You Tiao (Chinese Crullers)

These elusive crullers have been evading me ... I don't want to buy the ones by the roadside (additional ingredients like dust & carbon monoxide) here in Jakarta and my tummy isn't strong enough for all that.

My ex pastry chef won't share his recipe with us either .. He was always doing this discreetly! So today I am trying the soda / baking powder version instead of the yeast one to see how it goes .. Verdict .. A very happy me!

250g flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder mixed with 1.5 tablespoon water 

1 teaspoon  bicarbonate soda mixed with  1.5 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon salt

125ml water

Place flour in a bowl with salt and make a hole in the middle. Pour the soda mixture & baking powder mixture and then add the water in. 

Knead lightly and cover to proof for 20 minutes. The dough will not be smooth. Cover with cling wrap.

After 20 minutes, knead again and proof for another 20 minutes. 

And knead and proof again for another 20 min. So proof it 3 times for 20

Mins each. 

Roll the dough about 1cm thick and cover with damn cloth for 4 hours!

Slice into 2cm strips. Use a bamboo skewer dip in water and press down the middles of each strip. Top with another strip. Press down again with the bamboo skewer. 

Heat oil in a wok and pull the dough slightly before sliding the dough in. Fry until golden. Make sure to "open up" the joint sides so that the oil can get through to cook and "puff" the dough. 

Pandan Chicken (Gai Haw Bai Toey)

Every single time we head to a Thai restaurant, the boys never fail to order this and we always ended up ordering at least 2 plates because they serve 3 tiny pandan chicken per serving! 

So I decided to make a whole batch at a fraction of the cost!

Firstly, blitz the following ingredients in a blender:-

2 stalks of coriander root (3 inches from the base)

2 cloves garlic

1 small lemongrass

1/2 an onion, chopped

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons palm sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fish sauce 

1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce

50ml thick coconut cream

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl. Taste it to make sure that it has enough seasonings.

Add in bite size pieces chicken meat. I like to use a mixture of thigh and breast.

Marinate the chicken for at least an hour in the fridge. It's more yummy overnight! 

Prepare the pandan leaves. 1 strip of pandan leaf twist into a knot as above.

Fill it with 2 or 3 chunks of chicken piece depending on the size. And closed up the chicken with the longer pandan flap. 

Deep fry the Pandan chicken on both sides. I like to fry it a little longer until the pandan is crisp because I like the caramelised taste of seasonings on the chicken. 

You can serve it on it's own or with dipping sauce made from dark soya sauce, sugar & chili sauce topped with sesame seeds. 

Poffertjes (Dutch pancakes)

An alternative to pancakes... Weirdly the first time I tried this was at fair in Melbourne yonks ago and not in Amsterdam,  made by Dutch immigrants at the local fair.

It was winter and having hot poffertjes with melted butter, maple syrup, icing sugar and whipped cream was just a really delicious memory!

Now the kids request for it when they are bored with pancakes. Sometimes with lashings of Hershey's syrup or strawberry syrup. 

400ml milk

2 tablespoons instant yeast

2 tablespoon sugar

Heat 400ml of milk. Only lukewarm to help awaken the yeast. I

pop it in the microwave for a few seconds in a bowl.  Add sugar, yeast and stir well. Set aside for 5 minutes.

1 large egg

120g whole wheat flour

150g all purpose flour 

A pinch of salt 

Add in egg into the yeast mixture and all the dry ingredients and set aside for 45 minutes to an hour. Once the mixture is nicely and bubbly, heat up your poffertjes/ takoyaki pan, grease the surface and scoop up teaspoons of batter. I like to fill 3/4 of the holes.

Let it cook one side of the batter until slightly golden and flip using a toothpick to cook the other side. Why toothpick? Because that's the easiest tool for this! Loosen the side of the batter and flip! So fun!

Once done, drizzle with melted butter, icing sugar, maple syrup & whipped cream .. Or Hershey's & even strawberry syrup!

Recipe makes approximately 3 batches of 15 balls ..so 45 balls..  Trust me.. It's not a lot.. 😝

Nasi Lemak "Hulk"

The boys love Nasi Lemak and most times I make it normal but today I had a request for Hulk Nasi Lemak instead .. I also had a request for recipes for non-santan Nasi Lemak. The base for rice is as follows:-

1 medium size onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 inch ginger, sliced

2 cups rice, washed and drained 

Sautee the above ingredients in 1/3 cup oil until softened. Mix the rice and the sautéed ingredients in a rice cooker pot. Coat the rice grains with the oil from the ingredients. This helps to form a coating so that your rice does not lump up together.

2 knots of pandan leaves

1 teaspoon pandan paste 

Additional green colouring (if required)

2 cups coconut milk or santan

3/4 cup water

Salt 

Add all of the above ingredients into the pot. Taste the water. It should be salty.

For normal nasi lemak, omit out the paste and green colourings.

Alternatively, if you can't find santan, replace the santan with full cream milk. 

Serve it with fried chicken, Ikan bilis, cucumber slices, fried fish.. Basically anything you fancy.

Or you can wrap it in banana leaves with chicken rice paper for a more authentic feel. 

Sambal Tumis 

2 large onions

A handful of dried chillis, soaked

3 cloves of garlic

A thumb size belachan

A bit of water to blend

A walnut size of asam or tamarind, mixed with water to get the juice 

1.5 tsp of salt (or to taste)

2 tablespoons sugar

Just blend the above items in a blender until smooth. Sauté in about 1 cup of oil and make sure the ingredients are really fragrant and "crispy". Add your salt, sugar and tamarind water. Add a bit more water if preferred but for nasi lemak, a thick sambal is preferred. 

Asam Pedas Ikan Pari (Stingray in Spicy Tangy Gravy)

Okayyyyy Lin... Finally I've stopped procrastinating!! Here's the recipe and step-by-step instructions. As mentioned I only like thick asam pedas.. Not the runny ones sold at the hawker :-)

Blend the following ingredients into a fine paste:-

I large onion or 2 medium size ones

4 cloves garlic 

1 inch of fresh turmeric 

A handful of dried chilli, soaked

2 teaspoon belacan

Fry the paste in oil until fragrant and "crispy"

I used 4 large pieces of Ikan pari or you can cut into smaller pieces. Wash the Ikan pari in tamarind (asam) water to reduce the fishy smell. 

Once the spice paste is really 'crispy', add about 2 cups of water. Mix well.

Add 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper to the gravy. 

Add in 2 lime leaves & 1 bruised lemongrass 

Mix about 1-2 tablespoon of tamarind (asam) with water. Start with one tablespoon first as the strength of tamarind varies brand to brand. The tamarind here in Indonesia is dark in colour but not as tangy so I have to put more. Taste as you go. Season the gravy with approx 2-3 teaspoon salt, 2-3 tablespoons sugar. 

Prepare your veggies. I used okra & daun kesum here but you can always use ginger torch, eggplants or even pineapples.

Add the fish and veggies and let it simmer for another 5 mins and flip the fish to cook the other side. Simmer again for 5 more minutes. At this point the gravy would be reduced so add another cup of water if it's too thick. Serve with hot rice, fried salted fish, salted egg and sambal belachan. The kids enjoy this with a side dish of sunny side up egg with lashings of kicap!