Eggplant Parmigiana

The best recipe I've ever made so far. Tempted? Please visit Angela to borrow her recipe.

Balinese Sate Using American Buffalo Meat

My two sisters will really like  this sate, and hope that they won't be discourage by the long list of ingredients. If you can't find Buffalo (Bison) in your area,  you can use regular ground beef or pork for this recipe. Actually, taste even better with pork. 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground Buffalo

2 large shallots, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

5 Thai chili

1 tbs ginger

2 tsp cumin

1 tbs coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp powder galangal

2 lemongrass, white part only-sliced

½ small kaffir lime, seeded

2 whole Balinese long pepper (unfortunately there is  no substitute for this one)

1  whole clove

nutmeg, just enough for a taste (optional)

5 black pepercorn

5 white pepercorn

5 kaffir lime leaves                  

1 cup roughly chopped  cilantro

1 tbs Javanese palm sugar aka Gula Jawa, available in Asian grocery store

1 tbs fish sauce, use this brand, it's less fishy/stinky.

bamboo skewer

• Soak the bamboo skewers at least 15 minutes before using it.
• Place all ingredients in a food processor, except the ground buffalo, process  to make a paste. Or, using  mortar and pestle (it will taste much more delicious), pound all ingredients until you get the consistency of a smooth paste. Transfer to a large bowl, add the ground buffalo-mix well.
• Mold more or less a  handful of this mixture around the wooden skewer. Grill until golden brown. Serve immediately with steam rice and saute green.

I'm sending this to: Shinta, Deetha, and Ayin for their event, Masak Bareng yuuk! Hope they like it! 

Chicken B'STILA

I have made Duck B'stila before and it was really good. I served it as an appetizer, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon coating. However, for this Chicken B'stila I omitted the sugar-cinnamon  coating since I served this as a main course with simple vegetable salad. If you'd like to serve this as an appetizer, I suggest you adding the sugar-cinnamon coating, it really add nice sweet savory flavor to it. 

Ingredients:

1 small chicken, about 3 pounds

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp saffron treads 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp paprika

2 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

handful  blanched almonds

handful pine nuts

3 tbs chopped fresh parsley

3 - 7 layers filo pastry, thaw according package direction

more olive oil for brushing

salt and pepper

• Preheat the oven to 375⁰F. Clean the chicken and rinse under cold running water, pat dry with paper towel. Place the chicken a baking pan. Meanwhile make the rub. In a small bowl combine together ginger powder, saffron treads, turmeric, paprika, ground cinnamon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Rub the chicken including the cavity with this mixture. Bake for 1 hour. Transfer the chicken into a plate to cool completely, then seperate the flesh from the bones, coarsely chop the flesh. Save any of the juice left from the baking. Set aside.

• In a medium skillet over medium heat, lightly toast the almond, and the pine nut. Set aside.

• Take out the fillo pasry from the fridge and cover with towel to prefent them from drying out. Lay one sheet of filo pastry over the baking sheet, brush with olive oil, continue to work overlapping the  pastry and brush each sheet with olive oil, until you use up all the filos (7 layers thick). Spread the chicken  mixture in the middle of pastry, drizzle with the juice you save from the baking, top with almonds and pine nuts, sprinkle with parsley. Gather the pastry to slightly enclose the filling, brush the top pastry lightly with olive oil.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Serve immediately while it is still piping hot with any vegetable salad of your choice.

Opor Ayam, Indonesian Chicken Coriander and kaffir Lime Leaves

Extremely fragrant chicken stew, only a few ingredients involve, and doesn't require special technique other then basic chopping and grinding them all together in a food processor. Did I mention  quick to make as well?

2 Cornish hen (weight more or less 1½ pounds each), clean-quartered, place in a medium pot

3 shallots, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbs heaped coriander seeds, grind in a coffee grinder

2 whole candlenut, optional

4 - 8 Kaffir lime leaves, I used 8 - 10 just because I love the fragrant and I have this  trees grow in my backyard. For some of you, it might be challenging to find this leaves, plus it is probably expensive too, so using  just 1-2 leaves will still make your dish smell delicious.

1 -2 Lemongrass, bruised and make a knot

2 slices fresh galanga roots, bruised

1 tsp fish sauce

salt and white pepper, to taste

½ cup coconut milk

½ - ¾ cup water, depending how thick you want your broth is

2 tomatoes, quartered

cilantro, for garnish~optional

• Place the chicken pieces in the pot, place the pot   on the stove over medium heat, pour ½ cup of water over the chicken. Meanwhile make the paste.

• To make the paste: place chopped shallots, garlic, coriander and ¼ cup water in a food processor and process to a  paste. Transfer to a skillet, and cook over medium heat  until all of the water evaporate, add 1 tbs canola oil, fry until fragrant about 5 minutes. Transfer this paste into the pot, add the rest of the ingredients. Stir, cover and cook for 35 to 45 minutes. Add the coconut milk, and the tomato, turn the heat low (do not cover), cook another  5 minutes. Add cilantro before serving if desire. Serve with plain steam rice.

44

Today is my birthday!

Still healthy, still happy. Have all the love from my family. Couldn't ask for more, and I am truly greatfull!!!!!!!!

Israeli Salad

I just have to add radish in my salad. 

I remember having this salad for breakfast in Jerusalem, it was served with eggs, soft and hard cheeses and olives. It was so good that I wanted to go out to the restaurant every morning. And of course my husband wouldn't mind it at all, because he also loved it!

The salad is easy to make,  all you have to do is to chop cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, and parsley. Then dressed the salad with olive oil and lemon, season with salt and pepper. That's it! Perfect for hot summer day!