I found this recipe here. I read good comments on the website about this recipe so I thought I gave it a try. I think I must measure things wrong, as I only dis 2/3 of the recipe. The result was not as good as I expected. I usually like ‘not too sweet’ dessert and snacks but these muffins weren’t sweet enough. I used frozen blueberries and I think what I did wrong was squeezing lightly my thawed blueberries. Next time I will give it one more try using fresh blueberries. (I will keep you posted on the result)

My busy Monday started with preparing my oldest son morning tea and lunch box, then dropping him at kindy. Then off I went to the kitchen preparing this cake with few pauses because the little one waking up. Sorry baby, probably you are not used to the loud mixer sound, well you better get use to the sound as you will hear it most of the time in the upcoming future. I will post the recipe later with few notes and tips as I didn’t do so well with this cake.

How my oldest boy felt so happy looking at the cake. He always excited looking at cakes because he loves singing the birthday song and blowing off the candles. This time, he did like uncountable times of singing, blowing and clapping hands. I guess it was kinda like a little practice before his upcoming birthday at the end of August.

Tuesday was all about planning, scheduling and shopping. Garlic, shallot, ginger, turmeric, candle nut, lemon grass and chillies for pounding, grinding and pureeing. Banana leaves, garlic shoots, broccoli, spring onions, parsley and carrot for decoration. Glutinous rice and flour, coconut milk and cream, potatoes, tofu, chicken eggs and quail eggs, prawns, can of petai in brine for the ingredients.

Buzzz… grrrrrrr…buzzz…. grrrr, that was the sound of Wednesday. Oh not to forget the hwaaaaaa… ooowaaaaacccchhhhh… (baby crying) and mommy look at this… mommy I want this that and it goes on and on and on…

Thursday, let’s the kitchen war begin!!! YAY and hubby had a day off, meaning that lots of lots of help with my two boys. Early in the morning, hubby and the oldest one went to the embassy to renew the passport and that made me so much easier in arranging banana leaves on platter. This was my third attempt in making the platter.

• The first one was last year on my boy’s birthday. Result: unsuccessful because of poor time management.
• The second attempt was last December on hubby’s birthday. Result: unsatisfied because of lack of research on how to arrange and decorate your dishes on the platter.
• The third attempt: Satisfied, however still need to improve on decoration varieties and perhaps bigger platter will be result in a much more attractive looks.
• Note to myself: find a storage space in the tiny apartment to store a new big platter

Here are the dish starting from yellow rice clockwise: Nasi Kuning (Festive Yellow Rice), Sambal Udang Pete Balado (Prawns with Petai cooked in Sambal Chilli), Perkedel (Fried Mashed Potatoes), Telur Dadar Gulung (Rolled Omelet), Tahu Bacem (Fried Tofu Marinated in Palm Sugar and Herbs), Sambal Bajak Terasi (Sambal Chilli with Shrimpt Paste Bajak style in Tomato Basket), Mie Ulang Tahun (Fried Egg Noodles with Red Boiled Quail Eggs), Ayam Panggang Kremes (Grilled Chicken).

Conversation with Hubby while preparing those Tumpeng dishes around 4 PM:

Me: OMG we ran out of rice. We need to buy them ASAP.

Hubby: Ahhhh… I don’t wanna go out anymore today (answering with sleepy eyes, laying on the carpet)

Me: Oh well I suppose I could go tomorrow buying rice (25 kg) and chicken for Saturday (about 28 pcs of Chicken Maryland, those are for Theo’s one month things. We usually gave a packet of yellow rice with chicken, red egg, red traditional cake, and sweets to close friends and relatives. Traditionally, this thing is done to let them know that there is a new baby born in the family)

Hubby: Zzzzzzz… (snoozing already on the carpet while the toddler destroying the house with all of his toys all over the house)

Friday, lots and lots and lots of thing had to be done. First thing, feed all the boys then bath them and myself. Before we went out, it was already 12.30 PM. I was in a panicking zone. We all went to the city and darn it.. as usual no parking spot. Thank God I had a help that day from a friend. She watched the boys while I parked my car in a no parking zone (hoping that no parking office will pass and give me a ticket). I ran to the shop telling to the housekeeper that I need a 25 kg rice and then straight to the butcher asking him to give me 28 pieces of chicken maryland. I told them to be quick as I parked in the no parking zone. The porter carried the rice to the car, but there was no sign of the chicken from the butcher yet. I ran straight to the car and I was so lucky to spot a parking spot, although it meant that I had to drive backward about 5 metres on a busy zone. Back to the butcher asking him where the hell was my chickens. Surprisingly he handed me a big box of chicken.

Me: (still looking surprised) OMG how come you gives me the box? I only asked for 28 pieces of chicken.

Butcher: Yes 28 pieces of chicken maryland.

Me: (wondering how big those chicken pieces hidden inside the box) Mmm.. I need someone to help me carry this box to the car

Butcher: Okay.. no worries

Me: Hang on a second, I need to buy extra lemon grass

(Butcher kept going and went out of the store without me while I was paying the shopkeeper. Me following behind him and running)

(Me Arrived at the back of the car panicking and worrying that all those salmonella leaking and dripping from the wet box would contaminate my beloved car. I quickly placed lots of plastic bags on the car so the butcher could place that salmonella box on top.)

I think the box weighs almost 20 kg and don’t ask me how I get them all up to my apartment. A very hard work indeed. I had a very busy day and night after the chicken arrived on my kitchen station.Lots of chopping on the extra chicken fat. Lots of pinching the extra feather left on the huge chicken pieces. I wonder how big the chickens were when they were alive. I had to finish at 1.30 AM in the morning since my brain wasn’t really synchronized with my doing anymore.

All I can say about Saturday was busy hectic and kind of panicky, not so much for the cooking but for my two nagging boys. We started the delivery at 12.30 PM and arrived back home at 7.30 PM at night. What a journey, starting from inner west, eastern, northern, west, and city. Well thank God both of my boys was behaving nicely, especially the little one who slept all the way through and only woke up once for a fed.

This is one of the packet we delivered to relatives and close friends. I made 25 packets of them, each consists of Nasi Kuning (Festive Yellow Rice), Ayam Panggang Kremes (Grilled Chicken), Telur Merah (Red Boiled Egg), Kue Ku (Glutinous Rice Cake filled with Mung Bean Paste).

My verdict on the cake is absolutely soft and spongy even without the cake emulsifier. Amazing really, how can it be that soft without the cake emulsifier. I still couldn’t explain the reason.

As the recipe suggested, do not buttered the baking tin. I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The side of the cake is not that difficult, but as for the bottom one, I rip part of my cake and left it on the pan. Next time I will definitely butter the pan very lightly especially the bottom of the tin.

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from Passion (Ibu Tio Blog) : Chiffon Chocolate White Egg, for details click here

• 125 gr plain flour
• 25 gr cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 25 gr corn flour
• 75 gr oil (I used 75 gr melted reduced salt butter)
• 75 ml full cream milk
• 100 gr egg whites (to be mix to the mixture)
• 400 gr egg whites (to be whipped)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 175 gr sugar (I used 150 gr)

Culinary tradition: Indonesian

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This is one of my trial recipe. the recipe is definitely a keeper. The cake is super soft and has a beautiful texture. It is really different compares to the baked cakes. It is also beautiful in appearance. This steam cake is a sudden hit to my house members. When I asked my husband whether I should actually give some of the cake to my neighbor, he simply replied : “Hmmm… not this one, I think we could finish it very quickly”. He was right. We finished the cake in a day. My boy loves the pink one as it has a strong strawberry essence. My husband loves the green one. I love them all.

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from Passion (Ibu Tio Blog) : Bolu Kukus Pelangi, for details click here

• 500 ml egg whites
• 325 gr sugar (I used 300 gr)
• 1 tbsp cake emulsifier (I used 15 gr Ovalet Kupu Kupu brand)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100 ml full cream milk
• 50 gr melted butter (I used reduced salt butter)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250 gr plain flour
• 25 gr full cream milk powder
• strawberry essence + red colouring
• lemon essence
• mocha essence
• pandan essence

Culinary tradition: Indonesian

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As usual, in making the bread, I rested the dough twice before baking them in the oven. The silliest and dummies thing that I did was by not resting the cake on the baking tray in its final stage. When they were ready, I had to carefully picked them up and moving them to a baking tray. A big NO NO, the dough just kind of shrunk and out of shape. So the dough ended up with three times resting time, which I think make the taste of the bread kind of yeasty. This is a very important lesson that I learned.

It is time now for the verdict. When they just came out of the oven, they tasted really good. Because of the butter in the middle, the middle texture that is close to the butter has a crunch bite to it. I ate two buns straight away. However the next morning, they didn’t taste as good ad they were warm. The topping became a little bit sticky. I think the stickiness was because I stored them in a tight container while they were still a little bit warm. In conclusion, I think it is best to finish all the buns on the day of  making.

As for myself, I like the buns and will be happy to make them again. However, since my family members especially my husband doesn’t like the thought of chunky butter in the middle of the bread and there is no chocolate involvement in this bun. There is a slim chance that I will be making this bread again in the future.

Ingredients for the Bread

Recipe adapted from Natural Cooking Club : Roti Empuk, for details click here

• 500 gr high protein flour/bread flour
• 100 gr sugar
• 100 gr butter (I used reduced salt butter)
• 11 gr dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp bread improver (I didn’t use this)
• 4 egg yolks
• 300 ml ice water (just use 200 ml first, and the rest is just in case the dough is not wet enough)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• cold butter about 10 gr each for each individual dough (for Roti Polo)

Ingredients for the Topping (Roti Polo)

Recipe adapted from Natural Cooking Club : Roti Polo, for details click here

• 50 gr icing sugar
• 50 gr palm sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
• 100 gr reduced salt butter
• 80 gr egg
• 130 gr plain flour
• 5 gr coffee + 1 tbsp hot water
• 5 gr coffee essence

Instructions for the Topping (Roti Polo)

1. Using hand held mixer, mix butter, icing sugar, egg until soft.
2. Add in plain flour and mix until well combined.
3. Add in coffee mixture and coffee essence and mix until well combined.
4. Using a triangle plastic decoration, the topping is ready to be put on top of the bread in a coral motion.

Culinary tradition: Indonesian

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

Well this was a very cute type of fried shrimp in wonton skins. If you would like the recipe, please click here. Just keep in mind that the wonton skins browns very quick so you need to set the heat into low medium, as I burned my first batch. To make it easy for you to roll the batter into the wonton skins, use to spoon to form a ball and place it straight away into the shredded wonton skins and roll.

Preparation time (duration): 45

Culinary tradition: Chinese

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She told me the recipe over the phone, so I was not really sure about the batter consistency, but I made it anyway. The first time I made this, I completely turned them into other form of fried chicken. I added a little bit of water because when I tried to mix the batter with chicken cutlets, the batter seems too thick and it didn’t coat the chicken surface evenly. So, the Fried Chicken only stayed crunchy just for a little while. The second mistake I did was mincing the garlic instead of pureeing them. That was a big ‘NO-NO’, the garlic mince fell apart from the chicken and float on the oil. So, by the time I deep fried the second or third batches, there were lots of burned black overcooked garlic floating on the surface of the oil. Therefore I need to keep separating them from the oil, which were a lot of hard work.

My sister in law told me that the ratio between the plain flour and the rice flour is 1:2. However, as usual I like to experiment as I cook the dishes over and over again. I changed the ratio to 1:3 because the rice flour help to increase the crunchiness of the Fried Chicken. The batter will be really thick when you mix them together and they may seems like they don’t coat the chicken evenly, but they do. Just remember to keep coating them before you deep frying them into the oil. The batter will be slightly thinner eventually as your raw chicken will release its juice.

Preparation time (duration): 45

Culinary tradition: Indonesia

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Few days ago, I had a ready rolled puff pastry left over in the fridge and I thought ‘why not making the apple turnover for my toddler’. I always want to give him a variety of foods to try on, so he could learn to love and appreciate healthy food. So I did the apple turnover my style. I mix the diced apples with honey instead of sugar, spread some ricotta cheese on the ready rolled puff pastry, put a spoonful of apple mixture, fold them into triangles, sprinkle some sugar to make the top sparkly appetizing, and they turned out to be a hit.

Preparation time (duration): 30

Culinary tradition: Dutch

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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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Cooking time (minutes): 45

Meal type: snack

Culinary Tradition: Indonesian

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I still remember when I was about 11 years old, my family used to have dinner in a fried chicken outlet once or twice a week. The fried chicken outlet is new in town and everybody just want to try something new, as well as the ‘needy kids’. So, I was eating my dinner with my family while watching the ‘needy kids’ rushed in to those empty tables for those chicken leftovers. They really seemed to enjoy their meal although they have to pause and wait for another tables to clear to finish their meal.  It just like having a three course dinner where you have to pause and wait for the next course to be served.

If we look at the developed western countries, it is completely the other way around.  What is considered as a high end cuisine in a third world country is a junk food here. It is high in calorie, full of bad fat, and pack in salt and sugar. People like to eat it because it is fast, convenience, and affordable. Junk food is considered as a ‘decent’ meal to get if the people are uncertain about the taste of meals in the  surrounding restaurant. When my husband and I were away on an out of town adventure, we usually make our pit stop at ‘familiar’ burger or fried chicken outlet till I was sick of it. We were too unsure to try something new on local restaurants and just stick to those obvious one.

Anyway, back to Pizza. My household members are a big fan of pizza and loves to order pizza for take away once in a while. Me myself, I am not that big lover of pizza. I don’t like the after taste of that oily fat that tends to linger in your mouth and throat even after you tried to wash them down with a can of soda. I know what you all thinking, another junk food’s best friend. All those reasons sort of driven me to search for a good quality of pizza dough recipe.

So, I found this great recipe on the web couple years ago (created by Sarah Hobbs) and loving it since then. This recipe is really easy to work with and once you’ve mastered the dough making, let’s your imagination go wild and create your pizza with your favorite toppings and sauces.

Preparation time (minutes): 30

Culinary Tradition: Italian

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