Red Velvet Cupcakes

It's been a long time I wanted to make these kind of cupcakes. Finally I had the time today to bake them. I took my time and followed the intructions really well. I really wanted to do it right.. and yaaaiiii... it worked!!! My red velvet cupcakes came out nicely and so perfect just like in my dream.

For the frosting I use the Vanilla Cream Frosting that came along with the recipe.

I made 30 cucpakes with this recipe.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Source: De Leukste Tarten

300 g fine sugar
200 g butter (room temperature)
2 eggs
280 gr flour
40 gr cornstarch
2 tbs (30 g) cocoa
1 tsp (5 g) sodium bicarbonate
pinch salt
240 ml buttermilk (room temperature)
11/2 tbs red liquid dye
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla essence
1 tsp (5 ml) (apple) cider vinegar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180°c. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until combined. One at a time, add eggs; beat on medium speed after each. Bet in food coloring on low.
4. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to egg mixture; beat on low-medium after each just until combined. Stir together baking soda and vinegar. Add to batter; beat just until combined.
5. Fill cupcake liners two-thirds full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Gently remove cupcakes from pans; cool.
6. Frost with anykind of cream frosting you like.

For the cream frosting I just made 1/2 of the recipe and enough to cover the entire cupcakes.

Vanilla Cream Frosting

45 g flour
240 ml milk
200 gr unsalted butter
200 gr caster sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence

1. Stir the flour and milk together in a saucepan. Let the mixture to boil for about 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring, then cover the with baking paper and let it cool down to room temperature.
2. Beat the butter until creamy and light. Slowly add the sugar and finally the vanilla.
3. Add the cooled milk mixture and keep beating for about 5 minutes on medium/high speed. Cover and keep for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

Strawberries Romanoff

Strawberries Romanoff, a delectable concoction of strawberries macerated in sugar, orange liqueur and fine shreds of orange peel. The strawberries are served with sweetened whipped cream.

This dish, although typically French, has Russian origins. It was named for the royal family of Imperial Russia, at whose court French food was invariably served.

Strawberries Romanoff

1/3 c. + 2 tbsp. sugar 1/3 c. Grand Marnier or Cointreau 1 orange 3/4 c. heavy cream

1. Remove the stems from the strawberries. Rinse well and rain. pat dry with paper towels.

2. Place the strawberries in a bowl and add 1/3 cup of the sugar and the Grand Marnier.

3. Using a swivel-bladed potato peeler, cut around the orange to produce a very thin spiral of peel. Do not cut into the white pulp. Cut the peel into wafer-thin shreds. Add to the strawberries and fold together gently. (Use the orange in another dish.)

4. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

5. Whip the cream and flavor it with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Serve the cream with the strawberries. 8 servings.

**Text and recipes from here.

Urap Ketan Hitam Saus Gula Jawa

This Indonesian sweet dish is stuck in my memory. I used to eat it when I was small. Every morning my mom went to the local market and always came home with it and other snacks. The sellers who sell this sweet also sell other sweet dishes called "jajan pasar". Along with it (as I remember) in one wrap banana leaf there were also "tiwul", "gerontol jagung" - corn flowers with grated coconut, "gethuk"- steamed-cassava cake, " and cenil" - colorful sago palm sweet. I don't really have a knowledge to make it, but based on my strong memory of this dish and how it tasted I try to figure out myself to make it. The proportions of the ingredients are just approximately, it's possible to reduce or to raise the coconut milk.

This is also my entry to participate a foodie event called "Masak Bareng Yuk" which theme is rice.

Urap Ketan Hitam Saus Gula Jawa (Black glutinous rice sprinkled with grated coconut and brown sugar sauce)

Ingredients:
250 gr black glutinous rice, rinse and soak for 3 hours
250 ml coconut milk
1 tspoon salt
2 pandan leafs

Directions:
1. Steam black glutinous rice until half-cooked. Put into a heat-resistant bowl.
2. Cook the coconut milk, salt and pandan leafs.
3. Pour the cooked-coconut liquid in steamed glutinous rice. Mix well until all liquid absorbed.
4. Steam again until the glutinous rice cooked. Serve with gula jawa sauce and steamed grated coconut.

Sauce:
100 gr gula jawa
1 pandan leaf
200 ml water

Cook the water, pandan leaf and gula jawa until dissolved.

Coconut Avocado Ice Cream

Back in Indonesia, we make kind of avocado drink using all these ingredients of this ice cream as avocado drink (Es Teler) . When I found the recipe from Allrecipes as ice cream and it really attempted me to try making it straight away... wow, this was very tasty and had a very fresh taste. It seems like an unusual combination, but it works perfectly together.

I copy the original recipe here.

Coconut Avocado Ice Cream (source: AllRecipes)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (335 ml) milk
1 cup (235 ml) coconut cream
1/2 cup (100 gr) white sugar
454 gr avocados, peeled and pitted
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Direction:
1. Puree milk, coconut cream, sugar, avocados, and lemon juice in a blender until smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for several hours until cold. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions, then freeze overnight.

2. Allow ice cream to soften in refrigerator for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips:
If you don't have an ice cream machine, you can make this in the freezer. Just pour the puree into a dish and place it into the freezer. Freeze for about 2 to 3 hours, then mash it into a slush; repeat the freezing and mashing about 3 to 4 times so that the ice cream will be smooth. Finally, freeze overnight and serve as directed.

Mung Beans & Sticky Black Rice Porridge

In indonesian we call this dish "Bubur Ketan Hitam & Kacang Hijau". This delicious dish usually consumed by night when the weather is a little bit cold, when it's raining outside or when you're still hungry in the late evening and we consume this as snack.
Mung beans themselves are very healthy. They contain iron and vitamines. They're very good for children, but too bad my children never want to taste this dish. Well maybe they just don't know it yet how it tastes. Maybe when they're a bit bigger when their curiousity about food developed they would taste this dish and perhaps will like it too. Finger-crossed..!

I usually cook this according to my feeling. But this recipe from my friend Ema is close to my version.

Mung beans porridge:
2 cups mung beans, rinse and soak
6 cm ginger, cut in slices
2 eatsps brown sugar (or gula jawa)
700 ml water

Sticky black rice porridge:
11/2 cups sticky black rice, rinse and soak
2 eatsps brown sugar (or gula jawa)
2 pandan leafs
800 ml water

Coconut sauce:
400 cc coconut milk
a pinch of salt
1 tsp maizena dissolve in a bit water

Directions:
Mung beans porridge:
1. Boil mung beans, water and ginger until cooked or until the beans are soft.
2. Add brown sugar (fix the sweetness as needed).
3. Put aside.

Sticky black rice porridge:
1. Boil the rice, water and pandan leafs until the rice cooked and thick.
2. Add the sugar (fix the sweetness as needed).
3. Put aside.

Coconut sauce:
1. Boil coconut milk and salt.
2. Add dissolve maizena in. Stir well. Ready to be poured over the porridge.

Manggo Yogurt With Nectarine For Breaking Fasting

Ramadhan this year is quite different that the past years. The time to break the fast is starting at around 8.30 pm. I have to keep my conditions healthy otherwise I would break-down before the Ramadhan finished. That's why I try to make healthy food and healthy dessert too. No frying stuffs and not too many sweet things too. My breaking menu is usually rice, stir-fry vegetables and a piece of fish or chicken. For dessert I choose to eat yogurt and a bit fruit. Usually after this breaking it's almost time to bed. If my stomach too ful, I can't sleep and I'll have difficulty to get up early. Ramadhan month is tiring but no matter what I'm happy to do it. It comes only once a year and I always look forward for Ramadhan.

This is one of my desserts look a like for breaking fasting during Ramadhan... Manggo yogurt with nectarine. It's delicious and healthy too.

Banana Fritters

Banana fritters are the most common snacsk eaten by Indonesian people. The most common and cheap fruit in Indonesia is the banana (pisang). There is a wide variety of bananas, from the tiny, sweet pisang mas to the large pisang tanduk or plantain used for making banana fritters (pisang goreng). Pisang kepok and pisang raja are also good for making banana fritters, pisang susu is a kind of small starchy banana with light yellow skin and pisang Ambon is the kind of banana that is most commonly eaten in western countries. Just peel and eat! Believe it or not, pisang raja serai is good eaten with a slice of cheese! (Information about banana adapted from here). Banana fritters can be easily made at home but also easily find on the street and ready to eat in Indonesia.

I always use unripe pisang ambon when I make banana fritters. The texture is a bit softer but the taste is even good as if you use pisang raja or pisang tanduk.

Ingredients:
5 bananas
200 grams selfraising flour
3 dl water
2 eggs
pinch of salt
25 grams sugar
vanilla powder
oil for frying
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and vanilla powder. Make a well in the center, and pour in water and egg. Mix until smooth. Fold in banana slices until evenly coated.

2. Heat oil in a wok or deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3. Drop banana mixture by tablespoon into hot oil. Fry until golden brown and crispy, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove bananas from oil, and drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

Sweet Spicy Manggo Salad

This refreshing salad is a smashing side dish, with an interesting mix of spicy, sweet and sour. Delicious with BBQ's or Asian food. I have to warn you here, we Indonesians, like to eat it really spicy, so if you're not used to spicy food, please reduce the amount of chillies otherwise you'll get stomachache which is really not nice...**believe me, happens to me a lot... :o)

2 manggos, peeled, shredded
1 tblsp or more dark brown sugar or Indonesian gula jawa, melted
5 or less red chillies
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
chopped coriander leafs, as needed
Directions:
Mix in a bowl shredded manggo, melted sugar, chillies and fresh lime juice. Add coriander leafs, stir to coat and refrigerate before serving.