Rawon

I've been craving this soup for months and the only problem is how can i get the blacknut, while no one selling it?
Went to Indonesian Mart and grab some Indofood instant paste and the problem solved !!
Taste was not as delicious as my mom's one, but it is better than i keep drooling whenever i remember it.

Apples are everywhere

Try-out from aunty yochana, the original recipe using banana and sunflower seed but just like usual, i dont have stock of banana at home so i use apple and walnut instead.
It turned out perfectly and apples are everywhere(too much i guess)

Soft Spicy Crisp Fried Chicken

Inspired by my last night dinner in Cafe Bellini, Italian chain restaurant with their curry flavor fried seafood, i made this my own fried chicken breast with chili powder. Sound weird isn't it? It is soft, crispy and a bit tangy. If u don't like spicy then u can substitute chili powder with ground pepper.
And here is list of things that i use

1 chicken breast, sliced
4 egg yolk
2 tbsp corn starch
1 bowl all purpose flour
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
oil for deep frying

- Marinate chicken with egg yolk and corn starch for 30 mins.
In a large plastic bag, shake together flour+chili powder+salt, be very careful not to sniff the chili powder when you open the bag, otherwise you'll sneezing all night long(wear mask if possible).
Coat chicken with flour and deep fry over medium fire till brown.

Pandan White Egg Cake

Thanks to Mba Retno for the recipe. I don't have cheddar cheese at home, and it is 36 degrees out there. I don't think you still feel going out in this weather.
Luckily, theres still few blocks chocolate and cream cheese in my fridge, so why don't i use it.
And instead of whipped cream-grated cheese topping, i use cream cheese frosting and shaved chocolate. Not bad for a beginner(and baker wannabe) like me....

Mochi

I used to buy Mochi or Moah Chee from night market or street vendor.
It is soft and delicious with sweet filling like, green bean paste, lotus seed paste, red bean paste and black sesame paste.
This recipe come from Florence, she use mango filling but i use green bean paste instead, the only thing that left in my fridge.

To make green bean paste, steam half cup of peeled green bean with a cup of water and sugar(as u need) blend until smooth(but not watery) and firm enough to shape it into small ball.

Yeh Liu Geopark

Queen's Head Rock


The pictures was taken last Sunday in Yeh Liu Geopark, northern part of Taiwan.
Beautiful and unique shape of the rock attract many tourist's attention from around the world.
The tour guide also speak English, Korean and Japanese

Tofu and prawn

Healthy and easy dish with no oil, ready in 10 mins.
Here are what you need

Tofu
Prawn
Scallion
Corn starch
Oyster sauce




- Marinate prawn with cornstarch and few drops of sesame oil.
Cook a cup of water over medium fire, add oyster sauce and dash of salt and pepper.
Stir in tofu, cook for 1 minute, add prawn and stir quickly.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with sliced scallion

Kimchi Fried Rice

I love the sour and spicy flavor of this Korean preserved vegetable.
For me, it best goes with beef, like stir fried kimchi with beef, kimchi beef hotpot, or kimchi fried rice. And this is my own version of kimchi fried rice.

Ingredients:

1 bowl cooked rice
1/2 bowl sliced beef
3 tbsp chopped kimchi
1 egg, scrambled
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tsp corn starch
1 stalk spring onion, sliced
mixed vegetable (corn, carrot, snow peas)

- Marinate beef with sesame oil and cornstarch for 15 mins, stir fried quickly. Set aside
Saute minced onion, add mixed vegetable and kimchi stir for few minutes, add rice and scramble egg.
Last, add beef and sprinkle with spring onion.

Melting Moments

Melt-in-mouth cookies, recipe from amazing baker, Stephanie Jaworski at Joyofbaking.com
Perhaps i put too much vanilla powder and i just realize that my vanilla powder was not the purest one.
I don't even know if there's many kind of vanilla powder, i just grab what i can get in nearby supermarket

Tuna Scrambled Egg

U can do without chili for this one, because i'm a chili "addict" so everything goes with chili

Ingredients:

1 can tuna
3 eggs
1/2 medium onion
1 tbsp milk
1 spring onion
salt and pepper to taste

-Beat eggs with 1 tbsp milk and dash of salt, scramble and set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute onion, add tuna and stir until almost dry.
Add scrambled egg and season with salt-pepper. Sprinkle with thinly sliced spring onion. Done

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

1 boneless and skinless chicken breast, halved
1/2 cup corn starch
3/4 cup water
2 egg yolk
3 cups vegetable oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp ground white pepper
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp extra corn starch
1 stalk spring onion

-Marinate chicken breast with 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup water, egg yolks and white pepper for 1 hour. Heat 2 cups oil until sizzling. Fry chicken breasts, until brown and tender on both side. Remove to kitchen/paper towels and keep warm
-Cook chicken broth, brown sugar and ginger over low fire, add 2 tbsp cornstarch. Stir frequently until thickens, boil for 1 minute, stir in lemon juice and remove from heat.
-Cut each chicken breast and arrange on serving dish. Pour sauce over, sprinkle with scallions.

Spicy Eggplant - Balado Terong

I've search the web for balado terong recipe, but every person write the different recipe and i got confused which one to use. In the end, i phoned my mom and asking for the recipe. I remember she used to cook sambal terong, long time ago and she told me that both of sambal or balado terong not much different. And here is her version, it really yummyyylicious

Ingredients:

2 purple long eggplant
3 cloves garlic
5 cloves shallot
10 small red chili
2 big red chili
1 tbsp dried shrimp
1 ripe tomato
3 lime leaves
sugar and salt as u need

- Cut eggplant into long strips and then deep fry until soft, drain the excess oil.
Grind all the ingredients, except lime leaves. Heat 1 tbsp oil and saute the ingredients for 1 min, add a cup of water and lime leaves. Continue cooking until gravy almost dry, add eggplant and season with salt and sugar

Banana Mummy (Pisang Molen)

Did it scare u off?
Kinda funny isn't it, the wrapper just looks like mummy's cloth so i call it banana mummy
I found this recipe here. All of the ingredients are the same, i just substitute the water with fresh milk.

So...here is the English version

Ingredients:

250 g all purpose flour
50 g fine sugar
5 banana(i use only 2)
20 slice cheddar cheese
60 g butter, melted
50 ml warm water(i use fresh milk instead)
2 tbsp skim milk
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla powder
pinch of salt

-In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, skim milk, vanilla powder. Add in egg yolk and melted butter. Add water/milk one tablespoon at a time, mix well. Cover and rest the dough for 20 mins.
Use rolling pin or noodle machine to roll it into thin stripe, wrap banana and cheese then deep fry over low fire until brown. Remember to keep the fire low, because the wrapper get burn very easily.

Lemon Pound Cake

For ingredients and instruction click here i don't use frosting to avoid the sugar

Spicy Chicken in Red

Here is my mom version of Ayam masak merah. I never pass over this kind of delicious Indonesian dish since last year.

Ingredients:

300 g chicken fillet
5 cloves shallot
3 cloves garlic
1 cm ginger
2 big red chili
8 small red chili (or as u like)
1 tsp coriander powder
3 lime leaves
1 stalk lemon grass
1 ripe tomato, diced

- Marinate chicken with coriander powder and salt for 15 minutes and then deep fry until brown. Set aside. Blend all the ingredients, except lime leaves and tomato. Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute blended ingredients until fragrant, add lime leaves and 2 cups of water. Simmer for 1 min. Add chicken and diced tomato, cover and simmer over low fire until gravy almost dry.

Fruit With Yoghurt

Mix diced mango, melon, apple, kiwi, orange, pineapple, pour yoghurt on top
Enjoy

Omelet with meat sauce

Ingredients:

Half package of tofu, mashed
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp minced chicken/pork
2 tbsp minced dried shitake mushroom
1 cup water
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 spring onion
dash of pepper

- Marinate minced meat with soy sauce, corn starch and few drops of oil. Mix mashed tofu and egg, cook over a low fire until done. Cut into square or triangle
Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute onion until fragrant, add minced meat and shitake mushroom, stir quickly.
Pour a cup of water, season with oyster sauce, soy sauce and pepper, simmer for 1 minute.
Add in cooked egg, simmer for another 1 min. Add slices spring onion. Done




Recipe from Creative Chinese home dishes, written by Angela Cheng

Magic Candle

Our magic candle

In Chinese calendar, yesterday was the 1st day of 5th month (sorry i don't know the exact name of the month). I went to the friend's house after work, i saw few candles on the table and she told me that was magic candle. One of her old relatives give it to her. In Chinese belief,( i'm not so clear whether Chinese culture or religion-connection) you can make a wish to the magic candle on the 1st and 15th day of the month. She said, if your candle burn very fast, that means your wish will be come true, but if your candle burn very slow that really hard to tell.
She gave me one candle, i write down my wish....and i light up the candle. My candle burn for 4 hours and 10 mins..... the fastest one burns for 4 hours.

Do you believe it???
I don't know...but i really hope my wish will come true

Pandan Butter Cake

I've been dying to try pandan chiffon cake recipe, too bad i couldn't find cream of tartar in nearby supermarket. Also i don't know it's chinese name (if anyone could tell me, that will be greatly appreciated) i search all over the web but every pandan chiffon cake's recipe needed cream of tartar.
I miss the aroma of pandan, my mom used to plant it in the garden beside our house years ago, back when i was small and it grow very large and tall. She use it to cook kue lapis (steamed layer cake) or kolak pisang (banana sweet soup) and sometime kue bolu.

Finally i found a recipe for Pandan kaya butter cake without cream of tartar. But i have no clue what kaya is, also i have no patient left to send a question to the author.
I only use half of the recipe, in case my cake turned out to be something else....but i'm wrong!!!! it turned out really soft, moist and spongy.
So here is my own measurement recipe

125 butter
3 eggs
1,5 tbsp cornstarch
150 g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 g fine sugar
100 ml coconut milk
2 tbsp milk powder
15 g ovalette
few drops of pandan essence
pinch of salt

-Beat the butter and salt until slightly white and creamy, sift the cake flour, milk powder and baking powder together.
Beat the eggs, sugar, ovalette and corn flour until fluffy, add in coconut cream and mix until thoroughly mixed. Fold in butter mixture into the egg mixture and stir lightly until well mixed, add pandan essence. Fold in flour mixture and mix well.
Bake in preheated oven at 175C for about 50 - 60 mins.

Fried Rice Noodle With XO Sauce

I awake early at 6 something today, lying on bed without fall asleep again until 7.30. It is Sunday and i heard heavy rain through the balcony. I really hate rainy weekend. Without eat anything for breakfast(except a cup of coffee), i do my laundry and sitting in front of my computer.
Around 11 i feel starving and craving for a bowl(or more) spicy food, but there's nothing inside my fridge except raw meat and ice cream. Opened cabinet, sitting in the corner i saw a jar of XO sauce that i bought from Chinatrust hotel 4 months ago. I think about fried instant noodle with XO sauce, but no instant noodle left today :(( (if only i got instant noodle then i will not cook this...hehee). Ahaa...lucky me, opened next cabinet i found a pack of rice noodle, my sister used to bring dried food to the temple for praying.
Grab my cooking book for fried instant noodle with XO sauce recipe (substituted with rice noodle)


Ingredients:

100 g rice noodle, blanched with hot water to soften
3 tbsp shredded pork/chicken
3 dried shitake mushroom, soak to soften and slice
1 egg, scrambled
1 tbsp shredded carrot
2 cloves shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp XO sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp extra soy sauce for marinating
1 tsp cornstarch
leek, as u need
red chili if u like

-Marinate meat with soy sauce and corn starch add few drops oil.
Stir fry minced shallot and garlic add mushroom and meat, stir quickly
Add XO sauce, stir until well mixed, add rice noodle and scramble egg, season with 1 tbsp of soy sauce, stir for few minutes. Last, add in leek, stir and remove from heat, garnish with sliced red chili

Cream Cheese Brownies

Yummyy....i get this recipe from HERE i reduce amount of sugar because it looks too much for me and the taste ...mmmm.....just perfect

Brown layer:

113 gram unsalted butter, cut into pieces
100 grams unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
250 grams granulated white sugar ( i use 200g)
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
2 eggs
70 grams all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cheese layer:

227 grams cream cheese, at room temperature
65 grams granulated white sugar (i use 50g)
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 egg

-In a stainless steel (heatproof) bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla extract.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (with a wooden spoon) after each addition.
Stir in the flour and salt and beat, with a wooden spoon, until the batter is smooth and glossy (about one minute). Remove 1/2 cup of the brownie batter and set aside. Place the remainder of the brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan.
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla, and egg and process until creamy and smooth.
Spread the cream cheese filling over the brownie layer. Spoon small dollops of the reserved brownie batter evenly on top of the cream cheese filling. Then with a chopstick, swirl the two batters without mixing them.

Bake in preheated oven at 160 degrees celcius for about 25 minutes. Refrigerate the brownies until they are firm enough to cut into squares/triangle (about 2 hours)

Water spinach (kangkung) with beef

Ingredients:

1 bundle kangkung
50 g shredded beef
2 cloves shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cornstarch
salt as u need

- Marinate shredded beef with sweet soy sauce, oil and cornstarch
saute shallot and garlic until fragrant, add beef and stir quickly, add kangkung and stir until done

Chinese Herbal Jelly Mix

In a hot weather like today, i would prefer to have this green bean mix for dessert.


Ingredients:
Chinese herbal jelly (cincau in Indonesian-sien cau in Mandarin)
Cooked green bean
Glutinous rice balls
Crushed ice

Put everything in a bowl and pour a cup of coffee creamer(5ml is enough)on top. Best served cold

* Do not refrigerate cooked glutinous rice balls, otherwise it will be hard



Coffee creamer best goes with black coffee, also perfect with chinese herbal jelly

Easy made tofu and fish soup

Ingredients:

1 package tofu
sliced fresh tuna/milk fish(as u need)
1 tbsp thinly slice spring onion
1/5 cup shredded baby ginger
1 tbsp garlic flakes
dash of salt and pepper

- Boil water and baby ginger for 10 mins.
add fish boil for another 5 mins, then add tofu.
Remove from heat, sprinkle with thinly slice spring onion and garlic flakes.
Serve hot

Gulai papaya leaves

Papaya leaves contains a remarkable enzyme called papain, it used in protein-dissolving. In some places, papaya leaf used to wrap meats to tenderize it.
The enzyme in papaya leaves also breaks down wheat gluten and carbohydrates for extra digestive protection. The taste might be (very) bitter but its enzyme really powerful.
If you suffer from indigestion, give this recipe a try!


Ingredients:
100 gr papaya leaves (chopped and boiled with a dash of salt, rinse well)
small dried fish as u need (fried)
4 cloves shallot
2 cloves garlic
3 sliced ginger
2 sliced galangal
1/4 tsp bay leaves powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
3 red chili (optional)
1 cup thick coconut milk
Salt as u needed.

- Saute sliced shallot, garlic, ginger and galangal over a low fire until fragrant, add chili and stir for
1 minute. Add bay leaves powder and coriander powder in, pour the coconut milk and put in papaya leaves. Cover for 5 minutes. Last, add fried small fish and season with salt. Simmer for few minutes. Done

Trip to Jhusan

Today i (and gang) went to Jhusan-Nantou County for hiking, it is mountainous area located in southern part of Taiwan around 3,5 hours driving from Taipei city. This city has always been a major producer of bamboo.
We did not drive today... instead, we take High Speed Rail from Taipei main station to Taichung. It take 49 minutes ride, then we change bus in Taichung station.
Currently, there's no HSR station located in Jhusan.
I saw beautiful and some rare(to me... especially the blue one) flowers along side the road and i take many shoot of it.

Soy milk banana shake

I thank aa peter for teaching me this soy milk recipe.
If you getting bored with "beany" taste of soy milk, you can try this, or add cane sugar or hazelnut syrup (like what aa peter told me...too bad i can't find it here)
To make this banana shake you'll need 2 cups of soy milk, 1 ripe banana, cane sugar (or sugar alternatives...i would prefer without sugar) mix with blender. Ummm...yum... nutritious and healthy drink

Ooooppsss...my withered flower on the background...

DPP vs KMT

Kemarin tanggal 20 adalah pelantikan presiden baru Taiwan ( Mayor Ma Ying Jeou)dari partai KMT. Waktu mau pergi beli lunch aku melihat segerombol supporter DPP yang lagi demo atas kemenangan KMT pada pemilihan presiden bulan kemarin.
Sepertinya faktor terbesar yang mempengaruhi kekalahan DPP adalah ulah dari mantan presiden Chen Shui Bian(DPP) yang telah mengacak-acak ekonomi Taiwan dan "too much" ngantongin uang negara hehee.... Apalagi anak perempuannya kalau ngomong ke wartawan dan reporter sepertinya asal nyeplos saja. Pernah dia ngatain mertuanya, katanya suruh pergi mampus aja dia.....wahhhhhh anaknya presiden tapi kok kata2nya seperti itu di depan public, kalah deh sama anaknya tukang parkir.
Image Mayor Ma yang "Harvard-educated" sebagai politikus yang "bersih" dan smart memenangkan hati para voter. Hehee aku aja yg bukan Taiwan's citizen ikut senang atas kemenangan KMT. VIVA KMT !!!!!!!!
( i write this without unsur politik....emang aku bukan politikus.... muka mirip tikus iya :p)

Spicy Ikan Pindang with gravy

I love ikan pindang and ikan asin, Diana friend of mine taught me this recipe

Ingredients:

500 g ikan pindang (or japanese salted fish)
5 cloves shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic, slices
1 tomato, cubed
5 red chili (or more), slices
1 stalk spring onion
1 cup water
1 tablespoon coconut milk (optional)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
pinch of salt (optional)


Method:

Fry ikan pindang/salted fish till brown. Set aside
Saute garlic and shallot until fragrant add tomato cube and sliced red chili, stir for 1 minute then add water(and coconut milk).
Put in ikan pindang and cover for 5 minutes. Add salt, and stir fry until the gravy almost dry.
Add spring onion and remove from heat