Grilled Mackerel in Spicy Coconut Sauce

I am such a lazy blogger...I admit! This one was made in 2010, but it kept in my file for more than a year. The story behind this food...hhmm..let me recall the memory..
I missed my mom's cooking, well as always. She used to make this particular dish using smoked sting ray. While chit-chatting with one of my foodie friends, she mentioned she's made similar dish using eggplant and tempeh. So I checked her blog out and find the recipe. So this recipe was adapted from Pepy's.

Ingredients:
1 big mackerel, cleaned
1 lime
300 ml coconut milk (not too thick not too thin)
3 kaffir lime leaves
salt and sugar to season

Grind into paste:
3 cloves garlic
1 shallot
3 candlenuts, toasted
1/2 tsp terasi (dried shrimp paste), toasted
2 red chillies
3 bird's eye chillies (add more if you like it spicy)
2 cm kencur (also known as kaempferia galangal), I used powder one

Directions:
Sprinkle lime juice and salt all over the fish. Grill it for 20min or until done. Keep it aside.
In a pot, add coconut milk, spices paste, lime leaves, salt and sugar. Simmer for couple minutes until thicken and well mixed.
Place grilled fish on a serving plate. Pour the coconut milk mixture over.

Mixed Beans Soup - My Healthy Diet

I tell you a secret..(ehm..ehm..) I have been wanting to lose some weight. You know, for some people, spring is a good time to start dieting, so that when the summer comes, they will have good shape for swimming suits and tank tops. No no..not that I want to show off on bikini or tank tops during summer, here is the story... I went shopping for some new clothes and felt that no clothes were good enough on my body, flab here and there..(sobbed sobbed). Thus I decided to go on healthy diet and a bit of exercise (taking the kids to walk around the neighbourhood, I guess it's enough, don't you think?).
For Indonesian, it is normal to consume rice as our staple food. And I read that it is a big no no to consume white carb when you are dieting. So I switched my diet to lotta grains, beans, fruits and vegetables. And here is one of my healthy diet, mixed beans soup.

Ingredients:
200g of 15 beans for soup (store bought), soaked overnight
2 sausages (any kind, to your preference), cut
2 celery stalk, cut
1 clove onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of dried thyme
1 tsp of cayenne pepper powder
1 tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp of chicken broth powder
water (or you may use chicken broth instead and skip the powder)
salt
sugar

Directions:
Saute the chopped onion and garlic with olive oil until fragrant. Add water or chicken broth and continue to cook until boiling. Add the soaked beans and cook for an hour over medium low heat or until the beans tender. Add celery, bay leaves, dried oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper and chicken broth powder (if using it). Add salt and sugar to taste. At last add sausages and tomato, simmer for another 2minutes.

Caution: expect for more gassing when consuming this, as most beans produce flatulence.

Kyoto Japanese Restaurant - An Afternoon Play-date and Surprised Dinner

Yesterday was Friday, daddy went home from school and hurried us to go out for some play-date at park. So we went to Emily Murphy park and played with the kids at the playground.

They only have small playground there, and kids were quickly bored playing the same thing over and over. So we decided to leave after 20min playing.

Then we stopped at William Hawrelak park, where the kids ran around chasing birds and ducks.

It was quite amusing how the kids ran around and screamed to the max. I was screaming too to warn them not to get too close to the water, since I did not want them to fall into the water and get soaked. We left when they got tired with the birdies and duckies.

Daddy drove around the town and suddenly make a turn to an unexpected place, Kyoto a Japanese Restaurant. This is a small, busy, but fancy Japanese restaurant. I love the entrance where they have this calming fountain.

And the familiar interior items next to the reception and sushi counter.

They prepare fresh sushi and maki right in front of us, which I thought was very nice. And yes, the waitress and all the restaurant employees got to wear yukata, except for the reception (No idea why they don't).

They have two different seating areas. The ones with tatami and the ones with regular tables and chairs. Since we were with the kids, it would be so much easier for us to sit on the regular table and chairs. (Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the tatami one, since the place was so busy at that time).

So at first we were offered some drinks, our choice went for hot tea (indeed it was a very good one) and apple juice.

They have various kinds of appetizers, sushi and maki and cone, some udon soup, soba, rice dishes, and of course some dessert. They also have special menu of the day (we did not try though).

After the drinks we were served with some miso soup and one small plate of salad (I think this salad goes with daddy's order). To my note, the miso soup was very tasty, if only they put some seaweed, that would be perfect! It only has some tiny tofu and spring onion. But still it was delicious.

The salad was yummy too, it was lettuce, tomato, cucumber and celery with some tangy sesame dressing.

It was a bit hard for me to choose what to have for dinner, since I was not really hungry, but I know I got to eat something. So my choice was this tempura udon. The tempura consists of prawn, squid, sweet potato, eggplant and cucumber. The broth was tasty enough, but the tempura was bland.

Here is daddy's choice, chicken teriyaki dinner. He gave excellent mark for this dish. Jordan and I got to taste the chicken too, and indeed it was delicious.

We also had some maki (California and Dynamite rolls) and sushi (Smoked Salmon and BBQ Eel). As for me, the maki taste so so (or I might be too full by the time they served these), but the sushi were sooo good and fresh.

This is the dynamite maki with prawn tempura inside.

Overall, we were content with what we had for the amount of money we had to spend and definitely we'll be back again. So if you are in town, I recommend this Japanese restaurant, it is worth to try. Be prepared for some extra money to spend (compared to food court or franchise class restaurants).

Happy Mother's Day!

Kyoto Japanese Cuisine

Downtown: 10128 109St Edmonton, AB T5J 1M7

7804201750

University: 8709 109St Edmonton, AB T6G 2L5 (we went to this one)

7804146066

Rolade Siomay (Siu May Rollade)

I was going through my pictures file and found these pictures from year 2009. Wow..it's been 2 years and I have not posted any recipe for it..(what a lazy blogger! oops...). And a former friend from my Uni year, asked me if I could share the recipe with him. So here I am typing the recipe for you all. For me this is a sinful snack, since I luvvv savory (moreover deep fried) snacks..I could not stop munching them when they are there on my table. Just gimme some hot sauce, and I just dip them in and eat them. The kids like to have it with some steamed rice too. It is a variation of siomay and wonton filling.

Ingredients:
Filling:
- 400g shrimp, deveined (you may use other meats too)
- chopped green onion
- 3cm of ginger
- 4 shallot
- 6 garlic
- 1 Tbsp of sugar
- 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tsp of ground white pepper
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1-2 Tbsp of corn starch (depend on how wet your mixture)

Skin:
- bean curd sheets (I used the fresh/wet one, you may use the dried one and wet it with water)
- egg, lightly beaten
- bread crumbs (I used panko or Japanese bread crumbs)
- frying oil

Directions:
Process all of the ingredients except green onion and corn starch in a food processor until smooth. Place the mixture in a container/mixing bowl, add the green onion and corn starch, mix well. Then take one of the bean curd sheets, spread flat on the table or chopping board. Place 2 Tbsp of the filling along the center of it. And then roll the skin up to form a long cylinder, try to close the edge by pushing in the skin to the cylinder. Do it to all of the filling and skin. Dip the cylinder into beaten egg and then into the bread crumbs. You may do it twice for crunchier result. Deep fry it over medium low heat until crunchy and golden brown.

Mangut Ikan Bandeng Asap (Smoked Milk Fish in Coconut Sauce)

This was one of my childhood menus, which Mom used to cook for us. I really like the combination of smokey aroma and spiciness of it. Normally we used smoke stingray fish, but since it could not be found in Canada, I replaced it with this smoked deboned milk fish.

Ingredients:
- 1 smoked deboned Milk fish, cut into 4
- 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
- 5 cloves of shallot
- 7 cloves of garlic
- 6 candle nuts
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tsp of ground turmeric
- 1 can of coconut milk
- salt
- sugar
- oil for frying and saute
- 700mL 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 2minutes.
Serve warm with steamed rice.

Easter 2011

Greeting from Calgary where we spend our Easter long weekend. Recently, I have been into cake decorating, fondant decorating to be exact. I do not take any courses, yet am far from perfection. I am still learning. Thanks to the internet where you may find a lot of tutorial in doing various fondant figurine.
Here is what I made for Easter 2011. A bunny with carrot, chick and eggs and flowers in a basket, all on choco rum cupcakes.

Happy Easter every one! Blessing to you and your love ones!