Fried Dumpling

the shape before cooked

The result...

I changed the ingredients for the filling according to what I found in my kitchen.

Ingredients:
Minced beef
garlic
ginger
oyster sauce
salt & pepper
onion
spring onion
slices of cabbage
gyoza sheets
*** sigh... I forgot the corn flour however it didn't give effect to the taste...

For the sauce:
soy sauce
rice vinegar
sesame oil

How to cook:
the same way as instructed on the video.

Tofu Dango (video)

Another easy things to make.. **it's already in my "TO DO" list... ^_^

How to make Yaki Gyoza (Fried Dumpling)

It looks so easy, though I never try to make it myself. I think after seeing the video here, I'll be able to do it myself.

Thai Green Manggo Salad

From previous posting I made Indonesian green manggo salad. This time I make green manggo salad ala Thai. Originally the recipe is for green papaya salad, but since green papaya difficult to find I subtitute it with green manggo.

Green Manggo Salad Ala Thai

Ingredients:
50 gr roasted peanuts
1 green manggo, peeled, shredded
10 cherry tomatoes, cut into two
2 garlics, crushed
4-8 small red chillies, chrused
3-4 tbspoons fish sauce (I subtitute with salt)
5 tbspoons lime juice
1 tbsp palm sugar

Directions:
1. Chrused the chillies and garlics and roasted peanuts.
2. Add with lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar. Mix all together.
3. Add the shredded manggo and tomatoes, chrused a little bit and mix well in the dressing.
4. Serve on the board and sprinkle with roasted peanuts if you like.

Rujak Mangga Muda // Sweet Spicy Green Manggo Salad (Indonesian)

 

Rujak is a traditional fruit salad dish commonly found  Indonesia.

In Indonesia, among the Javanese, rujak is an essential part of the traditional prenatal ceremony called Tujuh bulanan (literally: seventh month). Special fruit rujak is made for this occasion, and later served to the mother-to-be and her guests, primarily her female friends). It is widely known that the sweet, spicy and sour tastes of rojak are adored by pregnant women. The recipe of rujak for this ceremony is similar to typical Indonesian fruit rujak, with the exceptions that the fruits are roughly shredded instead of thinly sliced, and that pomelo/pink grapefruit is an essential ingredient. It is believed that if the rujak overall tastes sweet, the unborn would be a girl, and if it is spicy, the unborn baby is a boy.
Mangarabar or rujak making is really a special event for the inhabitants of the Batak Mandailing region in Tapanuli, Indonesia and a much anticipated event after the harvest, normally the whole village will be involved in making the rujak. The rujak is served to the whole village.

The dressing of fruit rujak is made of palm sugar, salt, tamarind, ground peanuts, terasi (shrimp paste), bird's eye chilli and red chilli. The fruit is sliced to bite-size, and put in the dish. The sweet spicy dressing is poured on the fruit slices. (Some texts adapted from wikipedia)

The rujak I'm presenting here is another variant which commonly found in the area of Bogor (West Java). In this variant the dressing is first boiled then poured over the fruit slices and to be refrigerated for a night so the sweet, sour & spicy dressing will be absorbed by the fruit. It's really refreshing during a hot summer day.

I only use green (young) manggo for this rujak. And if you find it too spicy, you can always reduce the chillies.... or remove the seeds.

Rujak Mangga Muda

Ingredients:
1 green manggo, cut in thin slices
2 red chillies, roughly crushed
2 bird's eye chillies, roughly crushed
a pinch of salt
1 or 2 tbs gula jawa (palm sugar) sdm Gula Jawa
Caster sugar
Vinegar

Directions:
1. In the pan cook the water with chillies, salt, palm sugar and caster sugar. Let it boiled until the sugar dissolved.
2. Remove from the pan, add vinegar. Remember the taste has to be sweet, sour & spicy.
3. Pour the sauce over the manggo slices. Refrigerate one night and serve it cold with krupuk.

Tiramisu Chocolate Cake

I made this cake in the occasion of my husband birthday this month. I do now believe, if you make something with love, the result is overwhelming delicious too.. :). The theme of his birthday party was Austin Powers Movie Marathon, in order to match the theme, I put edible printing of Austin Powers (I designed it myself) on top of the cake then decorate it with mascarpone and marzipan.

Pardon me for the result of the pictures because I was more busy with preparation of the birthday party.. such as cooking, cleaning, decorating house slash cake, taking care the children, grocery...  anyway, I was trying my best to be a perfect host. Well, it seemed that everybody was satisfied... so, mission accomplished!!!

Tiramisu chocolate cake

Tiramisu chocolate cake

Celebrating Ied Fitri

From my file last month, cakes I made in the occasion of celebrating Ied Fitri with friends in Belgium.

Chocolate cake filled with mixed berries

Vanilla cake filled with butter cream

Kue Nastar // Pineapple cookies

Nastar is a kind of pastry dough from flour, butter and eggs, filled with pineapple jam.It is said that the name of the cookies came from the Dutch language ie. Ananas Taart. This cake shape is round with a diameter of about 2 cm, on top of it is often decorated with small pieces of raisins or cloves.

In addition nastar now also made with other fruit jam, such as strawberries, blueberries, and others. Nastar is usually served on holidays, from Christmas, Idul Fitri, until the Lunar New Year. Nastar is usually sold in plastic packaging jars in the bakery, patisserie, and supermarkets. (source: wikipedia).

I've posted the recipe before.. have a look at my Pineapple cookies // Nastar.

Luisteren

Fonetisch lezen

Pais Labu Kuning // Indonesian Steamed Pumpkin Cake

Still in the mood for pumpkin.... Last time I made chocolate pumpkin cinnamon cake from one pumpkin, but the pumpkin was quite big and I still had left over quite a lot. So I made another thing from it i.e. Indonesian steamed cake which is called Pais Labu Kuning. This steamed cake is kind of pudding and made from a mixture of rice flour, tapioca flour and coconut milk.

Pais Labu Kuning
Indonesian Steamed Pumpkin Cake

(source: adapted from here)

Ingredients:

200 gr pumpkin, steamed
200 gr sugar
100 gr tapioca flour
100 gr rice flour
1/2 ltr coconut milk
salt, vanilla
2-3 tbs shredded coconut
banana leafs

Directions :
1. Blend the pumpkin with sugar and coconut milk until smooth.
2. Add with tapioca flour, rice flour, a pinch of salt, vanilla and shredded coconut.
3. Prepare the heatproof bowl (square or rond shape) and cover the sides and bottom with banana leafs, pour the pumpkin mixture into it.
4. Steam for about 50 minutes. **Wrap the pan (steamer) lid with kitchen towel so that water vapor does not enter into the batter.
5. Set aside to cool, then remove from the tin. Serve with shredded cheese or steamed grated coconut.  


**Originally, in Indonesia they wrapped the mixture in banana leafs and then steam it.

Chocolate pumpkin cinnamon cake

 

I never cook or bake pumpkin before, but my neighbour is so friendly giving me pumpkin from their own garden. Here I am, a bit confused not knowing what to do with it. Thanks to Google, I find a great recipe to make this cake in combination with the pumpkin.

I have the recipe from Arcawirangun Kitchen . Since this is for the first time I bake using pumpkin, I don't change any ingredients in the recipe. But I measure all ingredients double than given on the recipe, and the mixture fills perfectly to my round baking tin (diamater 20 cm).

Chocolate pumpkin cinnamon cake

(source: Arcawirangun Kitchen)

Ingredients:
240 gr pumpkin, steamed and mashed
120 gr butter
6 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1 tsp emulsifier
200 gr sugar

Sift together:
120 gr flour
30 gr cocoa powder
20 gr cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

Directions:

1. Beat butter until white and creamy, add sweetened condensed milk and mashed pumpkin, then beat until blended, set aside. 

2. Beat eggs, sugar and emulsifier until thick. 

3. Add  sifted mixture flour into egg mixture, stirring until blended. 

4. Put in the butter and pumpkin mixture and stir well. 

5. Pour into baking pan (round, dia. 20cm) that has been greased, bake in the oven on 180 degrees for 55 minutes.

Have a joyful Eid Fitr !!!!

Blackberries Cinnamon Cake

If others have blackberries in their bag, I have blackberries in my garden... ^_^. They can't be used to make a phone call or to send email etc but they can certainly be eaten.

Our blackberries are growing very healthy and wildly through the year. Actually the plant was almost thrown away by my hubby when he was planting other plants. With a hard resistance by me *wink.. I was able to move it somewhere else hidden between the hedge. Surprisingly this blackberry plant still grows healthy and produces quite amount of fruit.
I don't really like the fruit, so over the years I just let the fruit eaten by the wild birds. This summer my hubby is busy changing our garden and makes the birds scared to eat the blackberries, here I am with small boxes of blackberries trying to figure out how to turn this fruit into something yummy.

After browsing here and there, I finally found a recipe that fits me, easy, practical and also economical... Blackberry Cinnamon Cake.. (source: Bramen Kaneeltaart).

Here I'm sharing with you the recipe:

140 gr butter
140 gr sugar
140 gr almond powder
140 gr selfraising flour
1 egg
1 theespoon cinnamon powder
1 theespoon vanilla-essence (I use vanilla sugar)
 150 - 225 gr fresh blackberries

1. Preheat the oven to 180 º F. Line a round baking tin with baking paper of about 23 cm.
2. Beat the butter, sugar, almonds, flour, egg, the cinnamon and vanilla essence in a bowl.
3. Spoon half the mixture into the mold and spread it with a fork a little flat. Scatter the blackberries on top and divide the rest of the batter over.
4. Place the shape on the baking tray and bake the cake 1 hour, until golden brown and springy.
5. Place the cake on a rack and sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar on top.

My way:
1. I used cupcake baking molds.
2. I added the almond powder after I beat the butter, sugar, almond, flour, egg, the cinamon & vanilla essence.
3. I sprinkled over the dough the cinnamon powder and vanilla sugar.
4. Then I baked them for about 25-30 minutes and I made 14 cupcakes.

Blackberry

Opor Ayam // Chicken cooked in coconut sauce

Some people call this dish as Indonesian chicken curry which is "not". According me Indonesian chicken curry is called Gulai (gule) Ayam. They both are almost similar, except the gulai (gule) ayam has more spices such as cardammon, cloves and nutmeg... in fact, it contains almost all spices in the ingredients. I've posted gulai ayam previously, so now you have a chance to try cooking and comparing both of them. Trust me, they're both delicious... >_<

But Indonesian cuisine is very rich and created by people throughout Indonesian islands. It's hard to find similar recipes across the country. The food would have the same name, but the ingredients quite vary and sometimes depends on its location and natural resources, not to mention influenced by India, the Middle East, China, and Europe. So is with this opor ayam dish, if you're googling, you'll find hundreds varieties of recipes and will cause you headache. It happened to me too when I started learning cooking. Don't worry, at the end you'll find the best recipe that suits you the most. Bon appétit...

Opor Ayam

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken, cut in pieces
2 salam leaves
1 stick lemon grass
1 cm fresh galangga (laos)
4 cm cinnamon stick
750 cc coconut milk

Fine grinded:
10 small shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 tbs coriander
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 cm fresh ginger
2 cm fresh curcuma (1 tsp curcuma powder)
salt & pepper to taste


Directions:
- Fried the chicken in little oil until both side colored, set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan, add grinded ingredients, salam leaves, lemon grass, laos and cinnamon. Stir fry until fragrant.
- Add the coconut milk and chicken. Season with salt & pepper.
- Cook until the chicken done.

Martabak Tahu // Soybean Curd In Folded Pastry

According to Wikipedia Martabak, or Murtabak, is an Indian Muslim (Mamak) dish commonly found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Yemen where it is called Motabbag (Arabic: المطبّق) which means "The Folded" so the name could be of Arabic origin. It is made from a thin dough filled with minced meat, usually mutton, and fried on a griddle until it turns golden brown. The fillings also include garlic, egg and onion. Martabak is served with slices of cucumber and onion, and a bowl of curry sauce. In Indonesia, Martabak also tends to be served with some kind of dark brown sauce made of vinegar and palm sugar.

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
250 gr minced or ground beef
1 medium-sized onion, halved and sliced
2 Tbls. chopped Chinese celery leaves
1 Tbls. curry powder
2-3 eggs
1/2 kg tofu (firm soybean curd), flatten
1 stalk green onion, finely sliced
Salt, white pepper, broth powder to taste
20-30 spring roll sheets

There are two ways to make the filling. Either you cook the ingredients first before folded or you can also saute the filling then folded into the spring roll sheet.

To make the filling:
1st way:
1. In a large bowl put all ingredients together. Season with pepper, salt and broth powder.
2. Fold in the eggs and mix all thoroughly.
3. Take 1 tablespoon filling, put it at the center of spring roll sheet, then folded like an envelope, or rolls to taste.
4. Deep fry over medium heat. Remove & drain.

2nd way:
1. Heat oil, saute onion and garlic until fragrant fine.
2. Enter the ground meat, stir until meat changes color.
3. Add the curry powder and pepper, pour 1 / 2 cup water / broth.
4. Cook until the spices to infuse.
5. Add the tofu, green onion and green pepper slices and stir well.
6. After all ingredients cooked, turn off heat, set aside.
7. Put the eggs in to the filling, mix thoroughly.
8. Take 1 tablespoon of egg mixture at the center of spring roll sheet, then folded like an envelope, or rolls to taste.
9. Fry over medium heat until the sheet golden brown. Remove and drain.

Serve with tomato sauce or chili sauce or soy sauce & pickles.

Chocolate cuppies with butter cream

Last saturday I was invited to a party of my friend Nia. I knew she would cook plenty of food so I didn't plan to bring any food either. But I never feel good to come with empty hands, so I brought her chocolate cupcakes and garnish with light chocolate butter cream.


Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
175 ml milk
60 gr pure chocolate, fine chopped
125 gr sugar
60 gr butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 big egg, whisked
150 gr selfraising flour
2 eatspoons chocolate chips or chopped pure chocolate

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan to boiling point. Put the chocolate and one third of the sugar in a bowl, pour out the milk and stir until smooth. Let it cool.

2. Put the butter in a bowl, add the remaining sugar and vanilla. Beat the mixture light and airy with a wooden spoon and scoop the egg slowly in. Stir the chocolate mixture and flour alternately through there. Stir through the chocolate chips. Fill the paper cups two-thirds of the mixture. Bake the cakes in a preheated oven about 15-18 minutes at 180°c. Let them cool before garnishing.


Light Chocolate Butter Cream

Ingredients:
125 gr butter, at room temperature
400 gr sugar powder, sifted
3 eatspoons cocoa powder, sifted
3-4 eatspoon milk

Beat the butter in a bowl with wooden spoon or mixer until soft and creamy. Beat in the icing sugar, cocoa and milk slowly to get a thick and smooth glaze. Place the mixer when used on the lowest stand.

Variations:
- Mocca butter cream: replace the milk with cold coffee.
- White vanilla icing: Replace the cocoa powder with 1 tsp vanilla essence.

(Source: Chocolate by Linda Collister)

Devil's Food Cake

I made devil's food cupcakes before, but this time I want a real cake. Eventhough I find this cake is a bit too dry, perhaps because I use whipped cream instead of sour cream. But the texture is light, has beautiful dark color and the taste is heavenly delicious. I'm not exaggeratted, but to have rich super delicious chocolate ganache, use a very good quality chocolate.

Devil's Food Cake
(source: Chocolate by Linda Collister)

Ingredients:
110 gr pure chocolate, fine chopped
125 ml sour cream (I use whipped cream)
175 gr sugar cane

300 gr flour
a pinch of salt
3 eatspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

115 gr butter
200 gr sugar
2 big eggs, split
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

175 ml water, at room temperature

Ganache & filling
140 gr pure chocolate, fine chopped
140 gr milk chocolate, fine chopped
225 ml sour cream

Directions:
1. Heat the chopped chocolate, sour cream and cane sugar in a heavy bottom saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until the chocolate melted and mixture is smooth, but not too hot. Put the melted chocolate aside until further use

2. Sift the flour, salt, cocoa and baking soda, put aside.

3. Beat the butter until creamy with a mixer. Beat in the sugar slowly. Beat the egg yolks one by one, followed by the vanilla essence. Stir the sifted flour mixture there, interspersed with water, tablespoon by tablespoon. Use the lowest position of the mixer and mix briefly as possible.

4. Add the melted chocolate once the rest is well mixed. Pour the mixture over the mold (23 cm diameter) and bake the cakes for 50 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°c. You can also divide the mixture over two molds of 23 cm diameter, then bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes.
The cake is cooked when it springs back when gently pressed in the middle and it becomes separated from the edge. Let it cool 10 minutes and turn it out on a rack, remove the greaseproof paper and allow to cool completely.


Ganache & filling

1. Melt the dark & milk chocolate in a fireproof bowl over a saucepan with stomed but not boiling water. Remove the bowl from the heat, stir the mixture until smooth and whisk in the cream. Let the mixture thick and spreadable.

2. Divide the cake into two or three layers, spread frosting on the cake. Place the layers on each other, then spread the top and sides of cake with the glaze. Store the cake in a cool place until you serve.

**I use microwave method (idea sources from Planet Cake) to make the ganache or melt the chocolate. It's easier and less work.

1. Put the chocolates and cream in a microwave-proof bowl and heat for 1-2 minutes on high then remove and stir. Repeat heating (if necessary) and then stirring until the ganache is smooth.

2. Remove the bowl from the microwave, cover with plastic wrap and leave for 5 minutes. Shake the bowl a little bit so all the chocolate sinks to the bottom.

3. Mix with a hande whisk until smooth, allow to cool completely.

Winter Soup With Meatballs

During winter time we prefer to eat something warm and it's almost every day I serve soup for the family. For my soup usually I use season vegetables.... it's not only healthy and delicious, but also full of vitamines... things that we need against the cold and winter period.

Further, there is nothing special with my soup except that this soup surely will keep me warm and healthy to pass winter season... ^_^

This is my entry for Masak Bareng Yuuk event which this month the theme is All kinds of soup.


Winter Soup With Meatballs

For the meatballs
500 gr runder meat
1 egg white
2-3 eatspoons corn or tapioca flour
1-2 eatspoon(s) fried garlic
1/2-1 teaspoon pepper powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon STTP (sodium tri poli phospat)
salt
crushed ice cubes or you can place the meat in vriezer first for about 45 minutes before blending.

Directions:
- in the food precessor grind the lean beef with chrused ice cube 2-3 times until they all sticky.
- add the rest of the ingredient until they all mixed together
- scoop with 2 teaspoons and make a round ball
- boil some water, drop the meatballs in it. When it floats the meatball is done.
- with this recipe you'll have approx. 600 - 700 gr meatballs which some meatballs can be frozen for further use.

The soup
beef ribs( bones) to make the stock
3-5 cloves garlic, sliced, fried, grinded
salt as desire
1/4 cup thin soy sauce(or regular soy sauce)
1 tsp black pepper
1 ltr water
Vegetables you like such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, leek, capsicums, etc.

- Add salt on boiling water
- Put the ribs (bone) to make stock
- Add the soy sauce, black pepper, salt and grinded garlic
- Boiled and shimmer
- Add the vegetables and the meatballs, cook until the veggies are cooked.
- Serve hot.

Little mermaid for my little girl

Today is my daughter becoming 5 years old. Her big day today, because today they also celebrate carnival party at school. What a lucky girl :o)).

Before she went to school she asked me to bake b'day cake for her, and she chose Ariel from little mermaid. I did try my best to copy Ariel from disney book. The outcome wasn't so bad since it was the first time for me to do the patchwork and I kind enjoyed it too. The most important when she got back from school, she was so happy with her cake and just couldn't wait to eat it.

On Saturday, she still has a big party and some friends from school are invited too. It's also going to be her big day, because it's going to be her first b'day party with friends at home. Oh, it feels like she's going 16th.. my goodness!

This is just a simply vanilla cake filled with whipped cream and covered with fondant. The size is just 15 cm (diameter) but it can be eaten for 6 up to 8 people.

Cars McQueen look-alike for Reza b'day

Reza is a son of my friend. He's turning 4 last week. He asked cupcakes for his friends at school. He likes cars a lot, especially from disney figure, lightning McQueen from Cars movie. Well, I tried my best to satisfy him.. and voila, here is the result...



I made the figures from marzipan and the checkboard from fondant. Only too bad, some cakes were dried out and flopping out from the case. It was a bit struggle to fix them, but still, two of the cupcakes couldn't be fixed. I had to be really careful when I put the decorations on them.. to cover the damage.. pfff... :(

Banana Chocolate Cookies

It's been snowing very hard today. Some roads are closed, some places are unreachable due to long queue. In the weather like this I prefer to stay home. I did some cleaning here and there, played some games in facebook, hmmm couldn't go out.. terrible & boring. Then I decided to start baking in the afternoon.

Today we bake Banana Chocolate Cookies. I found the recipe from children cooking book just to make sure I won't make any mistake of baking it... *-*


Banana Chocolate Cookies
(source: book- Lekker koken voor kids)

Ingredients:
125 gr butter
125 gr yellow brown sugar
1 large egg
1 ripe banana, mashed
175 gr selfraising flour
1 theespoon speculas spices
2 eatspoons milk
100 gr chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 190°c. Stir butter and sugar thoroughly with a mixer to a light and creamy blend.

2. Add the egg and mix well. Add the mashed banana and blend until the mixture is smooth.

3. Sift the flour and speculas spices. Add the milk in so that the mixture is becoming soft. Fold through the chocolate chips.

4. Create with a dessert spoon mounds of dough on baking sheets. Ensure that sufficient space between the cookies is.

5. Bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes or until golden bruin.

6. Take the baking sheet from oven and let cookies stand. Place the biscuits very carefully with a knife on the roster, so they can cool down.

Tahu Guling // Tofu Rolled In Spicy Sweet Sour Sauce

This dish is originally from Tegal, a small city in Java. But if you find this dish somewhere else but Tegal, it seems it has been modified according to the taste of the people or the place where you buy. I have the recipe from Indonesian local magazine Femina, and this is the way to make Tahu Guling or free translated as fried tofu rolled in spicy sweet sour sauce. But if you go to other side of Indonesia, you'll might find this dish with different flavour. It doesn't matter, I haven't eaten this dish before ... not as I remember ... but my curiousity is paid, this dish is so delicious and simple to make... I like it so much ^_^
Tahu Guling
(Source: Femina)

Ingredients:
300 ml warm water
1 tsp vinegar
50 ml Indonesian sweet soysauce (kecap manis)
12 tofu, fried, slice 4x4 cm
150 gr taoge
5 tablespoons fried onions
1 tablespoon chopped celery (spring onion)
Grind:
4 red chilies
4 cloves garlic
50 gr gula jawa (brown sugar)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
- Sauce: mix all grind ingredients, add with water, vinegar and kecap manis. Set aside.

- Serving: place fried tofu on a plate, add with taoge. Pour the sauce over the tofu. Sprinkle with fried onions and chopped celery / spring onion.

Gulai Kambing // Spiced Lamb

Gulai kambing or lamb which is cooked in a curry-like coconut milk soup is belonged to street hawker and is quite popular in Indonesia. It is easy to be found in almost every corner of the city. What I like from this dish is the rich aroma of spices and distinctive flavour of lamb mixed together in the mouth. The lamb stew is usually served with Acar (pickled of carrots and cucumber) but my version is served with Acar Kuning and Sambal. Hmmm.. makes me hungry again by writing this.

I have this recipe from my mother, she said the gulai will taste better by using fresh ingredients and toasted for a while on a dry wok. But my style is always the easy and quick way of cooking except if I have plenty time to stand behind the kitchen maybe I'll do the same as her way... ^_^

This is also my entry for event Masak Bareng Yuuk (Cooking Together) for the month January 2010, and the theme is Panganan Kaki Lima (Street hawker Food).

Gulai Kambing // Spiced Lamb

Ingredients:
1/2 kg lambs
1 stick sereh (lemon grass)
salt, pepper
750 ml coconut milk

5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
3 candlenuts (kemiri)
1 teaspoon kunyit (curcuma) powder
4 red chillies
1/4 teaspoon jinten (cumin seeds)
1/2 tablespoon ketumbar (coriander) powder
1/2 teaspoon pala (nutmeg) powder
1/2 teaspoon cinamon powder
1/2 teaspoon laos (galanga) powder

Directions:
- Cut the lamb into bite-size chunks.
- Blend all the spices in a blender or using a mortar to have a smooth paste.
- Heat up the oil in a large pan, add the paste and lemon grass and saute until fragrant.
- Then add the lamb, stirring frequently.
- Pour the coconut milk and bring to boil. Stirring constantly, season with salt and pepper, then lower the heat and allow to simmer until the meat is very tender, approximately 40 minutes.
- Serve with steamy rice, acar, sambal and krupuk.

Farewell Party Cake

It's been a busy weekend for me. There were two farewell party invitations in one day. One was from Pipiet, a friend who is moving back to Indonesia. Her husband worked for Indonesian Embassy in Brussels en after 4 years they move back to Indonesia to be replaced somewhere else. I couldn't come to their farewell party but I decided to make a cake with the decoration for her. The dresscode of the party was purple, so for that occasion I also chose purple to cover the cake.

.....................ooOoo...........................

The other farewell party was from Diana De Caluwe. She's going on retirement as nanny. She used to take care my daughter when she was a baby. She's been doing her job for 25 years and time to stop now. Because of this Diana's farewell party I couldn't go to farewell party of Pipiet. Diana didn't know about this party, it was a surprise for her. Her daughter planned this party with other colleagues of Diana and all kids who used to be onder her care were invited.

It was a pleasant and emotional meeting after 3 years didn't see each other. Especially when she saw my daughter again, she had tears in her eyes. And my cake, I tought it would be for everybody, but no, she didn't share it with other guests but she kept it for herself.. hahaha.. which is fine for me. In fact I made it especially for her.

.......................ooOoo........................

The cake itself was a chocolate cake filled with mascarpone strawberry and covered or decorated with rolled fondant.

It was hard work to decorate two cakes for the same day. It was a bit lack of ideas, but then I just decided to go for something simple yet pretty to see.