Sambal Goreng Udang - Indonesian Spicy Shrimp Recipe

Sambal Goreng Udang - Indonesian Spicy Shrimp

It's Ramadhan!

Such a wonderful and blessed month for us moslems and I would like to take this opportunity to share one of our favorite, easy-to-make Indonesian food recipes.

As you know, during Ramadhan, we are fasting from before the sunrise until sunset.
So after restraining ourselves from eating and drinking for quite some times (almost 17 hours here in NYC), I try to cook something nice and special for my family. But since we don't really have much energy left after fasting, I always try to prepare simple food that my family love.
And I have to admit, some Indonesian food need extra preparation.
Nevertheless, the one that I'm about to share with you is one of the simplest ones.

does it look too spicy for you? 

And I just realized I haven’t posted any recipes for quite sometimes, by the way.

So let’s hit the kitchen and this time, I have Sambal Goreng Udang - or Indonesian Spicy Shrimp.

Well, don’t get intimidated by the ‘spicy’ name as you can always, obviously, adjust the level of spiciness in this dish.

Sambal itself means chili sauce and sambal goreng literally means fried chili sauce.
Those who are familiar with Indonesian food might get use to the use of sambal here and there, but again you can have a non spicy chili sauce!
Seriously.
Just add extra tomatoes and sugar to thwart the natural kick of chilies and you're good.

super hungry :)

I have shared some spicy as well as sambal goreng recipes before, so you can check out sambal goreng tempe dan kentang - spicy crispy fried tempe and potato or botok tempe - steamed spicy tempe, to name a few. 

So now, Are you ready to cook with me?


Ingredients:

Shrimp - 2 lbs, with or without the tails, any size you prefer, clean them.
Shallot - thinly sliced
Jãlapeño- thinly sliced, if you like it hot.

Spices to ground:
Onion - half and chopped
Shallots - chopped 

Chilies - 3-4, or less as desired

Tamarind - 3-4 pieces for extra tanginess. Feel free to take it out.
Salt and pepper - as desired
Galangal - 1 piece, pressed.

Just a little note, I really love this spice as it will add extra aroma to your dish. But feel free to drop it of you prefer to do so. Galangal is easily found in Asian groceries or oriental market.

Green peas for garnish
Coconut milk - 2 spoonful
Vegetable oil for sauté - 1 teaspoonful

The good thing about these ground spices, it is sort of a base paste for many Indonesian food or a like. So you can make them in big batches and store them in the freezer.

How to cook:
First, we prepare the shrimps.
You have the choices of deep frying them or pan frying them in order to use less oil. 

Once done, set them aside.

We then sauté the thinly sliced shallots and jãlapeño, put the ground spice all together.
Cook it for a while until it's fragrant.
You can tell when the spices are well cooked.
I have to admit it's the best part as the spices smell wonderful.
Mix the fried shrimps, wait for a while until all the spices are well mixed and cook it in low heat. Then add the green peas at the end for about two minutes so it won't be overcooked.
And that's it.
Your Indonesian spicy shrimp, sambal goreng udang, is ready :).

enjoy..

Eat it with your hot steamed white or brown rice, or sprinkle it over your salad plate.
Hope you like it and enjoy.

Bon appetit!

Cheers

Martabak Mini - Pan-fried Stuffed Flatbread

Hello again!
Time for more recipe from home.
As Ramadhan is here, it's always good to cook some savory bites for Ifthar, the time where we can break our fast.

And Martabak is another famous all-time dishes in Indonesia. 

I'm not pretty sure how to translate martabak in English. Perhaps it doesn't have the exact word for that but what I can think of is the flatbread. It might not be the same but as you will see this food later, tell me what you think is the best name for it :).

Back home in Indonesia, many love the sweet martabak, like tick pancake with chocolate, crushed nuts, and cheese fillings. Almost in many big corners in the streets of Jakarta, we have this special food cart selling sweet martabak.

But my family loves the savory one.

It is surely different from the sweet version but it tastes heavenly. Some say that this typical food is originated from the Middle East, but get some adjustments when arrived in Asia, particularly in Indonesia.

I have to say we have many types of savory martabaks as well. The difference is on the fillings and the sauce. One might have either meat, mutton, or chicken fillings, mixed with eggs and boiled potatoes.We can eat it with a special sauce, made of palm sugar, tamarind, garlic, and chili, or rather a runny curry sauce or even just with pickled cucumbers and shallots.

my simple version of martabak :)

What I am about to share with you is the super simple one. Something that we can swiftly manage to cook at home but still have the exquisite taste of the famous martabak. I don't make the pastry myself as I use the ready-made spring rolls pastry. It's yummy and safe so much time :).

Are you ready?

Let's start with the ingredients:

Minced chicken - 250 gr. Feel free to substitute it with beef, mutton or no meat at all.

Spring roll pastry - easily found in oriental or asian market.

Soy sauce - 1 teaspoon

Worcestershire sauce - 1 teaspoon

Sesame oil - if desired, 1 teaspon

Salt - as needed

Pepper - as needed

Nutmeg  - as needed

Sugar - as needed

Eggs - 4

Potatoes - 2 big ones

Shalots - thinly sliced

Onions - finely chopped

Spring onions - thinly sliced

How to cook:

First,  we boil the potatoes until they are soft enough. Peel the skin and cut them into small cubes.

Then for the filling, mix the minced chicken with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, nutmeg powder and sugar as you like it. If desired, you can also add sesame oil. Then whisk the eggs, add the cube boiled potatoes and mix them all with the spiced mince chicken until the mixture is well mixed and thick/sticky.

Get your skillet cooking pan ready.
Now, to cook it, you can either pan fry it or deep fry it. I usually do the pan fried version because it's less oily. 

So take a spoonful of the filling into the pastry and fold it into a nice square. Put it on the skillet, which has been preheated with oil or butter. Cook it until it's golden brown. I usually use low heat and turn it over several time until it is well cooked. Sometimes, to get a crispier pastry, I put the pastry on the skillet first, let it cook for 2-3 seconds, then put a spoonful of filling and quickly fold it into square with the help of spatula. Cook it until it's golden brown.

You can it it with chili sauce or fresh chili.
Or if you do have some extra time, you can also prepare acar or cucumber, carrots and shallot pickles using apple vinegar, salt and sugar. Acar will be the perfect garnish for this martabak.

Hope you enjoy this simple recipe.
Cocok banget lho buat menu berbuka puasa karena buatnya mudah dan cepat. Buat kami yang tidak punya kemewahan jajan di warung atau makanan bukaan kaki lama yang banyak bermunculan di tanah air (duuuh rindunya :)...), maka resep sederhana ini bisa jadi obat kangen untuk jajanan enak di Indonesia.

Happy Ramadhan to those who observe it and happy cooking to you all .

enjoooy..

Check out more of my stories at #Steller :)

Cumi Tumis Cabe - Spicy Sautéed Squid

It's cooking time...
Kita masak yuk!

It's been quite sometimes since I share some of our easy-to-make favorite dishes.
Just coming back from our spring break road trip, I just realized that I didn't have much on the fridge.
 
But I got dried squid, onion, garlic and jalapeño, plus some chili and a bit of asparagus.
Looks like I could use some of those.
And one of the easiest recipes that comes to mind is spicy sautéed squid or cumi tumis cabe ijo.

Berhubung baru selesai liburan hampir selama 2 minggu, kulkas pun isinya minimalis banget karena belum belanja.
Kali ini, saya punya cumi kering, bawang, cabe dan sedikit asparagus.
Daripada susah, mari kita buat cumi tumis cabe ijo. 
Sudah pernah coba?

cepat jadinya dan gampaaang :)

Setelah hampir dua minggu kami menikmati Spring break dengan anak-anak minggu lalu, saya jadi kangen masak.
Banget!
Buat saya, masak itu obat penghilang stress dan capek.
Bukan hanya sekedar pemuas perut lapar.
Pusing dengan laporan yang menggunung, negosiasi yang tough dan tidak selesai-selesai atau tumpukan dokumen yang menggapai-gapai minta dibaca dan diselesaikan, saya selingi dengan masak supaya pikiran bisa lebih fresh. 
Bahkan pulang dari trip ke 2 negara dan 7 kota yang notabene buat badan 'remuk redam' karena berjam-jam nyetir dan 'ngukur jalan' alias eksplorasi kota yang kami datangi, tidak menghalangi saya untuk bebongkaran kulkas dan masak!

Dan seringkali, I cook with a 'dumping style', alias masak pakai bahan apa aja yang ada di kulkas hehehe.
  
Ini asli cara masak paling gampang dan murah meriah, paling tidak buat saya.

So, are you ready to cook spicy sautéed squid or cumi tumis cabe ijo?

Here are the ingredients.


Dried squid, 1 pound. If you have fresh squid, you can definitely cook it the same way.
 Onion or shallots, thinly sliced. 
 Garlic, 2 cloves or more as desired, thinly sliced.
 Jalapeño and/or chili, as desired, chopped.
Asparagus, cut as desired.
Cooking oil, 1 spoonful.
Salt and sugar, as desired.

Here's how to cook:

Prepare a pan and put one spoonful of oil, then cook onion and garlic for around 2 minutes or until golden and fragrant. 

Then put the squid, cook  for a while and add a bit of water (approximately 3 spoonful) to make it softer 
Add salt and sweet soy sauce. 
Mix it well and cook until the squid is tender.
Finally add the asparagus, cook it for two extra minutes until it's tender.
And that's it! 
As easy as one, two, three and this Cumi Tumis Cabe Ijo or  Spicy Sautéed Squid is best to eat together with steam rice :).

Add caption

Sebelum makan, biasanya saya selalu foto-foto dulu :).
Bukan hanya tukang masaknya yang narsis, makanannya pun perlu eksis kan.

 Selamat makan!

Mie Goreng - Indonesian Fried Noodles

It's the Chinese New Year week!
Gong Xi Fa Choi
May the Year of Rooster bring us all health, good fortune and prosperity!

I instantly want to cook yummy food, which, although it was originally coming from China, but somehow became very popular back home in Indonesia. If I'm not mistaken, noodles menu will always be present during the important events because it brings you good luck. From the Chinese emperor's table to one of the most famous staples in the world, noodles certainly have been enjoyed by so many.
Well for sure, it's yummy!

This time, I have mie goreng or fried noodles. Indonesian Fried Noodles.

Noodles have been extremely popular for its delicious taste and various version of garnish and toppings. Well, perhaps not toppings, but more like the mixtures. You can add seafood, chicken, beef, sausage, meatballs, eggs, or even pork, if you can and/or like to eat it. 

For us, the best choices are seafood, vegetables and eggs. If you are observing food combining, then noodles go perfectly hand in hand with vegetables, like mushrooms, green beans, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflowers, beansprout, green onion, bok choy and sooo many more.

As it is very popular in Indonesia, we have so many street food vendors and restaurant selling those varieties of noodles. Not only, fried noodles or mie goreng, but also mie pangsit, mie ayam jamur, mie godog, mie aceh, mie rebus, mie bakso and more. 
We fry, sauté, steam, put it in soup, mix it and bake it. 
I have shared the recipe for mie ayam jamur, another favorite dish at home. 

Not to mention the instant noodles!
You will be surprised to see tons of varieties of flavors offered instantly for you. 
But I try to reduce using it because of the amount of MSG contained in it :(.

So, ready to cook some Indonesian fried noodles?
Let's start!

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 bundles of dried noodles - There are so many choices that you can easily find in oriental store. Try to look for the egg noodles one, usually it's thin and yellow, comes in pack of 6. You can also use the fresh noodles, if you want.

1 piece Onion - thinly sliced

3 pieces Garlic - crushed

Portobello Mushroom - sliced in cubes. Or you can also use the dried mushrooms and sliced 
Bok choy - cut as desired
Carrots - cut as desired
Bean sprouts 

Spring onion - thinly sliced
2-3 Eggs - scrambled

Salt and pepper - as needed
Sesame oil - if desired
Sweet soy sauce - two spoonful or as desired
Fish sauce - if desired
Vegetable oil - one spoonful or as desired
Fried onion for garnish.

HOW TO COOK:

First, we get the noodles ready. 
Boil water in a pan and once boiling, cook the dried noodle for approximately 3 -5 minutes until they soften. Add a bit of fish sauce and sesame oil for extra favour and aroma. Set aside. 

Prepare a pan, put one spoonful of oil, then cook onion and garlic for around 3 minutes until golden and fragrant. Then put the eggs, cook and scramble it for a while,  then add the noodles. Add salt, pepper, sesame oil, and sweet soy sauce. Mix it well. Finally, add portobello mushroom, carrots, bok choy, bean sprouts and green onions. Cook it all together for another 2- 3 minutes. And in no time, your fried noodles is ready.

Sprinkle it with fried onion on top  and you can eat it just like that or with a little kick of sambal or chili sauce, or even fresh, cut chili.

Hope you like it. 
Bon appetite and enjoy!

Tempe Goreng Tepung - Indonesian Fried Tempe

Tempe goreng tepung memang ngg ada matinya!
At least in my house.

Time to share another favorite menu of the house: tempe goreng tepung or fried tempe fritters, as I freely translate it.
Have you tried one?

Beberapa kali saya share di blog kalau tempe adalah salah satu makanan favorit sekaligus harta karun buat kami yang tinggal jauh dari tanah air. 
Tempe bukan hanya sekedar lauk khas Indonesia yang enak dan bikin ketagihan. Ada setangkup rindu dan rasa haru setiap melihat tempe. Mengolahnya menjadi makanan kesukaan keluarga melayangkan ingatan saya pada keluarga besar di Indonesia yang kerap berkumpul dan berbagi suka duka dengan ditemani sepiring tempe goreng. Di situ ada identitas bangsa yang kaya akan budaya kuliner dan sumber daya alamnya yang luar biasa. Ah, mau makan tempe aja jadi sentimentil hehehe! 
Itulah spesialnya tempe untuk saya dan keluarga.

want some?

I have shared several time in my blog that tempe is one of our favorite food and heavily treasured mostly by Indonesians living abroad.

Tempe is not just a typical or traditional delicious Indonesian food that you continue craving for more. There is a piece of 'home' and longing for the homey ambience as we eat  tempe with our loved ones. So now, allow me to share another favorite easy-peasy recipe for tempe.

Ready for tempe goreng tepung or Indonesian fried tempe?

Here we go...

Ingredients:

Tempe or tempeh - you can find it in oriental or Indonesian shop and also Trader Joe's which have its own home-brand tempeh.
Flour - 200 gr
Maizena - 1 spoonful
Turmeric - 1 pinch, if desired
Coriander - hoarsely ground, 1 tea spoonful
Garlic - 4 pieces, crushed. The best is the fresh one, otherwise you can also use garlic powder.
Shallot - 2 pieces, thinly sliced
Kemiri or candlenut - 2 - 3 pieces
Salt - as desired
Sugar - as desired
Spring onion - thinly sliced
Vegetable oil for frying

How to cook:

First, we prepared the spices. You can ground all the spices or just simply use the dry powder. Ground garlic, candlenuts and coriander together. In a mixing bowl, put the flour, maizena, ground spices, salt and sugar then mix them all well by adding water until the dough is well mixed and thick. Add the thinly sliced shallot and spring onion to the dough once it's mixed well.

Cut tempe as desired. For us, the thinner the better because then it get crispy when we fry it. Just to make sure that it's not too thin so that tempe stays intact when fried.

In a frying pan, heat enough vegetable oil for frying. Dip tempe to the dough and fry it until it's beautifully golden. And....that's it!
Your tempe goreng tepung is ready. You can eat it just like that with a little kick from fresh green chili or jalapeños :). Or pair it with a bowl of steamed rice and eat it while it's hot.

Bon appetit!

My fave!

Keto Nasi Lemak Recipe - Easy Low Carb For Weekly Meal Plans

Hi, everyone.

This time, I have decided to have a guest post from those who share the same passion in cooking. Please welcome Jennifer Brown from Iamaddictedtocooking.com.

Ready to check out what she has prepared for us?

Here we go...

Keto Nasi Lemak Recipe For Weight Loss 

The Ketogenic diet is an important diet that encompasses high-fat content and low carbohydrate content. The diet is essential in handling many health problems such as type two diabetes, cardiovascular risks, epilepsy, triglycerides, polycystic ovarian syndrome, some patterns of LDL cholesterol, acne, and some types of cancers related to nerves and brain.

One of the tastiest and delicious Ketogenic recipes that I discovered recently is Keto Nasi Lemak. This is a very popular rice dish in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. In fact in Malaysia, this meal is regarded as a national dish. It is served in restaurants, night markets, by street vendors and cooked in homes across the country.

Per serving, it offers 501.7 calories, 39.9 g fats, 6.9 carbohydrates and 28.1 g proteins making it one of the best meals for those who want to lose weight and achieve maximum health.

Things You’ll Need

To prepare Keto Nasi Lemak, you will need kitchen appliances and items such as a cooker, a plastic spoon for mixing ingredients, a wooden spoon for stirring, cookware set, pots and pans of different sizes.

Ingredients

The following are the ingredients you need to prepare 2 servings of Keto Nasi Lemak.

Fried Chicken

• 2 boneless Chicken Thighs

• 1/4 tablespoon Turmeric Powder

• 1/2 tablespoon Curry Powder

• 1/2 tablespoon Lime Juice

• 1/2 tablespoon Coconut Oil

• 1/8 tablespoon Salt

Nasi Lemak

• 3 tablespoon Coconut Milk (from the can)

• 3 slices Ginger

• 1/2 small Shallot, sliced

• 200 grams riced Cauliflower

• 1/4 table Salt

• 4 slices Cucumber

Fried Egg

• 1 large Egg

• 1/2 tablespoon Unsalted Butter

Preparation Procedure

1. Prepare 200 grams of cauliflower rice, dry it out by squeezing water out and then put it aside. Check online to get more instructions about ricing cauliflower.

2. Soak 2 boneless Chicken Thighs with 1/2 tablespoon Lime Juice, 1/4 tablespoon Turmeric Powder, 1/2 tablespoon Curry Powder and 1/2 tablespoon Salt. Set them aside.

3. Prepare Sambal. Chop one large Onion and blend the pieces until they turn smooth. Set aside. Cut 0.35 ounce Dried Chilis, remove seeds and boil until soft and blend to a paste once they are cooled. Melt 2 tablespoon Coconut Oil in a heated pan and add the blended dried chilies and onions, 1/2 tablespoon Salt and 3 tablespoon Reduced Sugar Ketchup. Allow them to simmer until the oil separates from the sauce.

4. Fry the soaked chicken thighs that you set aside until they turn brown.

5. Prepare the rice by boiling 3 slices Ginger, 3 tablespoon Coconut Milk, 1/4 tablespoon Salt and 1/2 small Shallot in a saucepan. Add in the riced Cauliflower once you see bubbles and mix well.

6. Serve the meal with fried egg, cucumber slices, chicken, and Sambal.

Conclusion

I have prepared this delicious dish several times and my kids always love to eat it. I have also come to like this Ketogenic recipe because it is a low carb diet and a great source of minerals, vitamins and unsaturated fat.

Jennifer is a certified cook enthusiast and a legit photographer from Ohio, USA. She is a food lover and thus makes blogs about it at Imaddictedtocooking, which include her own photos for the demonstration of how the recipes are made.  Contact her at @jenniferimaddi1

Putri Salju - Snow White Cookies

Cooking time..
And with the holiday spirit, I was inspired to bake Putri Salju, or literally, Snow White cookies :)

Have you ever heard of that?

Back home in Indonesia, we do bake special cookies and cook special food for special ocassions, like Idul Fitri or Christmas. One of the most popular ones is Putri Salju.
Putri Salju is a translation of Snow White is bahasa Indonesia.
Basically it's cookies covered with powdered sugar, so it looks like snow.
Yummy and cute :)

Putri Salju..

Although we don't celebrate Christmas but we definitely respect those who do and we share the joy and the festivity during this wonderful time of the year.

So, to bring the taste of home, I bake Putri Salju and would love to share the recipe with you all here.

Here we go...

Ingredients

Flour 400 gram (or as needed..you can try with a half of the recipe and cut everything in half as well here)
Cheese 250 gram or more, grated.  My fave is usually Swiss Gruyere, Edam and/or Parmesan. It tastes bold and yummy, and smells wonderful. Some people like to mix nuts or almond in the dough, but I prefer cheese so everyone can eat it, including those who are allergic to nuts. But the choice, is of course, up to you :).
Egg yolks 4
Butter 350 gram 
Milk powder 200 gram 
Corn starch 100 gram, for extra taste of crunchy cookies.

For garnish:

Powdered sugar as needed

You will need baking trays, dough roller, cookie cutters and parchment paper.

How to cook: 

I have to say it's super easy!
Just like any standard cookies you usually bake.

First, mix the butter and egg yolks well using mixer. It usually takes 5-10 minutes in high and medium speed.
Add the grated cheese and mix them well.
Then knead the mixture with flour and cornstarch gradually, until everything is well mixed and become soft, well-blended dough. 
The best way of doing it is using our clean hands, so you can really feel it. 
That's what I love to do :). But of course you can always use the spatula or wooden spoon for ease.
Roll the dough and cut them using cookie cutter you like. 

Place them onto the greased baking trays.
Then preheat the oven to 420 degree F (or as you usually use) and bake until it's slightly brown and cooked. Usually, they are beautifully done for around 20 minutes.

Once everything is slightly warm, sprinkle the powdered sugar and make sure both sides are covered by the powdered sugar.

And..Putri Salju, Snow White cookies, is ready!

Easy, right :). Have fun trying it and happy holiday..