Corn griddle

Can you believe there are three names for these corn fritters in Indonesian? Dadar Jagung, Bakwan Jagung and Perkedel Jagung. Did you recognize one word is the same? .... Yes, you are right! It's Jagung which means corn.

I believe, every region has a different recipe for this fritter. In East Java where I grew up, we call Dadar Jagung. When I moved to West Java, I realized people call it bakwan jagung. Then, I have a Manadonese friend and she said it's perkedel jagung.

So what's the difference between those three. Here is my opinion based on the internet research and my family recipe.

Bakwan Jagung - corn kernels, flour added
Dadar Jagung - crushed corn kernels with a mortar and pestle, no flour added, fingerroot and chilies used.
Perkedel Jagung - corn kernels, much more flour added than Bakwan Jagung, kaffir lime leaves used

Green Chili Basil Fried Rice - Indonesian Green Chile Fried Rice with Lemon Basil

Nasi goreng (fried rice) is a kind of signature dish in Indonesia. You can name many different variants. I bet you have seen some ready-to-use nasi goreng spices at grocery stores. To be honest, I only used that spices package of nasi goreng once.

I created Nasi Goreng Cabai Hijau Kemangi about 5 days ago when I harvested my green chilies and lemon basil from my pots in the balcony last week. I got the inspiration from Sambal Lado Mudo (or known as Sambal Cabai Hijau) that is a popular sambal from Minang (West Sumatra) region.

Green chili or cabai hijau is as important as long red cayenne pepper and bird chil for making Indonesian sambals. In order to make Sambal Lado Mudo, you need green chilies to add. If you go to any Padang (Minang) restaurants or warungs in Indonesia, you will find this sambal to accompany the food.

Other ingredients to make sambal lado mudo are shallots, green tomatoes, tiny anchovies. However, to get green tomatoes in Canada is not that easy. So, I have been substituting for others such as frozen bilimbi, tomatillos. Last summer, my husband's coworker gave me bunch of green tomatoes from her garden. I have kept them frozen until this summer, so I can make a real sambal lado mudo and this nasi goreng. :)

Speaking about lemon basil, it is the only variety of basils that is much used in Indonesian cuisine. We enjoy them raw as lalapan (vegetables to company sambal), add into Indonesian curries, grill, steam soup and stew dishes.

I don't take any measurements for food that I can make it almost once a week (or whenever I have leftover cooked rice). But, I'll try my best to do approximately measurements.

PS. Thanks to everyone who greets me with Ramadan blessing through the previous post.

French Recipes

Despite new trends, advertising and marketing, tradition has never strong. In France, good food still means authentic cooking by using natural products from different regions. This, as we celebrate the person offering the best food for all of our senses. Homemade meals and meals on the table to make your appetite for more. The challenge is to combine the ingredients together to get the best flavor from them. But anyone from anywhere can explore the world of French cuisine. For starters, let's find out what the French like to eat. Here are the 10 most popular French recipes in French:

Roast chicken
This is not a recipe for fried chicken cooked French-known, but everywhere around the globe from Asia and Africa to America. But this is the most popular French dishes. grilled chicken is not stuffed inside. The secret is to beat the bird several times during roasting with butter and cooking oil and add onion in a roasting pan. Traditional roast chicken, served with potatoes and green beans.

Boeuf Bourguignon
The most famous beef stew in France. Boeuf Bourguignon is a traditional recipe from Burgundy. Recipe, that French people use to cook at least once during the winter. Beef with red wine sauce, red wine, it is clear from Burgundy. Bacon, onion, mushrooms and carrots add flavor to French recipes. But thyme, garlic and beef broth is essential to good cooking Boeuf Bourguignon.

Mussels mariniere
A typical summer recipe very popular on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Mollusks of fresh and cooked with white wine sauce with parsley, thyme, bay leaf and onion. It takes just 5 minutes to cook taste mariniere mussels. The secret is to season carefully to eat and discard mussels that do not look good.

Sole Meunière
Although only one fish is expensive, it is very elegant, which is considered the noblest of fish. Sole Meunière this recipe from Normandy. Fish cooked with butter sauce with a little flour and lemon juice. Sole is traditionally served with rice or green vegetables.

Pot Au FEU
Food typical family again came from Normandy. Pot Au FEU is boiled beef with pork, chicken and vegetables. It takes about 4 hours half cooked as boiled beef must be careful to extract all its flavor. Pot Au FEU also called Potee Normande in France.

Sauerkraut
Very similar to the German sauerkraut, sauerkraut French called choucroute comes from Alsace. But French recipes can be traced back to 6 centuries ago! Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. sauerkraut usually including sausage, pork and bacon book. Two important elements of Alsatian white wine and juniper fruit.

Braised Veal
Called blanquette de veau in France, is one of the stew recipe from Normandy. Boiling beef in a sauce of white - as blanquette from Blanc stands for white in french - with mushrooms and onions. White sauce of egg yolks, whipping cream and lemon juice. Veal stew is usually served with rice.

Sheep Navarin
Another stew but this is one of the lamb. This is also called spring lamb comes with green vegetables available in spring. Navarino derived from Navet which stands for turnips in French. Other ingredients are tomatoes, lamb stock and carrots. This stew takes less time to boil from a friend.

Cassoulet
Strange recipe that english people often confuse with their traditional breakfast! Traditional food of southwestern France. Each village has its own recipe, but it always includes beans and meats. Cassoulet is a rich combination of white beans and depending on the village sheep, pig, goat or beef sausage. Cassoulet is the cornerstone of learning French paradox explains why people from south-west of France suffer less than others from infarcts.

Potpourri
Bouillabaisse is closely linked with the city of Marseille on the Mediterranean coast. This recipe for fish soup from local ingredients, fish and seafood, including crabs, scorpion fish, monk fish and others. Provencal herbs and olive oil is very important. For a long time, the recipe was a secret envy of people from Marseilles.

Eating Food

This can be a big problem, which will be hungry all the time. You feel compelled to eating food. If you do not gain weight from eating, it will not be a problem. The problem is that you'll gain weight if you continue to have all the time, and without, if you're hungry or not. Find out what you can do to stop hunger with no food.

First, hunger complicated thing. Sometimes you're hungry, because you have to eating food. Next time you're hungry because you are fond of something you really enjoy eating. These cravings can be things like pizza or chocolate. Desire not to starve. All of this in mind that you only want the benefits of eating these products do not starve.

Drink more water. Many do not believe, but the thirst is sometimes really feel like hunger. You should drink more water. Drink more water when you're hungry. Wait about 30 minutes and tried to forget about it. Sometimes the hunger that will go or not will be less.

Do something that you really like. If you're bored, you see the level of a little hunger in your body. If you participate in something, you can lose track of time and even miss time do you usually eat. Get busy and do not worry about your hunger.

Escape from the smell that bothers you and makes you hungry. If you smell something really good, you'll be hungry. Log in to change the smell of the room, so you will not think about food.

You can be an emotional eater. This means that you eating food to cover up some kind of emotional pain. You can deal with something and want to switch to food. Learn how to deal with their emotions through something other than eating food. By Christopher JA Van

Vegetarian Recipe

Easily vegetarian recipe: Red beans curry with Quinoa
This simple vegetarian recipe and vegetarian recipes that are easy to prepare and very healthy.

Eating quinoa is a good way to get your daily intake of fiber and protein. Quinoa contains magnesium, which helps reduce blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels and muscles. Quinoa is a good source of manganese and copper which serves as an antioxidant in your body to get rid of dangerous carcinogens and disease.

Beans also contain fiber, which helps prevent constipation and tones the colon. It also helps prevent heart disease and high cholesterol. Beans contain folic acid is recommended if you are pregnant because it helps the developing child grows and develops before birth. Legumes are also high in protein, needed to build strong muscles and carry oxygen-rich blood to all your organs.

Materials include:

1 / 2 cup chopped onion
1 / 2 cup diced carrots
1 1 / 2 cup chopped spinach (fresh)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (sesame oil is even better)
2 garlic cloves
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans, or use dried beans soaked overnight and cooked until tender (healthier than canned)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 / 4 teaspoon cumin
1 / 4 teaspoon minced jalapeno pepper, seeds removed (can be added to taste spicy hot!)
Feature to replace the salt or salt to taste
2 cups cooked quinoa, summer

Saute onions, carrots in vegetable oil (sesame oil) in a medium saucepan for 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for minutes longer. Stir in spinach and cook until wilted (about 2 minutes). Add the beans, curry powder, cumin, salt and jalapeno. Cook, stirring often, until warm through.

Divide the warm quinoa evenly between four serving plates and top with red beans. Simon Alexander

Please also check out my other guide on Eating Food and easy recipe

Nasi Kucing Traditional Indonesian Food

Rice cat (or in a language known as Java "sega cat") is not a menu but rather a presentation on how to wrap a lot of rice found in the stalls Angkringan. Called "rice cat" as presented in the portion of the (very) few, like the menu to feed a cat. Nasi kucing rames rice is of the same shape, with a diverse menu: tempe dry, teri goreng, sambal goreng, tripe, milk, gut, head or Paw sate chicken and egg puyuh, the more favors if you burned briefly before first presented.

Rice that can be presented in the form of rice and ordinary rice tasty (rice Uduk) and in the portion of the little side dish is given a pirate sambal (chilli fried first), and a small piece pindang milkfish fry. If accompanied eat drink warm ginger-based (brown ginger, ginger coffee, tea and ginger) all the headaches - a cold will disappear by itself.

Rice cat known in various places in Central Java (including Yogyakarta) and is very popular among students because of the rather cheap price size bag for children kos, besides it also fit the tongue in India.

Indonesian Food in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a wildly cosmopolitan city with no shortage of quality restaurants, and not just traditionally Dutch ones. It’s harder to find a place serving Dutch food (whatever that is) than Italian, Indian, or Indonesian. In fact, it’s Indonesian fare that’s the highlight of the city’s culinary scene.

Due to the Netherlands’ one-time colonial presence in the Indonesian islands, Amsterdam houses the largest Indonesian community in Europe, and consequently, the best concentration of their unique food. The most reductive description would be to say it’s a sort of mix between Thai and Indian, but that really doesn’t do justice to a cuisine of a 6,000-island country that’s adapted the influences of South Asia and Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East, and Europe. Indoensian food tends to be seasoned with a bold and exotic mix of spices and is heavy on noodles, coconut milk, and peanut sauce.

But describing food is a tease; best try it yourself if you have the chance to visit Amsterdam (or, um…Indonesia.) This was basically my top priority on my visit to the Dutch capital and after repeatedly begging my friends, “Can we get Indonesian food yet? Can we get Indonesian food yet?” we picked — at random — an excellent, affordable spot I’d go back to in a second. Called Puri Mas, it’s located a few steps from the busy Leidseplein. The interior is placid, quiet, and soothingly decorated. The kind of place where extremely friendly staff help take your coat off for you, which kind of makes me uncomfortable, but whatever. The menu consists of a la carte items (around 15 euro for a meat dish, which is served with tasty noodles or rice), or, if you want to indulge properly, the “Rijsstaffel,” an endless series of exquisite “small plates” that allows you to sample the breadth of Indonesian dining. The least extravagant Rijsstaffel was 20 euros; those who want to really splash out can drop 40 euros for a true feast. I wasn’t that hungry, so I was content with tender roast pork in a coconut milk sauce and the aforementioned noodle dish, almost a meal in and of itself.

Blue Pepper is another restaurant, specializing in “contemporary Indonesian cuisine” and often hailed as one of the premier spots in the city. Accordingly, it’s much more expensive. The Rijsstaffel starts at 50 euro and goes up to 70 euro for a 20-dish smorgasbord featuring such delicacies I can only dream about as “lamb cutlets with lilyflowers” and “quail eggs in a hot curry.” The innovative menu is a carefully selected mélange of both Javanese and regional influences and modern and traditional techniques.

A more budget-friendly option is Bojo, also on the Leidseplein, and perfect for late-night dinners or post-party munchies. Order either a la carte or get the Rijsstaffel; there are several dozen items on the menu, generally not an indicator of good food, but for the price, Bojo tends to satisfy.

PennyLane's Chocolate Cookies

If you're looking for that Perfect chocolate cookies, you've certainly come to the right place. Did I say perfect?? Yes, with a capital P! No doubt.

This is my kind of cookies. Crispy on the outside, fudgy on the inside with a hint of white chocolate chips (please please don't omit this item. I know...I know...for some people including me, white chocolate is not a chocolate but this time it's exceptional. It's there to strengthen the taste of the dark chocolate) mixed with nuts and chocolate chips.

Nuff said, I lost word and my mouth is full. I couldn't stop nibbling on all of these cookies *now I become a cookie monster*. I don't even care about my waistline and my digital scale. Sorry Arwen and Leia, you have to share them with mommy :D

To my dearest friend, Mindy Jordan, you should put this recipe on the top of your baking list this week ;). Must try!

5 stars to this recipe! Thanks for sharing the recipe, mbak Riana. Damn girl, you're so genius! This is the best chocolate cookies ever.

PennyLane’s Chocolate Cookies
Original source: Joy of Baking
Modified by: Riana

Ingredients :
60 grams cake flour (low protein flour) (dita-I used all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
450 grams bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
60 grams unsalted butter or margarine
250 grams granulated white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 gram instant coffee powder (2 sachet @ 2 grams), diluted with a few drops of hot water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
175 grams semisweet dark chocolate chips
175 grams white chocolate chips
200 grams your favorite nuts, coarsely chopped and toasted (dita-I used walnut)

Directions :
1. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter/margarine in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar, eggs and salt until pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture, coffee and vanilla extract. Sift the flour mixture above the batter and fold it in. Mix only until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the batter until firm, about 30-60 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 170-180 degrees Celcius and place rack in center of oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
5. Using ice cream scoop, small or medium –whatever you prefer, scoop and drop batter onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing evenly. With moist fingers, press batter a little bit.Bake cookies about 10 - 12 minutes or until the tops of the cookies become dry and cracked, but are still shiny. Do not overbake these cookies.
6. Remove from oven and place baking pan on a wire rack to cool. When cookies are firm, remove from baking pan and let completely cool on rack.

* The time you need to let the batter harden in the fridge could be varied, depending on the chocolate you use. One chocolate could make the batter thicker or runnier than the other one. Check every 30 minutes, just until the batter is easy to scoop and drop without spreading.
* When you found your batter is too hard to scoop, or the cookies are too flat, it means the batter is too cold to begin with. Let it stand at room temperature until it reaches right consistency, then continue baking. The cookies should not be too flat.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips

Any cakes with banana are always my favorite. Especially with the ripe ones. This is a really quick easy cake to make. The result isn't that moist. The texture is dense and crumbly. More like muffin or banana bread.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
150 gr butter
80 gr sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 eggs
180 gr flour (dita - 130 gr all purpose flour+50 gr custard powder. The custard powder will make your cake look yellowish)
1 pack dry yeast
70 gr almond powder (dita - I didn't use almond powder but substitute it with grated parmesan)
100 gr chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Mix the butter and sugar until white and fluffy, then add mashed banana in it.
2. Add the eggs in butter-mixed, beat well.
3. Then pour flour and yeast, and mix well.
4. Add almond powder (dita - grated parmesan) and chocolate chips in the mixture. Pour in the baking pan.
5. Bake in the oven 200°c for 10 minutes, then another 35 minutes on 160°c.

[Indonesian Traditional Food] Es Brenebon - Red Beans in Cocoa Syrup

(North Sulawesi, Indonesia).

Es Brenebon - Red Beans in Cocoa Syrup

Ingredients :
1 kg red beans, soaked for 2-24 hours, boil the beans until soft
90 gr cocoa powder
2 cans chocolate condensed milk
750 gr sugar
water

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