TALAM EBI (INDONESIAN DRIED SHRIMP RICE CAKE)

Talam ebi is one kind of many Indonesian rice cakes. Tho talam ebi is not my fave, but it was my mom's fave. She loved talam ebi. And, this time I made it to honor and remember my mom. If only I know how to make it when she still alive, she will definitely be happy.

Basically, talam ebi is made from rice flour and coconut milk, then dried ebi fried as toppings. It tasted good. The rice cake is a bit chewy with savoury dried shrimp.
If you never eat it before, I guess you should try it ;).

I changed some ingredients. You can go to this link for the original recipe.

Talam Ebi

Ingredients:
For Rice Cake:
200 gr rice flour
50 gr tapioca flour
700 ml thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 sheet pandan leaf

For Topping:
100 gr dried shrimp (so called ebi), soaked and chopped
1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced
4 piece dried red chilli, rinse, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1.5 tsp sugar
100 ml olive oil

Preparation:
For the rice cake:
In a bowl, combine rice flour and tapioca flour, dissolve with halve coconut milk. Set aside.
IN a saucepan, boil the remaining coconut milk, sugar and pandan leaf until boiling. Pour the boiling coconut milk mixture into rice flour mixture. Stir until well combined.
Pour the rice cake batter into small bowl until the bowl is full. Steam the rice in preheated steamer for 20 minutes until thoroughly cooked.
Transfer the bowl to a plate. Remove the rice cake from the bowl. Place it at serving plate. Top it with the toppings. Serve it.

For the toppings:
In a small pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in red chilli and garlic until fragrant. Add in dried shrimp, stir until half cooked. Add in green onion, cook for another 3 minutes or until the dried shrimp is well done. Ready to use.

MIE AYAM JAMUR (CHICKEN MUSHROOMS NOODLE SOUP)

I've been craving chicken mushrooms noodle long time ago. Yea I made it once few weeks ago when my hubby's friends came to visit us, but at that time, I am on my 'eating apple only' program. So, I'm unable to fill my craving.

Then few days ago, I made it again :). The benefit you got when you cook by yourself is you can put toppings as generous as you wish :). But, if you buy it from the restaurant, some of them are not too generous.

The recipe is based on my memory of chicken mushrooms noodle that I used to eat when I was living in Indonesia. It tasted so good, especially the hot soups are so great in this winter time :).

Chicken Mushrooms Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
1 package egg noodle
3 pieces chicken breast fillet
1 cup whole button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 to 10 tbsps Indonesian sweet soy sauce (it called Kecap Manis, brand: ABC)
2 to 3 tbsps oyster sauce
5 tbsps fish sauce
1 tbsp Indonesian salty soy sauce (it called Kecap Asin, brand: ABC)
1 tsp white pepper
2 tbsps sesame oil
1000 ml water
A bunch of yuchoy (or other green veggies)

Preparation:
For Toppings:
Boil chicken with water until the chicken is completely cooked. Drain the chicken from the broth. Shred the chicken. Reserve the broth for soup.
In a skillet, stir fry garlic until fragrant. Stir in mushrooms, cook until the mushroom thoroughly cooked. Add in shredded chicken. Season with Indonesian sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, Indonesian salty soy sauce and white pepper, stir in until well combined or until the chicken and mushrooms are coated with the sauce. Pour in 1 to 2 laddlespoonful chicken broth. Cook it for another 5 minutes or until boiled. Two minutes before you turn off the heat, stir in sesame oil. Set aside.

For Serving:
In a saucepan, combine water and chicken broth. Once it boil, add in egg noodle, boil it until the noodle is cooked. Do not overcook if you don't want have mushy noodle.
Meanwhile, in a serving bowl, combine 1/8 tsp white pepper, 3/4 tsp sesame oil and 1/2 tsp fish sauce. After the noodle is well cooked, drained it then put it on the serving bowl immediately. Stir the noodle with the sesame oil mixture until well combined.
Back to the saucepan that used to boil the noodle, boil the yuchoy (or any other green veggies) until well cooked. Drained it. Transfer it onto prepared egg noodle. Top it with the toppings. Pour the chicken broth, or you can do it in a separate bowl. Serve it immediately.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Suddenly, my hubby asked me to make peanut butter cookies. I guess peanut butter cookies became their traditional cookies which everyone here knows and likes it.

Since he knew I never make any of it, he is the one who looking for the recipe and printed out and handed the recipe to me and drove me to WinCo to buy a big jar of peanut butter *so you can imagine how he really wanted this cookies ;)*.

When I was shaping the cookie dough into a 3/4-inch ball, I'm kinda worried because the dough is little bit crumbly, so I need to press it to make a solid ball. Then, after the cookies came out from the oven, I know the crumbly dough made this cookies crunchy and very moist. No wonder 99% people in America like this cookies :).

I can say this is a good yet cheap cookies to make ;) *I like it! :p*

By my hubby's request, I made 4 times of the recipe. So now we have a big container of peanut butter cookies....anyone wanna join us?



Peanut Butter Cookies
Source: about.com

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour, sift or stir before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Preparation:
Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars; beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour mixture, blending well. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls; place on greased baking sheets. Flatten each cookie with the tines of a fork *if the fork is sticking to the dough, dip it in flour periodically*.
Bake peanut butter cookies at 375° for about 10 to 15 minutes.

BBQ PULLED PORK WITH FRESH HOMEMADE BURGER BUN

What the best thing in the morning other than a pair of BBQ Pulled Pork and fresh homemade burger bun? Yep, BBQ Pulled Pork Burger :).



Lately, since we bought a crock-pot slow cooker, I am just like a kid who has new toy and can not stop play it :). So, I kept searching and looking for any recipe that cooked or can be cooked in slow cooker.

The thing I like cooking with slow cooker, I just dump everything in it, turn on the electric and leave it until it is cooked without worrying it will burnt. But, really, you need to cook it at early morning or the night before, so you are able to enjoy the food at the right time.

So yesterday, I asked my hubby which one he prefers, paella or bbq pulled pork. Without hesitated, he chose bbq pulled pork which is I wished he choose it ;).
The preparations are really simple and easy, also, the ingredients are not too complicated *which is good if you are not in the mood of cooking ;)*



Meanwhile, when I am waiting for my bbq pork is tenderized. I prepare the ingredients to bake this wonderful moist burger bun, which I got the recipe from epicurious *I made the dog bun before*.
This combination is just purrrrr....fect ;).



BBQ Pulled Pork

Ingredients:
3 lbs pork loin
2 to 3 yellow onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, pasted
2 bottles (@18 oz) hickory smoked bbq sauce
Salt, to taste
Burger buns

Preparation:
Put the pork loin in the slow cooker bowl. Top it with sliced onion and bbq sauce. Sprinkle it with salt.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or until meat is tender.
Remove pork from the slow cooker bowl, and shred it with fork. Transfer the pork back into the bowl, and coat it with sauce. Cook for another 20 minutes.
Serve it on burger buns or rolls.



Burger Buns

Ingredients:
For dough:
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup warm water (105—115°F)
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

For tops of hamburger buns:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Preparation:
Make dough:
Bring milk and cream to a bare simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cool mixture to 105 to 115°F.
Meanwhile, stir together warm water and yeast in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)
Add warm milk mixture, sugar, flour, and salt to yeast mixture and mix at low speed, scraping down side of bowl as necessary, until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat 6 minutes. (Dough will be sticky.)
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.

To make hamburger buns:
Butter 2 large baking sheets. Punch down dough, then roll out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 14-inch round (about 1/2 inch thick). Cut out as many rounds as possible with floured cutter, arranging 3 inches apart on baking sheets. Gather and reroll scraps once, then cut out more rounds.
Loosely cover buns with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until they hold a finger mark when gently pressed, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.
Brush buns with some of egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through, until tops are golden and undersides are golden-brown and sound hollow when tapped, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

LAPIS BERAS

Hohohoho......I made it!! After I saw my dear blog friend Jenny made this Indonesian sweet dessert *or snack?*, I tempted to make it as well :).

Frankly speaking, I forgot did I ever eat this Indonesian layered rice cake or not. So, I really wondering how's the real texture and taste of this rice cake. Then, I asked my other blog friend, Chizzy, she said that the texture supposed to be a little bit hard because of the rice flour. And, she gave me a little tips if I want to make a soft and elastic rice cake are using all purpose flour or combine all purpose flour and rice flour. Her tips made me want to try to re-make it ;).

However, the preparations are not that hard. The only thing that you need to have is PATIENT ;), because you need to steam it layer by layer. But it worth enough to make, especially if you lived in a country where Indonesian food become something precious :D.



Lapis Beras

Ingredients:
800ml coconut milk
3 pieces fresh pandan leaves, cut into 2-inch
1/2 tsp salt
200 gr rice flour
100 gr mung bean flour
250 gr sugar
1-1/2 tsp cocoa powder (dissolved with 1 tsp warm water)

Preparation:
Boil coconut milk, pandan leaves and salt over medium heat. Stir it continuously. Once it boiled, remove it from the stove, strain it from the leafs.
In a big bowl, combine rice flour, mung bean flour and sugar. Pour in the warm coconut milk slowly, keep stirring until the mixture has no more lumps. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the batter into 2 bowls. Add cocoa mixture in one half.
Preheat loaf pan in the steamer, then brush it with oil. Pour in 2 ladle-spoonfuls plain batter. Steam it for 5 to 7 minutes. Then pour in 2 ladle-spoonfuls brown batter. Steam it for another 5 to 7 minutes. Do it until all batters are used up.
End it by steam it for another 30 to 45 minutes until the cake thoroughly cooked.
Cut the cake when it is cooling down already.

JALAPENO POPPERS

Most of Americans know and like jalapeno poppers, even those who dislike spicy, they would like jalapeno poppers.

My hubby is the first one who introduce me to this finger food. I who love chilli and spicy of cos am willing to try. And, I needn't think twice to not fall in love with this finger food.

What is jalapeno? Jalapeno is mexican type chilli and spicy. Yep, literally so. But don't worry, it is not as spicy as thai chillis. Then, it named jalapeno poppers, because the chilli is filled with cheese and seasonings. Dip it into flour batter and bread crumbs and deep fry it.

Tho it tasted good, do not eat it too much, besides its kinda spicy if you eat it alot, also, it is high cholesterol because of the cheese and deep frying :).

The preparation is easy and didn't take too long time. But, be careful, you need to wear gloves when you removing the chilli's seeds and membranes. The rests are safe prep :).

For the recipe, I used feta cheese with bacon bits for the filling, and flour-brown beer batter. It is really good...



Jalapeno Poppers

Ingredients:
12 piece jalapeno, seeded
2 slices bacon, bits sliced
1/2 package feta cheese
5 tbsps shredded monterey jack cheese
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp tabasco
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
A dash of garlic salt

For dipping batter:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown beer (I used Guiness Stout Beer)
1 egg
A pinch of salt and black pepper
Bread Crumbs

Preparation:
Rinse the jalapeno, wipe it with paper towel. Cut lengthwise. Remove the seeds and membranes. Leave the stem.
In a small bowl, combine feta cheese, monterey jack cheese, oregano, Italian seasoning, tabasco, cayenne powder, blackepper and garlic salt. Well mixed.
Fry the bacon until crispy. Transfer the bacon into the cheese mixture, fold it until the bacon spread evenly.
Fill the jalapeno with cheese mixture. Do it until all jalapeno filled with cheese mixture.
For the batter: in a bowl, mix all ingredients except bread crumbs. Put the bread crumbs in a separate bowl or plate.
Coat the jalapeno with beer batter until thorougly coated. Roll it into the bread crumbs. Then fry it in a very hot oil until both sides are brown. Once it browned, transfer the jalapeno onto a flat plate covered with paper towel. Let it rest for 1 or 2 minutes to let the paper towel soaked the oil, and to make it crispy. Serve it.

TAKOYAKI

Got a chance to make it few days ago after I bought the grill. My first experience with takoyaki was when I visited Singapore. There were a food court stall sold takoyaki at Takashimaya Food Court, and for me, until now, the best takoyaki ever is the one sold at Takashimaya which is unfortunately Singapore becomes a very very far country to visit now :(. Therefore, I tried to make my homemade takoyaki since I can't find takoyaki shops in my neighborhood yet.

The difficulties I found are when the time for the takoyaki to be turned over. Tho when I saw the demonstration in youtube I told myself, "ah it's piece of cake!" *too arrogant huh!?*.

However, after the second round making this takoyaki, I'm getting smoother and my takoyaki are nice round looking :).

I'm really happy with my takoyaki, but my hubby dislike it because I put octopus in it. Yea, he is a big enemy of octopus, squid, clams....you name it. He said, "It just like I'm eating a rubber!". Dang.....I am octopus and squid fan :(. Oh well, there must be a sacrifice rite ;).

Got the recipe from Bento.com and this recipe is really recommended! :)



Takoyaki

Ingredients:
200g chopped boiled octopus
Cooking oil for brushing
Benishoga (pickled ginger), bonito flakes and chopped scallions (to taste)

For Batter:
450cc water
1 piece konbu (kelp), 10cm square
15g powdered katsuo-bushi (shaved dried bonito)
200g flour
2 eggs

For Sauce:
Mayonnaise (I prefer Kewpie brand)
Bulldog Tenkatsu Sauce

Directions:
For Batter:
Clean the konbu by wiping it lightly with a cloth. Cut it into 2 cm length.
In a saucepan, combine the water and konbu, and cook uncovered over low heat. Just before the water starts to boil, remove the konbu from the pot. The liquid should be a light yellowish or greenish color. Add shaved katsuobushi (bonito flakes) to the water as it starts to boil. After the liquid has been boiling a minute or two, turn off the heat.
Quickly remove the shaved katsuobushi from the liquid with a filter or strainer or cloth. Try to remove the katsuobushi while it's still floating on the surface, before it has a chance to sink.
Allow the liquid to cool, then add the liquid, flour and eggs to a bowl and mix.

For Takoyaki:
Make a small test batch of 4 or 5 takoyaki at first, to check the consistency of the batter. Add more flour or water as needed.

1. Oil the takoyaki pan.
2. Pour in the batter.
3. Add pieces of chopped octopus to each cup.
4. Add pickled ginger, chopped scallion and bonito flakes, to taste.
5. Cook the takoyaki pieces until they achieve the desired degree of firmness, turning them over frequently.
6. Remove from the pan and serve with bulldog sauce, mayonnaise and sprinkle it with bonito flakes.

Or, you can see this steps of how to make takoyaki.

FAUX 'McD' APPLE HOT POCKETS

My hubby who gave this name to my new recipe. Actually, this recipe was found when I cleaned my refrigerator. I want to use all the ingredients that I had before I go to get our weekly groceries, so when I saw a pack of spring roll's wrapper laid alone in the freezer I told myself that I should use this wrapper before the wrapper getting hard and can not be use anymore. Then, I looked into my kitchen top drawer and there they are 3 apples are sitting nicely. Luckily the weather are super cold now so it made those fruits stay fresh.

This is a very very easy recipe, no fancy ingredients needed to make this faux hot pockets and it didn't take long time to prepare it. So, let's give a try ;)

Apple Hot Pockets

Ingredients:
1/2 package of spring roll's wrapper
3 medium apples, peeled and diced
1 cup of sugar
200 ml water
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsps tapioca starch solution
1 liter of vegetable oil

Preparation:
Boil water and sugar in a saucepan over high heat until boiling and the sugar is dissolved. Add in apples and cinnamon, stir it well. Turn down the heat into medium heat. Cover the saucepan and keep stir it occasionally.
Once the apples are tender and the sauce are reduce to 1/3, add in tapioca solution. Keep stir it until the sauce are thick.
Cool it down before use.

Finisihing: lay one sheet of spring roll's wrapper on a flat surface. Scoope 1 spoonful apple mixture and put on the wrapper. Wrap it as you wrap spring rolls. Do it again until the wrappers and apple mixtures are finished.

Frying: heat the oil in a big frying pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, fry the apple pockets until brown and crisp. Serve it immediately.

Also, I made banana hot pockets since we had 'the forgotten' small-fingersize banana ;)



Banana Chocolate Hot Pockets

Ingredients:
1/2 package of spring roll's wrappers
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (or you can use milk chocolate chips)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
12 small-fingersize banana
1 liter vegetable oil

Preparation:
In a bowl, combine chocolate chips and butter. Steam it in the steamer until melted. Stir it until the chocolate are thoroughly melt and shiny.

Finishing: lay one sheet of spring roll's wrapper on a flat surface. Put 1 banana and 1 spoonful chocolate sauce. Wrap it as you wrap spring rolls. Do it again until the wrappers are finished.

Frying: heat the oil in a big frying pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, fry the banana pockets until brown and crisp. Serve it immediately.

B-S-M-E ENGLISH MUFFIN

When BLT *Bacon Lettuce Tomatoes* is the signature sandwiches at many restaurant, I made my own abbreviation for my english muffin burger *or sandwich?*.

Using the left ingredients we have *yea...we still not go get groceries this week :(*, here is my first homemade BSME (Bacon Shallots Mushrooms and Egg Benedict) English Muffin and a very handy hollandaise sauce....yum yum...

B-S-M-E English Muffin

Ingredients:
6 pieces homemade english muffin, halved and toasted
1/4 lb bacon (choose the thick cut bacon)
6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
6 large eggs, poached
Blender Hollandaise Sauce *recipe below*

Preparation:
In a non-stick fry pan, saute bacon until a little bit brown. Drain it from the oil. Set aside. Use the grease from bacon to fry mushrooms and shallots *fry it separately*. Poach the eggs once at a time.
Finishing: make layers of half of english muffin - bacon - shallots - mushrooms - egg benedict - hollandaise sauce - top it with another half of english muffin.
Serve it immediately.



Blender Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 dash hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
1/2 cup butter
Salt and sugar, to taste

Preparation:
1.In the container of a blender, combine the egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice, hot pepper sauce, salt and sugar. Cover, and blend for about 5 seconds.
2.Place the butter in a glass measuring cup. Heat butter in the microwave for about 1minute, or until completely melted and hot. Set the blender on high speed, and pour the butter into the egg yolk mixture in a thin stream. It should thicken almost immediately. Keep the sauce warm until serving by placing the blender container in a pan of hot tap water.

WHOLE WHEAT ENGLISH MUFFINS

With a bunch of my colleagues, we were sitting in McDonald and eating their breakfast meals which are sausage english muffins and harshbrown while the rests of our colleagues (including the big boss) were walking down the stairs *from 25th floor* after the fire sirene from our fire training was ringing.

After the training was done, we who were sitting in McDonald and enjoying the breakfast meals before got an email from our big boss which said, "MEET ME IN MY OFFICE!".
Oh boy!! My cubicle friend and I just look at each other on the eyes, the worry eyes!

Then, all of us *who enjoyed the sausage muffins before* walked slowly to our boss' office, and when we stood in his office, we tried to stood as invisible as possible *aka standing behind the other colleagues :)*

That was the funny and thrilled story of my first english muffin :). Now, its been few years after I resigned from that office to be marry my long time bf :).

Since I'm married, I always want to make homemade food, or at least try to make it. And, english muffin is in my list since long time ago. However, at the end I made it :). Whole wheat muffins are my choice. I am really satisfied with this homemade english muffin, not only the muffin's texture is soft, the muffin was beautifully rised :).

You can fill the muffin with jams, cheese or treat it as a burger-muffin. They are all good! :).



Whole Wheat English Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 small egg whites
fine cornmeal or rice flour

Preparation:

In a medium bowl combine whole wheat flour and bread flour, divide it into 2 small bowls (2 cups each). Set aside.

In a large bowl pour in lukewarm ( 110F ) water. Add instant yeast, baking soda and 2cups of flour mixture. Mix till smooth. Allow to sit for 5 minutes uncovered.

In the meantime, add egg white into a separate bowl and beat with an electric mixer until stiff and moist. Once the egg white have formed stiff peaks; add to dough batter. Using a rubber spatula fold in egg whites till incorporated into the batter.

Start to add in the rest of the flour, a 1/4 cup at a time. After the first 1/4 cup mix in salt. When the mixture becomes to hard to mix in the bowl. Pour out onto a flat surface. Knead for about 5 to 6 minutes till it becomes smooth and silky.

Add a little oil to a clean bowl and place the dough into the bowl. Turn dough over till all sides are very lightly coated. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest till double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Afterwards, pour out onto a flat surface. Press to release some of the air from the dough. Using a rolling pin roll out to a 1/2 inch thick. Allow dough to rest for 3 minutes to relax. Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out circles. Place the cut out pieces onto some cornmeal. When you have left over dough just gather together and cut out a few more circles.

Sprinkle the tops with more cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 45 minutes. About 5 minutes before you are ready to cook the english muffins turn on your griddle or fry pan to 350F or medium heat. Spray with a little oil spray and once the griddle is hot. Place the muffins on and fry. If you are using a fry pan you may only be able to fry 3-4 at a time. Fry on one side for about 4 minutes. Then turn over and fry for another 4 minutes. Serve it warm with jams, cheese or bacon.

CHOCO CHIPS OATMEAL COOKIES

Got a chance to taste it last Thanksgiving when I visited my high school friend at SF. These cookies are really good!! It is crunchy yet chewy. My hubby and I liked this oatmeal cookies.



The preparation didn't take too long time, and it is not hard at all! I bet your little one will like it *my hubby and I liked it so much ;)*.



Choco Chips Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
Chocolate chips as much as you like

Preparation:
Preheat the oven at 300`F.
In a mixer bowl, combine butter and brown sugar, mix them over high speed until creamy.
Mix in eggs and vanilla, until the eggs are thoroughly mixed. Pour in flour, baking powder, cinnamon and oats, continue to mix with low speed (speed 1 or 2 if you use stand mixer). Add in chocolate chips and fold it evenly.
Grease the baking sheet, and fill the baking sheet with a spoonful of oatmeal batter. Bake it about 20 minutes and/or until the bottom of cookies are browned.