BBQ Tempeh

Fresh from the oven...

Triggers my mind to have'em a bite!!

The fragrance was just oh-so-nice!!

The texture was just oh-so-delicious!!

And the colour was just oh-so-tanned and oh-so-sexy!!

From this moment, i know biting a thickly sliced tempeh was just oh-so-blessed!!

They are just the greatest gift from GOD * Bear with me!! i am getting exaggerating*

But, i couldn't help myself to stop over-describing...

Just because they were simply yummy!!

BBQ Tempeh
Serve 5-6 (a possibilty to be reduced to 3-4 serving, because they are really yum, hehehe...)
Ingredients:
2 blocks Tempeh, thickly sliced (250 gr each block)
Lots of Garlic, peeled ( i used 1 1/2 whole Garlic)
Lots of Shallot, peeled (i used 4 Shallots)
Kecap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce) - i used 2 tbsp *approx*
Salt and Pepper

Method:

• Using Mortal and Pestle, coarsely pound the garlic and shallots
• In a bowl (or ziplock bag), combine pounded garlic, shallots, kecap manis, salt & pepper. Mix well
• Add in tempeh, toss
• Marinade for at least 4 hours (best leave overnight) in the fridge - i left mine overnight
• Next day, line the baking tray with aluminium foil, lightly grease with olive oil
• Arrange tempeh on the baking tray, oven-bake for 20 minutes *approx* (10 minutes each side) in a 220 degree heated oven
• Serve warm

Yummehhh...

Anchovies and Potatoes Sambal

Tempting tempting tempting... it's very yummy even with only rice, i hit like!

Anchovies and Potato Sambal
Serve 5-6
Ingredients:
6 medium Desiree Potatoes, peeled, cubed
200 gr dried Anchovies, rinsed, drained
1 tbsp Tamarind Puree
Corn Starch for coating
Oil for deep-frying
Salt, Sugar, and dash of chicken powder to taste

Paste:
4 Shallots
3 Garlic cloves
1 ripe Tomato
2 heaped tbsp dried Chili Powder (or more if prefer spicy)
a liitle bit Oil

Method:

• Clean potatoes, peel the skin and cubed
• Rinse anchovies, and drain (or pat dry with paper towel)
• Heat enough oil for deep frying (high heat)
• Meanwhile, pour enough corn starch in a bowl, and start coating potatoes until well-combined, set aside. Repeat with anchovies
• Oil should be hot enough by the time you finish coating
• Deep fry potatoes until it turns crispy and golden brown, set aside and drain excess oil
• Deep fry anchovies until crispy, set aside and drain excess oil
• Blend the paste ingredients to a smooth texture in a blender, put a little bit oil as it will be easier to blend well *
• Heat up a non-stick fry pan on a medium low heat, and saute the chili paste until fragrant
• Add in tamarind and seasoning, taste
• Finally toss in fried potatoes and anchovies
• Serve

N.B: *put wet ingredients to blend first before dry ingredients

Happy Cooking!!
xoxo

Oven Baked Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are....

BBQ top-dish while gathering with besties!

Birthday dish while celebrating Lil Brother born-day!

Romantic dish while munching it together with your loved!

All occasion dish you can have it any day, any time! 

Serve : 4 

Ingredients :

300 gr Chicken wings

3 tbsp Oyster Sauce

2 tbsp Sweet Soy Sauce

5 cloves Garlic

1 small Red Onion

Lots of white pepper

Lots of black Pepper
Oil for brushing

Method:

• Wash the chicken wings, separate the drummettes and wings with knife.

For Marinade:

• Mash the garlic coarsely.
• Chop the red onion into the smallest form.
• In a big bowl, put in oyster sauce; sweet soy sauce; coarsely mashed garlic; chopped onion; white pepper and black pepper.
• Put the chicken in the marinade sauce, combine well. 
• Marinade for at least 1 hour, best marinade overnight.

Cooking Method :

• Boil the chicken wings until medium-rare with remaining marinade sauce on a small heat. 
• Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
• Brush oil on each chicken wings surface.
• Oven-baked the chicken wings for 30 minutes.
• Turn up the heat to 200 degrees, bake for another 15 minutes.
• Serve warm.

Those slightly burnt wings count : )

Happy Cooking!

xoxo

Chicken Soup

Easy comfort food to warm us in this freezing weather - Chicken Soup. The blended spices enhance the flavour of this chicken soup after a few minutes of sautéing in a well-heated wok. Fragrance was all over the kitchen. An approachable dish to feed the tummy at a cold evening. 

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Thigh 

1 ltr Water

1 small Red Onion

3 cloves Garlic

2 cm Ginger

1 tsp Whole White Pepper

3 Star Anise

3 Clove

2 Carrot

2 Potatoes

2 unripe Tomatoes 

2 stalks Spring Onion

2 tsp Chicken Stock

Fried Shallot (Adjustable)

Method:

- Put red onion; garlic; ginger; whole white pepper in a food processor. Blend into paste.

- Heat up wok with a little bit of oil, saute the blended paste together with star anise and clove, until it turns golden.

- Boil water in a pot. Add in sautéed paste. Put in chicken; carrot; potatoes. Cook for about 20 minutes.

- Take out the cooked chicken, set aside. 

- Torn the chicken after it has cooled down, set aside.

- After 20 minutes of boiling, turn off the heat. Add in finely chopped spring onion; unripe tomatoes and fried shallot.

- Cover the pot and leave for 15 minutes.

- Garnish with the torn-chicken, serve immediately with rice/ individually.

Chilli

Ingredients:

10 Red Chillies

5 clove Garlic

3 Tbsp fresh Lemon Juice

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Sugar

Method: 

- With mortal and pestle, crush the red chillies and garlic coarsely.

- Add lemon juice; salt and sugar. Mix well.

- Serve with the chicken soup

Happy Cooking!!

xoxo

Nasi Lemak - Coconut Rice

I remember that whenever I was trying to cook Nasi Lemak, everything turned allright, but not the rice. Using a more practical method did ruin the rice, sigh!! I used rice cooker to manage the rice, however, it always turned out uncooked, I wonder why?

I try to prepare it once again today, but using a different method to handle the stubborn rice. By following how Kokken69 to cook the rice, it is perfectly cook NOW! It was more time consuming, but worth it at last! 

Ingredients - The Rice - adapted from Kokken69

I simplified a little bit.

600 gr Jasmine Rice

2 litre Water

300 ml Coconut Milk

2 tsp Salt

2 pieces Pandan Leaves

Method:

-Wash and drain the rice.

-Boil 2 litre water, let the rice cook for 5 minutes.

-Quickly remove from heat and drain the rice.

-Mix in salt and coconut milk, combine well.

-Put it 2 knotted pandan leaves.

-Bring it to the steamer, and steam for another 10 minutes. 

-Rice is done.

To enrich the flavour of eating Nasi Lemak, i prepared Fried Sambal Anchovies; Fried Boiled Egg; Fried Tofu and the main dish, Chilli Sambal. Don't be frightened with the amount of sugar i've put in this small bowl of Chilli Sambal, it is meant to be sweet chilli to perfectly eat with Nasi Lemak :p You can add more if you prefer for  sweeter taste.

Ingredients - Chilli Sambal

1 small Red Onion

30 gr Dried Chillies 

Pinch of Salt

5 tbsp Sugar

Method: 

-Deseed the dried chili and soak for 5 minutes.

-Clean the red onion and cut into smaller pieces.

-Bring to the food processor and blend it.

-Heat up wok with a tiny amount of oil, saute the Chili Paste until fragrant, add in salt and sugar. Set aside.

Ingredients - Fried Sambal Anchovies 

200 gr Anchovies

1 small Red Onion

30 gr Dried Chillies

2 pieces Candle Nut

2 cloves Garlic

1/2 tsp Shrimp Paste

2 Tbsp Tamarind Juice

Salt 

Sugar

Method:

-Clean and drain the anchovies, set aside and let them dry. 

-Deseed the dried chillies and soak for 5 minutes.

-Clean and cut the red onion; garlic into smaller pieces.

-Put in the food processor along with soaked dried chillies; candle nut and shrimp paste. Blend.

-Heat up wok with oil, deep-fry the anchovies until golden brown. Remove excess oil with paper towel, set aside.

-Saute the chili paste until fragrant, add in tamarind juice. 

-Salt and sugar are adjustable according to your preference.

-Toss in fried anchovies, set aside

Ingredients - Fried Boiled Eggs

Eggs 

Water to boil

Oil for frying

Method: 

-Bring eggs to boil for 10 minutes. Cool them down before frying.

-Fry each side of the eggs for 3 minutes, remove excess oil with paper towel, set aside.

Ingredients - Tofu

Tofu

Salt

Oil for frying

Method:

-Cut tofu in smaller size, rub with salt of each side. 

-Fry, remove excess oil with paper towel, set aside.

Happy Cooking!
xoxo

Sambal Tempe Ikan Bilis

I was so happy and excited when I finally found tempe at the store 

For those who could not find it

Go to the frozen/fridge alley in the Asian store

Treasure was hidden in it

I decided to whip up some dishes from mum's recipe 

I cooked Sambal Tempe Ikan Bilis

The crispy Anchovies; crunchy Peanuts and fragrantly Tempe mixed in spicy Sambal are definitely a memorable dish that brought me back to my uni life in Jakarta, hated the life but deeply fell in love with the food : )

Every dishes reflected different memory of us...

What are yours?

Simple Spices needed, richly satisfied my taste buds 

10 red Chilies

2 Shallot

1 Red Onion

2 cloves of Garlic

1 tiny block of Shrimp Paste

You can use blender/mortal&pestle to mash those spices (as you prefer)

1 packet of Tempe 

100 gr Peanut

100 gr Anchovies

Oil for frying

Method:

1. Cut Tempe into bite sizes

2. Rinse Anchovies, drained well

3. Prepare oil for frying

4. Fry Tempe, Peanuts, and Anchovies separately until golden brown

5. Drain excess oil using paper towel, set aside

Spices:

1. Put a little bit of Oil and fry the chilly paste until fragrant

2. Add in 2 tbsp Tamarind Puree

3. Salt & Sugar (Lots) to taste

4. Turn off the heat 

5. Finally, tossed with fried Tempe, Peanuts and Anchovies

6. Serve

Happy Cooking

xoxo

Mee Rebus

First of all let's change the word "Hubby" to "S"

I found it's quite mushy everytime i typed it... lol!!

"S" suddenly mumbled a lot of Tanjung Pinang's hawker foods few nights ago before sleeping

"When i go back to T.P, i want to eat bla bla bla....and bla bla bla...."

One of the food he mentioned was Mee Rebus

Then my brain was starting to work !!!

As i knew Mee Rebus isn't a complicated food to cook...

The next morning, i started to search for lots of recipe on the internet

I combined every recipe, added every ingredients to my recipe list as i thought will turn nice, then i made my own conclusion 

 "S" said it was nice but still lack of something - nutty flavour!!

"S" bro said it was like "Indian" food, haha... - i added curry powder in it (maybe i should discard it from my recipe next time)

I will never ask his little bro because everytime i did - he will say "nice-nice" even he hasn't touch the food...lol

So this is my first attempt!!

Dry ingredients:

1 kg Egg Noodle

500 gr Bean Sprout

1 packet Tofu Puff

2 Green Chilies

Fried Shallot

4 Eggs

2 Stalk Coriander 

 Method:

Boil eggs - de shelled and set aside

Soak Noodle in hot water for 5 minutes - drained and set aside

Cut the Tofu Puff into bite size

Prepare for Green Chilies; Fried Shallot and Coriander to garnish

Gravy ingredients:

15 Shallots (I used 10 Shallots and 1 Red Onion)

10 Dried Chilies - de seeded and soak

5 cloves Garlic

1 inch Galangal

1 inch Ginger

1 tbsp Turmeric Powder

1 tbsp Coriander Powder

1 tsp Lemon Grass Powder

1 tbsp Curry Powder

10 Candle Nut

3 tbsp Salted Soy Bean (Tao cio)

1 tbsp Shrimp Paste (Belacan)

1/4 bowl Oil

1,6 litre Water - can be substituted with Chicken Broth

Method:

Bring all of the Gravy ingredients to blender - process to paste form (except 1,6 litre Water)

Saute the paste in a teflon until fragrant

Bring to boil with 1,6 litre Water / Chicken Broth

Add Seasoning 

( Add the diluted Tapioca Starch lastly after the Gravy has boiled )

Seasoning:

2 tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Salt

2 tbsp Tapioca Starch - diluted with 150 ml Water

Place those dry ingredients in a plate, pour the warm Gravy over

Garnish with Green Chilies; Coriander and Fried Shallot

Serve

Happy Cooking!!!

xoxo

Kangkung Belacan

Since i have made a lot of Sambal Belacan 

Let's have a play with them!! 

Kangkung Belacan

(Belacan Stir-fry Water Spinach)

Serve: 4

Ingredients:

2 bunches of Kangkung (Water Spinach)

Small handful of Dried Prawns

1 Tbsp Sambal Belacan (Heaps)

Cooking Oil

3 tbsp Water

Method:

Heat Oil in a wok

Put in Dried Prawns, fried until fragrant

Add in Kangkung (Water Spinach) 

Water

Taste (add Salt if it is not salty enough)

N.B: Hubby's brother add an usual amount of salt to cook this dish just now!!

His first reaction was : "Wah, ane kiam ah!!"

That's Teochew, :p means: "Wah, that's too salty!!"

Make sure you taste every dishes you cook before serving them

Happy Cooking!!

xoxo

Sambal Belacan

"Sexy Sambal Belacan with Red Bow" :p

(self- crochet)

I'm Indonesian and I LOVE Sambal Belacan

How about you?? 

Sambal Belacan goes perfectly with foods,such as:  Fried Chicken; Fried Tofu; Tempeh; Fried Fish (typical Indonesian food)

I can even eat a big plate of rice with only Kerupuk Udang (Prawn Crackers) dips in Sambal Belacan!!!

Mum will start nagging me of course, it is unhealthy :p

~~Nom Nom Nom~~ 

Beside using it as a dip, Sambal Belacan is actually a "multifunction" ingredient that can be used to whip up other tempting "yum yum" foods - Kangkung Belacan (Belacan Stir-fry Water Spinach); Ikan Asam Pedas (Spicy Tamarind Fish Soup); even we can use it for Meesiam and Laksa!!

N.B:

Before making Sambal Belacan

Make sure that you haven't showered or washed your hair

 Have an air freshener at home

Because the smell will staining like 3 days at your home!! how powerful Belacan is!! haaa haaa...

But don't worry!!! you can make it in a large quantity, so your house will be Belacan-free for up to a year  : )

It's really can be stored up to maximum a year!!

Depends on how you keep the Sambal Belacan

Store them in a clean container/zip-lock bag and freeze it up!!

Tips:

I always store them separately (depends on how much i will going to use it for some certain food in the future)

So i don't have to take out the whole container just to defrost a spoonful of Sambal Belacan

It saves me lot of time while the freshness of Sambal Belacan can still be maintained

I used Red Onion instead of Shallot (Aussie Shallot worth as "Diamond") :p

Ingredients:

200 gr Dried Chili 

1 kg Red Onion 

1 bulb Garlic

2 inch Turmeric

150 gr Candle Nut

2 inch Galangal

4 Stalk Lemon Grass

250 gr Belacan (Shrimp Paste)

Oil

Salt and Sugar to taste

Method:

De-seedeed those dried chilies and soaked them in hot water

 (to soften; make sure to wear gloves before you are draining those chilies "You don't want a spicy hand, don't you??" )

Pan-fry belacan with a bit of cooking oil, set aside (this will enhance the aroma)

Put dried chilies; Red onion; Garlic; Turmeric; Candle nut; Galangal; Lemon Grass in a blender covered with oil; Blend

Pour the well-blended chilli paste to a wok

Stir fry them with the lowest heat for around 45 minutes - keep stirring (or until you can see the oil is floating up)

Add in pan-fried Belacan and mix well

Salt and Sugar to taste (depends on liking)

Cool them before you store and freeze 

Always check out the kitchen while you are chilling your Sambal Belacan, nasty fly will be attracted by your heavenly fragrant Sambal Belacan :p

Happy Cooking

xoxo

urap-urap

so, it was my first time to try urap-urap

i never heard of this dishes before until monica  posted a status about her craving few days ago!!

and we decided to make together..

it is definitely a LOVELY dishes to try

xoxo

tahu orek

i was missing one of my favourite indo food somedays ago

"tempe orek"

the bad things is i couldn't find tempe in sydney

: (

i still remember i have eaten tempe once in sydney last year

bf bought that..

i just couldn't find it anywhere today...

well, i substitute tempe with tahu

: )

not too bad.....

tahu orek

it is not defeated by tempe orek too...

yum yum~~

Fried Sambal Fish (Ikan Goreng Sambal)

Fried Sambal Fish

ingredients:

fish

red onion

garlic

chilies

tamarind juice

method:

fry fish until golden brown

blend all spices to make a paste

saute the paste until fragrant

add salt; tamarind juice; and sugar

toast the fried fish with sambal

Indonesian Fried Noodle

Well...what is the first image that flip over your mind when someone mention "Indonesian Fried Noodle"

i will tell it is heavenly nice..

especially the "mie goreng" sells at Bintan Beach Resort Hotel.

Bintan Beach is a "mini resort" from my hometown - Tanjung Pinang.

P.S: Mie goreng is the appropriate translation for fried noodle in indonesia

Tanjung Pinang is just a small city, but it is great place to stay

life there was much simpler than Sydney (of course!!)

I will went to Bintan Beach Resort for swimming often when i was still in high school

They will have a "Saturday package" (if i am not wrong)

we just need to pay out Rp.10.000 on that day to swim and they will give us a complimentary food

"Mie Goreng"

It was damn nice!! 

i tried to make this Indonesia dishes just now

How it tells?? : )

i blended all the spices and ingredients together to make paste

Onion; garlic; candle nut; dried shrimp; shrimp paste; chilies

saute until fragrant

In the mean time prepare the prawn and eggs in a seperate wok

Beat eggs, lightly cook together with prawn

Set aside

Toast the noodle with the paste and stir fry for about 5 minutes, add sweet soy sauce (as desire)

mix with eggs and prawn

salt and pepper to taste

garnish with parsley and fried onion (optional)

Chicken Rendang

i have found a chicken rendang's mix few days ago at grocery

and i cooked it today : )

it was easy and simple

follow the instruction

3 packets in it

1st packet : curry powder

add 100 ml water to make a paste

curry paste

2nd packet : coconut powder

add 150 ml water

coconut milk

prepare the chicken

heat oil in a wok

saute curry paste until fragrant 

add coconut milk

put chicken

turn heat to minimum and cover

stir occasionally

cook for about 30 minutes

when the chicken is ready, put 3rd packet to the chicken and mix

chicken rendang is ready to serve