Archive for the ‘food’ Category

If people said that Jakarta is a mixing pot of Indonesian’s diverse cultures, then there is one food that can represent the mix better than any other food.

Hail the esteemed noodle (bakmie). No Jakartans will ever argue that along with Nasi Padang, Bubur (Porridge) and Soto, noodle is one food that comes in abundantly great variety. There is almost one comes from each Indonesia’s provinces in additional of other that comes with a cutting edge look.

Historically a direct descendant of the Chinese Noodle Soup, the Indonesian variety version was much more diverse in terms of noodle type, topping and the seasoning, thanks the centuries of acculturation with the local taste. On top of your head, you can easily name Mie Aceh, Mie Ayam Medan, Mie Ayam Palembang, etc.

Let’s recalled the Jakarta’s great three noodle vendors, the Bakmi GM, Naga and Gang Kelinci, all started from the rather insecure spot at city centre slum, and grew larger in to million dollars business and franchises. Though the three vendors deploy pretty similar form of Bak Mie and soup, you can always bet that there are people who prefer one better against the other.

Today, Jakarta noodle library are as diverse and as exciting as the international wine list. Quick Sunday drive to area like Kelapa Gading, will expose you to several famous noodle vendor such as Bakmie Tan (with its fish fried cake), A Loy, A Sui,  or A Haw, all comes with their own interpretation of how a bowl (or in same case a plate) of noodle supposed to be, and served along a bowl of chicken soup, and various topping (from chicken only, to mixed chicken-pork).

Order a glass of cold Liang tea (Herbs tea) and some fried wonton, and you will have your self a perfect Sunday brunch.

Any discussion about which one is the best will usually incite a prolonged and heated argument, without any conclusion. The content of discussion will usually revolving around the texture and shape of the noodle (thick, thin, wide, rubbery, soggy, soft, curly), the taste of the noodle it self (flat, salty, salty sweet, fish, prawnishy or simply tasty), the soup (tasty or not tasty) and the topping (chicken, pork, wonton, beef balls or porky materials). Price and place is usually discussed at the very last, or never entered the discussion at all)

At the end, as for the variety it involved along the ingredients in between, and like any other cuisine, it is a very subjective judgment. Good things that no body every fallen victim from this sort of discussion.

As for me, I like the Bakmie Tan’s fried thin fish cake, and Aloy’s Palembang noodles. But for the beef balls ultimate experience, A Guan at Lao Tse is the best. What about you ?

For whatever reason, I felt craving for aglio olio this morning. Naturally, spaghetti aglio olio is my quick win solution for my after work hunger. It’s quick, can be made in more a dozen variation, cheap and pretty brainless. The procedure is easy, and its only by series of unfortunate events you can make it wrong.

So today, I found that my craving for this particular meal, despite the nature of holiday what would allow me to do more elaborate recipe, was a bit odd.

And so after a really quick cold shower (habits derived from years of “mandi pake gayung”) I drove to Oakwood’s Ranch Market to get the supplies. Fortunately, I’ve got pretty much everything stocked in my kitchen, so my brief shop this morning only resulted in baguette, diced garlic , and 200 grams of sliced chicken breast. Other then that these are my ensemble.

The Ingredient
200 g of sliced chicken breast
2 spoons of diced garlic
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Fish Sauce
Salt and Pepper

The Pasta

• Cook the pasta al dente (boil the water, put the pasta in, don’t break just twist and release, wait as recommended by the pack). There is no need to put salt or oil into the boiling water.
• When it cooked, dry the water it
• Heat up a frying pan, when its hot, set the fire to mid, pour a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil.
• Throw in a full spoon of diced garlic.
• Soon after you can smell the unique sweet smell of garlic in the olive, and the color turned yellowish quickly
• Throw all the pasta in, give, a good toss
• Heat up the fire, and give another rounds of toss. The idea is to make sure that all parts of the spaghetti get in touch with the garlic and oil as quick as possible
• Throw 3 pinches of salt, give another round of toss
• By now, your pasta should be looked all oily. Turn the heat off, garnish with fresh parsley (or dried one)

Cooked spaghetti, see how the oil glitters under the light ?

The Topping
To be completely frank with you, the topping can be anything of your choice. For this particular I used slided boneless chicken breast, because its cheap and easy to cook

• Start by pan fried the chicken sliced in low heat, until it gets the mid brown cooked on each sides
• If the pan get to water because of the oil from the chicken, throw the oil out, until it reasonably dry, and add slight amount of cooking oil/
• Add one full spoon of garlic, followed by several squirts of fish sauce
• Stir fried very quickly, ensure that you don’t get the garlic burned or fried

Cooked Chicken, notice the brown-ish tone ?

Garnish
- Readied the cooked pasta on the plate
- Put on the chicken as topping
- Sprinkle some fresh (or dried parsley)
- Add some chili flakes (my favorite is shrimp flavored)

Bon Appetit  !!!

Spaghetti Aglio Olio original take

Spaghetti Aglio Olio as garnished by Fery with added pickled garlic !

As planned, my Sunday goes uneventful. Well other than completing Royal Pains season one featuring, the irresistibly hot, superbly gorgeous, brunette of all time, Jill Flint. I spent my time pretty much drowsing on the bed, and treat me self with a series of high fat, high cholesterol, low fiber diets and snacks, especially, the mouthwatering, home cooked hearty breakfast of three eggs over easy, three beef sausages, a slop of baked beans in tomatoes, and cuts of baguettes. Nothing fancy, no chili sauces, just salt, pepper, and butter.

My own english breakfast, eggs over easy, sausages, baked beans and freshly baked breads. I wish I could have beef bacon too...Yummmm

Hearty breakfast for a lazy Sunday indeed. See you on Monday folks.

I woke up feeling rather gloomy this morning, despite the fact that today is Saturday and no Saturday should be faced ill hearted. But couldn’t help it though cause this morning I need to face a dreaded exam that every bankers in this country should faced.

Thankfully, it went pretty well, if not better than I expected. So after I got back, take an afternoon nap for three straight hours, I felt that it just fit if I rewarded my self with a newly cleaned apartment (of which my hands plays critical role), a cold evening shower and good treat of home made Spaghetti Bolognese.

I have a little story about Spaghetti Bolognese.  When I first studied in Australia, I home stayed at the residence of the Plummer Family. The patron of the house, Jenny Plummer who was no other than my home stay mom though I prefer to see her as a big sister, used to cook a spaghetti bolognese for the dinner, sometimes its for days in a row. Now understandably, as a single mom with one little daughter and a little dog at that time, her hands were pretty full, so the spaghetti bolognese became her main menu. Now Jenny might be good at other things, she was a great mom, a great sister to me, but cooking, wasn’t her specialty, and so her bolognese was barely passed as an edible. Yet, despite all these, the time I spent living under her care, is one of the most memorable part of my life, one that is very fond to me. And those barely edible bolognese ? Well I kind of miss it.

Years after that, one of my great personal challenge is to be able to make a good spaghetti bolognese. And after several trial and error (some are in-edibles), here are my take on the recipe.

Now dear readers, when you read my ingredients, I know that there will be some of you who loathe my choice of an instant spices/ingredients. Its not fresh, yes, inorganic, yes, but its quick and simple. And for many people like me who cooks occasionally, and spent no more then 3-4 hours  a week to do that, its good enough. On the other note, for girls who read this, I know that Spaghetti Bolognese is no brainer, but trust me there are many, many, many good people out there, who can barely sautéed garlic and onions, so please bear with me. Now the heat is on.

The Ingredients
• Half cut of onion, finely diced
• 4 pieces of garlic ( or 1 full table spoon of ready cut garlic)
• A jar of tomato paste (approx. 500gr)
• A dry spaghetti
• A pinch of Italian herbs (rosemary, oregano), parsley
• Salt and Sugar
• 200 grams of minced beef
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Some French butter

Spaghetti Bolognese Ingredients

Cooking the Sauce
• Heat up your cooking pan, when its ready pour a generous amount of the olive oil
• Lower the heat, throw  in the diced onions and garlic, sauté for 10-15 secs until the you smell the sweet scent of the garlic and onions. You will notice that both are turned yellowish, but not fried. This is a sign for you to throw in the minced beef

Sauteed Onion and Garlic

• Throw in the minced beef, give a good stir, mixing the meat with onion, garlic and oil. Try to stir thoroughly, so that every parts of it get the taste of the oil and garlic. After 5 minute-ish you can smell the cooked aroma of the meat, and the color will turned brownish.
• Put in a chunk of French butter, a finger size would suffice, and while it melts, direct your effort to open the tomato paste jar
• When its open, empty the content into the pan, don’t waste a bit, if there is some condiment left, wash it thorough with some water, give a good shake, and pour it in the pan. It will make the mix a little bit soupy, but after a while it will thicken again.
• Stir the mix, make sure that every parts of the beef is now soaked in the paste/soup
• Throw in a pinch of the Italian herbs, each of them. Now when I write a pinch, it means just a finger tip, not too much, cause you just want a hint of its flavor and aroma, and not overwhelmed the sauce.
• Put 2 tea spoon of sugar (this is important !!!). Stir thoroughly
• Let it simmer, with occasional stir for several minutes and its ready.

Finished Bolognese Sauce

The Pasta
• Heat up some water to boiled, give two pinch of salts
• When it boiled, put your pasta in (don’t break the pasta ! Just squeeze and release)

Cooking the pasta, squeeze and release !!!!

• Cook it al dente. Now I know it is easy to say cook it al dente, but the truth is , for un experienced hands, its difficult to determine. In which my trick can get handy. Look at the pasta packing there will some notes saying something like “cook in 13 minutes”, now get your timer, and just set it accordingly.
• When your timer rings, dried the pasta thoroughly, no need to rinse.

Served
• Very simple, get out a plate, put some pasta on it (the cooked one)
• Pour in a generous amount of the sauce on top if it
• You can garnish it with some parmesan cheese, and bread (especially useful to wipe out the sauce !!!)
• And prepare some salad as a side dish
• Drinks suggestion ? Red wine, Ice Tea or Sparkling Grape Juice.

Bon appetit !!!!

Simple salad for side dish

Your spaghetti bolognese is ready, bon appetit !!!

Irish Breakfast - not exactly an English breakfast but close enoug (courtesy of wikipedia.org)

Today is Saturday morning, and as I open my eyes, and let the rays of light shining through, I feel, a strange growling of hunger right there deep in my stomach. Which off course, naturally, makes me curious, what short of breakfast that can perfected this morning.


Surely, everyone can have different opinion on this.


As for me, I found that there is nothing more satisfying and fulfilling than a generous portion of an English breakfast. Off course, breakfast is a matter of preference, there are many of us, who grew accustomed to the Asian (or specifically Indonesian) style of breakfast which can either be a fried rice, a porridge or the rich nasi uduk. There are also people who are pretty happy and content with a roll of omelet, slap of pancake, or a bowl of cereal.

Not me though, I suppose years of living in a country who is semi willing/ semi attached to the Kingdom, has trained my tasting and smelling apparatus to cherish, the smell of fried bacon, crusty baked bread, and tangy tasty liquid yoke of the mid fried eggs.

So, for girls out there, who may or may not be fortunate enough to cook me a breakfast, the below listing is just a clue, on how you can make me the happiest person that morning.

1. Eggs. Be it fried or scrambled, nothing in this world can excite me as much as two piece of medium fried eggs. Medium cooked means the whites are well cooked but not crispy, while the egg yoke, are still in form of liquid. Light slice on top of the yoke, will prey the thin membrane open, and spill the yoke to plate. This is the defining moment, from then on you have an option on either slapped your toast on yoke, or dip your sausage on it. Either way, it’s heavenly. Scrambled egg however, is less delicate. Should it is decided to be scrambled, one need to make sure that the eggs must remain fluffy and soft, enough to accommodate spread on the toast.
2. Toast is a tool. It is not the main ingredient of the breakfast but merely a complementary that assist you in enjoying the other components of the breakfast. A toast can be spread with the fresh melting butter, or jam, or if you like me, soaked in a warm egg yoke.
3. Sausage. The most critical part of the meal. Sausages complementing the food and creating balance between the creaminess of the egg and butter. Chicken of beef sausages will serves just as well should pork is not an option. Although admittedly, there is no substitute for pork sausages. Best served pan fried, lightly seared and lightly sliced diagonally, as to avoid unsightly break on the outer membrane. My recommended dosage will be 3 smalls or 2 larges. No less.
4. Bacon. Ah, the taste of the heaven on the edge of the earth. If there is a particular reason why Muslim can not eat bacon ( a derivative product of pork) in this live, is probably because God decorated heaven with slices of bacon. Nonetheless if the “pork” bacon is not available, the substitute beef bacon can be used, with some degree of sacrificing. Two long slice of medium butter fried not too crispy is my preference.
5. Veggies. Veggies for breakfast should be simple, unassuming and straight forward, to this come the baked beans, roasted tomatoes and mushrooms. Additional you can induce a fresh organic celery, which will add some crunch to your menu.

We only live once, and breakfast is an energy for the day. So why bother to worried on the fat and oil. Well, it may be just me. What about you, what is your breakfast ?