FRENCH APPLE TARTE

No egg, simple ingredients and simple methods :). I love this kind of recipe. My perfect recipe when I am lazy but want to make something for dessert.
I got the recipe from my dearly friend, Selly. She became my exchange-recipes-friend now :).

Don't worry, tho it didn't use egg, the tarte tasted good! If you are bored with sponge cake, I recommend this-without-egg-tarte. And, if you dislike apple, you can substituted it with blueberry, strawberry, chocolate chip or plain.

French Apple Tarte

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fresh milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 piece apple, peeled, cored, diced.

Methods:
In a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients except cocoa powder and apple. Mix until smooth and no more lumps. Mix 2 tbsps batter with cocoa powder until thoroughly mixed.

Add apple into the main batter, toss well. Pour cocoa mixture in the center of the batter, then swirl it with a chopstick (as you made marble cake)
Pour the batter into 8-inch baking pan, sprinkle it with cinnamon. Bake it in the preheated oven 350`F (180`C) for 30 to 40 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake come out clean. Cool it first before cut it.

TONGSENG KAMBING

When we went to 99 ranch market, suddenly, my hubby asking me can I cook goat meat. Then, after I assured him that I can cook the goat meat, he left me at the vegetables' aisle and came back with a pack of raw goat meat.

At home, I was thinking to make goat satay but unfortunately, my hubby chose the meat with bone, so I chose tongseng kambing (goat stew) to introduce the taste of goat meat to my hubby.

Some tongseng using coconut milk, but my hubby is not a fan of coconut milk soup or curry, so I used the recipe without coconut milk. And.....he liked the taste but he dislike the meat texture. He said, "It is too stringy, and it stucked between my tooth!"

Myself, I am not a big fan of goat meat because this meat is good for people who has low blood pressure only. For those who has high blood pressure and any other diseases such as, high cholesterol, diabetic, etc please do not eat this meat. And for healthy people, don't eat goat meat too much if you want to have a long life :).

Anyway, the tongseng itself is good, especially at cold/winter season. I got the recipe from Dapur Bunda, and I add some herbs to avoid the goat smell :).

Tongseng Kambing

Ingredients:
300 gr goat meat, with or without bone
1/2 piece napa cabbage, thinly sliced
3 pieces tomato, sliced
50 cc Indonesian sweet soy sauce
2 cups water
4 tbsps butter/margarine
2 piece lime, squeezed
4 cloves shallot, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 pieces red chilli, sliced
10 pieces thai chilli
Salt and pepper, to taste

Spice Pasted:
2 cloves garlic, pasted
2 tbsps ground coriander, panbroiled
1 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
Drizzle goat meat with half of lime juice. Put the meat and water in pressure cooker, then tenderize it for 25 to 30 minutes.
In a big pan, stir fry spice pasted, shallot and garlic with butter until fragrant. Pour in the meat altogether with the broth. Bring to boil. Add in cabbage, cook until a big soft. Add in Indonesian sweet soy sauce, red chilli, thai chilli and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add tomato 3 minutes before you turn the heat off. Drizzle it with lime juice. Serve it with hot rice and sambal oelek.

YOU TIAO (CRISP CHINESE CRULLER)

The best companion of rice porridge or just eat it with garlic-chilli sauce. In Jakarta, we liked to eat it by dip it in garlic-chilli sauce only, it tasted good! I taught my hubby to eat it with garlic-chilli sauce and he like it :). He said the texture became so soft. Indonesian people called it cakwe.

Actually, lots of asian markets sold you tiao, but it didn't as crunchy as if you buy fresh you tiao, and the you tiao sold at asian market is too oily. Perhaps, the you tiao doesn't fresh anymore.

Honestly, until now I still can't believe that I made you tiao, because when I saw the lady who sold you tiao is frying it, it seemed really hard. But, when I tried make it, it was not that hard.

So, are you dare to try?



You Tiao / Cakwe
Source: Melrose Flowers

Ingredients:
YOU TIAO:
500 gr all-purpose flour
400 cc water
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsps baking soda
1-1/2 tsps salt
Vegetable oil for frying

GARLIC-CHILLI SAUCE:
6 cloves garlic, pasted
2 tbsps sambal oelek (or you can use 3 pieces red chilli, pasted)
2 tbsps vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
100 cc warm water

Directions:
For the you tiao:
In a big bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour in water and stir it until free of lumps. Add in flour and stir it well. Let it rest 15 to 20 minutes. The dough's texture is little bit wet and sticky at this point.

Take the dough from the edge and fold it to the center of the dough, let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Repeat it until 3 or 4 times until the dough smooth and elastic.

Flip the dough over and brush it with oil. Let it rest for 1 hour.

Remove the dough into plastic wrap which is greased with oil. Form it into long square. Let it rest for 4 hours. If you make more than 500 gr, you should divide it and wrap it based on 500 gr only.

On a floured surface, using your hands, pull the dough slowly. The dough will be formed into very long square (length: 25 cm; width: 6 cm). Sprinkle it with flour.
Cut the dough into 1 cm width. Stack 2 pieces dough and press dough (middle length area) with a skewer. Then, pull it into 20 cm length. Dump it in a very hot oil and deep fry it until swell and brown on both sides. Serve it with rice porridge or garlic-chilli sauce.

OR, you can see this link for the steps of making you tiao.

For the garlic-chilli sauce:
Mix all ingredients, stir well.

CHOI PAN

Choi pan....choi pan....how I miss you!! That's true, since I lived in the states choi pan became something expensive. Why? Because the only way I can buy it by going back to Indonesia :).

Luckily, there is google and all the good technologies where everything is on your fingertips. So, I found the recipe of choi pan. Actually, I found 2 recipes that have similarity on the ingredients and the methods, the only different is the first recipe is using rice flour and the other recipe is using tang mien flour. And, I tried both recipe.

For the choi pan wrapper, it is better to use tang mien flour than rice flour. The texture of the dough is softer if you use rice flour, and very fragile *easy to tear up when I tried to wrap the choi pan filling*.
The filling and the chilli sauce are incredibly good!! I like it.....also my hubby :).

Choi Pan
Source: Ci Stella

Ingredients:
WRAPPER DOUGH:
180 gr tang mien flour (aka wheat starch)
50 gr corn starch
50 gr all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
450 cc water
50 cc olive oil

FILLING:
2 tbsps olive oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
300 gr jicama, coarse shredded, squeeze if there is water in the shredded jicama
150 gr fresh shrimp, diced
100 gr dried shrimp, soak in the hot water for 10 minutes, chopped
1 tbsp sugar

GARLIC SAUCE:
20 cloves garlic, chopped
50 cc vegetable oil

CHILLI SAUCE:
50 gr red chilli, seeded, boiled and pasted
250 cc warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsps vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, pasted

Directions:
For the filling:
In a pan, stir fry chopped garlic until fragrant. Stir in the rest of ingredients until cooked. Remove from the heat, let it cool before using it.

For the wrapper dough:
In a saucepan, combine all dry ingredients, stir in gradually warm water while keep stirring until free lumps. Bring to simmer until the mixture turn into an elastic dough.

On a floured surface, shape a 35 grams dough into a flat disc, fill it with the filling, then wrap it into half-moon shape or shape it into pastel goreng shape.
Steam the ready choi pan over high heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the choi pan is cooked thoroughly. Serve it warm with garlic sauce and chilli sauce.

For the garlic sauce:
In a small pan, stir fry garlic with olive oil over medium high heat until the garlic browned.

For the chilli sauce:
In a small bowl, mix all chilli ingredients. Ready to use

KIELBASA IN BRAIDED BREAD

This bread reminds me to a bakery shop in Jakarta. They sold braided sausage bread where other bakeries sold a classic sausage bread. Usually, I made the classic sausage bread (aka pig in the blanket), but this time, I tried to make the fancy sausage bread.

Since the fancy sausage bread is unusual, so I tried hard to find the way how they made it. And I saw ci Stella's blog which is posting this braided sausage bread, but unfortunately, she didn't post the steps of braiding. I asked her and she replied me, but I still can't picture it well.

At last, I made it based on 6 strands braided bread and insert the sausage pieces in the braided bread, and the result was not bad at all, tho it is not as nice as ci Stella's braided sausage bread.

For the bread, I used soft bread recipe from NCC which is became my favorite bread recipe. And, for the sausage, I made Polish-Type sausage or also known as Kielbasa. Originally this sausage is made of pork and beef mix, but I made it of beef only, and spicy ;). It tasted good tho :).

Let me share it with you...

Braided Sausage Bread

Yield: 4 big size sausage bread

Ingredients:
1 soft bread recipe

For Kielbasa:
3/4 lb beef sirloin
1/4 lb beef chuck
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp chilli flakes, optional (skip it if you dislike spicy)

Egg Wash:
1 egg yolk
3 tbsps milk (or evaporated milk)

Directions:
For the kielbasa:
Cut meat into small cube, freeze it until a half frozen.
Mix all spices, toss it into the meats. Grind with coarse (1/4-inch) grinder plate. After all meats are grinded, mix the meat mixture using paddle attachmentfor for approx.3 minutes.
Using sausage stuffer, stuff the meats into sausage casings. After that, simmer in 180F water for 15 minutes.
Pan fry the sausage until both sides are brown. Slice it into 1/2 cm wide. Set aside.

For the braided bread:
Weigh dough 30 gr each, and shape it into a small ball shape. Make strand from the small ball dough. Braid it base on 6 strands braided bread. Please go to this link for the braiding steps.
Insert sausage pieces all over the braided bread. Brush it with egg wash. Then, bake it into preheated 350`F oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the breads are brown.

CINNAMON ROLLS with CREAM CHEESE ICING

My second attempt after the first one I made it without icing, and it gained complains from my hubby :).

And now I know why did he complain before, because cinnamon rolls were born to eat with icing, so without icing, it's like eating food without salt.

Just try this....;)

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing
Source: Alton Brown

Ingredients:
Dough:
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 large whole egg, room temperature
1/4 cup (2 ounces) sugar
6 tbsps (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
6 ounces sour cream, room temperature (you can use buttermilk or plain yogurt)
4 cups (20 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
2-1/4 tsps (1 package) instant dry yeast, approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons
1 1/4 tsps kosher salt
Vegetable oil or cooking spray

Filling:
1 cup packed (8 ounces) light brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
1-1/2 tbsps (3/4-ounce) unsalted butter, melted

Icing:
1/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
3 tbsps milk
1-1/2 cups (5 1/2 ounces) powdered sugar (Belzy - I used 1 cup Splenda Sweetener)

Directions:
For The Dough:
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add approximately 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; whisk until moistened and combined. Remove the whisk attachment and replace with a dough hook. Add all but 3/4 cup of the remaining flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough, add more flour if necessary; the dough should feel soft and moist but not sticky. Knead on low speed 5 minutes more or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 30 seconds. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

For The Filling:
Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.

To Assemble:
Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the 3/4-ounce of melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough. Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.

Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 30 minutes.

For The Icing
While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.

FUDGE ROASTED BANANA ICE CREAM

Since there 4 containers of ice creams with various flavor are sitting quietly in our freezer, I promised myself that I will not make any ice cream until those ice creams in our freezer are gone. But, promise is just a promise, when I saw very ripe bananas in the kitchen, I rushed find roasted banana ice cream recipe in The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz that I bought few weeks ago. I made a little changes on the recipe, but that is not too significant on the taste.

And.....voila......this roasted banana ice cream is really tasty and rich of banana flavor. With few slices of banana and few drops of classic chocolate fudge on top of the ice cream, it just created a perfect pairing and a strong flavor of this ice cream.

My hubby and I just love it! :)

Fudge Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Yield: 1 quart (1 liter)

Ingredients:
4 medium-sized ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp butter,cut into small pieces
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tbsps Splenda sweetener
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 tsps freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Garnish:
1 medium-sized ripe banana, peeled and sliced into 1/2-cm
Classic Chocolate fudge

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400`F (200`C).
Slice the bananas into 1/2-inch (2cm) pieces and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a ovenproof baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring just once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through
Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup in the baking dish into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt, and puree until smooth.
Chill the mixtrue thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the chilled mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisking will thin it out.

To assemble:
In a serving glass, put banana slices, top it with banana ice cream, then layer it with another banana slices, and top it with a ball shape banana ice cream. Drizzle it generously with classic chocolate fudge. Serve it immediately.

BAKSO BIHUN KUAH

For some reason, to me, Indonesian meatballs are different than any other meatballs I ever ate. From the texture and the taste are all different. That is why I forced myself to make the meatballs by myself.

And, I found the recipe from NCC. It is good!! The meatballs' texture is a little bit chewy, really reminds me to 'abang bakso' near my home in Jakarta. I made 2 kinds of meatballs, meatball with egg filling and regular meatball. So, I used 3 times recipes from the original recipe.

Now, let's try it....



Bakso Bihun Kuah

Ingredients:
750 gr beef leg
300 gr cubed ice
2 tbsps salt (Belzy - if you like salty, you can add another 1 tbsp)
120 gr tapioca flour or sago flour
4 eggs, hard boiled
2 liter boiling water
A half pack rice vermicelli, soak in the water until soft and boiled
A bunch of yu choy (or choy sum), cut and boil
2 tbsps fried shallot
2 tbsps spring onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, paste it with mortar&pestle
Salt, sugar and pepper, to taste

Condiments:
Chilli sauce (recipe below)

Directions:
Blend beef and cubed ice in food processor until smooth. Blend in salt until thoroughly mixed, and add in tapioca flour, mix until thoroughly mixed.
In a big bowl, prepare a very cold water.
For regular meatballs, squeeze the meat mixture through your thumb and index fingers, and shape it into ball shape. Or, using 2 spoons and form the meat mixture into ball form. Dump the meatballs everytime you done with the forming.
For meatballs with egg filling, wrap the egg with meat mixture, and shape it into a ball shape. Dump it into cold water.
After you done the forming thingy, boil 2 liter water until boiled. Then, dump all the meatballs into the boiling water, boil them until the meatballs' color changed and they are floating. Season with garlic, salt, sugar and pepper, to taste.

To assemble:
In a serving bowl, put boiled rice vermicelli and yu choy. Pour in the meatballs and the soup. Sprinkle with spring onion and fried shallot. Serve it with chilli sauce

Chilli Sauce

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic
5 - 10 thai chillis or bird's eye chilli
Salt and sugar, to taste
1 piece lime
1 tbsp water

Directions:
Pound the garlic and thai chilli with mortar & pestle until almost smooth, pound in sugar and salt until mixed. Add in water and squeeze in lime. Ready to serve.

LUPIS

When I was a kid, there was an auntie in our neighborhood who sold kue lupis. Hers was so good, the lupis was so soft and I never found that kind lupis at other place. Some shops were selling lupis too, but theirs weren't that soft. So, to me the auntie's lupis is the best.

Then, when I was about at junior high school, we never buy kue lupis from the auntie anymore. I heard from my mom, the auntie was fallen sick and noone regenerated her kue lapis.

Yesterday, out of nowhere, I really want to eat kue lupis, perhaps it's because I saw lupis at My Kitchen. But, unfortunately, I lived in this far far away country, so I'm unable buy it. The only way is making it by myself. I searched the recipe and I found it here.

The recipe is really simple and needn't too much ingredients. The only struggle thing for me is wrapping. You need to make sure the glutinous rice are tightly wrapped with banana leaves. It's alot easier than wrapping bacang tho! :).

On my first bite.....gosh....it reminds me to auntie's kue lupis. The texture of the lupis is so soft and the taste just like auntie's kue lupis. I'm just so happy to find this recipe :)......



Lupis

Ingredients:
For Lupis:
500 gr glutinous rice
1/2 tbsp lime stone water
Banana leaves

For sugar sauce:
150 gr Indonesian palm sugar, shredded
75 cc water
1 piece of pandan leaf

For coconut coating: (steamed)
150 gr grated coconut
1 tsp salt

Directions:
LUPIS:
Soak glutinous rice in the water for 1 hour. Then, wash and rinse it. Drain it from the water. Drizzle with lime stone water, toss it evenly. Ready to use.
Cut banana leaves into 3-inches (7.5cm) wide, then wrap the glutinous rice with the banana leaves into triangle shape. Please go to this link to see the steps of glutinous rice wrapping.
Place all the uncooked lupis in a deep stewpan then pour water until all the uncooked lupis is covered by water. Boil it for 2 to 3 hours over medium high heat.
Cool it first before the lupis is ready to unwrap. After the lupis is unwrapped, dump it into steamed coconut and coating the lupis with the coconut.
Place the coated lupis on a serving plate and pour the sauce. Then....let's eat :0

SUGAR SAUCE:
Heat the Indonesian palm sugar, pandan leaf and water over high heat until the palm sugar is melted. Remove from the heat, ready to use.

PORTUGUESE EGG TART

We are talking about the famous egg tart from Macau....Yup...yup....the crunchy shell mixed together with the softness egg curd just brought back those romantic scene at Ruins of St. Paul's.....*haaaa....if you know what I mean, so you watched F4 movie :)*.

I ate and tasted this famous egg tart when I visited Macau two years ago. Macau is an Asian Las Vegas with those casinos and clubs everywhere, and the city looked 'alive' at night and nothing special at daytime.

Since Macau was under Portuguese before don't be surprised with their portuguese name on the road also some building was portuguese-look-alike tho the local people there are speaking Mandarin *or hokkian language*. But don't worry, some of them can speak English as well.

Well, if you visit Macau, you should go to Senado Square where that place becomes a tourist place, not only for shopping but also for the 'museum'. You'll find Ruins of St. Paul's there and other old buildings which were built by Portuguese at that time.

I tried to make portuguese egg tart at home, just wondering will my hubby like it? Of cos he like it because egg tart is sweet :), tho I used Splenda we still taste the sweetness on the curd.

It is different from 'tart susu' *Indonesian egg tart I guess*. I used pie crust recipe for the shell, and I got the egg curd recipe from here.

Shall we try now? ;)



Portuguese Egg Tart
Yield: 17 pieces (standard muffin pan)

Ingredients:
For Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 8 Tbsp ice water

For Egg Curd:
10 egg yolks
2/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup of milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Directions:
Egg Curd:
Use a mixer, blend egg yolks, sugar, heavy whipping cream and milk until thoroughly blended.
In a separate bowl, put a strainer over the bowl. Strain the egg mixture with a strainer and mix in vanilla extract. Ready to use. (keep it in the refrigerator if you don't want to use it immediately)

Pie Crust:
Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl; toss it with a pastry cutter. Add butter and toss it again, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, tossing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and toss again.

Remove dough from bowl and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into a disc. Knead the dough just enough to form the disc, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 400`F and grease muffin pan, set aside.

Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. On a floured surface, roll the dough and cut it into 17 balls. Flatten the balls into small rounds and fit them well into the muffin pan by pressing firmly on bottom and side (do not over stretch). Fill the pie crust dough with the egg mixture (about 80% full).

Bake the Portuguese Egg Tarts at 400F for about 15-20 minutes or until the filling turn brown. Enjoy!

FISH KATSU BALL

My first plan was making kushikatsu, but then in the middle of chopping the fish, there was a little tiny thinking accross into my mind that 'hey, why don't I make something different?'

And........voila.....I introduced my new recipe that I named Fish Katsu Ball. Why did it name so? Fish....because the main ingredient is fish. Katsu.....because it is deep fried and covered with bread crumbs just like chicken katsu except the ball shape. Ball.....because the shape is round like a ball :).

Do you wanna try?....

Fish Katsu Ball

Ingredients:
1 lb fish fillet (I used pangasius fish), grind
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks spring onion, thinly sliced
5 tbsps all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
2 tbsps fish sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste
150 gr bread crumbs (I used Panko bread crumbs)
150 ml oil

Directions:
Mix ground fish, garlic, flour, spring onion, and egg whites, season with fish sauce, salt and pepper, to taste. (the fish batter is little bit wet, so you need 2 spoons to shape it into ball form)
In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat into medium heat.
Using 2 tablespoons, form the fish batter into small ball form. Dump the fish ball into the bread crumbs, make sure the balls fully covered by the bread crumbs.
Fry it until cooked and golden brown. Serve it with chilli sauce.

LONTONG SAYUR

It's been ages I don't eat lontong sayur, I think since I left Indonesia I never taste lontong sayur anymore. Though I moved to Singapore which is easy to find lots of malay foods there, but for some reason I can't find it. I might never missed it too.

Suddenly, last few days ago I do really want to eat lontong sayur. But, in America where can I find lontong sayur? So, I tried to make by myself. And it tasted good to me, but not for my hubby.

The first time he saw the lontong's gravy, he asked me,"Is that curry?" and giving me sick-face-looking :(. Tho I told him it wasn't, he still not a fan of it. He ate a bowl tho, but then everytime I asked him, "Do you want lontong sayur?" He shaked his head :).

Now I know, after all this time I thought he liked almost all Indonesian food, lontong sayur is an exception :).

However, I still like lontong sayur ;).

Lontong Sayur

Ingredients:
4 pieces lontong, cut into square
5 chayote squashes, cut into strips
A bunch of green bean or chickpeas, cut it
500 ml coconut milk
2 cm galangal, smashed
1 stalk lemon grass, the white only
3 pieces bay leave
3 pieces red chilli, slice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Spice Paste:
7 cloves shallot
5 cloves garlic
50 gr Indonesian palm sugar, grated
3 tbsps sambal oelek
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tbsps dried shrimp (aka ebi)

Additional:
Telor Balado
Shrimp Crackers

Directions:
Stir fry spice paste over medium-high heat until half done. Add in lemon grass, galangal, bay leaves and sliced chilli, stir fry until fragrant. Pour in coconut milk, stir well and until the coconut is bubbling. Add in chayote squash, green bean, season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to boil. Turn off the heat.

Serving: place lontong into a serving bowl. Pour in the gravy. Add in telor balado and crackers. Serve it immediately.

COOKIES 'n CREAM ICE CREAM

Wooohoooo.......I'm so in love with ice cream now, emmmm....more in love to the ice cream making process :). Since I have an ice cream maker, this is my second ice cream that I made....errr actually my first ice cream because the previous one is sorbet.

Making ice cream is not that easy, even though I can't say it is hard either. Most of time when we make our homemade ice cream, when we keep it in the freezer the ice cream will become hard. So, we need to know the secrets if we want to make softer ice cream *like the one that sold in the market* and less-icy texture when we keep it in the freezer.

Luckily, there is a guy named David Lebovitz who is willing to share the tips/secrets to make our homemade ice cream softer, just like those commercial ice cream.

And guess what? My homemade ice cream is just as soft as those commercial ice cream, though I kept it few days in the freezer. Also, I used splenda as the sweetener, and it didn't change the texture :).

So....are you ready to make your own homemade ice cream?



Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream
Yield: 20 servings (120ml per serving)

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (590ml) half-and-half
8 egg yolks
1 cup (235ml)sugar (Belzy -- I substituted to Splenda Sweetener)
2-1/2 cups (590ml) whipping cream (Belzy -- or heavy cream)
4 tsps (20ml) vanilla extract (Belzy -- I used vanilla essence clear Wilton)
1/8 tsp (.5ml) salt
2 cups chopped cream-filled oreo

Directions:
In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat half-and-half until very hot but not boiling, stirring often. Remove from heat. Set aside.

Place egg yolks and sugar in mixer bowl, then mix about 30 seconds, or until well blended and slightly thickened (If you use standing mixer, attach the wire whip to whip the egg yolks and sugar. Turn to speed 2).

Gradually add half-and-half, mix until blended. Return half-and-alf mixture to medium saucepan, cook over medium heat until small bubbles form around edge and mixture is steamy, stirring constantly. Do not boil.

Transfer half-and-half mixture into large bowl. Stir in whipping cream, vanilla and salt. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Prepare and assemble your ice cream maker (according to your manufacturer's book). Using a container with a spout, pour mixture into freeze bowl, and do the rest of the steps according to your manufacturer's book. (Belzy -- normally churning for 15 to 20 minutes). Add chopped oreo during last 2 minutes of churning time. Immediately transfer ice cream into serving dishes, or freeze in an airtight container.

STRAWBERRY SORBET

Ayayayayay.......at last my generous hubby bought me an ice cream maker! I am sooooo happy, because I want this ice cream maker long long long time ago. Everytime I asked him to buy me one, he always said no to me. But, suddenly after lots of begging, he took me to Frys and bought it for me. Also, after we bought the ice cream maker, we continued to watch Dinner with Schmucks .... yaaayyy what a day!

So, to let him think that it is not a wasting thing to buy me this ice cream maker, I tried to make sorbet. Since this is summer when all the berries are cheap, I chose to make strawberry sorbet. And the sorbet turned so good! I like it.

When I asked my hubby to taste it, his comment was,"make real ice cream next time". hahahaha, yeaaa sorbet is not his fave. He is more to creamy milky ice cream person, but me, I am more to fruity ice cream person.

So, here it is my first homemade sorbet ever.....

Strawberry Sorbet
Yield: 8 servings (1 cup/235ml per serving)

Ingredients:
6 cups (1.5 liter) fresh strawberry
1/4 cup (60 ml) plus 2 tbsps (30 ml) water (Belzy -- use drinking water)
1-1/4 cup (295 ml) simple syrup (recipe below)

Directions:
In a juicer/blender/food processor, mix strawberries and water, blend it until smooth. Pour through fine mesh strainer. To extract as much liquid as possible press down lightly on solids trapped in strainer. Discard solids.
Keep liquid into airtight container/bottle and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Prepare and assemble your ice cream maker (as per manufacture). Combine chilled strawberry juice and chilled simple syrup. Pour mixture into ice cream maker bowl, and do the rest of the steps as per your ice cream maker's manufacture book.
Once the sorbet reaches desired consistency, immediately transfer sorbet into airtight container and freeze at least 2 hours before serving.



Simple Syrup
Yield: 3 cups (710 ml)

Ingredients:
2 cups (475 ml) sugar (Belzy -- I used Splenda)
2 cups (475 ml) drinking water

Directions:
Combine sugar and water in saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves completely. Transfer to ice bath, stirring until well chilled. Refrigerate until ready to use.

PISANG MOLEN (INDONESIAN BANANA FRITTERS)

Who doesn't know pisang molen? I bet 100% of Indonesian people know this fried snack which is made of banana wrapped in flour dough. Usually, we bought it from a vendor so called 'abang gorengan' (or frying man?).

In Jakarta, there are plenty of 'abang gorengan' who sold all kind of fried foods, such as pisang goreng (or fried banana), bakwan goreng (vegie fritters), tahu goreng (fried tofu), singkong/ubi goreng (fried cassava/yam), and pisang molen.
The way of making the pisang molen's wrapper is really unique. You just cut the dough into strips (of course after you roll it), then wind it around the banana. Mostly we used small bananas rather than a normal size banana. But, some people (including me) are using the normal size banana then cut it into 3. From my experience, using small bananas are alot easier on the winding.

My hubby like it so much until he kept coming back to the kitchen when I am still frying it :).



Also, I want to submit it to Masbar Edisi Juli 2010.




Pisang Molen
Source: AGs Food

Ingredients:
375 gr all-purpose flour
75 gr sugar powder
150 gr butter/margarine
150 cc water
2/3 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla powder
14 pieces small banana (Belzy -- I used del monte), peeled

Directions:
In a big bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and fanilla powder, mix well. Knead in butter. Pour water gradually while continuously kneading the dough.
Remove dough into a clean surface work. Roll the dough with rolling pin into 6 to 10mm thickness. Cut it into strips 1-inch wide. Then, winding each dough strips onto banana.
In a pan, deep fry the banana over medium high heat until golden brown. Serve it warm with a cup of hot tea...yummm..