Crumpets

I cannot live without salted butter ... And anything that goes with butter... Late last night I craved for crumpets that I had in melbourne... weirdly the ones in England didn't taste half as good so my mind drifted to Melbourne ... lol.. Is that a sign that I should return for the 4th time?? Hmmmmm

So made half the batter before I went to bed and in the morning these luscious looking dough was staring at me 

So the tip is to use egg rings or cutters so you get perfect circles. 

The dough should be thicker than pancake batter... It is like a bread dough after all. Cook on low fire on a griddle (in my case I used my trusty Happy Call) for about 3-5 minutes on the bottom until its golden and the top starts getting holey.

Recipe yields 10 crumpets .. 

All you need to do is mix the batter in a bowl and whisk vigorously with a beater for about 2 minutes. Or if you don't need the workout like I do, use a hand mixer. 

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup warm water 

1/2 cup warm milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

That's it... Enjoy your crumpets with butter, jam, marmalade, clotted cream or even syrup!

Thai Fish Cakes

Hmmmmmmm since its masak-masak day today, I decided on Thai after rummaging through the fridge... Mango salad ended up being mango salsa since all the mangoes ripened overnight which ended up pretty awesome except I was then dreaming of pan fried sea bass to go with that mango salsa! Bleaaarggh! I'm such a food whore!

Back to the starter... Too lazy to defrost fish so used a can of tuna ... Half a can actually since there's 4 of us and I didn't want to make too much .

1/2 can of tuna

1 chopped shallot

1 chopped garlic

1/4 cup breadcrumbs 

1 small egg 

Few stalks of spring onions, coriander, chopped

1 tablespoon of red curry paste

2 teaspoon of fish sauce (to taste)

Just mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then make patties .. The red curry paste was already salty so i after 2 teaspoon of fish sauce, i panfried a bit to taste.. you should adjust the fish sauce according to preference. With half a can of tuna, it yielded half dozen patties.

Pan fry these babies on both side until golden and serve. You can serve with Thai sweet sauce but I used the nuoc cham I had from the Vietnamese spring roll from earlier today. 

DIY - drying your herbs

I get so sick and tired of buying coriander leaves here and just when I'm about to use them, they are downright soggy! Bleaarrgghhh ... It cost about $2.50 a bunch here at the Farmer's market and Indonesians don't use coriander in their cooking so its not easily available . Grow them you say ? Of course I did but I'm still waiting! 

So here's a method to salvage your herbs before they self destruct 

Here's my self-destructing coriander leaves that I bought 3 days ago.

Snip of the leaves and lay them on a paper towel.

Pop them in your microwave oven for about 1-2 minutes depending on the wattage of your oven. 

Voila !! They are dried ! You can keep it whole or crumble it with your fingers for smaller herbs. Store in an airtight bottle or container for later use :-)

Kentang Ball - Potato Ball Soup ala Haig Road

Trying to plan what works for Iftar here when I'm used to scouring the bazaars in Singapore :-) so today I play masak-masak ... Breakfast / brunch was French toast platter, appetizer was Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Nuoc Cham and lunch was kentang balls ala Haig Road ... The soup needs to be really peppery! Syiok!!

My portions was perfect for the 4 of us.

4 large potatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces, fried and mashed

I season it with salt, pepper and chicken. stock powder. Divide by 4 portions and set aside 

Beef filling

200g of minced beef

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

Salt / Pepper

Sauté the garlic & onions until softened. Add the minced beef, stir fry and season with salt & pepper 

Soup

1 medium size onion

2 clove garlic 

1 tomato (blended) 

1 carrot, chopped

100g of minced beef 

1 tomato, chopped 

Beef stock powder

Water (about 1.5litres)

Salt, sugar, and lots of pepper (according to taste)

Blend the onion & garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the blended tomato pulp. Stir fry for a bit. Add water and the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about half hour until the soup is fully flavored 

Assembling the ball:-

Place a palmful of mashed potatoes on your palm and scoop some minced beef filling. Close it up with the balance potato. Dip in egg and fry until golden.

Pour hot soup over your potato balls and garnish with sliced cucumber, fried shallots and chopped parsley. And then add more pepper to the hot soup!

Bubur Lambuk

The only time I cook bubur is when someone is under the weather ... Be it the Hubs or the children ...and they prefer Bubur Lambuk or Bubur Asyurah. I can't call this bubur Asyurah as this had less than 10 ingredients which is what a bubur Asyurah is. So it's just my version of bubur Lambuk. I personally am a soupy noodle person when I'm sick .. Ah well ....

This recipe is for a big pot enough to feed 4 persons with extra servings.

All I do is wash 1 1/2 cups of rice and fill up the pot with water and simmer.

While waiting for the porridge to cook, blend and sauté the following ingredients 

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic 

1cm ginger

Add a wee bit of water before blending to get a smoother paste and sauté 

Add 3 tablespoons meat curry powder and sauté to cook and pour into the porridge mix.

With the same pot, just add a tablespoon of oil and deglaze the pot with some minced beef about 250g.

 Pour the cooked beef into the porridge as well as some chopped carrots, corn and potatoes . I would usually used mixed veggies but didn't have that on hand today. Season the porridge with the following :

2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon beef granules 

3 teaspoon salt (or more according to taste)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 packet of coconut milk (90g)

Continuously add water and stir the porridge to get the consistency that you want. Serve with sprinklings of fried shallots, spring onions, thinly sliced omelette and sambal kicap! 

Martabak Daging

Feeling peckish.... Porridge does that to me ... So here I am making martabak... Woot woot!!

Minced beef filling 

1 onion thinly sliced

2 garlic chopped

1cm ginger grated

300g minced beef

Sauté the above until the onions softened , add the beef.

2 tablespoons curry powder

1/4 cup water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Add the seasonings and set aside.

Dough

2 1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup oil

1 tablespoon ghee or softened butter

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1 cup warm water 

Mix all the dry ingredients and add the water bit by bit until you get a soft pliable dough. About 5 minutes in a mixer or 10 minutes by hand. 

Portion the dough and let it rest for about half an hour... 

Oil your board or tabletop and start spreading one dough at a time and add more oil until it becomes a thin square or rectangular shaped dough. (At this point my hands were too oily for any picture! :-))

More sliced onions 

Spring onions

Eggs 

Minced beef mixture

In a small jug, crack an egg, add in some sliced onions, spring onions and about 2 tablespoons of the minced beef mixture (its good to season your beef slightly salty so that once its mixed with the egg, you don't need to season it again)

For an amateur, I find cooking a small portion of the filling on the pan first to solidify it and then placing it on the prepared dough and then adding more egg mixture before folding it makes it easier to be placed in the frying pan.

I used 1 egg per martabak

I made the first martabak like at the mamak stall by filling the dough with the eggy filling and the egg mixture started seeping out when I transferred it to the pan! Blearrghhh big mistake! So for all my other martabaks, I precooked half the filling and then add more before folding. That seemed to work!

Pan fry both sides until nice and golden .. 

Serve it with dahl, sambal or even chilli sauce! I like it with a side of sliced cucumber and onions in tomato ketchup.

This recipe yields 8 portions of martabak. So I par-cooked them and kept it in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow before pan frying them again! 

Dry Beef Noodles

Today i was sooooo craving beef noodles at The Banquet in Jurong Point. Its so awesome that i had to make it today. Of course its not even close in my opinions (im always critical of my own cooking) but the Hubs throughly enjoyed it ! But man the broth / beef brisket took 5 hours to cook! Don't be scared... 5 hours passes quickly if you started cooking other appetizers like I did ... :-)

For the broth,

1/2 chopped yellow onion

1 large shallot

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon chopped garlic 

Sauté the above ingredients in a bit of oil until fragrant.

1kg beef brisket or any part that you prefer - cut into 1 inch cubes 

Add the beef and sear all sides.

5 whole cloves of garlic

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves 

2 star anise 

2 liters of beef broth / vegetable stock

1/2 cup chopped coriander

2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Add the above ingredients and simmer for 5 hours, continuously adding more water to keep the water level above the beef. Once beef is really tender continue simmering until you get about 4 cups broth. Season with salt / pepper to taste 

For the gravy,

1 tablespoon garlic paste

1 tablespoon ginger paste

2 cups of beef broth

Sauté in oil until fragrant. Add the beef broth and let simmer. Add in the following seasonings.

2 tablespoon dark soya sauce

1 tablespoon light soya sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tablespoon oyster sauce 

1 tsp pepper

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup water (mix)

Add the cornstarch water mixture into the simmering ingredients and pour over your noodles. I couldn't find the laksa noodles here in Jakarta or the flat kway teow but I found Fortune's Hong Kong Noodles and I used that! 

If you decide to use the same noodles I did, all you need is a pot of boiling water, blanch the noodles in and once cooked, rinse with water to remove the starch and then pour the gravy in.

I blanched some cai sim, added sliced spring onions, lettuce and fried shallots over the noodles with a side bowl of that delicious beef broth! Don't forget your chilli! I sprinkled chilli flakes for more heat!

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

Han loves this muffin! Actually this is the only muffin he´ll eat weirdly....
Really simple recipe and really moist and you don´t even need butter! 

Whisk the eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes on high speed until really foamy.

2ggs 
1/2 cup brown sugar 
3/4 cup sugar

Sift the dry ingredients and set aside

1 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup oil
5 large bananas
1/4 cup cream 
1tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Once the egg mixture is frothy, drizzle the oil in bit by bit while whisking. Add the mashed riped bananas, vanilla & cream. Mix it well and fold in the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Scoop into muffin cups and sprinkle with more chocolate chips. Bake for 25  minutes on 180 degrees until skewer comes out clean.

Chicken Pies

Yes! I´m a fan of doing things the shortcut way.. I´m not lazy but I have 2 rambunctious boys that require my attention. Being a stay-home mom is not all laze in bed all day you know!

If you´re in the mood, feel free to make your own puff pastry but mine was supermarket bought today .
I prepared the chicken filling last night so that all I needed to do was assemble it this morning and bake for breafast.

Filling:-

1 carrot chopped
1/2 onion (the big yellow ones) chopped
2 garlics chopped
1/2 potato chopped
2 chicken breasts chopped
3 large button mushrooms chopped
1/2 tin of campbell´s mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
salt / pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

See how simple? Everything is chopped! Just sautee the garlic, carrots, onions until soft and add in the mushrooms, potatoes and chicken. Sautee until chicken is cooked and add in the Campbell soup and water.. simmer to cook and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Let cool and then assemble.

I cut the puff pastry into rounds for the bottom and top and place the filling in the middle leaving about 5mm gap for pinching the pastry close. Cover with another pastry, use a fork and press down the edges.  Snip off about 2 hole at the top of the pastry and brush it with egg wash. Place a greaseproof paper on a tray, arrange your pies. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden.

Homemade Okonomiyaki

For the longest time since takoyaki made its way to our shores in the 90s i´ve loved it. The first time I tried it was at the Narita airport! But since I do not have that round metal grill, i shall stick to another Japanese snack favourite which is the Okonomiyaki... here in Jakarta they sell all sorts of fillings so feel free you add whatever you want.

Today I made prawn & tako okonomiyaki. You can also buy the okonomiyaki sauce at the store but being in Jakarta means I have to make everything from scratch unless I head down to Papaya which have sauce, katsuobushi & kewpie! 

Okonomiyaki Sauce

2 tablespoons Tomato puree 
2 tablespoons Ketchup 

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 3 tablespoons  Dark soy sauce 
1 teaspoon Sugar 100ml Dashi (bonito stock) - (didn´t have that so i used chicken stock)2 tablespoons Cornstarch - dissolved in 2 tablespoons Water 

Bring tomato puree, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, sugar and dashi to boil in saucepan over high heat. Add cornstarch mixture, a little at a time, and cook until thickened to the texture of ketchup. Cool before serving.

I tried another recipe for the sauce. Much easier too. Just mix the following .. So if u want it fuss - free... Use this instead :-)

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 teaspoon worchestershire sauce

2 tablespoon honey 

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup 

Batter

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup corn flour
1 cup Dashi (I used chicken stock)
1 egg
A dash of pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
a pinch of salt

Mix everything and leave the batter aside for at least an hour to rest.

1 cup sliced cabbage

1/4 cup spring onions

1/2 carrot grated

6 prawns chopped

1/2 cup boiled, thinly sliced octopus 

Add the ingredients to the batter and pan fry with very little oil until each side is golden. Cut into small pieces and drizzle with mayonaise, okonomiyaki sauce and if you have katsuobushi, generously sprinkle on top!

Garlic Naan

This naan goes beautifully with masalas or butter chicken serve with a side of raita and mint chutney...less than 2 hours and its ready on the table .

1/2 cup warm water 

1/2 packet of Saf Instant dry yeast

2 tablespoons sugar 

Mix and set aside for 5 minutes until frothy.

1.5 tsp salt 

2 tablespoon milk

1 egg

Add the above ingredients to the yeast mixture and pour into the flour.

2 1/4 cups flour

Minced garlic (about 4 tablespoon)

Melted butter

Knead the mixture by hand for about 6 minutes until elastic . Oil the bowl and cover the dough and let rise for 1 hour. 

Add half the garlic to the dough and punch the dough down. Divide into 7 pieces. Make into round balls and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Heat the grill with a bit of oil and sprinkle some garlic on the dough. Roll the dough to flatten. Place onto the grill for about 2 minutes or until the brown grill marks can be seen. Brush the uncooked side with melted butter. Flip and brush the cooked side with melted butter. Naan is ready when the other side is browned. 

Totally enjoyed this soft naan! Yummy!!

Strawberry Mille-Feuille

Needed a simple but impressive dessert for our guests today so out came the puff pastry and in-the-cupboard ingredients... 

Custard cream

2 cups of milk (heated in a pot but do not let it boil )

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar (I like it less sweet so a little less than 1/2 cup is good)

Pour the heated milk in while whisking so as not to cook the eggs. Pour back into the pot and heat, continue whisking until thicken. 

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp grated orange zest

Add in the essence and zest and Set aside to cool in the fridge. You can make this overnight.

I used store bought puff pastry and cut into 6 pieces of 3 inches x 6 inches width pastry. Line with grease proof paper and lay the puff pastry and poke with a fork all the way through. Bake for 15-20 minutes on 180 degrees or until golden brown.

Once the puff pastry cool, layer each slice with cream and sliced strawberries. 

I used a piping bag and piped 3 lines of custard (less messy)

My puff pastry turned out too high so I sliced into halves and made 3 layers. You can do 4 layers if you like amazingly high desserts :-) dust with icing sugar and serve! I prefer it chilled so if you can resist, keep it in the freezer for an hour and then devour!!

Basic Bread Recipe

I could never resist bread... I especially love crusty bread fresh out of the oven slathered with lots of salted butter! Yes salted!! Ha ha 

Last night I was feeling peckish and the shops were closed so I had to make my own bread to appease my cravings ! Just 5 ingredients . That's it!

310ml warm water

14g instant dried yeast 

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all of the above in a jug and let it froth for 5-8 minutes.

500g flour (you can use bread flour, wholemeal but I just used plain old flour)

Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast mixture and slowly incorporate the flour and knead for about 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Try not to dust the dough with too much flour but instead dip your hands in flour if it gets sticky. Dust the sides of the bowl and the top of the dough with flour, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, punch the dough and knead, roll and shape your dough just enough to fit into your baking tin. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Bake at 190 degrees for 30 minutes or until a hollow sound can be heard when you tap the bread.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Roll Ups

Thinking of what to make on a daily basis can be exhausting (especially if you have a soon to be 11 year old who loves his food!)

Today I decided to make cream cheese roll ups..(just because I has cream cheese in the fridge! Lol)

250g cream cheese
3/4 cup icing sugar

Put everything in a mixer and blend untill smooth.

Sandwich bread
Melted butter (100g)
Sugar
Cinnamon

Place the bread on a cutting board, (I tried some with and without crust), flatten it with a rolling pin and spread about a tablespoon of cream cheese over it. Roll it up and dip in melted butter and roll onto the cinnamon sugar (place sugar on a plate and sprinkle cinnamon according to your preference )

Place on baking tray and bake for 20 minutes at 170 degrees until crisp and golden. I love that the butter and sugar turns into a crispy crust! Enjoy!

Soufflé Pancakes with Pear and Plum Compote

Bored with your usual pancakes and waffles? Try making this Really Easy but stunning looking breakfast!

Pear and Golden Plum Compote

4 pears skinned and sliced into wedges
3 golden plum skinned and sliced into wedges
1 raspberry tea bag (I used Ahmad Tea)
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 small cinnamon stick

Simmer all the above until all the fruits are tender and the liquid turns into a nice syrup.

You can make the compote way ahead or substitute the plums with apples or any fruit of your choice.

Soufflé Batter

5 medium eggs
3 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tsp orange zest

1 cup flour

Pour all the about ingredients except the flour in a blender until well mixed. Pour the flour in and blend until smooth and no lumps appear.

I heated 2 (6 inches) cake tins with about 2 tablespoon of melted butter in the oven. Once butter is hot and bubbly, pour equal amounts of batter into the tins and bake for 20 minutes on 190 degrees until soufflé has nicely risen .

Serve with compote, dust with icing sugar and whipped cream.

Quiche Lorraine (Lazy Version)

Okay everyone loves a good Quiche ... I use Julia Child's quiche sauce but a very lazy version to put everything together. The thing I dread in the morning is to make the short pastry for the base.... especially when you're already starving ! Ohhhhh the wait!!

I'll post the recipe for the short pastry too but in this particular one all I did was layer sliced bread at the base and toast it a little. Remember to butter your pie dish first! Or a casserole dish like I used.

6 sliced bread (I managed to arrange 4 at the base and I cut the rest into strips to cover the sides)

Bake in 170 degree oven for 5 minutes to toast it slightly.

1 onion (chopped)
1 garlic (chopped)
Few rashes of bacon or ham (I used turkey ham)
1 potato (chopped into small cubes)

Sautée the onion and garlic until soft, add the potatoes and ham and season with salt & pepper. Pour over the bread.

I like arranging some sliced tomatoes on top before pouring the sauce, unless I'm making beef quiche. Then ill leave it as it is. Or you can skip it all together. Whatever floats your boat :-)

Quiche Sauce (Julia Childs recipe)

5 eggs
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
Ground pepper
A dash of Nutmeg

Pour the sauce over the ham and then sprinkle with cheese. Whatever you have on hand. Bake at 170 degrees for 30 minutes until the sauce sets and is firm to the touch. Serve with a side of salad.

Short Crust Recipe

2 cups flour
110g butter (chopped into small cubes)
3 tablespoon shortening
1/2 tsp salt
A pinch sugar
5-6 tablespoon cold water

Do the rubbing in method for this. Dry ingredients in a bowl and cut the butter into the dry ingredient to make a coarse crumb.. Then add the water bit by bit until you get a soft pliable dough. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes and roll out on your pie dish. Poke with a fork. Blind bake for 5-8 minutes before putting in your quiche ingredients.

Bon Appetit!