Soto Betawi

...without minyak samin...*sigh*
I don't know how to explain what minyak samin is to the shopkeeper here in Leuven. So i decided to make a lighter vesion of soto betawi, without using minyak samin nor jeroan. :)))

Here the recipe goes:

1/2 kg beef meat or mutton
1/2 kg potato, peeled, diced, and half-boiled
2 rounds tomato, diced
500 ml thick coconut milk
250 ml fresh milk
750 ml water, bring to boil
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
half round fresh onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
a stick of lemongrass
coriander powder
1/4 teaspoonful ginger powder
a pinch of cumin powder
salt, pepper, sugar to taste.

for garnish:
spring onion, sliced
coriander leave, minced
fried onion

Bring water to boil and make broth out of 1/2 kg beef meat. Simmer until you have approximately 300 ml broth in the pan. Take meat out of the pan and cut into 3x3cm cube. On other stove, saute garlic, onion, bay leaves, and lemongrass until fragrant. Put them into broth. Add milk and coconut milk. Sprinkle coriander, ginger, and cumin powder. Add salt, pepper, and sugar into taste. Stir evenly. Bring all to boil. You will see that your broth become oily. Last, toss half-boiled potato in. Cook until tender.

In a bowl, serve your soto with fresh diced tomato, sliced spring onion, coriander leaves, and fried onion. You would be happy if you have emping (melinjo chips) too. Serve with steamed rice.

Smakelijk eten!

Shumay / Siomay

Pisang Aroma a la Leuven

This popular Bandung snack was made from wrapped banana slice. We normally use springroll paper to wrap the banana but in Leuven it is difficult to find that particular springroll paper, the one which used for Indonesian springroll. What makes it very special was the ingredients of the paper. Vietnamese or Thai springrolls use rice paper which is rather sticky, while most of Indonesian springrolls use a kind of egg paper. These springroll papers give different texture when fried or steamed.

And in the end i didn't use springroll paper, i used what was available in my fridge: wonton skin :)))

You know that it was really easy for you to make this snack (slice-wrap-fry all the bananas) so i would only give you tips.

1. Banana contains natural sugar. Without adding extra sugar you will have natural caramels. But if you want more sweetness, sprinkle sugar inside your wrapper to avoid melted sugar dropping inside your pan. If you want sugar texture on the skin, make sure that the frying oil has reached it's nearly boiling temperature.

2. Choose a nearly ripe banana, because it will get really soft when it's fried.

Voila, smakelijk eten!

Sweet Martabak :9

Risoles Chicken Ragout

What is risoles in English actually? Nevermind. This is one of my favorite snack ever! One day my husband got an afternoon tea invitation with his professor and he asked me to make an Indonesian specialty. A snack specialty. I chose risoles because the ragout filling tastes like some kind of chicken carbonara sauce. I guess ragout itself was a western food, no?

Although it took a little while to prepare this snack but i could say i was proud of this Holleberg made risoles. Here goes the recipe: for 15 pcs.

RAGOUT FILLING

1/2 kg chicken breast fillet

200 gr carrot, cut in small dice

200 gr sweet corn (i used canned sweet corn)

2 rounds onion, cut in dice

4 cloves of garlic, ground

50 gr cheddar blocks

750 ml milk

500 ml water

4 spoons of tapioca starch or corn starch, diluted in milk (this is gonna be the thickening agent. If you like to use wheat flour instead of cornstarch, make it 250 gr)

chicken stock blocks

salt, sugar, pepper

RISOLES WRAPPING

(Pardon my English. Still looking for any better translation for the Indonesian 'kulit risoles', hehehe)

250 gr wheat flour

3 eggs

500 ml milk

salt and a pinch of sugar

a bowl of fine bread crumbs
2 eggs, battered.

vegetable oil for deep frying

The best way to start making this snack is by preparing your wrappers first. If in the process you somewhat need to cancel finishing this, you can save your wrappers for another purpose. Probably for lumpia.

Mix 500 ml milk with 250 gr of wheat flour and whisk evenly. Put eggs in and season to taste. Heat a flat pan and pour the liquid to make a kind of thin crepe. Do this to all of the mixture and let it set.

Meanwhile, cut chicken breast fillet into a fist size chunk and bring it to boil with 500 ml water. This is gonna be your stock base. Add chicken stock blocks and let it cool down a bit. Take chicken out and cut them into dices.

In a large saucepan, saute sliced onion together with chopped garlic and make it a little caramelized. Don't make it too brown though. If you use wheat flour as thickening agent, pour the flour now and stir quickly. Add diced carrot, corn, cheddar blocks, and diced chicken breast. Stir evenly. Pour milk and chicken stock into the pan, and cook them together until it gets thick. If you use corn/tapioca starch as thickener, you might add them (diluted in milk) after the liquid mixture starts to boil. Let it set.

After ragout and wrappers are done, it's time to do the rollings.
Prepare your crepe. Put one two spoonful of ragout filling in the middle and wrap it like an envelope. Roll it into battered egg and cover it with breadcrumb. Do it until you finish all wrappers and fillings. You can put them in fridge for a night before frying, but it is also OK to fry it directly after you've done rolling. Prepare vegetable oil and heat it up a large cooking bowl. Deep fry your risoles until it gets a nice golden brown color.

Voila, smakelijk eten!