Season greetings

To all my dearest friends and family, with all my love wishing you a warm Christmas and wonderful holidays. I hope 2009 will be a year full of happiness and a year that will bring peace all over the world. May God bless you all !!!!

Filled Cassava Croquette

Many croquettes are made from potatoes. In fact it can also be made of cassava. Cassava is also known as yuca or manioc. Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world, with Africa its largest center of production. The flour made of the roots is called tapioca.

In Indonesia the fried cassava croquettes are filled with oncom. Oncom is closely related to tempeh; both are foods fermented using molds, traditionally made in Indonesia. In Europe you can't find any oncom everywhere, so usually the filling is replaced by using tempeh.

Because I wanted to try another filling, these cassava croquettes are filled with minced meat. Any additional vegetables can be put here as combinations. I used frozen grated cassava, it's very handy because it's already finely grated and you just have to defrost it using a microwave or just leave it one night in the fridge.

Ingredients:
500 gr grated cassava
2 spring onions, fine-chopped
3 tablespoons corn flour
salt or chicken broth powder to season

Filling:
1 spring onion, fine-chopped
150 gr minced meat
1 garlic, fine-crushed
1/2 onion, fine-chopped
3 tablespoons kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
salt, pepper
2 fine-chopped chillies (if you like it spicy)

Methods:

Filling:
1. Heat the oil in the pan, add the garlic and onion. Stir-fry until golden brown.
2. Add the minced meat and spring onion. Stir-fry until the meat colored.
3. Season with salt and pepper then add with kecap manis. Stir-fry until the meat cooked.

The croquettes:
1. Combine all the cassava ingredients in a bowl.
2. Make a form of ball or roll from the mixture, fill with 1 teaspoon filling. Cover and form a ball again. Do the same with the rest of the mixture.
3. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Caramelized Shrimp

Cooking with wok is always the fastest way to prepare your meal. It is not only quick and easy, it is also very healthy if you use it correctly.

This time I try to prepare shrimp using caramel sauce from palm sugar. I am a seafood lover, eventhough I have a bad allergic reaction if I eat seafood. But no matter what I do love it.... when I eat it the medicine must be ready on my hand off-course... :o))

Ingredients:
25 gr palm sugar, grated
500 gr large shrimps
2 red chillies, fine-chopped
2 spring onions, fine-chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon extra palm sugar
1 garlic, fine-chopped
ground pepper to season
coriander leafs (if you like it)

Methods:
1. Make the caramel sauce first. Heat the palm sugar with 3 tablespoons water until the sugar dissolved and continue cooking boiling until the sugar becomes dark brown.

2. In a wok, heat the oil. Add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.

3. Add the shrimps, chillies nd spring onions, stir-fry until the shrimps become pink.

4. Add the caramel sauce, fish sauce, extra palm sugar and season with ground pepper. Cook until the sauce thick and enough to coat the shrimps. Add with coriander leafs if you like it.

Almond Orange Financier

This French cake is buttery and rich, baked in individual molds and added with orange zest to enrich the taste. Perfect to accompany my afternoon tea-time.

Serving for 12 small individual molds
Ingredients:
80 gr sugar powder
40 gr almond powder
50 gr butter, melted
40 gr self-raising flour
3 (90 grams) white eggs
4 drops orange essence (not in my stock, changed with vanilla essence)
1 tablespoon orange jam
orange zest from 1/2 orange


Methods:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. In a bowl combine sugar, almond, flour, orange jam, essence and orange zest.
3. Add white eggs and whisk to combine.
4. Slowly stir in butter.
5. Pour batter into individual molds, bake about 15 minutes.
6. Garnish top with candied orange peel, and dust with sugar powder.