Greek Salad Omelete

This is my first entry to Masak Bareng Yuk!!

I’ve been wanting to join the event but always fall short on time, ingredients and self-confidence. I always find time to look at the round up result and they are all great. But this time I decided to beat all odds and brave myself to enter. This months theme is Egg based cooking and I happen to see an omelette recipe in BBC Cookbook that I wanted to try. Plus, my landlord always give us fresh egg from her hens almost every morning. So here it is…. I particularly love the taste of feta cheese in it. But I think Cheddar cheese will do just fine too.

Source: BBC GoodFood Cookbook

Ingredient:

4 Eggs

Handful of chopped parsley

1 tbsp of olive oil

¼ Red onion, chopped

1 large plum tomatoes, chopped

Handful of pitted black olive, halved

100 gr feta cheese

Direction:

1.      Pre-heated grill on high.

2.      Whisk eggs in large bowl with the chopped parsley, pepper and salt.

3.      Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, and fry the red onion on high heat until brown around the edges.

4.      Add the tomatoes and olives, stir and coor for another 1 – 2 minutes

5.      Turn the heat down and pour in the eggs. Leave it half cooked – about 2 minutes and scatter the feta cheese on top.

6.      Slide the Pan under the grill for 5 minutes until omelet is puffed up and golden. Serve straight away.

Note : Sliding the omelets under the grill is just to brown the feta on top. You don’t have to do this. Simply cover the omelet until cook will do just fine.

My Salmon Fried Rice

Simon, My Better-Half and I been going to Yo-Sushi twice and as I am crazy of Japanesse food, I reckon we'd have to keep going to this nice but slightly on the expensive side restaurant. Therefore, on our second visit, I ordered my favourite entree and really taste it to figured out what the ingredients they put in it. So here's my take on my favourite Salmon Fried Rice. It tasted very very close to the Yo-Sushi one. So I'm a happy bunny.

Serve 4

Ingredient:
1 slice of Salmon
2 serving bowl of sushi cooked rice - you can buy the sushi rice from Asian Store
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 cm or ginger, thinly sliced
1 cup of grated carrot
1 cup of sweet corn
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of mirin
juice of 1/2 lime
1 spring onion, sliced
cucumber and tomato for garnish 
Salt, pepper and sugar to season
1 tbsp Cooking oil

Direction:

1. Marinate the salmon with salt and lime juice for 15 minutes. Then grill them on oiled non-stick pan for 3 min on each side or until cooked. then crumbled the meat. Don't over cook the fish. Set aside
2. Heat the non-stick pan with the cooking oil. Saute onion and ginger until fragrant. 
3. Add carrot, sweet corn and Salmon crumble then season with salt, pepper sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and mirin. 
4. Put the sushi rice in and mix well. Adjust the seasoning to your taste.
5. Just before serving, add sliced spring onion and garnish with sliced cucumber and tomato

Note: I've done this twice already and on my second plating I add sliced omelet to it. You can basically add whatever vegetable you want.

Bihun Goreng // Fried Vermicelli

I was cooking Ropa Vieja, a spaninsh meat dish that require several hours of slow cooking, so I don’t know what to cook for dinner. I remember having left over rice vermicelli from spring roll project last week in the cupboard. So I decided to make Bihun Goreng. Using the same ingredient and technique as the spring roll. I just don’t have to roll it in the sheet and fry them again. It turned out great for our dinner.

Ingredient:

200gr of rice vermicelli

½ cup of thinly chopped carrots

½ cup of peas

½ cup of  sweet corn

½ cup of chopped leftover chicken

½ cup of Prawn

1 cm of ginger

3 bulbs garlic

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Salt and pepper

Cooking oil

Direction:

·        Soak the rice vermicelli in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and drizzle with oil to keep it from sticking. Using a kitchen shears, cut the vermicelli in a bowl to approximate shorter length. Set aside.

·        Grind together ginger and garlic with salt and pepper.

·        Saute the ground ingredients until fragrant

·        Add the vegetable, prawn and chicken. Stir well for 2 minutes.

·        Add the soy sauce

·        Stir in the rice vermicelli and mix well. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

Perkedel Jagung Udang – Prawn and Corn Fritters

Ingredients:

4 Sweet Corn Cobs – Take it out of the cob and crushed

2 Spring Onion

100 gr Prawn – I used Prawn Cocktail

2 Egs

4 Tbsp All Purpose flour

25 ml coconut milk

Salt and Pepper

Cooking oil

Ground to paste:

6 Shallots

3 Onions

¾ tsp ground coriander

Directions:

1. Mixed together corn, spring onions, prawn and eggs in a bowl.
2. Add flour, ground ingredient, salt, pepper and coconut milk. Mix well.
3. Take 1 spoonful and fried it.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Second project of the day! Simply because I am just in the mood for cookies. This time I do Peanut Butter Cookies so I can share some with my Landlord. He doesn’t fancy Banana so Peanut butter will do with the remaining ingredient I have. Beside having 2 kind of cookies makes it more fun to choose.

Source: Simply Recipes

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar – ¼ c I just use granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugars, cream for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into the sugar butter mixture.
2. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Banana, Pecan and Choc Chip Cookies

I saw 3 leftover bananas on the kitchen counter and they already have brown spots. I know for sure that the inside is still good but I just don’t like the taste of over-ripened banana. Since, both Simon and I were down with flu the last few days, I craved for cookies to nibble. There you go… why not banana cookies. I remember bookmarked a recipe from………… few days ago and decided to give it a go.

The recipe called only for Pecan but I add choc chip too… **Smiling**

Source : Simply Recipes

Ingredients

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup of sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 cups of flour

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180 C/ GM 4. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2. In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let it sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.
3. Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Makes 25 Cookies

Ps. I still hasn't got the right crunch cookies at the end. It turned chewy but Simon loved them tho'.. Love you honey

Ayam Bumbu Rendang

I bought an additional reduce-to-clear chicken pieces from the store (can’t resist bargain ^_^). I have already made different recipe for the other half when I decided I wanted to use the left over coconut milk in the fridge. I thought of Opor ayam but not quite in the mood. So why not Rendang? I have an old recipe for Meat rendang but I thought Chicken will do as well. I don’ have a complete ingredient so I just make it up some of it as I go along. It taste OK though at the end.

Ingredient:

½ Chicken, cut to 6 pieces

1 tsp tamarind Paste

1 stalk of lemongrass

3 lime leaves

200 ml coconut milk (from canned coconut milk) mixed with 100 ml water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

5 bulbs Shallot

3 bulbs Garlic

1 cm Galangal

1 cm Ginger

2 Bird eye chilli – I used 1 green and 1 red chillies

Direction:

1. Grind together shallot, garlic, galangal, ginger and bird eye chilli.
2. Boil the chicken, coconut milk, ground ingredient, lime leaves, lemongrass and tamarind paste. Until chicken in tender.
3. Add Sugar and salt
4. Cooked until coconut water reduced – I add 50 ml water to cooked it further for the ingredient to be absorbed by the chicken

Roast Vegetable, chicken breast and Toast

My better-half love eating healthy and I was caught in Friday out-of-ideas for cooking. I remembered Simon enjoyed baked vegetable we had last month and decided to chop whatever veg we have in the fridge for a quick baked vegetable. Then, I thought of the 2 pieces of chicken breast in the freezer. I don’t really like chicken breast. I always thought it’s too dry to my liking. So I decided to roast the chicken.

Ingredient:
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 Red Pepper, squarely chopped
½ Courgette, sliced thinly
1 carrot, sliced thinly
½ Red onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp of dried parsley
2 pieces of Chicken Breast
3 bulbs of Garlic
Salt and pepper

Direction:

1. Rubbed the chicken breasts with ground garlic, salt and pepper. Left it marinated in the fridge for 15 minutes.
2. Put the marinated chicken on a greased baking tray and baked in the oven Gas Mark 5 for 20 minutes. Or until chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked.
3. Mixed the chopped vegetable with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried parsley. And popped it into the oven for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and cooked through.
4. (this step is just for me because I hate dry chicken breast) Take the chicken out and sliced them up. Mix the slices with the chicken juices on the baking tray and returned to bake for 15 minutes.
5. Take the baked vegetable and scattered chicken breast juices on top of it. Serve it with buttered toast

Cap Cay Udang Dan Bakso Ikan – Vegetable Stir Fry with Prawn and Fishballs

We were invited by Mbak Dyah for Picnic with Indonesian families and friend on early spring time. It was going to be a potluck and each of us will bring one dish to complete the whole menu set. She asked whether we can bring Cap Cay. Whoooaaaahhaa!!! Never cooked cap cay before thus for the sake of challenge and adventure. Simon and I agreed to it. I browsed around for recipe and found a recipe here. I modify it by adding several ingredients.

Simon and I give it a try that night and make an improved version the next day but sadly, I didn’t have the picture of the cap cay we have on the actual picnic day. I am writing the second batch (the picnic batch) recipe here. The recipe is for 12 – 15 people.

Ingredients:

2 large carrot, sliced

¾  cauliflower, cut into florets

½ Broccoli, cut into florets

1 handful of Mange tout,  sliced

8 fish balls, sliced

1 cup of prawn

1 cup of button mushroom, sliced

6 clove garlic, crushed and mix with 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 onion, chopped

2 cm ginger, finely chopped

2 spring onion, sliced

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tablespoon veg oil

1 tbsp cornstarch, diluted with water

extra 100 ml water

Method:

1. Heat the oil on a wok, add garlic, onion and ginger cook until fragrant.
2. In a separate pan boil water and blanced broccoli and cauliflower.
3. Add carrot, prawn and sliced fish balls
4. Add water, boil for 2 minutes, add mange tout and mushroom, cook again for 1 minutes until vegetables are tender.
5. Add in the broccoli and cauliflower.
6. Pour in the cornstarch water, and fish sauce, season with salt, pepper and last add spring onion, cook again for 1-2 minutes.
7. Serve.

Ps. The picture I posted is not the cap cay we cooked and bring to the Picnic. I have to hunt for the picture first. This is the pictrue of our Cap cay Tru-out the night before and we scrambled eggs into it.

Easy French Bread Pizza

Here’s a great quick supper for a lazy night for me and Simon. We call it our pizza night. The topping can varied according to what we have in the fridge or to our liking. And it’s just fun-do-it-ourselves food. Plus we don’t have to worry about added salt and preservatives in frozen ready made pizza.

Serve 2 people

Ingredient:
1 loaf of French Bread Stick halved
100g mince meat
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ Onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pepper - cut in squares
1 tomato – sliced
Salt and pepper
Cheddar cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Pizza topping to your liking – either tomatoes or pesto – we use both

Direction:

1. Sauté garlic and onion with olive oil until fragrant. Add the mince meat. Cooked through and season with salt and pepper.
2. Toast the halved French bread in the oven for 5 minutes
3. Take the bread out of the oven, spread the Pizza topping. Topped with meat, pepper and tomatoes.
4. Scatter grated cheddar and mozzarella on top.
5. Bake for further 10 – 15 minutes or until cheese melts. 
6. Serve 

Vegetable and Vermicelli Spring roll // Spring roll Sayuran dan Bihun.

Once Simon and I visited our friend, Rini Astuti, Simon’s fellow Chevening Scholar in London. I was 2 months pregnant, I think and was craving Indonesian food. Anyway, Simon was on his 1 day seminar and I was doing my London Museum trip. It was late in the afternoon and I was pretty tired when I get to British Museum. Rini’s apartment (very enviously) is located just opposite the museum. We all invited to her place and she served a great spring roll for us. I asked her the recipe which she gladly shared. It was actually very simple. 1 week later, we decided to do it ourselves. This has become our favorite snack and starter. Thank you Rini!!!

The chicken can be substitute with prawn or what ever leftover meat you have or just omit the meat. 

Ingredient:

15 ready to roll springroll sheets

200gr of rice vermicelli

½ cup of thinly chopped carrots

½ cup of peas

½ cup of  sweet corn

½ cup of chopped leftover chicken

1 cm of ginger

3 bulbs garlic

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Salt and pepper

Cooking oil

Direction:

1. Soak the rice vermicelli in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and drizzle with oil to keep it from sticking. Using a kitchen shears, cut the vermicelli in a bowl to approximate shorter length. Set aside.
2. Grind together ginger and garlic with salt and pepper.
3. Saute the ground ingredients until fragrant
4. Add the vegetable and chicken. Stir well for 2 minutes.
5. Add the soy sauce
6. Stir in the rice vermicelli and mix well. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
7. Take 1 spring roll sheet and add 1 tbsp of vermicelli. Wrapped and roll. You can find the folding instruction on the spring roll wrap.
8. Deep fry the spring roll until golden brown. Serve with your favourite dip.

I am using Thai Spring roll dip bought from Asian store. Other fine choice can be Sambal ABC 

Long Awaited Post

Dear All,
Sorry I've been abandoning my foodie blog for the last few months. Some of you might already knows and some of you probably haven't. Well, I am pregnant and the first few months was a bit of nuisance and sureal experience. I can't tell you how blessed we are, me and my better-half, for this amazing gift entrusted to us. Thank you Jesus!
Since the 4th months of pregnancy my taste buds and energy had came back and I craved Indonesian food. I've been back full throttle now and have saved several recipe posts that I am eager to show. Amazing that I began to cook food I have never cooked before back home. This is also to keep my promise to share my recipe with some of my friends. Alright girls... Here it goes...

Helena Rijoly-Matakupan