BBQ CHICKEN DRUMETTES

It was very simple and less than 20 minutes preparation, and you can keep it frozen for two weeks. It was good for your finger food of the day :). My hubby liked it so much! :).

Let's try it ....

BBQ Chicken Drumettes

Source: Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

11 pieces of chicken drumettes

6 tbsps of ketchup

1 tbsp of worchestershire sauce

1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp of thyme

1/4 tsp of oregano

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1 tbsp of brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk togehter ketchup, worchestershire sauce, vinegar, thyme, oregano, garlic powder and brown sugar, season with salt and pepper. Set aside 1/2 bowl sauce for tossing raw chicken and use the rest for baked chicken.

2. Preheat oven for 350'F, with rack in the middle of the oven. Line baking sheet with alumunium foil. Arrange chicken on the baking sheet.

3. Bake chicken for 30-40 minutes or until thoroughly baked. Flip chicken and tossing chicken halfway through. Toss baked drumettes with remaining sauce. Ready to serve.

MINESTRONE (SUP MAKARONI)

I bet everyone knows what minestrone is *also known as macaroni soup in my family*. The first time I cooked this soup, my hubby was asking me, "What is it called?", then I told him that was macaroni soup. He laughed and said that for them it was minestrone! I heard 'minestrone' alot, and kinda know what it was look like, but I didn't really expect minestrone same as macaroni soup :).

My minestrone was quite simple, and since I made it from scratch so the soup's color wasn't as red as the original minestrone, but for the taste.....my hubby said my minestrone alot better and more tasty than the one he ate at the restaurant (from the look mine is more attracted).

It is healthy cos it contains more vegies than meats. A good choice if you want a quick and easy but healthy cooking :)

Also, I am going to present this recipe to Masak Bareng Event - February '10 edition. Enjoy guys!

Minestrone (Sup Makaroni)

Ingredients:

5 stalks of big celery, washed and sliced (approx. 1 cm wide)

1 cup of corn (Belzy -- I used the frozen corn)

3 pieces of chicken fillet

3 pieces of tomato, seedless and diced

150 gram of macaroni (or elbow pasta), boil until soft and fluffy

650 cc water

5 tbsps of fish sauce

Salt and sugar to taste

Directions:

Drain chicken fillet from the broth. Let it cool, then shred it with hands. Boil chicken broth, put the shredded chicken back into the broth. Add celery, corn and boiled macaroni. Boil for about 3 minutes or until boiling. Add in fish sauce, salt and sugar until reach the taste you want. Before you turn off the heat, add in tomato, stirring gradually until boiling. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the heat. Serve it with chilli sauce (if desire)

TUNA MAKI SUSHI

Another kind of sushi that I made :). This one is more easy than california roll sushi, but it tasted good tho. I just simply fallin' in love with sushi now :).

Tuna Maki Sushi

Ingredients:

250 gr sushi rice

1 piece of english cucumber - remove seeds and cut into strip (10 cm long and 1/2 cm thick)

1 can tuna
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp sugar

5 sheets of nori, halved -full sheets are halved width-wise by folding and then carefully pulling the sheet apart

50 gr masago (flying fish roe)

A bowl of tezu (Belzy - combine water with 1 tsp rice vinegar for moistening your finger tips)

Wasabi and Japanese mayonnaise (optional)

Directions:

Lay nori on the rolling bamboo, put sushi rice on top of it and spread it evenly (leave the edge empty).

In a small bowl, mix tuna with lemon juice and sugar. Then, spread the tuna mixture in the middle of sushi rice. Place english cucumber, masago and wasabi (if desire). Roll it with the rolling bamboo until the end. Don't forget to squeeze it a bit (don't too hard, it will make the filling out from the edges of sushi).

Cut it into slices before serving. Enjoy!

PUDING KACANG HIJAU (MUNG BEAN PUDDING)

A simple healthy sweet dessert!! If you dislike mung bean soup, I bet you'll like this one :)

Puding Kacang Hijau (Mung Bean Pudding)

Ingredients:

100 gr mung bean

1 package of agar-agar powder

400 ml water (for boiling the mung bean)

500 ml coconut milk

100 gr sugar

Directions:

Boil mung bean until tender, drained it from the soup. Let it cool.

Blend well the bean with coconut milk with blender.

In a pan, cook agar-agar powder, sugar, pandan leaf and blended bean over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and boiling. Remove from heat.

Pour the agar-agar mixture into pudding mold. Let it cool and hard before refrigerated.

Serve it cold.

BEBEK BETUTU (BALINESE STYLE DUCK IN BANANA LEAF)

It's known as Balinese dish, but please correct me if I'm wrong, because my friend told me that bebek betutu is from Java.

This is my first duck cooked by myself, not because I am not a fan of duck but the reason why I don't feel want to cook duck because duck has funny smell. But, since my hubby bought a duck and he wants to eat duck, so I googled how to cook delicious duck, and I found this Balinese style duck.

And.......voilaaaa.....it was so delicious, I put lots of herbs so the funny smell of the duck was gone!! My hubby loved it so much, but we decided will not cook duck too often, because duck has more fat than meat :(.

However, this Balinese style duck is worthed to try, the recipe is quite simple. It needs variety of herbs tho.

Bebek Betutu (Balinese Style Duck in Banana Leaf)

Ingredients:

1 whole duck

50 ml canola oil

5 stalks of lemongrass, thinly sliced

3 cm of ginger, smashed

3 sheets of banana leafs

Spice Paste:

150 gr shallots

100 gr garlics

5 pieces of candlenuts

5 cm of turmeric (Belzy - I used 1 tsp of turmeric powder)

1 tsp of pepper

7 pieces of bird's eye chilli

1 tbsp of coriander

1 tbsp Indonesian shrimp paste

Salt to taste

Direction:

Spread the spice paste all over *inside and outside* the duck. Let it rest for 20 minutes. Wrap it with prepared banana leaves. Steam it for 1 hour until the spices absorbed.

Preheat the oven at 350`F (180`C), then place the duck in the oven, and let it baked for 1 hour, or until the duck skin changed to golden brown. Dish it out.

Serving: cut it into pieces before served.

SOTO MIE

Yummy...yummy!! This is my fave dish when I was a kid! What is soto mie? Actually, soto is included in soup's family, but in Indonesia we have soto and soup. Soto is more Indonesian style of soup.

In Jakarta, there were a famous soto mie's stall named Soto Mie Jalan D which is Jalan D was a reflection of the address of the stall. I remember went to Jalan D to eat soto after school when my mom picked me up from the school. Sometimes we went there with my friends and their moms too :).

The funny thing is, when I was in Indonesia, I never really-looking this soto, also, I never try to make it by myself. But, now, when I lived in a far far away country, I missed it! :(. So, I decided to make soto mie by myself *yeaaa, where else I can get this kind Indonesian food here*. Then, I spoiled my mouth and tongue with this-so-missed-soto mie :). Do you wanna join me?

Soto Mie

Ingredients:

5 pieces of tomatoes, sliced

3 pieces of lime leaves

3 pieces of bay leaves

4 pieces of potatoes, peeled, cut halves and deep fried

2 stalks of lemongrass, smashed

1/2 kg of yellow noodle, steamed for 5 minutes

1/4 piece of cabbage, thinly sliced

1 kg brisket (Belzy -- I used regular beef), boil it til the meat is tender, diced and separate the meat from the broth as much as 1500 ml

3 stalks of spring onion, thinly sliced

10 pieces of spring roll (recipe follows)

3 tbsps olive oil.

Spice Paste:

10 cloves of shallots

5 cloves of garlics

1 tsp pepper

2 cm of ginger

2 cm of turmeric

5 pieces of red chilli pepper

salt

Directions:

1. Stir fry spice paste until fragrant, stir in lemongrass, bay leaves and lime leaves. Stir well.

2. Pour the stir fried spices into the beef broth, then pour in meat and boiled the broth. Set aside.

3. Serving: in a bowl, put in yellow noodle, tomato, potato and spring roll. Pour in the beef soup (and the meat).

4. Sprinkle it with spring onion. Better to eat it hot with lime juice and Indonesian sweet soy sauce.

Spring roll:

Prepare 10 pieces of spring roll wrappers. Boiled 150 gr rice noodle until soft, drained. Stir fry 1 clove of minced garlic, stir in the rice noodle, add in salt and pepper. Stir well. Scoope 1 tbsp spoonful rice noodle onto spring roll wrapper, fold the wrapper like you fold an envelope. Then, deep frying the spring roll until golden brown. Ready to use.