Eggless Raisin Muffin

For many attempts i had tried to find this perfect mixture, i gladly announced that that my searching is over, hahaha. Finally i can write a recipe of eggless cake, perfect moist eggless cake. This recipe was a cake recipe, if youwant it to be a muffin (which is basically also a 'cake' of course,skip baking powder on the recipe).
Hoera!

Dry ingredients
1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Wet ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold milk

Preheat oven at 170 degree celcius.
First sift together all the dry ingredients then pour milk in. Whisk until incorporated and add oil. Whisk again, do not overmix. You only need to be sure that there is no lump in the batter.
This is the basic batter, you can add cocoa powder, flavor, or any kind of dried fruit into it.
Pour batter into baking cups. This recipe would be enough for 7-8 medium sized cups.
Bake for 30minutes until you have golden surface or toothpicks can come out clean.

Smakelijk!

No Mixer Chocolatechip Buttercookies

I broke my handmixer a couple of days ago so now i lost my most loyal company ;'(
Anyhow, i still managed to make cookies without it. I made cookies because today would be the day of World Cup-Brazil 2014 Opening Ceremony! Yay!

Here goes the recipe.
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup  granulated sugar (a little bit to sweet for me, you can reduce it if you don't like sweet cookies)
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg, medium size and SHOULD BE at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt, and another pinch for sprinkling
1/2 cup of chocolate vermicelli/hagelslaag

First, you need to cream the butter. Without hand mixer, this will be a little exercise for your hand. Stir together butter and sugar at high speed, as fast as your hand can do, using a wooden spatula. You will know when the butter starts to turn white and most of the sugar is diluted, that is time to stop. Whisk egg together until incorporated.
In a different bowl, combine all dry ingredients and chocolate vermicelli. I used vermicelli because i did not have choco chips. Basically, this is only additional. Without chocochips/vermicelli, this is a basic cookies recipe and you can create your own mix.
Mix together dry and wet ingredients and stir until well incorporated using a spatula.
Chill inside a refrigerator for 2 hours. This step is mandatory.
After chilling, prepare your oven at 180 degree celcius and a non stick baking pan or pan with baking paper. Shape the dough into small balls using a teaspoon. Put each with 3-4cm distance and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Bake 12 minutes. This recipe will make 32 pieces with approximate 5cm diameter. 

Smakelijk!

Stir fry baked tempeh

Easy recipe for you who wants to have a little more healthy style :p

1 medium size tempe bar

1 cup beansprout

1 red chili

1/2 cup white chinese cabbage

2 cloves garlic, crushed

cut chinese cabbage and tempe into small pieces.

On a hot pan, grill tempe until brown. Add garlic, stir fry (yes, without oil). Add sliced chili, beansprout and cabbage and add a little water. Season with salt and pepper. Stir evenly. 

Smakelijk!

Caramel Mochi

Yaaay, mochii! As probably everybody knows, mochi is an authentic oriental (japanese, chinese, korean) snack. Usually mochi-making or mochizuki festival is held around the festival of lunar year. In Indonesia we have also 'moci' really similar to the one from Japan, but this one is made from glutinous rice flour. We don't make it from scratch by pounding rice with a giant wooden hammer.

Nowadays we often find mochi as topping for frozen yoghurt products, and in my taste it's a little bit different. The topping mochi has a more firm, jelly texture if compared to the original.

This note is a basic recipe for sweet mochi and i add notes for different use. Here it is.

1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water at room temperature
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda

For dusting: tapioca flour

I used 1 cup of granulated sugar because i want to make it sweet to balance the sour taste of yogurt. If you want to make mochi with fillings, you can reduce sugar to 1/2 cup.

Mix together all of the ingredients above. Line your 16x16cm baking dish with parchment paper, pour the liquid into your dish and cover with alumunium foil. Bake in an oven at 180° celcius for 1 hour. After it's done, cool it overnight if you want to make it as yogurt topping. Pur tapioca flour to a surface where you want to cut the dough. Take the dough when it is still on the paper, put it upside down that the top surface will face the dusting. Slowly peel the paper. Cut into the desired size. If this tiny chunks are still sticky you can always dust themagain with flour.

If you want to make mochi with fillings, you better do this while it's warm. Take 1 tbsp of mochi dough and fill with filling of your choice: red bean paste, sesame, or even ice cream, then shape it into ball. Let it cool. For ice cream mochi, better to hurry, put them into fridge!

Smakelijk!

One pot cooking: Soto Bandung

It's unusual to have soto in a one pot cooking style, but that day my daughter was fussy i could not concentrate on what i was cooking. So i made soto bandung in one pot style because it consumed just a little time. Here is the recipe.

For 6 portions
1 litre water
300 gr beef, cut into 2x2cm dices
150 gr horseradish, sliced
5 lemonleaves
2 bayleaves
1 lemongrass
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 shallot, sliced
1 teaspoonful turmeric powder
3 cm fresh ginger

To add when the above ingredients are cooked:
Salt and pepper to taste
1 green onion, cut into 2cm long

First of all, clean horseradish in a bowl of hot boiling water. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir until you see foams. The foam is actually horseradish sap. In a normal cooking mode, i used to boil the horseradish separately until it gets tender and all foams are out.

Boil a liter of water, then put all the ingredients inside. Cook for about 40 minute. You can check the meat, usually it would have been tender within the time. To have a clear soup, i usually take meat broth's foams out of the pot. Last, season with salt and pepper and green onion.

Smakelijk!

Lemon Marinated Lamb Steak

300 gr lamb loin
2 tbsp olive oil
4 fresh lemonleaves, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic powder (or 3 cloves ground garlic)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
Black pepper and Sea salt to taste

Mix together all spices. Coat lamb loin with the marinating spices, cover with plastic wrap, and keep them refrigerated for about 1 hour before grilling.
Grill on a non stick pan or grilling oven to your favorite degree: rare, medium, or well done. Serve with your choice of sauce and salad. I made it with mushroom sauce because my husband asked for it, but personally i recommend tomato-olive salsa.

Smakelijk!

Yellow Soup Pangasius

Back then i accidentally saw a picture of friend eating gulai kepala ikan (red snapper head soup). I was not a fan of that food because eating fish head wasn't my thing, but i remember the taste of the soup.

This soup is derived from gulai ikan but in a much lighter version. I wanted to make a dish with strong turmeric aroma but fresh. If you'd like to know how it turned out, please follow the recipe ;)

Yields: 4 portion (meal with steamed rice)

250 gr pangasius fillet (or tuna, or catfish)
150 gr chinese cabbage
2 bird eye chili (or more, if you like it hot)
1 lemongrass
2 bayleaves
5 lemonleaves
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 shallot, thin sliced (or 7 clove of small red onion)
3 tsp turmeric powder (or 5 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and ground)
1 tsp ginger powder (or 2 cm fresh ginger, peeled and crushed)
300 ml water
2 tbsp lemon juice (or 2 tbsp vinegar)
1/2 fresh tomato, diced
Salt, sugar, pepper to taste

Fry fish fillet with 3 tbsp oil until halfcooked, put aside.
On the same pan, using the remaining oil and fish stock: stir fry chili, lemongrass, bayleaves, lemonleaves, garlic, shallot, turmeric powder, and ginger powder. Stir until you smell strong aroma of turmeric cames out. Pour water and bring to boil. Add cut chinese cabbage.  Toss in fried fillet, stir until fully coated. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar. Turn stove off, add lemon juice and fresh tomato and stir evenly. Serve with hot rice.

Smakelijk!