Now, two months after that, I thought I have to do something with the meat. It has been a long nap and they had to get out of the freezer. They did take a lot of space to store. I had been thinking to make this Dendeng Balado for quite sometime now but I always think about the hefty amount of work involved in making this dish. Now I convince myself and it is worth the effort.

Dendeng Balado is a traditional Indonesian dish. It comes from West Sumatra, Padang. West Sumatran cuisine is rich with its spice especially chilli and coconut. My family background (my grandmother) was born and brought up there, and she was the one who look after me when I was a kid. I was literally brought up eating the spicy and rich Padang cuisines and I absolutely love it.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg gravy beef
• 1/2 tbsp whole coriander seeds, press them using the tip of knife
• 2 tsp salt
• water just enough to cover
• 500 gr red chilli, set aside 5 chillies for cutting
• about 5-10 small red chillies, depending on your preference of spiciness
• 20 gr shallot, 3-4 pcs extra depending on the size, for slicing
• 4 cloves garlic
• oil for deep frying and stir frying
• lime juice
• salt and sugar to taste

Instructions

1. Slice the gravy beef into 5 mm in thickness. Lightly salt and mix until combined.
2. Put the sliced beef in a pot and cover with just enough water (barely covering the top of the meat). Throw the coriander seeds on the pot. Bring them to boil and then turn the heat to medium low until the meat is tenderized.
3. Meanwhile, puree red chillies, shallot, and garlic in a food processor until fine. No need to achieve a perfect puree. Set aside.
4. Slice the shallot and cut the chillies into long strips. Set aside.
5. When the beef slices are cooked, take them out and reserve the juice.
6. Get the frying pan ready and heat the oil for deep frying. When the oil is hot, throw in the meat slices and browned for few seconds. The idea of deep frying is to brown the surface and dry them off slightly. Set them aside.
7. Get the wok ready and heat generous amount of oil for stir frying. Add the chilli mixture puree to the wok and turn the heat to medium low. Keep stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
8. Add the sliced shallot and chillies, stir to combine.
9. Add salt, sugar and lime juice to taste. Add them a little at the time and keep tasting. They should have a balance between sweet, salty and sour.
10. Add the beef and stir to combine.
11. Add about 1/2 cup of reserve juice. Depending on how wet you want them to be, or you could ignore the juice totally.

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Nathan had 3 birthday celebration and it was just because we couldn’t book the function place soon enough. He had his first birthday on the 29th of August (his actual birthday) with me, his dad and little brother. His second birthday was on 31st of August at his kindergarten. It was only singing, blowing candles and eating cakes with his friends and teachers. Now the third celebration on the 18th of September was a big one.

Party Guest: 30 – 35 people

Party Menu:

• Nasi Tumpeng (Yellow Rice), 4 kg of rice
• Ayam Bakar Bumbu Rujak (Grilled Chicken), 5 whole chickens
• Sambal Terasi (Sambal with Shrimp Paste), 500 gr chilies
• Rendang (Beef Rendang), 5.5 kg beef
• Sambal Goreng Hati (Chicken Liver Sambal), 2 kg potatoes, 2.5 kg liver
• Tahu Tempeh Bacem (Fried Tofu and Tempeh marinated in palm sugar and herbs), 2 boxes of tofu, 2 packs of tempeh
• Perkedel (Fried Mashed Potatoes), 4 kg potatoes
• Mie Goreng Ulang Tahun (Fried Egg Noodles), 700 gr egg noodles
• Gado-gado, 1 lettuce, 1/2kg potatoes,1 box tofu, 1 cabbage, 4 cucumbers, 1 dozen eggs
• Peanut Sauce for Gado-gado, 1 kg peanut
• Strawberried Treasure Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The cooking plan was thought through weeks ahead. Monday and Tuesday were for herbs and nuts pureeing and sambal terasi. Wednesday and Thursday were for cooking chicken, beef rendang, tahu tempeh bacem, and perkedel. They were all packed in an airtight container inside the fridge. I should actually took a picture of how my fridge look like. I didn’t have the time to take a photograph. My head and hands had been pre-occupied almost all the time. Friday was dedicated for the cake. The decorating part had to be done after the birthday boy fell asleep. Friday afternoon was for cooking sambal goreng hati.

Everything was as I planned and imagined by Friday afternoon. When my husband went home from work, I asked him to drive me to the groceries store. I wanted some chocolate coins to decorate the Pirate Ship birthday cake. I also had to buy some chillies for the peanut sauce. This chili thing for the peanut was something that I didn’t expect to happen, but I believed that it wouldn’t cost me my time. Well, my husband had another plan. He was hoping to get a parking on Friday night in the city so he could stop by the Apple store to get an Ipad. What a timing huh. We circled the city for few minutes. It felt like hours to me. Time was ringing TICK TOCK!!!  TICK TOCK!!!  inside my head. Well long story short, we couldn’t get the chocolate coins and by the time he got the parking, the Apple Store closed (LOL).

The birthday boy was asleep by 9 o’clock, but the baby kept waking up and asked for frequent breast feed. Well I think it was around 1.30 AM I was done with the cake decorating. A little story behind the cake. I was planning on making the Dinosaurs cake for a long time, but I couldn’t seen to get matching merchandise like goody bags, plates, toys and decorations. When I was hunting for them, I found lots of Pirate things instead, so we decided the theme is ” Ahoy there… YARGGGG Pirate”. Look at these goodies bags, aren’t they cute?

I searched through probably about hundred of pirate cakes on the internet to brainstorm my idea. They are almost have the same shape and I was kinda combining lots of different ideas that suits me and the decorations available. I designed (well it wasn’t really designing, but arranging stripes of red and white at Photoshop) flags and printed them few days before so that I wouldn’t rush at the last minute. The recipe used was Rich Chocolate Cake , because I think it was the easiest, simple and tasty cake. I made 5 layers of 30 by 30 cm. Having all the plan on how big the ship was going to be and drawn the template on the paper made the shaping of the cake so much faster. And Taaaa Daaaa….. here comes the cake.

If I could do something different, I would:

• Make 3 batches of Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead of 2. As seen on the picture, the cake was lacking on the water and wave.
• Not using the Astor (roll chocolate wafers), as the were too big and look a bit dodgy. I would chose something slimmer like chocolate wafer sticks.
• The chocolate wafers were started to brake because I stand them vertically. I should stack them up instead.

This was another Tumpeng platter I created (I am now starting to take orders, you could see the details on the “I SELL” page). I tried to improve my carving skills every time I had a chance to make one of these. The new addition of my creation is the cucumber, look at how the spread open. I am so pleased

These cupcakes were chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buried inside them, topped with cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with some brown sugar and had a cool pirate flag on each. I didn’t have a chance to take the picture of the inside, because they were all gone very quickly. I tasted one though, and they are so good with a very fresh taste from the strawberry and creamy taste from the cream cheese. Super duper yummy !!!

Please leave your comment/suggestion if you find this recipe useful. Can’t wait to hear from you and Thank You !!!

Other thing that I made for my picky eater as a variation was this meatballs in satay sticks with drizzle of tomato sauce.

Culinary tradition: American

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I prepared all the ingredients in the afternoon while the baby was asleep and Nathan was watching his favourite TV show. I called my husband at work to buy some frozen chips from the supermarket on his way home to compliment my burger. I wanted to make the chips from scratch as well. I just didn’t have the time to make them. Well, there is always next time. I’ll save them for my next posted recipe like Fish and Chips (Australia Day maybe ).

This is my favourite burger patties creation so far. I did post burger patties last year. This time, I add shredded fresh wholemeal bread and parley. They are much nicer, moist, tender and juicy this time.



Ingredients

• 500 gr lean beef mince
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 1 small zucchini, grated
• 1 small onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, mince
• a handful of mince parsley
• 1 egg
• 2 slices of wholemeal bread, shredded
• 1 1/2 tsp salt or to your preferences
• cracked of fresh black pepper
• oil for grilling
• burger buns
• cheddar cheese
• slices of tomatoes
• lettuce
• mushrooms, slices
• onions, slices
• tomato sauce

Instructions

1. Using hand, mix beef mince, carrot, zucchini, onion, garlic, parsley, egg, wholemeal bread, salt, and pepper in bowl until well combined. Shape them into balls and refrigerate to firm the shape.
2. Using a non stick pan, toast the buns slightly.
3. Take one meat ball and flatten them slightly to a round shape.
4. Still using the same pan, add little olive oil to the pan and grill the burger patties about 3 minutes on each side or depend on the thickness of your meat. Take out the meat patties and set aside.
5. Add onion and mushrooms slices and cook it until caramelized. The mushrooms slices will be ready before the onions.
6. Build your burger as soon as all the items ready so that your cheddar could melt slightly.

Culinary tradition: American

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My husband loves and rages about this “Shaking Beef”, especially the pickle Spanish onion. Just remember to brush your teeth and keep a mouthwash handy at hand, because the onion smell really sticks to your mouth.

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia: Bo Luc Lac (Shaking Beef), for details click here

• 750 gr beef round steak, pounded with mallet on both sides
• 2 tbsp minced garlic, to marinate
• 2 tbsp sugar, to marinate
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce, to marinate
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, to marinate
• 1/2 tbsp black sesame oil, to marinate
• 1 tsp mushroom soy sauce, to marinate
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, for vinaigrette
• 2 tbsp sugar, for vinaigrette
• 1/2 tbsp salt, for vinaigrette
• 1 spanish onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• Rockets
• oil for stir frying

Instructions

1. Marinate beef with garlic,sugar,  oyster sauce, fish sauce, black sesame oil, and soy sauce for 1 hours.
2. In another bowl, prepare rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt for vinaigrette.
3. In another bowl, pour about 3-4 tbsp of the vinaigrette to pickle thinly sliced Spanish onion. Cover and set aside in the fridge to be ready before serving.
4. Prepare bed of rockets and slice tomatoes in the serving platter and set aside.
5. Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Add beef and sear to medium rare. Do this in batches if necessary. I did them all as one using a big non stick pan.
6. Transfer beef to the serving platter. Drizzle 4 tbsp of vinaigrette and pickled onion on top.

Culinary tradition: Vietnamese

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This time he brought back beef round steak. Hmm interesting, that was the first time I cook with this part of the beef. Well, they looked tender as they sliced fairly thin and there was a mallet mark on the surface of the meat. This is my new invention dish. I think the dish is complemented well with the roasted capsicum as by roasting them retains its sweetness. As you can see in the picture, there was quite a lot of juices. I didn’t add any water or beef stock. It was purely came out of the beef.

Ingredients

• about 750 gr beef round steak or tenderloin, cut into long strips
• 3 tsp cornstarch to marinate
• 3 tsp mushroom soy sauce to marinate
• 2 tsp rice vinegar (or Shaoxing rice wine) to marinate
• 1 tbsp garlic mince
• 1/2 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 chili, slice diagonally
• 1 stalk spring onion, slice
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 6 tbsp sweet soy sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 large capsicum, roasted on the stove, peel the skin and sliced
• oil for stir frying

Instructions

1. Marinate the beef slices with cornstarch, mushroom soy sauce, and rice vinegar for at least 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil on the wok. Stir the beef until they are about medium rare. Take them out of the wok and set aside.
3. Heat additional oil on the wok. Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant.
4. Add chili and do a quick stir.
5. Add the reserved beef, sauces and white pepper. Stir for 1-2 minutes.
6. Add sliced capsicum and stir for another minute.
7. Add spring onion and serve with rice.

Culinary tradition: Chinese

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There were no difference for this time as well. He offered himself and remind me of my last stroganoff (oh how supportive you my dear…). I said to him that I had been doing some research on the net and looking at few recipes on stroganoff. I choose the Masterchef recipe because I watched the show. However I didn’t have all the ingredients needed. Without him knowing, I just started to prepare everything in the kitchen. He actually caught me on coating the meat with the flour. He said that my last stroganoff failed because of the flour coating. I said I think I didn’t shake the excess flour last time and this time I shake it off thoroughly. He said his stroganoff doesn’t need the flour to coat (yeah you right because the sauce that he cook came from the instant packaging.. and I am doing everything from scratch.. come on, can’t he understand the difference???)

Because I wanted to cook the stroganoff so badly, I didn’t write the recipe on paper as I always do. I was sort of remembering the steps on my head. I did all the instructions as I remembered and VOILA the beef stroganoff minus paprika powder, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, and sour cream (used thickened cream instead). My verdict wass not bad for a beginner but as usual I received complain from an “instant packaging Stroganoff sauce” expert.

The week after, I tried to cook another stroganoff. This time I used beef stock and paprika powder, but still didn’t use Worcestershire sauce and sour cream(as I thought creme de fraiche was thickened cream… LOL I found out that it was sour cream instead after reading Dorie Greenspan cookbook… what a coincidence). The verdict was much better from my previous one. I think it is probably best to stick to the original recipe. So I would try to cook it one more timeaccordingly for the sake of perfecting my stroganoff.If you would like the recipe, click here.

Culinary tradition: Russian

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This is actually the first time I made this dish. I called my grandma from Indonesia to dig up some information since she was originated from Padang. I am not sure about other people’s grandmother. When my grandma explains about how to cook a dish, she never give me any measurement on how much each ingredients should be. So I always have to rely on my memory on how the dish should taste like. I still regret I didn’t really put so much of an interest while she was cooking before. Anyway, I didn’t want to fail as my husband also had the same craving as I was. I surfed the net and found some useful information.

According to my first effort on cooking this dish, I conclude that:

• Put little bit of salt when marinating and cooking the meat, as I didn’t. The meat flavours became bland if eaten by itself, well the gravy sure helps the flavour, but I think it is better to marinate and cook with the salt.
• Do not overcook the meat, because it is really hard to thin the meat and skewered them into the sticks as they tend to break. I ended up with a quite thick chunk of meat about 4 mm thick, where it supposed to be half the thickness.
• I found mine was not dry enough like the one sold in my hometown. But after a while, I realized that in my hometown, they sell this kind of satay using a cart, which they could push around the neighborhood and town. The skewered satay sticks are not wrapped in the cling wrap (they probably haven’t realized that there is this thing invented called cling wrap) or stored in a container. They are simply placed in an open shelf inside the cart(don’t even get me started about the hygienic issues), and that is probably the reason why the meat in the skewers dry up as they circle the town.
• Always topped of your Sate Padang with fried shallot. This is a must have as it could enhance the flavour.

Ingredients

• 1 kg gravy beef, cut into long strips
• 1 lemon grass, smashed
• 2 cm galangal, sliced and smashed
• 4 pcs lime leaves
• 4 pcs bay leaves
• 2 cm ginger, pureed
• 5 cloves garlic, pureed
• 5 cloves shallot, pureed
• 6 big red chillies, pureed
• 1 small red chilli, pureed
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder or 5 cm of turmeric, pureed
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 sdt sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 500 ml of water, or just enough to cover the meat
• rice flour to thicken the gravy sauce
• satay stick
• rice cake to serve
• fried shallot to serve

A little information about Kwetiau Goreng for those of you who have no clue about them. Kwetiau Goreng is also known as Cha Kwetiau or Fried Rice Noodles. It is a common dish in most Asian household, especially Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean. You definitely could find it in Asian food court and hawker stalls.

Ingredients

• 500 gr rice noodle
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 cloves of shallot, sliced
• 3 small chillies or according to your preferences
• 1 tomato, cut into wedges
• prawns or chicken or beef or pork (I used beef balls)
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp of sweet soy sauce or as needed (When added to the noodles, stop when the noodle is brown enough)
• 1 tbsp of fish sauce
• salt and white pepper
• 1 tbsp of tomato sauce
• oil for stir frying
• bean sprout ans slices of spring onions to serve

You could add grated vegetable like carrot or zucchini in the mince mixture or some chopped mushrooms is great as well for those extra flavor.  I don’t have all those ingredients handy in my fridge, so I mix everything I had.

My little tips to retain your burger patties shape are:

• Try to squeeze the mince mixture gently while shaping them. Patting both sides with palm of your hands could help as well.
• Refrigerate the burger patties in the fridge for at least half an hour before cooking them, so that they could sit for a while.
• When cooking the patties, do not do so many toss and turn. Let them cook at least 5 minutes on each sides. When they are more sturdy, you could then turning them on the other side.
• When making a thicker burger patties like mine, just keep in mind that the inside of the patties might still be medium rare. You could bake them in the oven for a while to make sure it is well done.

Ingredients

• 250 gr lean beef mince
• 1 small onion, mince
• 1 garlic clove, mince
• 1 shallot, mince
• 1/4 cup of egg whites or egg
• bread crumbs from 1 piece of bread
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for stir frying
• 2 pieces of toasted wholemeal bread
• salads (cucumber, lettuce, tomato)
• sauces (mustard, tomato sauce and chili sauce)

To be honest, I am never a big fan of liver, heart, intestine and other weird organs which are turned into delicacy dishes. I can’t seem to enjoy their “unique” taste. On the contrary, my husband loves them to death that he could eat them almost everyday. So, this dish was cooked on his request.

Usually I use chicken liver instead of beef, because I never eat the beef version before and never cook with it. Few months ago, I tried to cook them to make a beef liver sweet soy version (usually I use pork liver), but instead boiling them in water, I fried them like I treat the chicken and pork liver. They turned as hard as rock. Then, I read on several websites that you have to boil to tenderize them, so I am willing to give it another go. Since the beef liver is cheap and affordable (and FYI, they are considered as pet’s food), I have no hesitations in trying them again.

Ingredients

• 500 gr beef liver
• 500 gr potatoes, cut in cubes, deep fried
• 3 cloves of garlic, pureed
• 6 cloves of shallots, pureed
• 10 big red chillies, pureed
• 6 small red chillies, pureed
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 lemon grass, smashed
• 400 ml of coconut milk
• salt and sugar to taste
• oil to stir frying

I am dedicating this recipe to those Indonesians who live overseas and have limited access to fresh native ingredients such as coconut. I used to cook Beef Rendang using those ready mixed sauce comes in a sachet. Trust me, once you tried this recipe, you will never go back to those crap ready store bought sauces.

When my mom came to Australia 6 years ago, she taught me how to cook a decent Rendang that tastes like home. She was thinking really hard to make the colour the same, and finally she remembered how my grandma use to cook her Rendang. My grandma fry (using no oil) the fresh grated coconut until they reached brownish colour, and then blend them in the food processor, which later added so that the Beef Rendang has lots of thicken sauce. So what my mother did was straining the juices and left out the desiccated coconut because they are too dried unlike the fresh one.

This Rendang recipe could also be used with other meat such as pork and chicken, but just keep in mind that they only need less time compare to the beef to be tender, so only a little amount of water need to be added, just enough for them to be tender.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg of gravy beef, cut into your preferences of size (about 2 cm in thickness)
• 1 cup of dessicated coconut
• 1.5 cup of hot water
• 8 big red chillies, pureed
• 4 small big chilies, pureed
• 6 cloves garlic, pureed
• 6 cloves shallot, pureed
• 1 tbsp/3 cm ginger, pureed
• 1 stalk of lemon grass (pureed the soft part and tied in knot the long and hard part)
• 5 pcs of candle nut, pureed
• 5 lime leaves
• 5 kaffir bay leaves
• 5 pcs of galangal (the size and thickness of 20 cents coin)
• 2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp of ground herbs (see note)
• 400 ml of coconut milk
• 1/2 cup of coconut cream
• 1 tbsp of salt, or to taste
• 1/2 tbsp of sugar
• oil for stir frying

Preparation time (duration): 60

Culinary tradition: Indonesian

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I do have an important lesson to learn while making both the patties and meatballs though. Always give either your burger patties or meatballs a good squeeze while shaping them or otherwise they will break. If you are not sure, just place them in the fridge for at least half an hour, so they can retain their shape.

So, here is the picture of my burger patties. If you want to serve them with burger buns, you could make them larger to suit your buns.

I served my Skewer Meatballs with my homemade pasta sauce. If you do want to serve them with pasta sauce, you could heat the pasta sauce together with the meatballs, so that the sauce could be absorbed by the meatballs. They will taste so much better.

Preparation time (duration): 30

Culinary tradition: American, Italian

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I don’t understand why, but the beef meat in Australia tastes very different to the one that I used to eat back in Indonesia. Probably it is because of the way of how Australian cooks them. They love their beef to be cooked as simple as possible, rare to medium rare, so they still can taste the actual beef. In comparison, Indonesian loves their beef to be transformed into a cuisine like Curry or Rendang. Curry or what we called Gulai is cooked for around 1 hour. Rendang is worst, it can be cooked for up to 2 hours, because the meat need to be so tender and soak all those herbs, juices, and coconut milk. You can’t really taste the beef that much, but you could enjoy the soaking herbs that immerse into the beef which are bathed in the thickened coconut milk. I guess,  Australian or westerners really appreciates the taste of originality, and Indonesian prefers their meal to be a delicacy.

Originally I made beef mince pies because my toddler is a fussy eater. I want to make his meal interesting and different from the usual stuff that he had, but the most important is that I could put lots of vegetable goodness in it without him even noticed and I succeed. He loves the pies so much. Although making the pies could be time consuming especially if you don’t have ready rolled shortcrust pastry available and have to make everything from scratch, but it really worth trying. To eliminate the smell, I included the Rendang herb ( I did not write it down on the ingredient list) or what we called ‘bumbu rempah daging’ that I brought from Indonesia. The gravy powder also help to disguise the smell apart from smoothing up the mixture.

Preparation time (duration): 60

Culinary tradition: American

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It is said that the first people who tasted the old woman’s cooking were a farmer and his son who arrived late to the city during a terrible rainstorm. They were forced to find shelter in the old woman’s home having found that all of the inns were full. Pleased with the company, the old woman prepared them a meal, including the dish now known as Ma Po Dou fu. The dish was so delicious that soon each time the father and son passed the old woman’s home, they would stay for a meal. In this way, the old woman’s renown spread as others joined the father and son in visiting and staying at her home. These visitors would often bring the ingredients for her dish so as not to burden her larder. As time passed, the dish evolved.

I am not really a big fan of tofu myself, but since my husband and my son loved them so much, I started to search for various tofu dishes in the web, including Mopo Tofu. I used to buy those Japanese ready mix Mapo Tofu sauce available in the Chinese groceries because buying a Mapo Tofu take away is so damn expensive. However, since I found some great recipes of Mapo Tofu on the internet, I tried to ‘mix and match’ so the flavor suit my family’s taste bud. I never scrambled the tofu as what it is supposed to look like because my toddler loves the tofu as well. If they are scrambled, the sauce would immerse in the tofu and it will be too spicy for a 2 years old. Thank God a little bit of chili never bothers him.

Cooking time (minutes): 30

Culinary Tradition: Chinese

Please leave your comment/suggestion if you find this recipe useful. Can’t wait to hear from you and Thank You!!!