Tomato Soup

For you who needs some veggie intake boost, this heart warming soup is a good option. This soup is packed with rich-in-vitamins tomatoes and is perfect to warm up a cold winter night. The recipe is actually adapted from BBC Good Food (with a few changes) and I just had to put this on my blog because it's such a pain reading it on the actual website whenever I want to make this again.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 tbsp of ketchup
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.2 litres of beef stock
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt
• Black pepper

How to make:

1. Dice the tomatoes. Cut celery, carrot, and onion into small pieces. 
2. Heat olive oil and saute the onion. After it starts to wilt, add in celery and carrot. Cook the vegetables about 10 minutes. Stir a couple of times to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. Squirt ketchup and stir. Add in the diced tomatoes, sprinkle a pinch of sugar, black pepper, and 2 bay leaves. Put the lid on and let the the tomatoes stew over low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Pour the hot stock and stir. Turn the heat high and when everything is bubbling, turn the heat to low and put the lid on. Simmer for another 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
5. Take out the bay leaves. Use a hand blender to puree the soup right in the soup pan, or you can ladle the soup into a blender and pureed it.
6. Lastly, improve the taste to your liking by adding more black pepper, sugar, or salt.

Notes:

• The actual recipe calls for vegetable stock, but I find it tastes better using beef stock
• Best served warm with accompanying puff pastry. Or you can make it into tomato zuppa soup.

Source

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

Am so very sorry that I haven't put up anything for a month (?). I was kinda busy here and there, got flu for a while, needed to catch up with house work, and when I was ready to blog the Mac needed a repair. But anyway, finally now I'm catching up on my blog posts!

A couple of weeks ago I was severely craving for a very moist red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I wanted to try another recipe and found an "ultra" moist red velvet cake recipe that turned into an ultra disaster. It was nowhere wear good and I had to throw away the whole batch. Afterwards, I quit looking for an ultra moist recipe and just searched for the best red velvet recipe. So then I came across this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 20 ml (up to 50 ml) Queen's Pillar Box Red food colouring
• 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda

Cream cheese frosting:

• 450 gr cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cup confectioner sugar, sifted
• Pinch of salt

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Prepare the mini cupcake pan and place the patty papers.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a small bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa powder evenly.
3. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Then beat in vanilla and red cocoa paste. Add 1/3 of the flour mix to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Repeat and end with the last third of the flour mix. Beat until well combined.
4. Mix vinegar and baking soda (it will fizz). Add it to the cake batter and stir well to combine. 
5. Working quickly, spoon the cake batter into the mini cupcake pans half way full. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Check early, cupcakes is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
6. Cream cheese frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the confectioner sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat with low speed to incorporate. Then turn the mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. 

My cuppies have dome-shape top because I put it on fan-forced oven mode

The cream cheese frosting is amazing! The cake is just okay (but maybe because I accidentally put 1 teaspoon of baking soda into the dry ingredients). The color wasn't as I had expected because when the wrapper is ripped open, you can see chocolate cake crumbles. The original recipe calls for 60 ml American food colouring whereas I live in Australia and I think the products here might have a different effect. I contacted Queen's Food (I used their Pillar Box Red food colouring) and they said usually they used about 20ml of colouring for one red velvet recipe. But if you ought to use the whole bottle, it shouldn't give any bitter taste.

I brought some of the cuppies to my halaqah because I couldn't possibly finish it by myself at home and hubby doesn't like red velvets. They said it was good and looked really cute. So, I guess I approve this recipe! ;) 

Source

Sambal Pecel Ayam

Looking for a pecel ayam chilli condiments? Look no further because you just found a good recipe! I just sounded like a marketing gal :/. My Padang-nese friends loved it! But my husband still like the sambal ijo better (I don't know why). The pecel ayam recipe will follow yaaa... because I haven't made it again and I needed to make some changes to the recipes.

Ingredients:

• 7 red chillies
• 10 small red hot chillies
• 2 tomatoes
• 5 garlic cloves
• 4 shallots (I use 1/4 of red onion)
• 4 candlenuts (kemiri)
• 1 tsp lime juice
• Salt

How to make:

1. Fry all the ingredients with oil, except lime juice.
2. Put all the ingredients in a food processor, add lime juice and salt.

Source: "Sajian Ala Kaki Lima"

Mie Aceh

So sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I was quite busy, quite scared doing some "real" baking, and two days ago I just caught flu :(. Today I'm going to share with you my Mie Aceh recipe. Yes, it's MY recipe! Hehe.. I'm a big fan of Mie Aceh for it's spicy and flavorful taste. I used to buy it at Pidie 2000 near my campus in Depok. 

My first attempt at Mie Aceh failed after I blindly followed a recipe on a famous Indonesian cooking magazine *bzzzz*. It was missing the "essential" taste of Mie Aceh. A few days later, I gathered some recipes from the internet and came up with my own version of Mie Aceh. Surprisingly, it turned out to be really good and was a really close match! I was super satisfied. Hubby liked it too. It was his first time eating Mie Aceh. I had promised him to treat him to Pidie 2000, but never had the chance. So, this was also an attempt to fulfil my promise.

The color is not quite right :/ Please see the last picture.

Ingredients:

• 6 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 150 gr prawn, peel off skin
• 150 gr beef
• 1 tsp vinegar (cuka)
• 1 green onion (scallion)
• 750 ml beef stock
• 1-1/2 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
• 400 gr hokkien noodles (or mie kuning basah)
• 2 tbsp celery, chopped finely
• 1 tomato
• Beansprout
• Cabbage, chop thinly
• Salt

Ground spices:

• 8 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 red chillies
• 1/2 tbsp fennel seed (jinten)
• 4 cardamom pods (kapulaga)
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp curry powder (optional)

How to make:

1. Ground together all the ground spices.
2. Saute shallots, garlic cloves, and the grounded spices.
3. Mix in beef and prawn, cook until it changes color.
4. Add in tomato, beansprout, and chopped cabbage. Cook until the vegetables are wilted.
5. Add in beef stock, vinegar, chopped celery, sweet soy sauce. Cook until the water has decreased. Add salt if needed.
6. Mix in the noodles and add the chopped green onion. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.
7. Serve to individual plates. Complement the dish with sliced cucumber, kerupuk emping, and fried shallots.

This picture was take the night before the previous picture. It looks more mouthwatering for me, hehe.

Notes:

• For beef stock (because I always failed at making a nice stock), I used 2 stock cubes and 900 ml of water.
• This is just my preference, I don't dunk in all the noodles into the spice/seasoning paste (or whatever to call it). Instead, I took another pot, scoop 1 soup ladle full of the spice/seasoning  paste, add 1 portion of noodles, and sprinkle some green onion and salt (if needed). Cook for about 2 minutes until any water left has dried - or at least thickens.

Fried Enoki

Someone was craving for fried enoki!!! Bought enoki mushrooms at 3 packs (400 gr) for $5. And finally had the time to make them yesterday. It's not hard (at all) because it doesn't involve marinating for hours. I just used the leftover seasoned powder that I made for crispy chicken fingers. Fried enoki is great for snacking or eating with rice or porridge (my ultimate favorite at Ta'wan).

Ingredients:

• 300 gr enoki mushroom
• Dry ingredients: check out my Crispy Chicken Fingers recipe
• 100 ml water
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander seed
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Chilli flakes, salt, and black pepper

How to make:

1. Prepare the enoki mushrooms. Shred mushrooms on the root with your hands.
2. Make a batch of the dry batter.
3. Mix water, garlic powder, and coriander seed in a separate dish (you can add 1/2 tsp salt too).
4. Dip the mushrooms into the seasoned water, then dip into the dry ingredients. Cover the mushroom with generous amount of dry ingredients.
5. Fry the mushrooms in hot oil until crispy.
6. Sprinkle chilli flakes, salt, and black pepper for added taste.

Tea Tasting

Woolworths was having specials on Twining's Tea 10pk. Just out of curiosity, I bought one pack of Pure Peppermint and a Lady Grey variant. Turned out I loved the Lady Grey so much. It was a unique taste of tea to me, since all I had in my life was Teh Botol, Teh Poci vanilla, and Sariwangi. Afterwards, I went to Woolies again and bought almost every variant that they have. I'm not a big fan of tea, but I quite enjoy it, especially if they have unique taste that tickles your taste buds.

Now that I had packs of them, some I have not know what it tastes like, I came up with the idea of doing a tea tasting! For this round I only did the black-tea tea tasting, which consist of: Prince of Wales, Earl Grey, Chai, Chai with vanilla scent, and Darjeeling.

First test: The Black Tea test

Each tea bags are put in individual glass. Each glass is filled with the same amount of hot water plus two cubes of sugar.

What I think:

Prince of Wales: tastes nice, like the usual black tea. Not bitter.

Earl Grey: you can really taste the bergamot (somewhat citrus-y flavor), but it's too strong for my liking. It feels like drinking tea and smelling my husband's strong perfume scent at the same time. Lady Grey tastes almost similar, but more mild.

Chai: I can definitely taste the cinnamon and cloves. It's nice but I like Indian green tea better.

Chai with vanilla scent: tastes like Chai but with added vanilla scent.

Darjeeling: the least that I liked. It's bitter and sepet.

Second test: The Milk Tea test

Each glass of black tea is added with 1 tablespoon of milk.

What I think:

Prince of Wales: great with milk! Very recommended to add milk.

Earl Grey: after milk was added, the bergamot flavor is still too strong.

Chai: you can make your own Chai latte!

Chai with vanilla scent: very nice! I might ditch my instant vanilla chai latte for this mix.

Darjeeling: adding more milk doesn't help to level down the bitterness. So, I guess it is supposed to be the characteristic of the tea. Hubby likes it though.

Bonus test: Mixed up!

With the leftover milk teas, I combined Prince of Wales and Earl Grey. The result? Adding Prince of Wales tea toned down the strong citrus-y flavor of the Earl Grey.

The verdict:

Lady Grey is still my favorite! 

With added milk, it tastes like the Japanese milk tea I used to have :)

Oatmeal Cookies

I never thought oatmeal cookies are soooo good. I had my first oatmeal cookies when me and my parents were staying at a hotel in Jakarta and we got a welcome plate of oatmeal cookies. I finished it off... myself :P. I couldn't stop munching though I didn't know what exactly I was eating. Later on, I learnt that those cookies were called oatmeal cookies.

A couple of days ago, I was cleaning up my kitchen cabinet and found plenty of instant oatmeal left (anyway, this isn't the oatmeal you're supposed to use for oatmeal cookies). Out of the blue, I just thought of making oatmeal cookies with it. So, here we go...

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, well beate
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 3/4 chopped pecans (optional)

How to make:

1. Combine the eggs, raisins, and vanilla. Let it sit for one hour.
2. Cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
3. Add flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. Mix well.
4. Blend in egg-raisin mixture, oatmeal, and chopped nuts. The dough will become stiff.
5. Take a heaping teaspoon of the dough and roll into a ball. Place the balls onto a baking sheet, give some room to expand. Flatten each ball slightly.
6. Bake at 175 degrees Celcius for 10-12 minutes.

Notes:

• I used the instant minute oats, which is WRONG. Hehe. Use regular oatmeal for this recipe.
• You can substitute pecans with other nuts of your choice. Maybe walnut, almond, or macadamia would do great.
• The baking time is kinda tricky. I usually set it up to 10 minutes and check on the color first. If it looks too lightly brown, you need to give it another minute. Otherwise the cookies will be too soft. But also, be careful not to over bake it (like some of the batches I did, pic down).
• Once it comes out of the oven, let it cool before removing it from the pan.

Source

Chewy Chocolate Brownies

Last week me & hubby went for takziah at Wiley Park. One of the women who came brought a plate of yummy chocolatey brownies. The brownies texture and taste is almost similar to my favorite brownies ever, which is the "Primarasa" brownies! So I thought if she can make it in a short time, it must be easy. I searched for brownies recipe, and, in fact, found many five-star rated recipes. So, I went for a recipe that made sense to be delicious in my imagination (yes, I can imagine how a recipe would turn out by reading the ingredients list -- kidding :P).

I warn you, this brownies tastes so divine... it's crunchy on the outside and unbelievably chewy in the inside. And most importantly, it's very very easy to make. No mixer needed.

Ingredients:

• 125gr butter
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 cup of chocolate chips/choc bits (optional)

How to make:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan
2. Add in sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla essence, and salt. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. Whisk in the eggs one by one.
4. Fold through sifted flour and baking powder with a spatula.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips/choc bits, if you'd like.
6. Pour the batter on a pan covered with parchment paper. Spread it out until it's about 1 inch thick. Bake at 170 degrees Celcius for 25-30 minutes.
7. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Notes:

•  If you don't use parchment paper, grease your pan and sift a bit of flour so the brownies won't stick to the pan.
• You can also sprinkle almonds on top of the batter before putting it in the oven.

Source

Feeling Japanese

:: Feeling Japanese ::

Maxwell & Williams Kimono cup & saucer (Myer)

Sweet sakura black tea

Finally I am watermarking my pictures!

Simplified Ebi Chilli

Finally... am back to my kitchen!! I was off to Indonesia for one-and-half months to pick up my visa letter. During that time, I didn't do any kitchen related stuff. On the contrary, I often eat out. Hohoho, of course! Indonesian food is the best! Spicy and very flavorful.

Anyway, there is this one recipe that I have been dying to try out, which is ebi chilli. It's from one of my favorite Japanese Youtuber: Cooking With Dog. I had to omit some ingredients listed from the original recipe because Japanese cooking sometimes requires ingredients that I'm prohibited to consume and, definitely, ingredients that I don't always stock at home. So, here's my version of the ebi chilli. The taste is still nice, even though I had to omit some important ingredients.

Ingredients:

Seasoning the prawns:

• 12 green banana prawns
• 1/3 of lime
• 1 tbsp tapioca flour
• Salt and pepper

Chilli paste sauce:

• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped ginger
• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 1/2 tbsp chilli bean paste
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
• 100 ml water
• 1 stick spring onions
• 1 tbsp tapioca flour (dissolved in 2 tbsp of water)
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• Salt and sugar

How to make:

• Peel off the skin of the prawns and clean prawns under running water. Season with salt, pepper, and some lemon/lime juice. Add a tablespoon of potato starch, mix well.
• Fry the prawns until half cooked. Set aside.
• Heat olive oil. Saute ginger, garlic, chilli bean paste, and tomato sauce until aromatic. Add water, season with salt and sugar, and bring to boil.
• Mix in the prawns. Then add in the chopped spring onions.
• Pour in the thickening mixture of tapioca starch dissolved in water. Cook until the sauce has thickened.

Notes:

• I doubled the measurement of the chilli bean paste (actually I read the wrong measurement unit :P, but oh well, turned out to be better!)
• Water can be substituted with chicken or shrimp stock. The original recipe yields for chicken stock, but unfortunately I didn't have any at the moment.