layer. Cook it for sometimes, do not overcook. Do it again and again until all is done and you got enough layer of skin. Put it aside.

For filling:
- 60g vermicelli, boil, drain and add some sweet soy sauce and soy sauce and mix it well
- 3 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 1.5 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp of fish sauce
- ground white pepper

In a wok, saute the chopped garlic until fragrant. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce and pepper. At last add the vermicelli and mix it well. Cook for another 3minutes. Put it aside.

To finish it up, place 1.5 Tbsp of the filling on a skin layer. Roll in like an envelope and glue the margin with egg white. Deep fry it in hot oil under medium heat until golden brown. Flip it over as needed.

Stir Fried Baby BokChoy

I personally like to cook baby bokchoy, since it is no need to be cut, meaning less preparation time needed. Moreover the cooking time is not that long and the result is fresh crunchy veggie. It is normally cooked with other veggies or meat. However, this time I just cooked it all by itself and added some ginger and oyster sauce. That's it...simple right?

Ingredients:
- bunch of baby bokchoy, wash to get rid of the dirt
- 5 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 4 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 5cm of ginger, peel off the skin and slice thinly
- 2 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
- oil for saute


In a wok, saute garlic, onion and ginger with a little bit of oil until fragrant. Add fish and oyster sauce, stir it. Add washed baby bokchoy, stir and cook for 4-5minutes. Serve with steam rice and other dishes.

Glutinous Rice Balls Coated with Shredded Coconut (Klepon)

These past days I have been having throat infection and cough. A friend of mine suggesting me to drink plenty of warm water and ginger drink (Indonesian-wedang jahe). Firstly, I made the instant wedang jahe, but it did not do any good to my cough. So I decided to make it from scratch. While making the fresh ginger drink, my imagination went at large and thought about having glutinous rice balls with it (Indonesian-wedang ronde) and also glutinous rice balls coated with shredded coconut (Indonesian-klepon)...hmmmm..yummm...
So the next day I could not bear not to make it myself.

Ingredients:
- 200gr of glutinous rice flour
- 200ml lukewarm water
- 2 drops of pandan essence
- 200gr shredded coconut, mixed with ½ tsp salt and microwave it
- 12 tsp grated palm sugar


In a mixing bowl, pour the flour in and add lukewarm water little by little while mixing it with spoon until forming a flexible-non sticky dough. Add pandan essence and mix it well again. Keep it in a fridge for 15minutes to avoid cracking while boiling.
Take a teaspoonful of the dough and shape it into a small ball (app. 3-4cm in diameter) using both of palm hands. Make a hole by pushing a finger in the middle of the ball and put 1/2 tsp of palm sugar in. Seal and roll it back to make the ball shape again. Meanwhile, boil water in a pot. And then place the balls into the boiling water and cook until it is done. Once they float, it means they are cooked, take it out with a laddle and roll it in shredded coconut.

Note: the recipe is good to make 20-25 balls, depend on the size. Serve it warm or at room temperature.

Crispy Prawn Fritter (Gimbal Udang)

Some people may say it is rempeyek udang, but I am used to the term gimbal udang since I was a little girl. Thus I prefer to use the name gimbal udang rather than rempeyek. It is very good to eat with Sayur Asem and steam rice.
To be honest with you, this one here is a recycling product of what I had left from making crispy flakes for fried chicken the other day which I kept in my fridge. Later on I will include the original recipe (not the recycled one), but first I would like to share the recycled recipe.

The recycled recipe
Ingredients:
- 200ml of what I had left from crispy flakes mixture, see the recipe here
- 3 Tbsp of rice flour
- 1 Tbsp of tapioka flour
- 1 egg
- 12 good size of headless shrimp
- 75g dried small shrimp
- 3 lime leaves, chop thinly
- salt
- oil for frying

Let the mixture warm up to room temperature and then add egg and the rice and tapioka flour, mix it well. Add chopped lime leaves and mix it well. Add salt sparingly and put the shrimp and dried shrimp in. Mix it well again. Deep fry it with oil by pouring one laddle full at the side of the pan and spread it in hot oil, so it will form thin layer. Try to position the big shrimp in the middle. Fry until golden brown and flip over to the other side. Do it again and again until all is done.


The original recipe
Ingredients:
- 80gr rice flour
- 50gr tapioka flour
- 12 good size of headless shrimp
- 1/2 can of coconut milk and add water with a ratio of 1:1
- 1 egg
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4 candle nut
- 1tsp of ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp of ground turmeric
- 4 lime leaves, chop thinly
- 50g of dried small shrimp
- salt
- oil for frying

In a chopper, chop garlic and candle nut until smooth. Place it in a mixing bowl and then add egg and coconut milk+water. Add coriander, turmeric and lime leaves and mix it well. Add the flour little by little while mixing it. Add salt, small shrimp and shrimp and mix it well again. Add some more water as needed. And then deep fry it using the same method as mention above.

Fried Meat Balls (Bakso Goreng)

Last week, when we came to visit our good friend, she served us this yummy finger food. This time, I made it myself for my little family. My husband loves it and brought it to work. Bianca loves it too, she can finish the whole ball at once, of course bite by bite...

Ingredients:
- 200gr ground pork/chicken
- 200gr headless shrimp, discard the shells and tails
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 4 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 2 tsp of ground white pepper
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 2 Tbsp of maizena/corn flour
- 1 egg
- oil for frying

In a chopper, chop garlic and shrimp until smooth. Mix well all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl (remember to add the flour at last). Using two spoons, make balls and deep fry it with oil until golden brown. Serve it as snack or side dish, add chili sauce if you like.

Somen Soup (Misua Kuah)

This menu is for my Bianca...it is easy to prepare and she loves it. Sometimes I put egg drops too, but not this time.

Ingredients:
- 100gr of somen noodle/misua
- 2 luffa, peel off the hard skin, cut into 1cm in thickness
- 2 carrot, peel off the skin, cut into 1cm in thickness
- 150gr of headless shrimp, discard the shell and cut into 4 each
- 4 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 3 cloves of small red onion, chop thinly
- 1 block of chicken broth
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- salt
- sugar
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- oil for saute
- water
- egg (optional)
- fried onion

In a pan, saute garlic and onion until fragrant. Add shrimp and saute until changed color. Add luffa and then carrot and continue to saute for 2minutes. Add water and cook until boiling. Add chicken broth and mix it well. Add green onion and adjust the taste with salt, sugar and pepper. At last add the somen/misua and cook for 2minutes. If you like to put some egg, drop it before you add the somen, and wait until boiling again.
To serve, sprinkle some fried onion.