The Art and Science of Food

Cheese Leek Mushroom Potato Soup

2009-12-05T22:53:00.005-06:00

I don't mean to give this recipe a long name, but that is what the main ingredients are.

Being so picky with the store-bought' choices, I always love making my own broth from scratch. Yes! It means, boil the water with vegetables, shittake mushroom and herbs. I sometimes add shrimp skins in. In another word, you can make from any leftover fresh veggies and carcass.

I saw potatoes in my pantry and leeks, mushroom, provolone cheese, cilantro in the fridge, I was tempting to make a western style soup. I guess :)

The soup was served with toasted spelt bread. What is spelt? Spelt is a species of wheat that has been grown since 5000 BC. Spelt, emmer and eincorn are considered to be "ancient" wheat species, since there has been very little breeding of these crops. Some people with wheat allergy or wheat intolerance can tolerate spelt. Spelt does however contain gluten, and people with gluten allergies (celiac disease) are likely to be allergic to spelt, similar to wheat and other gluten grains.

Hey! Did I mention this one for my submission to the MFM2 November 2009 - World Cuisine? This November event is hosted by Rurie. Thanks Rurie for volunteering to do this.

Cheese, Leek, Mushroom Potato Soup
recipe by me

Ingredients:
2 dried bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 stalk celery, cut into 1/2 cm diced
4 leeks, white parts only, washed well, thinly sliced
2 shallots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
750 g Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into -inch pieces
250 g white/button mushrooms, chopped
300 g provolone cheese
5 cups Homemade Vegetable/Chicken stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Make a bouquet garni: first wrap bay leaves, and rosemary in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie with a piece of kitchen twine, and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium stockpot. Add celery, leeks, shallots, and garlic; cook on medium-low heat until very soft, about 45 minutes, stirring only occasionally. Do not brown.

3. Add mushroom, potatoes, stock, and reserved bouquet garni.

4. Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook until potatoes are very tender, about 40 minutes.

5. Remove bouquet garni, and discard.

6. Add cheese and stir with a hand blender, until all smooth.

7. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with bread.

Bubur Ayam - Chicken Rice Porridge

2009-11-29T22:56:00.017-06:00

Bubur Ayam or Chicken Rice Porridge is a breakfast style of people who live in western part of Java island in Indonesia. I used to consume this once I moved to Bogor.

To get the sense of street food hawkers in Indonesia, I purposely looked for the specific bowl. A bowl with cock's pattern which is widely used for the food hawkers to serve bakso (meatballs soup), bubur (rice porridge) and mie ayam (a noodle dish with savoury ground chicken. I was so happy to see this bowl for purchased at one of Asian grocers in Winnipeg.

I care less about chicken innards sate that is complement for bubur ayam, so my choice was yellow chicken sate as the substitute here. The recipe was adapted from Bubur Ayam Sukabumi - Sukabumi Style Chicken Rice Porridge. Somehow, I played around and not really followed the directions.

Bubur Ayam
-Chicken Rice Porridge-
modified by me

Ingredients:
Rice Porridge
200 g rice
1 L water
2 L homemade chicken stock (I used leftover chicken carcass and veggies to make stock)
1 pandan leaf
2 Indonesian bay leaves

Yellow Chicken Sate:
300 g chicken chunks
skewers

Grind rempah (spices) into a paste:
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2 cm length turmeric, roasted and peeled
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tbsp ground coriander seed
3 candlenuts
ground white pepper and salt as desired

Complements:
sambal
emping nut crackers.
tapioca crackers
cakwe (Chinese long donut), sliced => for people who live in western Canada, it can be found at Superstore (bulk bakery section). Also, sold frozen at Asian grocers.
fried soybeans
fried shallots
Chinese celery leaves, chopped
green onions, sliced

Directions:
Rice Porridge
1. Wash and drain the rice. In a pot, mix water and rice. Bring to a boil and cook until soft.
2. Add chicken stock and the leaves. Reduce the heat and continue simmering until porridge is ready. No separation between liquid and rice is the sign that porridge ready. Add salt and ground white pepper to taste and mix.

Yellow Chicken Sate
1. Stir fry rempah until fragrant. Add a small amount of water and chicken chunks. Cook until the liquid evaporates.
2. Thread the wooden skewers onto chicken chunks. Grilled until done.

How to fry soybeans to perfection: (courtesy of Mariena of Resto Mariena)
Soak soybeans in hot boiled water. When the water's temperature is low or colder, drain soybeans. Place on paper surface to speed up the drying process. Fry until golden brown. Drain and store in an air tight container.

Plating the bubur ayam:
Place bubur (rice porridge) in a bowl. Sprinkle fried soybeans and shallots, green onions, chopped celery leaves, tapioca and emping nut crackers. Put sambal on the spoon.

Happy Eid ul Adha 1430 H

2009-11-27T00:48:00.004-06:00

While people in the US celebrated Thanksgiving on November 26, in Indonesia and all Muslims around the world celebrate the holy sacrifice day, Eid ul Adha or Hajj Eid on November 27. No special dishes that I made or am going to make as I'm staying in Boissevain. Pretty jealous with my brother's girl friend who put her status "I'm eating Iyuk's opor". Opor is a Javanese braised chicken in coconut milk.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrate it.

Urap-urap - Indonesian Blanched Vegetables with Spicy Grated Coconut

2009-11-24T23:44:00.008-06:00

As a person who was born and raised in Indonesia, I didn't realize there are ample of our dishes that don't contain meat. Therefore, I became more and more aware since I married to one of pesco-vegatarians.

Indonesians say repeatedly for plurals. The word "Urap-urap" is the plural of urap. It is a vegan dish that indeed delicious and spicy. You can use any vegetables you like, blanch/steam them and mix with spicy grated coconut.

Urap is perfect for accompanying grilled or fried meats, seafood, fish, tofu or tempe. I myself served urap-urap with Sate Odheng Madura - Madurese Prawn Sate.

Few versions of urap's recipe can be found on the internet. In this case, I had to use dried unsweetened coconut and mix with coconut milk. I skipped coconut/palm sugar as I added red pepper.

Urap-urap
- Indonesian Blanched Vegetables with Spicy Grated Coconut -
modified by me

Ingredients:
Spicy Grated Coconut
3/4 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 kaffir lime leaves, tore
lime or tamarind juice

Grind the rempah:
5 shallots
3 garlic
2 candlenuts, toasted
1 red pepper
5 bird's eye chilies
4 cm length kencur or known as kaempferia galangal, peeled
1 tsp terasi (Indonesian shrimp paste) --> if you are vegan/vegatarian, omit this

Vegetables
wing beans, cut as desired
water spinach (kangkung, cut as desired
chayote, cut as desired
long bean, cut as desired
bean sprouts
carrots, julliened
cabbage, shredded

Directions:
1. Stir fry the rempah until fragrant. Add shredded coconut, kaffir lime leaves, salt and coconut milk. Keep stirring until the liquid evaporates.
2. Add lime/tamarind juice, reduce to low heat and stir for the next 10 minutes
Tambahkan daun jeruk, aduk kembali ± 10 menit di atas api kecil. Set aside
3. Blanch all vegetables and drain. Mix with spicy grated coconut and serve.

Madurese Prawn Sate - Masak Bareng Yuuk Event

2009-11-22T19:39:00.013-06:00

Yay! I rejoined with the Masak Bareng Yuuk event after my last one which was using prawn too. This month's theme is "Masakan Indonesia Berbahan Dasar UDANG" which means Indonesian Dish from Prawn/Shrimp.

After being delayed for so long on making this recipe, I had a reason to make one. Original name of this recipe is Sate Odheng Madura. Odheng is the Madurese for prawn or shrimp.

What is Madurese? The Madurese aka Orang Madura and Suku Madura are an ethnic group originally from the island of Madura, but they are found in many parts of Indonesia now. They are also the third-largest ethnic group by population.

I believe I saw this recipe on Tabloid Nova online before they renewed their website. However, if you google this recipe you can see on some of other websites.

Sate Odheng Madura
- Madurese Prawn Sate -
translated by me
Ingredients:
750 g prawns
4 key limes, squeezed
1/4 tsp salt
10 bamboo skewers

Grind into a paste (rempah):
6 shallots
1/2 tsp coconut or palm sugar
3 cloves garlic
5 red chilies
2 bird eyes
3 candlenuts
1/2 tsp white peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Rinse off prawns under cold water and pat dry.
2. With sharp kitchen scissors, cut the prawn along the inner curve to expose the dark vein.
3. Squeeze 2 key limes over prawns, add salt, rempah, combine and marinate for 30 minutes.
4. Thread the wooden skewers into the prawns carefully.
5. Grill on cast iron pan or barbecue for about 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Don't forget to brush on the rempah while you are grilling.
6. Serve with vegetables and white rice. I served them with urap-urap (Indonesian cooked vegetables salad with grated coconut spices)

A Story of Saskatoon Berries

2009-11-14T11:19:00.007-06:00

During the summer, fresh berries are everywhere and cheap. I did post a recipe of berries too and promised share about Saskatoon Berry.

Saskatoon berries are exclusively only grown in Canada, with the largest supply coming from the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.

The city of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan province is named after this plant. The name derives from the Cree inanimate noun misâskwatômina (misâskwatômin NI sg saskatoonberry, misâskwatômina NI pl saskatoonberries).

Saskatoon berries can be considered as one-kind of ‘Superfruit’. Heck, what a superfruit is. Fruit that has high contain of antioxidant’s sources is superfruit. From a nutraceutical perspective, antioxidant rich fruits have anti-cancer, anti-aging, and anti-heart problem effects on human body. The benefits of antioxidant have contributed against cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, and act as a protective guard to our immune systems.

Now, I am talking about ORAC value. Ohh c’mon don’t start with all the odd words here. No… no… ORAC is actually simplified from oxygen radical absorbance capacity value. This is a method used to measure total antioxidant activity in fruit. This is not the only method for determining the source of antioxidants, but it seems this one is FDA’s favourite.

courtesy of http://www.prairieberries.com

References:
Prairie Berries Inc. (2008). Index: Prairie Berries, Saskatchewan - Canada. Retrieved on November 10, 2009 from http://www.prairieberries.com/

Wikipedia. (2009). Amelanchier alnifolia. Retrieved onNovember 10, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier_alnifolia

Kepiting Saus Padang - Crab in Padangese Sauce

2009-11-09T19:18:00.011-06:00

Padang seems familiar to you, doesn't it? About a month ago, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the city of Padang, killing at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble. Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra province, it is a home to the Minangkabau ethnic group, whose traders spread its traditions - including their famed spicy food - as they settled across the country.

Culturally, it is known for the unusual matrilineal system of the Minangkabau, whereby inheritance passes from mother to daughter. Padang women are seen as being particularly forthright and powerful. The region also has strong literary and musical traditions, though it is Padang's spicy cuisine that has perhaps won most renown as the city's traders set up restaurants across Indonesia.

Kepiting Saus Padang is similar to Singaporean Chili Crab. In fact, kepiting saus padang is not sold at Padangese resturants, but it's available at most seafood restaurants in the country, especially street food hawkers.

Kepiting Saus Padang
(Crab in Padangese Sauce or Crab in Spicy Chili Sauce)
modified by me

Ingredients:
2 dungeness crabs (about 1.5 kgs)
water for boiling the mussels
6 tbsp vegetable oil
6 cm length gingerroot, minced
1 fresh pineapple, peeled and blended/grated
3 tbsp fresh key lime juice
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tbsp Indonesian hot sauce (or put as much as desired), I used sambal cap jempol
3/4 cup clam juice
water to boil (you will need more ginger and garlic) or oil for deep frying
sugar and salt as desired

Spices to grind
5 bird chilies (you can put as less/much as desired)
2 red pepper, roasted (for giving red bright color to food)
15 shallots
9 garlic
1 1/2 tsp terasi (dried shrimp paste)
3 candlenuts

Directions:
1. You can do two ways, either place the crabs into hot boiling water that consists ginger and garlic or deep fry the crabs until golden brown

2. In a large skillet or saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and ground spice and saute over moderate heat, stirring often until fragrant. Add ketchup, hot sauce, and sugar (if you need it, I don't add any).

3. Add clam juice and crabs. Put salt as desired in also (I don't add any, since I used terasi), cook until bubbling. Add pineapple and lime juice; stir. Bring to a boil and let the sauce thicken.

Greek Market on Corydon Avenue

2009-11-05T22:31:00.010-06:00

It was the day when we had to look for goat feta cheese. We went to one of cheese specialty store on Corydon avenue. That store doesn't have it. I told to my husband, we should check Greek Market which is located on Corydon ave too. I used to this store to get my tiramisu on a cup. Love tiramisu, but I don't want to make it by myself since my tempation is only for a small piece.

Yes!! I am right this store has 3 kinds of feta cheese, cow, goat and sheep. I felt like bringing my husband to toy's store. It has most everything he likes, not many meat products are sold.

See what we got beside feta cheese.

Greek Market
1440 Corydon Ave
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3N 0J3
Phone: 1-204-488-6161
E-mail: info@greekmarket.ca

Sate Cumi Kecap - Squid Sate with Sweet Soy Sauce

2009-11-01T14:21:00.006-06:00

(These pictures are also old stocks, so you will find 2008 as the year)

This recipe is not the Indonesian's classic sate variants. I myself like to use a word sate rather than satay. However, we can make sate with whatever you feel like, including tofu and tempe. Yupss make it vegetarian. Literally, sate means sate, cumi (pronounced: chu mee) means squid and kecap (pronounced: ketchup) means sweet soy sauce. Sate Cumi Kecap can be translated as Squid Sate with Sweet Soy Sauce.

Rustle up something that you have been yearned for so long, is not that easy, for I have been hectic. Particularly, provided your squids are frozen :D.

As I glanced through several pages on the internet, I stumbled on mbak Ima's multiply and this link which have the same recipe; hence, I settled on those recipe by adapting them. Mine is slightly different with theirs.

I enhanced with candlenuts, lemon grass, coriander seed, and calamansi. However, kecap manis and peanuts are still used, just like the classic Indonesian sate.

I chose organic peanut butter rather than the regular one. Based on my experience, putting regular peanut butter will change the taste after the sauce simmered. Organic peanut butter usually only contains peanuts and seasalt or sometimes just ground peanuts. You also can go to some stores that provide peanuts with the grinder; thus, grind them by yourself there, and you will get fresh peanut butter.

Sate Cumi Kecap
(Squid Sate with Sweet Soy Sauce)
adapted from mbak Ima, modified by me

Ingredients:
2 lbs squids
1/2 cup Indonesian kecap manis
2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter (preferably organic peanut butter)
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1 tbsp ground frozen lemongrass
small skewers as many as you need

Ground Spices
8 shallots (in case you use smaller size as I had while I was in Indonesia, you may require 16 shallots)
7 cloves garlic
3 candlenuts
1 cm ginger
1/4 tsp ground star anise
1 tsp ground coriander seed

Additional:
some more shallots, sliced
chillies, sliced
calamansi

Directions:
1. Rinse off squids and marinate with ground spice, kecap manis, peanut butter, ground lemongrass and melted margarine for an hour.

2. Soak skewers in water for about 20 minutes so skewers don't burn over heat.

3. Place a squids on a skewer, do until all squid finished.

4. Grill or broil until cooked through. Brush squid with leftover marinade while cooking. I used a pan grill.

Peanut Sauce:
Place leftover marinade in a saucepan and simmer until bubbling. Combine with sliced shallots and sliced chilies. Squeeze calamansi over and mix. Serve this with squid sate and warmed rice.

Tteokochi or Ddeok-kkochi

2009-10-29T18:15:00.005-05:00

I know tteokochi or ddeok-kkochi when I volunteered for the Korean pavilion-Folklorama in 2006. It reminds me of cilok (West Java) or pentol (in East Java) in Indonesia. The differences, cilok or petol is made from sago or tapioca flour and enhanced with a very small amount of beef. The sauce is kinda close with spiceness of chili while some cilok/pentol have a choice of spicy peanut sauce too.

They have another similarity, sold by the street food vendors.

Anyway, after the training, I just drove around Grant avenue and saw a new Korean store. I was thinking to give a try and found a bag of frozen rice that was pretty cheap. I used to go to Arirang on Portage avenue for Korean food stuffs.

I didin't want to make Tteobokki or Ddeokbokki since I don't have any fish cake and cabbage.

Tteokkochi//Ddeok-kkochi
adapted from http://koreanfood-koreanet.blogspot.com/2009/08/tteokkochi-and-rabboki.html

Ingredients:
50 pieces of rice cake (25 pieces if you use longer pieces)
10 skewers
water
oil

Sauce
2 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp honey (you can substitute for corn syrup)
1/2 tbsp sugar ( I used 1/2 tsp sugar, but it was still too sweet for me. My suggestion, skip the sugar)
1 tbsp onion juice ( you can get this by using a garlic mincer, I used 1/4 of onion and grated instead)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp cooking wine (Mirim in Korean or Mirin in Japanese) -> you can substitute for vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped peanuts
1 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:
1. In a pot, bring water to a boil and put the rice cakes in. Boil frozen rice cakes for 1 minutes or until soften. If they are not frozen, boil them for 30 seconds.
2. Drain the soften rice cakes.
3. Thread 4 or 5 rice cakes onto the skewer.
4. Pan- fry them until golden brown with a small amount of oil. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, you can make the sauce.
6. Coat cooked rice cakes with the sauce and ready to eat.

Sauce
Mix all sauce's ingredients in a sauce pan. At medium heat, bring to boil; stir occasionally.

Teach a Man to Fish: Pepes Ikan Woku

2009-10-28T21:35:00.009-05:00

My apology to repost this picture as I just realized that there is the 3rd annual Teach a Man to Fish. Hence, the last date intake is October 31. Better to get hurry before I let it pass again since I missed the 2nd one.

As a girl who grew up in the archipelago country, I used to have fresh ocean fish. My beloved dad also worked for fishery department at that time, no wonder that I eat fish and seafood just like beef, chicken or pork for Manitobans.

Teach a Man to Fish has educated me to be more wise in consuming fish/seafood. It's ok to eat them but eating sustainable ones is better feeling. Hope, you still remember with my first participation.

This recipe can be applied for any fishes. I used Pacific halibut with a MSC-eco label certified by Marine Stewardship Council. There is a good news for Canadians. According to the MSC's website, the Canada Pacific halibut fishery of British Columbia has passed its assessment to earn MSC certification for being a sustainable and well-managed fishery. It is the first fishery in B.C. to earn this distinction.

I am very happy to know that Superstore, retail grocery stores of Loblaw Companies Limited in Western Canada is also pro-active to supply all seafood sold in the stores from sustainable sources by the end of 2013.

What can I say about this recipe? A marriage between a North American's sustainable fish and Indonesian recipe. You will notice two herbs are not really common to use in Canada, lemon basil (Indonesian: daun kemangi) and turmeric leaves. Well, turmeric is easy to find fresh, frozen or powder here. How about the leaves? Yes! I am planting turmeric root just to get the leaves inside my apartment. I have a very tiny felt-like green house for potting tropical herbs especially the ones that can't be found for purchase in Winnipeg. Turmeric and kencur have been grown respectively three years and has good yields every year. This year, I started to plant three different basills, lemon, Thai, and sweet basils. Two of them are easy to find at grocery stores, but not lemon basil.

Pepes Ikan Woku is the name of this food. It can be translated as Steamed Fish with Woku Spices in Banana Leaves. Woku spices are rich Manadonese mixed spices. Manadonese is an ethnic group of Indonesia that inhibits Sulawesi island, near by the Philippine.

Pepes Ikan Woku
recipe by Yohana Halim and Sedap Sekejap, modified and translated by me

Ingredients
500 g fish steak (I used halibut steak)
calamansi
4 sprigs of lemon basil leaves (kemangi leaves)
1 turmeric leaves
7 kaffir lime leaves, 5 leaves for shredded and tear off the rest
1 pandan leaf, cut into 2 cm length
1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
banana leaves for wrapper
tooth picks

Grind into a paste
8 shallots
10 red chilies or as desired
4 candlenuts, toasted
3 cm long turmeric, roasted and peeled
3 cm long ginger, peeled
3 tbsp ground frozen lemongrass
salt as desired

Directions
1. Squeeze calamansi over fish and mariante for 30 minutes.
2. Rub fish with spiced paste and let it for 15 minutes.
3. Place fish, spiced paste, the leaves ingredients in banana leaves, wrap them up and pin with wood tooth picks or tie wih strings. Steam 45 minutes or until done.

Lontong Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang - Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk with Rice Cake

2009-10-26T18:11:00.008-05:00

I finally posted a recipe of Lontong Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang or Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk with Rice Cakes as the last series of Eid ul Fitr dishes 2009.

Traditionally, lontong is made by partly cooking or soaking raw rice, draining and packing tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf packaging is fastened with bamboo picks and cooked in boiling water about 2 hours or so. Once, lontong is cooled and solid, you can cut lontong into bite-sized pieces.

Basically, lontong can be eaten with any kinds of soup/stew or sauce base. Whenever I visited my beloved maternal grandmother in Probolinggo, I always had bakso (Indonesian meatballs soup) with lontong. In Surabaya/Sidoarjo, there are ample of dishes that accompany with lontong. Sate ayam, lontong kupang, lontong mie, lontong cap gomeh, rujak cingur, gado-gado, lontong balap, tahu tek (known as tahu gunting), lontong kikil, you name it!

In this posting, you will find two separated recipes for making Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang and Lontong.

Sayur Pepaya Muda Udang
(Green Pepaya and Shrimp in Spiced Coconut Milk)
recipe by me
Ingredients:
500 g green pepaya, peeled and julienned
300 g medium size shrimps
2 lemongrass, bruised
3 cm galangal, bruised
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 tsp ground dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi)
2 pkgs cream coconut powder
1.5 L homemade shrimp stock*
oil to stir fry

Spices to grind into a paste
6 shallots
3 cloves garlics
3 red chillies
3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
1 tsp dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malay: belachan), roasted

Directions:
Preparation
*Homemade shrimp stock can be made ahead from shrimp heads and skins
Combine shrimp stock and 1 package of coconut cream powder; stir occasionally. Bring to a boil and set aside.

Cooking
1. Stir fry spices paste/ground ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, add salam leaves, galangals, and lemongrasses, cook for another 1 minutes until fragrant.

2. Add julienned pepayas another package of coconut cream powder, stir until mixed.

3. Add shrimp stock and shrimp, stir and boil for another 10 minutes or until the shrimps are done.

4. Serve with lontong, sambal and kerupuks (any kind of kerupuks, either tapioca or shrimp ones).

Lontong
(Rice Cake in Banana Leaves Wrapped)
adapted from an Indonesian cookbook "Variasi Menu Sehari-Hari" by Hayatinufus A. L. Tobing

Ingredients:
1.25 kgs rice, rinsed off and drained
about 20 sheets of banana leaves

Directions:
1. Take a sheet or 2 sheets of banana leaves. Roll leaves into 5 cm diameter log-shape. At the edge of the rolled leaves, fasten one side with a bamboo tooth pick. Through another side, fill 3-4tbsp rice into the rolled leaf. Fasten the other edge with a tooth pick. Redo it until all rice are filled into the roll leaves.

2. In a large pot, place all the uncooked lontong. Fill in with water until all lontong sunken.

3. Cook for 2-3 hours or untill all done. Add some more water if the water evaporates and is lessened.

Stir Fry Bittermelon with Anchovies and Tauco // Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco

2009-10-20T19:59:00.015-05:00

Tauco are salted fermented soybeans and pronounced tow chow. They were brought to Indonesia by Chinese immigrants. It has cooperated with Indonesian culinary for centuries. Each regions of Indonesia have different type of tauco.

It can be combined with fish, chicken, vegetable, tofu etc. Tauco are sold in whole and paste. It's similar to miso in Japanese cuisine.

Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco means stir fry bittermellon with anchovies and tauco. This doesn't categorize as special Eid ul-Fitr dish either. I wouldn't make this dish for Eid ul-Fitr if my husband didn't request it. For Indonesians, this is just daily food for accompanying the rice.

Tumis Pare dan Teri Bumbu Tauco
adapted from Yusy Wijaksa, modified by me

Ingredients
2 bittermelons, halve, discard the seed and cut into 3/4 cm thick
150 g frozen anchovies, thawed and baked/fried
4 tbsp tauco
1 tomato, diced
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 cm length galangal
2 green chilies, discard the seed and angle cut
1 tbsp ground bird eyes chilies*
salt and sugar to season (I didn't add this as the tauco is pretty salt for my tastebuds)
oil for stir-frying

Spices to grind:
5 shallots (If you use smaller size, use 8)
1 clove garlic

Directions:
1. Sprinkle salt over bittermelon and squeeze softly by hand until wilted.
2. Let bittermelon sit for 10 minutes, rinse off with water and drain.
3. Stir fry all the spices, except green chilies until fragrant. Add anchovies and bittermelon, cook until done.
4. Taste and season with salt and/or sugar as desired.

Gulai Kambing // Goat Curry

2009-10-14T21:49:00.004-05:00

Slowly but sure, I will post the recipe of Eid ul-Fitr. You can tell by the ingredients, this Gulai Kambing or Goat Curry was influenced by Indian culinary. I enjoyed the Gulai Kambing with lontong (Indonesian rice cake) or nasi (warmed steamed rice).

This recipe is quite popular among Natural Cooking Club (NCC) members and posted by one of my multiply's buddy, Nining. It's Fatmah Bahalwan's recipe. Since the recipe is in bahasa Indonesia, I translated into English. It didn't state to have yogurt or EV coconut/olive oil, so I did modify the recipe by combining coconut milk and yogurt, also substituting vegetable oil for EV coconut oil. Yogurt is one of ingredients that believed for tenderizing meat.

Gulai Kambing
Recipe by Fatmah Bahalwan, modified by me

Ingredients:
2 kgs goat meats (I prefer the ones with bones)
3 cm length cinnamon stick, ground
4 cloves, ground
1/4 cup yogurt
4 L water

Spices to grind:
3 tbsp coriander seed
1 tbsp white pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fenugreek
5 green cardamom
5 cloves garlic
10 shallots
3 cm length ginger
5 cm length galangal
3 cm turmeric
1/8 nutmeg

5 tbsp EV coconut/olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves
3 Indonesian bay leaves
2 lemon grass, take the white part and bruised
225 mL thick coconut milk
25 mL water

Directions:
1. Marinate goat meat with yogurt, ground cinnamon and clove for 1 hour. Set aside.
2. In a pot, bring 4 L water to boil.
3. Add marinated goat meat and bring to reboil, then add kaffir lime leaves.
4. At medium-high heat, add oil to a another pot. Stir fry lemon grass until fragrant then add onion and stir occasionally until wilted.
5. Combine all ground ingredients to the pan, stir fry until done and fragrant. Ladle small amount of goat's broth into the spices' pot and stir.
6. Combine spices' mixture into the pot of goat's mixture. Cook until the meat tender.
7. Pour thick coconut milk and 25 mL water and reboil. Set aside.
8. Ready to serve, garnish with fried shallot and acar (Indonesian pickled cucumber, chili, shallot and carrot) or asinan (Indonesian pickled fruit).

Hidangan Lebaran // Eid ul-Fitr Dishes

2009-10-11T22:51:00.013-05:00

I posted these hidangan lebaran longer than I thought. Hidangan Lebaran literally means Eid ul-Fitr dishes. In Indonesia, we call Eid ul-Fitr for Idul Fitri or Lebaran. On this day, Indonesians usually make special dishes. I didn't really think to make special ones as I have been busy with living in two places in Manitoba.

My husband requested to have bittermellon which he only likes if I make it. Stir fry bittermelon with anchovies and tauco. Tauco is Indonesian translation for salty fermented soybeans.

Companion of the stir fry bittermelon, I made lontong sayur pepaya muda/mentah udang (spiced green pepaya and shrimp in coconut milk with rolled rice cake). Lontong is made from rice that is packed in banana leaves and boiled. It's served at room temperature with sauce-based such gulai/kari (curry), soup, gado-gado, sate etc. To Lidia, I will write the directions how to make lontong within a week.

For my own treat, I made gulai kambing (goat curry). Thank you to Nining for the recipe.

Bubur Ketan Hitam, Event, and Indonesia Eats on Very Asia.com

2009-10-07T15:13:00.011-05:00

Windy and cold weather is here now. I am not ready yet for winter since we had a really short summer in Manitoba this year. Also, it was said that Manitoba has a chance to have more rains than any other provinces in Canada. This bubur ketan hitam is perfect for cold days.

October the 25th, the Indonesian students group of Winnipeg presents an event "Indonesian Exotic Cultural Afternoon: Explore Indonesian Street Vendors". In this event, we will have similar things to the Indonesian Food Festival 2009. However, we won't serve a big meal, we will serve savory and sweet snacks just like the street vendors in Indonesia. This event is also tribute to Sumatra's earthquake that was just happened about a week ago.

Do you still remember about the Indonesian Food Festival 2009 in Winnipeg where my food pictures were featured on the Winnipeg Free Press? You may remember my nasi uduk's picture and recipe. Those also have been featured on veryasia.com. A great website if you love online-shopping, especially Asian stuffs. Thank you to Emon and Welly for emailing me, I appreciate your effort before featuring my blog's contains.

Savories
Sate Ayam - Chicken Sate
Martabak - Fried Beef Wrap
Lemper - Steamed Sticky Rice Filled with Chicken
Kerupuk - Fried Crackers

Sweets
Bolu Kukus - Steamed Cupcake
Bubur Ketan Hitam - Black Glutinous Rice Porridge with Coconut Milk
Kue Lapis Beras or Kue Pepe - Rice Flour Steamed Layered Cake

Beverages
Es Buah - Iced Mix Fruit
Kopi - Aunthentic Indonesian Coffee

I myself will make sate sauce and bubur ketan hitam. If you wonder how to make bubur ketan hitam, please keep continuing on reading. In Yasaboga cookbook, it was combined between black and white glutinous rice while I only ued blacl glutinous rice.

Bubur Ketan Hitam
(Black Glutinous Rice Porridge with Coconut Milk)
recipe by Yasaboga, modified by me

Ingredients:
Porridge
• 250 grams black glutinous rice
• 1 ½ litres water
• 2 pandan leaves
• 250 grams coconut sugar (can be substituted for palm sugar), microwaved for couple minutes to dissolve easily
• pinch of salt

Cococnut Milk Sauce
• 350 cc thick coconut milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 pandan leaves

Directions:
Porridge
1. Soak black glutinous rice in water overnight.
2. Drain the rice. Cook with water and pandan leaves until soft and thick.
3. Add coconut sugar and salt, and continue cooking until the sugar is dissolved and the water is absorbed.

Coconut Milk Sauce
Cook thick coconut milk with salt and pandan.

Serve this porridge with coconut milk sauce.

Happy Eid ul-Fitr 1430 H

2009-09-20T20:58:00.004-05:00

Today, On September 20th 2009, all muslims around the world celebrate Eid ul Fitr. Eid ul Fitr is a religious festival of Muslims. It is celebrated on the 1st of Islamic month Shawwal.or Syawal Muslims keep fast during the holy month Ramadan and when the month of fasting ends they celebrate Eid ul-Fitr.

Wish you the joys and wonder of Eid ul-Fitr.

New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake with Saskatoon Berry Compote

2009-08-17T22:47:00.007-05:00

Don't be overwhelmed by the title! True, I used two kinds of berries, strawberry and Saskatoon berry.

I never feel regret that I had to move out from the city due to my work's location. I live close to the farmers where the food begins. My neighbour sometimes offers me to have some fresh vegetables from their garden.

Out of the blue, one of the local people came to the office. She brought a pack of fresh strawberry from u-pick farm. They were totally awesome, sweet and really red. Totally different with the store bought ones! I decided to keep some of them frozen and ate the rest for smoothie and snack.

The next two week, my husband and I went for Saskatoon berries u-pick. I came to conclusion to make New York style Cheesecake with adding Saskatoon Berries as compote. The story of Saskatoon Berry will be posted later.

Since I played around with the recipe, I thought it would be failed. Voila!!! I modified by adding flour as I enhanced by fresh/frozen strawberry in cream cheese filling, and of course the compote.

New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake
recipe by Ricardo Larrivée, modified by me

Ingredients:
Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs =>I used Italian ‘Savoiardi’ Lady finger cookies, then grind
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup melted butter => I reduced to 3 tbsp

Cream Cheese Filling
4 x Container (250 g/8 oz each) cream cheese, at room temperature=> I used 3 containers
1 1/4 cups sugar => I reduced into 1 cup sugar
4 x eggs
1/2 cup 35% cream => I substituted for plain natural yogurt
1 tbsp vanilla extract => I skipped this
1 cup fresh/frozen strawberry
1/2 cup flour (I suggested to reduce to 1/4 cup)
2 tsp konyaku jelly powder (I suggested to reduce to 1 tsp)

Directions:
Crust

In a bowl, combine the ingredients. Press lightly into the bottom of a 20-cm (8-inch) springform pan. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350°F. Let cool.
Wrap the outside (bottom and sides) of the springform pan with aluminum foil, making sure it’s watertight
Turn the oven temperature down to 170°C (325°F).

Cream Cheese Filling

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Pour onto the crust.
Prepare a bain-marie: Place the springform pan in a large baking dish. Fill the baking dish with boiling water until it comes halfway up the side of the pan.
Bake in the middle of the oven until the filling is set at the edges but the centre trembles slightly when shaken, about 70 minutes. Turn off the oven, leaving the cake inside with the door slightly ajar for 1 hour. Remove the pan from the bain-marie. Remove the foil from the pan. Run a thin knife around the inside edge of the pan. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 4 hours.

[Click] Red Onion with Green Bokeh

2009-08-05T12:54:00.009-05:00

The picture is my submission for Click-Agust 2009 with a theme Allium.

Idea of the picture? Why the heck did I put red onion on top of the jar with water in it? Here is the clue, by utilizing the green parts for cooking and leave the red bulb in a jar with water, the greens will grow back and you can use them again, as long as you keep the bulb under water. This method can apply for green onions or scallions as well.

In Indonesian culinary, allium has been used widely, especially shallot which is often in one recipe it is called more than 3 pieces of shallot. The specialty Indonesian nasi goreng also uses shallot, not garlic.

A part of my work’s schedule every Friday is to visit the local farmers’ market (FM). On that day, I will bring home a big bag of organic fresh salad mix which is so cheap only $ 2.50. The salad mix frequently contains edible flowers.

About a month ago, I realized that I couldn’t get the usual shallot that I used to get whenever I am in Winnipeg. Instead, I bought a bunch of fresh red onion from the FM and the onions still had the green stalks attached. Anyway, I only keep one bulb of the red since I used the bulb for cooking, my shallot’s substitution for the time being. :)

[Click] Blue and White

2009-07-29T19:42:00.004-05:00

It was like my ambition to have a cute picture of blueberry since two years ago. Hence, I never got the best shot until last week. I wish I had time to go for blueberry's picking at the Manitoba's local farm. Anyhow, I got a pack of British Columbia's grown blueberry from the store, it's still Canada's producer, eh!

Set up my blueberries on the patio's table, also a small white napkin with blue strip that I got from the local store in Boissevain, The Station.

Lidia told me about the Click July 2009 edition's theme "Bi-Colour" that was perfect for my blueberry's picture. Blue and White is my submission for Click.

I do love taking pictures, but I am pissed off lately as I found two pictures of mine have been stolen by a blog, asiarecipestips dot blogspot dot com. To whoever take food pictures from another blog, use them without telling the owner and eventually you are making money from your blog. You are convicted of stealing.

Pepes Ikan Woku and Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T20:27:00.005-05:00

According to wikipedia, Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), is Canada's national day, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country, which was in turn composed of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally. Happy Canada Day!!!!

Back to my day off, I celebrated by cooking. I was in Winnipeg to spend my day with my husband and kitchen :). What did I make? Still, something spicy and fishy. Pepes Ikan Woku! It can be translated as Steamed Fish with Woku Spices in Banana Leaves. Woku spices are rich Manadonese mixed spices.

Pepes Ikan Woku
recipe by Yohana Halim and Sedap Sekejap, modified by me

Ingredients
500 g fish steak (I used halibut steak)
calamansi
4 sprigs of lemon basil leaves (kemangi leaves)
1 turmeric leaves
7 kaffir lime leaves, 5 leaves for shredded and tear off the rest
1 pandan leaf, cut into 2 cm length
1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
banana leaves for wrapper
tooth picks

Grind into a paste
8 shallots
10 red chilies or as desired
4 candlenuts, toasted
3 cm long turmeric, roasted and peeled
3 cm long ginger, peeled
3 tbsp ground frozen lemongrass
salt as desired

Directions
1. Squeeze calamansi over fish and mariante for 30 minutes.
2. Rub fish with spiced paste and let it for 15 minutes.
3. Place fish, spiced paste, the leaves ingredients in banana leaves, wrap them up and pin with wood tooth picks or tie wih strings. Steam 45 minutes or until done.

Hello from Boissevain

2009-06-22T22:49:00.008-05:00

As of June 15th, I moved to a small cattle producer town in Manitoba, Boissevain due to my current job. I still go back to Winnipeg once every two weeks.

The little small town has caught my intention with flowers around the area. I was so happy I finally found lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi) plants for purchased here, at the greenhouse where I bought them. Lemon basil is a fragrant herb that is commonly used in Indonesian cuisine.

The warmness and friendliness feeling that I enjoy the most from people in this town. The most important I don't need to see lots traffic like in Winnipeg! :) Absolutely, I enjoy driving here.

A cozy coffee area in the giftware shop is also part of my morning coffee break. It's only one block away from my office with magnificent things that foodies love. Care to see the history of The Station, please visit the website at http://www.the-station.ca/. Thanks to Audrey Hicks to let me taking pics of the store. If you go to the US border or enter Canada through highway 10 please do visit Boissevain and The Station.

The Station
406 South Railway Street
Boissevain, MB
Canada R0K 0E0

The Front Look and The Black and White Corner...

The Red Lovers...

The Blue Lovers...

The Eco and Antique Lovers...

There, you go, my spot for coffee break...

Gulai Paku (Pakis) // Minangese Fiddleheads in Spiced Coconut Sauce

2009-05-24T23:45:00.020-05:00

Edible fiddleheads are only available during late May to early June in Manitoba, Canada. It means I only eat once a year since I moved to this country.

Since my father was a part of Sumatrans, our family used to have edible fidleheads for gulai paku (known as pakis). The most different that I noticed between edible fiddleheads in Indonesia and Canada was the size. Canada's fiddleheads are bigger than Indonesian's.

Gulai paku is a Minangese (Western Sumatran) dish with turmeric leaves and asam kandis as the typical spices. I have posted the information about asam kandis before and always substitute for kokam since I cook Sumatran foods quite often for you can see on this link

Gulai Paku
source: the internet, modified by me

Ingredients:
300 g edible fiddleheads, rinse off
500 mL thin coconut milk
100 g tiny silver anchovies (I used silver anchovies)
1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
1 cm length galangal
2 pieces asam kandis (I used kokam)
15 ruku-ruku leaves or can be substituted for lemon basil (I didn't add any)
1 turmeric leaf
2 kaffir lime leaves
2 Indonesian bay leaves

Blend the spices into a paste:
red chilies, as desired (I used a mix between green chilies and red chilied powder)
7 shallots
2 cloves garlic
4 tbsp coconut milk
1 cm length turmeric
1 cm length ginger
1/2 tsp dried shrimp paste, roasted (most recipes don't add this)
salt as desired

Directions:
1. Transfer the spiced paste into a saucepan, simmer and stiring often about 6 - 8 minutes.
2. Add thick coconut milk, asam kandis, lemon grass, galangal and all the leaves. Bring to almost a boil, then simmer for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring often.
3. Add fiddleheads and continue to simmer until the fiddleheads are almost cooked, then add silver anchovies and continue simmering until cooked

Note:
In this case, I made the fiddleheads were still crunchy.

Pepes Ikan Kembung // Indonesian Mackerel en Papillote

2009-05-20T10:44:00.010-05:00

Cooking in parchment paper, en papillote in French or al Cartoccio in Italian. It's a perfect technique for delicate fish filets. This method in which we seal the food in a pouch and bake. The food essentially steams in the oven in its own juices. The method is also incredibly easy and has the added benefits of being a low fat method of cooking.

The technique's keys are
1) use fresh ingredients;
2) preparation or mise en place. Using aromatic vegetables, herbs, and if you like, a little vermouth, wine, or olive oil can add depth.

In this case, I used Indian mackerel or it`s known as ikan kembung in Indonesian. Instead of banana leaves which are very popular in Indonesian cuisine, I used parchment paper. Sambal Matah Bali ingredients have been inspired my modified pepes such as shallots, lemongrass (I used frozen ground lemongrass), bird's eye chillies, kaffir lime leaves. The pepes was also enriched by candlenuts, tomato and kencur (kaempeferia galangal).

No need recipe. I just threw all ingredients to the food processor, except fish and the wrappers. First of all, rinse off the fish and marinate with tamarind for 15 minutes. Rub fish with ground spices. Place in parchment paper and wrap it up, then wrap the fish in parchment paper with aluminium foil. Steam, pouch or bake until done.

PS. Sambal Matah recipe can be seen at http://indonesia-eats.blogspot.com/2008/01/sambal-matah-raw-shallot-and-lemongrass.html

Say Cheese! What About Berries Cheese?

2009-05-15T23:52:00.003-05:00

Have you ever had berries cheese snack before? The product was pretty innovative by combining mozzarella cheese and Saskatoon berries. To create a packaging for the product, my friend asked me a favour to take few shots of the product as his team group who were developed for their class project. Shots were taken a place at the Food Science's kitchen of my university.

For those who are interested to develop this product, you may contact my friend by sending me an email.