PEMPEK KAPAL SELAM (INDONESIAN FISH CAKE)

Finally, I made it!! All these times, I always worry the process of making pempek would be too difficult so the possibility of failure is bigger than success everytime the thought of making pempek acrossed into my mind. But, this time I challenged myself to make it (of cos with self-prepared that I might fail).

Since I can't find spanish mackerel (tenggiri) and sago flour here, so I used fish paste and tapioca flour, and........wallaaaaa.....It tasted good and its not as hard as my imagination!!

Now, I have no worry to make pempek, and I can eat pempek in this far far away country ANYTIME!!.....Yayyyyyyyyyy....

PS: many thanks to Dewi Febrianti, Myrna and Hanny for the great recipe!! :)

Pempek Kapal Selam

Ingredients:

For Basic Fish Dough:

250 gr fish paste (spanish mackerel)

5 tbsp cold water

75 gr tapioca flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp MSG (Belzy -- I skipped it)

For Garnish:

3 pieces of eggs

50 gr mungbean noodle, soak in hot water (optional)

1 tbsp dried shrimp powder (optional)

1/4 pieces of cucumber, diced into small form (optional)

Homemade vinegar sauce

Methods:

For Basic Fish Dough:

Combine fish paste, cold water, salt and MSG (if desire) in big bowl. Mix them until sticky. Pour in tapioca flour, once at a time, while knead the batter until free-sticky on hand. Ready to use.

For Fish Cake:

Take 150 gr fish dough, roll it into ball form. Push the middle of the dough, make it oval bowl form. Pour in an egg (Belzy -- I boiled the egg first then placed it into the dough). Then pinch the edge with fingers. Boil it in boiling water until floating. Dish it out and cooling down before deep frying.

For Finishing:

Sliced the fried pempek, and place it on a plate. Serve it with mungbean noodle, cucumbers, dried shrimp powder and homemade vinegar sauce.

LEMPER (STEAMED CHICKEN GLUTINOUS RICE)

Where else can I find lemper in this far far away country, unless my homey kitchen room :). Yup, I made my homemade lemper, and it is really a good lemper, though this snack needs me to spend half of my day to prepare ALL the ingredients. But all of my efforts are worthed when I heard my hubby said, "It is good!" :)

Many thanks to Dapur Bunda for the recipe :).

Lemper

Ingredients:

A whole piece of banana leave

For Glutinous rice:

500 gram glutinous rice

500 cc coconut milk

2 pieces of bay leave

1 stalk of lemon grass, smashed

1/2 tsp of salt

For Filling:

4 pieces of chicken fillet - boil and shred

4 pieces of bay leave

6 pieces of kaffir lime leave

200 ml coconut milk

1 tbsp tamarind juice

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Spice Paste:

5 cloves of shallot

3 cloves of garlic

3 pieces of candle nut - panbroil

1 tbsp coriander - panbroil

1 tbsp sugar

Methods:

For Glutinous Rice:

Soak the glutinous rice for 2 hours, wash and drain.

Steam it for 15 minutes. Dish it out, set aside.

Boil coconut milk, bay leave, lemon grass and salt until boiling. Add in glutinous rice, cook it with low heat until the coconut milk absorbed by the glutinous rice. Set aside.

For Filling:

Stir fry spice paste until fragrant. Stir in coconut milk, shredded chicken, bay leave, kaffir lime leave and tamarind juice until cooked and no more left coconut milk. Dish it out and set aside.

Finishing:

Prepare a square pan, grease it with oil. Place 1/2 of glutinous rice, make sure it covers the pan.

Then, spread in the filling - spread well. Last layer, cover it with the remaining glutinous rice.

Steam it well. Cool it down before you cut it into square form. Wrap it with banana leave. Ready to serve.

SOP KEPITING ASPARAGUS (CRAB ASPARAGUS SOUP)

It's been long time I want to make crab asparagus soup by myself. As we know, this soup is very expensive in Indonesia, I guess, the asparagus and crab made the price of a small bowl soup is expensive.

Then, I found this recipe from here (thank's Esther for sharing the simple and great recipe ;)). I added shredded chicken and fish sauce, also I did a little changes on the recipe.

This is my first homemade crab asparagus soup, also, my hubby first soup :). And......he liked it so much!!

Sop Kepiting Asparagus (Crab Asparagus Soup)

Ingredients:

4 cups of chicken broth

1 can of white asparagus (328 gr) - cut each stem into matches sizes

1 can of white crab meat (170 gr)

2 pieces of chicken fillet, boiled and shredded

1/2 piece of carrot, shredded

1/2 tsp of salt

2 tbsps of fish sauce

2 tsps of oyster sauce

Pepper

Garlic Powder

5 tsps of tapioca starch

1/3 cup of water

2 piece of eggs, beaten

Heat up a 4 cups of chicken broth in a pan. Put in shredded carrot, white asparagus, chicken and crab meat. Then add salt, fish sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and garlic powder. Stir until all blended evenly. In a separate bowl, mix the tapioca starch with 1/3 cup of water, then pour into the hot soup while keep on stirring until the soup becomes thicken. Turn low the heat, keep on stirring and slowly pour in the beaten egg. Let the soup boils then ready to serve.

CHOCO SOUR CREAM MUFFIN

A very simple way to bake muffin when you are lazy but have to bake something for your family's snack of the day :).

Choco Sour Cream Muffn

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

2-3/4 cups flour

150 ml milk

2 oz semi sweet chocolate, melted

Walnut, thinly chopped

Methods:

Mix all ingredients and divide into muffins pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and powder sugar. Bake for 20 minutes at 350`F (180`C).

BIRTHDAY NOODLE

Today is my birthday...........my very first birthday since I arrived US, and my first bday as a wife :). This year, it is quite unique and different than years before. From got big surprise from my hubby until received loads of wishes from friends thru FB.

Anyway, this time I have no cakes nor candles to blow. The only "must do" thing is eating birthday noodle with those red (or pink) quail's eggs :). When my mom still alive, every morning on my bday, a bowl of birthday noodle were waiting for me when I woke up. So, today I made birthday noodle by myself.

How, why and what is birthday noodle? What is the difference between birthday noodle and regular noodle. Actually, its just fried noodle with additional red quail's eggs. In Chinese, when someone is bday, they must eat noodles, because noodles are long, so its like a wish or sign that the bday boy/girl having a long life ahead. And the red egg (for the red color) means prosperous and happiness.

I did post fried noodle before, so now I will share with you how to make red quail's egg....

Red Quail's Egg

Ingredients:

10 pieces quail eggs, boiled and peeled

1 tsp red coloring food

300 ml water

Methods:

Combine and boil red coloring food and water until boiling. Place in quail eggs, and boil for 3 minutes or until the whole eggs are red.

Dish it out and drain it. Ready to use.

NASTAR (PINEAPPLE TART)

Hmmmm actually, I don't really sure is it including cookies or cakes? Because the texture likes cookies but most of people called it "kue nastar" (pineapple tart).

Anyway, it is one of my mom's signature snack besides cheese stick and spekkoek. Why I said so? Because for our family and my mom's ex-customers, mom's nastar is the best. The nastar's texture is so soft yet crunchy.

When I was a kid, I get used to help mom everytime the order came. Usually our busiest times are on Christmas, Chinese New Year and Aidil Fitri. So, based on my experience helping my mom baking nastar, today I challenged myself to bake nastar (I think, last time I baked nastar about 5 years ago!). However, it's not that hard baking nastar, also the ingredients are very simple and easy to found everywhere.

Nastar (Pineapple Tart)

Ingredients:

For the Pineapple Jam:

2 big pineapple, peeled

200 gr sugar (depend on the pineapple, you need to use more sugar if the pineapples are sour)

4 pieces of kaffir lime leaves

Methods:

For the Pineapple Jam:

Wash pineapples and drained (do not wash it with salt, it will produce more juices)

Shred the pineapple, and filter it overnight until no more juice left.

Combine the shredded pineapple, sugar and kaffir lime leaves on a skillet. Cook it with low heat and stir it thoroughly until it form sticky jam (do not leave the pineapple while it is cooked if you won't get burnt jam). Cooling down before you keep it in the fridge. Ready to use.

CHAR SIU

Originally from Southeastern China, but since everyone like it so you can find it easily at everywhere, just go to Chinatown and I guarantee you can find it there.

This is my very first time make my own char siu, normally, I only buy it at chinese restaurant. Cos I like char siu a lot, it made me curious how to make homemade char siu, and its not that hard, pretty simple :).

Now, I guess those chinese restaurant will lose one customer ;).....

Char Siu

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork butt, boneless

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup sweetend rice wine

1-1/2 tbsps angkak (optional)

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

2 tbsps Chinese 5-spice powder
1/3 cup honey

1 tbsp palm sugar

Methods:

Slice pork butt into strips about 2 inches wide and 5 inches long.
In a large bowl, mix together the pineapple juice, soy sauce, rice wine, honey, garlic, ginger, chinese 5 spice powder, angkak and palm sugar. Add the pork strips and marinate for overnight.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Add a rack to a roasting pan and fill the pan with water to come just below the rack. Wipe any excess marinade from the pork and line the strips up neatly in the roasting pan.
Place the pan in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and roast for another 30-40 minutes, turning and basting frequently with the remaining marinade.

Cut into bite-sized pieces and serve.