Fried Donut

Roti Goreng

What do you want for a cold rainy day? True. A nice warm dishes. I made this roti goreng (it is literally translated as fried bread) for snacks before dinner. Check it out:

Prepare your dough first: 

6 spoonful of wheatflour

1/2 teaspoon of dried yeast

cool water

Mix wheat flour with yeast evenly, add water and knead the dough until it's smooth and it doesn't stick to your hand. Put your dough in a dry bowl and cover your bowl with damp fabric. Put aside, let it rise and expand for about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, cook the filling:

100 gram of lamb sausage, chopped

1/2 round of onion, chopped

1 stick of carrot, diced

chopped leeks or scallion or green onion

coriander powder

salt, pepper, and sugar

Saute all of the ingredients above, season until it fits your taste. Do not put too much coriander powder, it will make you faint because of the smell ;)

After your dough is ready, make it into 6 parts of smaller dough. Put aside, let is expand for 30 minutes. If they're ready, flatten your dough, fill with your sauteed lamb sausage, and make it into  nice ball/round shape. Actually, i made them triangles :)) 

Put aside, let it rest for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat your vegetable oil up.

Fry the dough when your oil is almost boiling. You need to make sure that the heat is not too hot that it will make your dough hard on the surface. 

Voila, smakelijk eten!

Healthy Brunch

Crispy Salad

It should not be 'brunch' if i have already had my breakfast before i chewed this salad. This was my in-between meal, when i feel hungry in the morning but didn't want to eat a second breakfast. This should be really easy to make. 

What you need are:

A cup of vegetable mix

2 spoonful of mayonnaise

One hard-boiled egg

One boiled egg yolk, other than the other egg

Savory crackers/biscuits

Salt and a little pepper

Mix mayonnaise with egg yolk until it you have smooth mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix this mixture with vegetables, put crackers and boiled egg on top of it. Ready to eat :)

Smakelijk eten!

 

Yolk, anyone?

Mushroom and Egg

 When you need proteins but feel bored with meat, try egg and mushroom. But this one will possibly make you fart a lot. A stinky ones ;) I know i cooked mushroom a lot. Hey, that's the cheapest protein i could afford this time. 

Anyway, here's the note:

2 eggs

50 gr champignon mushroom

1/2 round onion, chopped

1/2 round tomato, chopped

3 spoonful tomato paste

1 spoonful butter

1/2 teaspoon oregano

salt, sugar, and pepper

parsley

First, boil eggs until it's hard, peel the skin, cut into two parts, and put aside. 

On medium heat, melt butter and saute onion and tomato until it gets tender. Pour in tomato paste and add a little water. Stir well.

Stir in slice mushroom and cook until your mushroom shriveled. Add oregano, salt, and pepper into taste. Put in you eggs, stir in carefully so the yolks stay still and don't slop.Take it out of the pan, service in a dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Voila, smakelijk eten!

Chicken Porridge

Chicken Porridge

Out of nowhere came a request from mas suami who wanted to have chicken porridge as breakfast. So i made this thick chicken porridge as he requested. Because this blog would be about our survival tips in cooking, so here goes our survival chicken porridge.

You need to prepare your porridge first:

Rice

Water

Bayleaves

Chicken stock (of course it would be far better if you use chicken bones for the stock, but well... hehe, when you don't have it, don't sweat it)

Salt and pepper

If you want to make a thick kind of porridge, make your mixture in 1 rice : 5 water ratio. Put them together inside a rice cooker, pour in chicken stock (liquid or powder, any kind of it), 1 leaf of bayleaves, and season them with salt and pepper. Wait until it's cooked. Checked your mixture. If you think it's too thick, you can add more water and cook it again.

If you want to make more liquid chicken porridge, make your mixture in 1 rice : 8 water ratio then follow the same steps.

After you get your porridge done, you can use any kind of topping. Our favorite was chicken and egg, but surely you can use any other meat.

Smakelijk eten!

 

Chicken Blackpepper

chicken blackpepper

This is one of our favorite dinner! We love the smell of sauteed mushroom. We love the sweetness of paprika. And of course, the tender meat :9

Here we share our recipe:

250gr of chicken breast fillet or any boneless chicken

1 round of red paprika

1 stick green chilli

50 gr of brown skin champignon (believe me, it taste thicker than the white one)

1/2 round of onion 

A spoonful butter

salt, blackpepper, and parsley

Cut your chicken into slices, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, mix evenly. Chop your paprika and slice your green chilli. Slice champignon and the put aside.

On a medium heat, heat up your butter until it melt. Saute onion until it gets translucent. Put in your chicken fillet and stir until it produces broth. Add paprika and green chilli, stir in. After the chicken gets a little golden, stir in champignon and cook this mixture until the mushroom gets tender. Don't cook too long that your mushroom will lose its freshness. Season with salt and of course ground blackpepper.

Service it on a dish and sprinkle it with chopped or dried parsley. Mix evenly.

Voila! Smakelijk eten!

The Classic Bolognaise

Macaroni and Tomato Meat Sauce :)

All time favorites, all time easy-to-make pasta sauce. Here goes my version:

3 rounds of tomatoes. If you use cherry tomatoes, make it triple.

1/2 round of onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 round of tomato, sliced

250 gr of minced beef

100 gr of champignon mushroom, use the white champignon. It tastes less "mushroom-y"

100 gr of parmesan cheese

1 stick of carrot, dice it small

300 gr of pasta, any kind of it

3 spoonful of ready-to-eat tomato sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, chopped

water

salt, sugar, and pepper

a pot of grated cheddar cheese

a cup of parmesan cheese

dried parsley

First you need to make your own tomato paste. Blanch your 3 rounds of tomatoes by boiling it in hot water for 5 minute then put your cooked-tomato in ice water. Take it out from water, peel the skin, and the put your tomato in a jar. Store this tomato in fridge for two or three days before you use it.

Saute in medium heat: chopped onion, minced garlic, and sliced tomato until it's tender. Pour in your carrots and cook until the carrot gets translucent. Stir in 250 gr of minced meat until its broth comes out. Add 100 ml of water and cook until your meat is brown. 

Put in your tomato paste, stir in until it crumbles into sauce. Pour in additional tomato sauce. You can add more water if you think your mixture is getting too dry. Wait until your sauce is boiling. Meanwhile, slice mushroom and put it into your sauce. Then pour in parmesan cheese into the mixture. Set your heat into small heat. Stir well.

Season your sauce by adding oregano and black pepper. Stir well. Last, sprinkle salt and sugar to taste. 

You can cook your pasta for approximately 7 minutes until it gets al dente. After your pasta is ready, mix it with your meat sauce, and sprinkle it with cheese and parsley.

Voila, smakelijk eten! :)

Warming Winter

Beansprout Soto with Chicken Fillet

Unfinished Casserole

...now it became cheese soup :9

Prinzessbohnen and Leftovers

 

Prinzessbohnen ala Chine

 
Butter rice with Prinzessbohnen's leftovers

When You're Lazy, It's Easy

Fried Champignon

There will be time when you feel lazy, even to take a bath. At that particular time, cooking will be hard too. This is what we make whenever we feel too lazy to cook.

100 gr of champignon mushroom

2 spoonful of wheat flour, dilute with 80ml of iced water (app. 6 spoonful of water)

salt

pepper

dried parsley

Mix your diluted flour with a pinch of salt and pepper. Slice mushroom in thin piece. Coat it with diluted flour.

Fry it deep in vegetable oil until it gets golden. While it's still hot, sprinkle minced parsley leaf.

Tips: 

If you want to have it crispier, you can just put it into dry flour right after you dip your mushroom into liquid mixture.

Voila, smakelijk eten!

Green-chilli Sliced Meat

Green-chilli Sliced Meat

When we miss Indonesia, we eat sambal or cabai :)) This is one of the recipe we tried during my stay in Leuven. Here we go .

500 gr beef meat, sliced

2 sticks of green chilli

a half round of tomato

a half round of onion

soy sauce

nutmeg powder

garlic powder

salt, pepper, and sugar

Marinade your sliced meat in garlic powder, nutmeg powder, pepper, and salt. Put aside.

Slice onion and tomato. Saute in olive oil until you smell nice onion fragrant :) Put in your meat.

Saute your meat until your meat produce broth, add two cups of water and green chilli, let it boils and recedes into half of the mixture. Add a spoon of soy sauce, stir well. Sprinkle additional salt, pepper, and sugar until it meets your taste.

Tips: Don't use too much nutmeg powder, your dish will go bitter. 

Voila, smakelijk eten!

Cider Snacks

 

Sweet and Sour Fried Apples :)

It was snowy outside and mas dito was coming home late. I think he would have eaten at cafetaria so i decided to make light snacks, just in case he did not want dinner. Because there was no pisang tanduk or pisang kepok, here in Leuven, i went to supermarket and grabbed a bag of apples. We had nice and warm fried apples that night ;)

Here is the recipe:
2 full round of Apples
3 spfs Wheat flour
1 spf Rice flour
Salt
Sugar (better if you use refined sugar, not in the form of block, but not too powdery)

Cut apples in any size you want. I made it thin so it went crusty.
Prepare 3 spoonful of wheat flour and 1 spoonful of rice flour then dissolve it in a cup of water (app.200 ml). Yes, i made the flour thicker. It made a nice soft layer before you bite the crusty apples. Sprinkle a pinch of salt. Stir it well.

Put your apples into the liquid flour. Stir until you're sure your apples were coated nicely.
Fry your apples in 190 C degree vegetable oil (or whenever you bubbles come inside your boiling oil) until it has golden color.

While your apples are still hot, sprinkle refined sugar and let the sugar melt on the surface.

TIPS:

• Don't add sugar in your mix. In most cases, it will melt, caramelized during frying and make your mixture stick. Actually the heat will force fruit sugar to come out, so your apple will taste sweeter after it's heated.
• You can add cinnamon sugar to the surface if you like. Add a pinch of ginger powder too.

Voila, there goes your apple-fries, smakelijk eten!

Sushi Time!

Surimi Salad Gunkan Style

Pangasius Gunkan Style

Kani/Tamago Maki

Everybody can make sushi, if they can handle the sticky rice stick on their palm :))
Those three pictures showed sushi we've made, sorted from the easiest to the hardest. Here we go.

For all sushi you need:
Rice
Sushi-chu / sushi vinegar
Nori/seaweed

For each sushi you add:
Surimi in Gunkan Style
ready to eat Surimi salad
Mayonnaise

Pangasius in Gunkan Style
Pangasius Fillet
Salt
Butter
Mayonnaise

Kani/Tamago Maki
Battered egg
Kani/crabsticks
Mayonnaise
Cucumber (optional)
Makisu (sushi mat)

Prepare your rice before you do the gunkan or makizushi: mix a cup your cooked rice with 1 spoonful of sushi-chu/sushi vinegar, set aside.

This is how you make the gunkan style:

Take two spoonful of rice and make elliptical rice balls with your hand. Wrap it with a piece or a long sheet of nori paper. If your nori was too dry and don't stick on its edge, wet your index finger with water then sweep it on your nori. For the surimi sushi: Top a spoonful (or more, if you like) of surimi salad on your wrapped rice balls and add mayonnaise. For pangasius sushi: melt a little butter in your anti-stick pan and pan-seared your salted pangasius fillet until it gets golden-brownish. Cut it into thin slices and apply mayonnaise to one side, then put it on top of your gunkan rice balls.

Now you might want to make your makizushi:

First, fry your battered egg and make sure it's not getting too dry. Take it out of the pan and put aside.
Second, prepare your sushi fillings. Cut kani/crabsticks and cucumber into small sticks. 
Third, spread a sheet of nori paper on top of your makisu. Spread three or four spoonful of rice evenly.
Fourth, apply mayonnaise on top of rice, spread it evenly.
Fifth, arrange your fillings on top of your rice and mayo
Sixth, the hardest part. Roll your mix using the makisu. Make sure that you roll it tight enough, so your nori paper and rice stick well.
Last, use a sharp knife to cut your sushi roll into piece.

Voila, smakelijk eten!

Sauted Broccoli Tofu

 

Today's survival menu is sauteed broccoli! Yeay, we like broccolis! :D Our bed and blanket were too comfy to leave, that's why sometimes we don't want to move out of them, even to cook. This menu was the best we can get in 10 minutes.

Prepare these followings:

Half bunch of broccoli, cut

100 grams champignon, sliced

50 grams tofu, half fried

100 grams beef, sliced

1/2 round onion

1/2 round tomato. make it 4 rounds for cherry tomatoes.

2 spoonful soy sauce

garlic powder

salt, sugar, and pepper

Cut and then fried your tofu first. Put aside.

Slice onion and tomatoes and then make it sauteed with olive oil. Don't heat it too long, put your sliced beef and stir. Cook this mix until your beef produces juice. Put in your broccoli and add a little water. Stir-fry until your broccoli are half-shriveled, then mix it with champignons. Put your tofu in the last session, and season this mix with garlic powder, salt, sugar, and pepper until it fits your taste. 

Last, add soy sauce. Stir.

Tips:

• Tofu in other countries is often really different from Indonesian tofu. While Indonesian tofu has hard 'skin' which make it crispier when it's fried, European tofu is usually close to Japanese/Chinese tofu which is very soft and it is a lil bit hard to fry.
• So before you fry your delicate tofu, dress your tofu in dry wheatflour. It absorbs excessive water from your tofu and make it crispy.

Bon appetit!

Beef-whitesauce Macaroni

Dito was  preparing his French exam yesterday and he invited his friends to have a group study at our apartment. I had just moved to this place and hadn't prepared proper food in our fridge to cook for the guests so i decided to make anything simple. Our first choice was pasta. His request was 'no bolognaise, please' and more cream to the sauce. I came up with beef white sauce macaroni, replacing the usual chicken whitesauce.

Here we go:

250 grams of minced beef
2 cups/200ml half-fat milk
2 cups/200 ml water
300 grams macaroni (or any kind of pasta)
2 spoonful maize/corn flour, dilute with 3 spoonful of cool water
4 tushes of garlic
1/2 round of onion
oregano and marjoram powder
salt, sugar, and pepper.
olive oil

Cut onion and garlic, then stir-fry with olive oil. Before it gets scorched, put in your minced beef and stir. Add water, wait until your minced beef is half-cooked and the juices are out. Pour milk into your mix, add salt, pepper, and sugar as much as it fits your taste. Stir until it is cooked and steady. Add marjoram and oregano powder, cook until you smell nice aroma coming out from your sauce. Pour corn flour liquid and stir until it's ready.

Meanwhile, prepare your pasta by boiling it app.7 minutes in water. Add olive oil and salt into your water. Quickly take your pasta out from your boiled water after it becomes al dente.

Tips:

• You can add champignon mushroom into your sauce. Make it big-cut and stir it before you put oregano and marjoram into your mix.
• Better use two stove at a time.
• Add more dry-oregano after your sauce is finished, it smells stronger.
• Shower your ready-pasta with cool water after it gets out from boiled water, it prevents pasta to stick after it's cooled down.

 Bon appetit!

Hello!

Greetings from Leuven!

My name is Tiffa, an architect-to-be and the wife of Mr. Dito Santoso.
We are Indonesian Moslem who live somewhere in the middle of Belgium, try to survive living in this city healthily with our limited resources :)

I know as an Indonesian who used to be surrounded by abundant spices, it would be quite challenging cooking with different kind of resources here. So this blog would be my daily notes about our daily survival foods. Our secret of the kitchen. Some recipes would be too simple for you, but i don't want to write about anything pro. I don't know whether I was good enough at cooking but I hope our survival recipes would help for someone out there.

Enjoy the meal, alsjeblief!