Sop Buntut - Indonesian Oxtail Soup

More Indonesian culinary experience from my kitchen table :).

Let me introduce you all to Sop Buntut - Indonesian oxtail soup.

I recently went to our local supermarket here in Astoria and found halal oxtail. Yup, oxtail.

Although oxtail is obviously not a common ingredients here, but I found various menus from different countries using the same ingredients, like oxtail osso bucco and oxtail stew, for example.

Back home in Indonesia, sop buntut or oxtail soup has been widely known as a famous plate. Not only in authentic warung or street food vendors, but also in five-star hotels in Jakarta. Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, one of the luxurious hotels in the Capital, has long been recognized as 'the place' for the best sop buntut in town. 

Served with a warm plate of steamed rice and crackers, be it kerupuk or emping - or bitter nut crackers, sop buntut is one of the favorite choice for lunch or dinner. The rich texture and tender meat, enhanced with special aroma from the spices being used, makes sop buntut a yummy 

Some of you might not get a chance to try it in the restaurant here in the US,  but if you want, you can cook it at home.

Ingredients:

Oxtail - 2 pounds, usually it's already cleaned and chopped to pieces.

Garlic - 3 cloves

Shallot - 2 medium cloves

Coriander - 1 teaspoon
Candlenuts - 3 pieces

Nutmeg powder - as desired

Salt and pepper - as desired

Sugar - as desired
Vegetable oil
Carrots - cut in dice
Celery or cilantro or spring onion - all serves as garnish and my fave is cilantro and spring onion
Tomatoes

In some recipes, they use cloves. You are indeed welcomed to use it as it brings an exquisite aroma to the soup. I don't find one here so I skip it. But I make sure that nutmeg is added as it is sort of a 'signature' hint for this soup, at least in my family's recipe :). 

How to cook:

First, we get all the spices ready. Using mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, shallot, coriander and candle nut. Of course you are welcomed to use your food processor as well. Then heat one spoonful of vegetable oil and sauté the ground spices until it's well cooked and fragrant. In a large pot, boil the oxtail, together with the spices, until the meat is soft. I takes around 3 hours to get it tender, depending on the oxtail. Once the meat is tender, put carrots, celery/spring onion and boil it for 5 - 10 minutes. And sop buntut is ready.

Give some drops of fresh lime or lemon to add extra tangy kick in your soup and some fresh chopped chili if desired. You can also eat it together with a bowl of warm steamed rice.

lime or lemon gives you a fresh kick in the soup

Hope you get a chance to try this exotic culinary.
Selamat makan, bon appetit

Bubur Ayam - Indonesian Chicken Porridge

Yuhuuuu...

Time to spend some times and create something in the kitchen.

We are in the middle of our midsummer break and away from home, but we are trying to bring the homey feeling through our favorite food. 

One common breakfast meal that you can find in Indonesia is bubur ayam - or Indonesian chicken porridge.

Have you tried it before?

I love it!

Some might find the preparation for this meal a bit complicated as bubur ayam has many condiments require to make it a complete dish. But again, it tastes wonderful so it worth all the efforts.

Back home, bubur ayam can easily be brought from the food vendor, including the  mobile one who's coming to your front door. 

Here in New York City, some authentic Indonesian restaurant has bubur ayam on their menu. 

As I love this food, I learn how to cook it properly. What makes it different from other porridge is the condiments and some spices used for this Indonesian chicken porridge. I put ginger and lemongrass to give extra flavor and aroma.

On our last trip to Pennsylvania, I had it before rowing our boat on the lake. Feels like heaven eating my favorite food while enjoying nature's beauty.

What else is needed?

Here are the ingredients:

Porridge:

Rice - 1 small pack or 2 cups

Chicken broth 

Ginger - slightly pressed

Lemongrass - 1 piece, slightly pressed

Shallot or red onion - thinly sliced

Salt and pepper - as desired 

For the soup:

Chicken broth

Shallot

Salt and pepper - as desired

For condiments:

Boiled chicken - shredded, you can use the chicken from the broth

Scallion - thinly sliced

Kerupuk or shrimp/garlic crackers - fried

Shallot - thinly sliced and fried, or you can easily buy the ready pack at any oriental stores

Kedele

Sweet soy sauce - as desired

Chili sauce - as desired 

Some love to add cakue  or like fried salty Funnel cake which make the porridge more like a chinese-style one. I don't usually add it but it's nice as well.

How to cook:

Clean the rice and add the chicken broth as well as the rice and a few cups of water in a cooking pot. I usually use 5 cups of water, including the broth. You can definitely use rice cooker as well but I prefer using the cooking pot because We need to stir it frequently until the rice has reach a certain consistency as porridge. Put the ginger and lemon grass as well as shallots and keep stirring for about 30 minutes. Once it starts getting ticker, use low heat to avoid burning. The porridge is well cooked after it's tick enough and not runny.

This is how it looks :).

For the soup, we simply make clear soup from chicken broth. If you like and you want to add some colors, you can add turmeric.

Once everything is ready, put the porridge in a bowl and give all the condiments you like on top of it.

Enjoy your bubur ayam - Indonesian chicken porridge:).

Selamat makan.

enjoy...

Tempe Bacem - Javanese Sweet Marinated Tempe

Have you tried tempe or tahu bacem before?

tempe bacem

In this lovely Father's Day as well as the blessed holy month of Ramadhan, allow me to share one of my hubby's favorite recipes.

Tempe Bacem or Javanese Sweet Marinated Tempe, if I may freely translate it :).

Those who have been to Indonesia, particularly to Java,  might be familiar with this famous dish from my country. Owing to its exquisite sweet and bold taste, tempe and tahu bacem are surely loved by most of us, Indonesians.

Remember tempe?
I have passionately shared about this vegan food. Made of fermented soybean, tempe has surely stolen the hearts of Indonesian. You will definitely find various dishes using tempe in Indonesia. But even abroad, whenever you have Indonesians, there will always be ones who produce and sell tempe. Including here in NYC. Some of the tempe being sold here are made in New Jersey or Philadelphia. Every week, we have our own schedule at the nearest Indonesian groceries stores in Elmhurst, Queens. 

When we were in Melbourne, we have a steady suply of tempe as well, produced by some of the students there. In Geneve, we have a very nice and yummy tempe made in the Netherlands and somehow delivered to Geneve, Switzerland, every 2-3 months. 

So, that's a little story about tempe and now let's try our simple recipe today.
Usually, we cook tempe together with tahu or tofu, and even chicken, using the same spices and marinating sauce. But this time, I skip the tofu (and the chicken) and only have tempe.

it can be yummy snack, too :)

Ingredients:

Tempe

Spices to be ground:

Palm sugar

Coriander

Shallot or red onion, thinly sliced

Salt

Kemiri or candle nut

Bay leaves - set it aside

Galangal - pressed 

How to cook:

There are several steps to go through while cooking tempe bacem.

First, we prepare the spices. As always, I enjoy grinding it manually using my traditional mortar and pestle that I brought from home :). It was actually my mom's and I cherish it dearly. Using it is like cooking in my mom's kitchen, so warm and cozy. 

So..back to the cooking.

let's grind it..

Once the spices are all ground, then we marinate and cook tempe together with all the spices. Put them all in a pot, add a half glass of water (or more if deem necessary) and bring to boil until all the spices are well absorbed by tempe. Some use coconut water to add the extra bold flavor but to me, water is enough.

Use low heat to avoid overcooking or burning the tempe because the marinate sauce is sweet. To have a bolder taste, I usually add sweet soy sauce. My favorite Indonesian brand is Bango and luckily, we can easily find it here in NYC. Cook it until the water is dried and the spices are well mixed.

And finally, once tempe is well cooked and looks brownish from the spices, we can deep fry it or bake it to make it crunchy. If you don't fancy frying it, you can eat it as it is, because it is basically well-cooked already.

Eat it together with a bowl of steamed rice and some fresh chili, if you like :).

Hope you enjoy it and till next recipe.

Check out more of my stories at #Steller :)

Kaastengels a la Obi :)

yummy kaastengels

Cooking with kids can be fun!

Well, the kitchen might be messy but the joy of tossing the ingredients, stirring the dough and cracking the eggs is so overwhelming...
At least in my case :)...

Saya seneeeng bangeeet masak dengan anak-anak. 
Soalnya seruuu...dan mereka memang benar-benar bisa membantu lho. 
Walaupun resikonya adalah dapur jadi amburadul, waktu memasak relatif lebih lama dan seringkali hasilnya jadi tidak seperti yang kita harapkan hehehe.
Tapi melihat Bo et Obi antusias memecahkan dan mengocok telur, menakar tepung, atau menambahkan coklat lagi dan lagi ke dalam adonan kue, rasanya mengharukan hehehe. Bahagia melihat muka celemotan dengan tepung dan meja makan yang meriah dengan hasil karya mereka :). Belum lagi kehebohan dengan pernak-pernik memasaknya, mulai dari apron alias celemek sampai cetakan kue yang lucu-lucu :).

Yang pasti, anak-anak bisa membantu memasak dengan tetap memperhatikan keamanan. Safety first...
Jadi jika mereka membantu, ekstra hati-hati dengan benda panas, tajam dan yang berbahaya lainnya, seperti pisau, baki panggangan yang panas, api kompor atau oven dan sejenisnya.

Dan kali ini, kita mau share pengalaman waktu masak kue keju alias kaastengel.
I know..baru juga mulai puasa tapi boleeeh yaaah share resep favorit kami sekeluarga :).

My family really enjoys hearty meals and yummy munchies. As I need to be careful with sugar and preservatives, I usually cook myself. Well, if I arrive from the office a bit late, Bo et Obi can be very handy in the kitchen. But we usually cook a lot during weekends. And sometimes, Bo et Obi know exactly what they want, so mommy has to stand ready :p.

One of our favorite munchies is kaastengel. 
Cheesy cookies..or some might say, cheese stick. 
Kaas means cheese in Dutch and Kaastengel is quite popular in Indonesia, especially for Eid ul Fitr or Christmas.

But since we love them sooo much, we don't always wait for those special moments. 
We just bake them regularly...enjoying the cooking time with my kiddos.

Including now, as we are about to welcome Ramadhan, the holy month..

I was simply laughing out loud as they started measuring the flour and counting the eggs just like the professional chef. Let alone when they start rolling the dough and sprinkle more and more chocolate or spill the butter. 

For sure the kitchen will be a bit messy but we can always clean it :). But the joy of laughing and creating something together is beyond words. 

But don't forget to make sure everything is safe for them. 
Watch out for sharp, hot, and dangerous objects while cooking with the kids.

So, as Kaastengeel or the cheese cookies are ou favorite, we decided to bake them :).

And here's our simple recipe for Kaastengel from Nenek Lilies, my mom :).
Perfect for any ocassion, particularly Eid Fitr, after the holy month of Ramadhan.
Or even now, for your Ifthar or any occassions you like.

Oh my, we haven't even finished fasting for the first day yet :) 

Ingredients : 

Flour 400 gram (or as needed)
Cheese 250 gram or more, grated 
I usually have Swiss Gruyere, Edam and/or Parmesan...you can also use Gauda et Cheddar of course, whatever you love :). I love the matured cheese because it tas really good and smell wonderfully.
Egg yolks 4
Butter 350 gr 
I usually mix Wijsman, the Dutch canned butter that my mom loves to use soooo much, with margarine or buttery spread, such as I Can't Believe It's not Butter :))
Milk powder 200 gram 
If you like..to add the creamy taste) 
Corn starch 100 gram 
For extra crunchy cookies..

For garnish:
Grated cheese 150 gram or more, depending how generous you are garnishing the cookies
2 Egg yolks, whisked and mixed with butter (2 spoonfull)
Clean brush

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

How to cook 

Here comes the fun :)

Mix the butter and egg yolks well using mixer, then add the grated cheese. Mix them well.
Then knead the mixture with flour and cornstarch, gradually, until they all mix well and become soft, well-blended dough. The best way of doing it is using our clean hands, so you can really feel it. But of course you can always use the spatula or wooden spoon.

Then roll the dough and cut them using cookie cutter you like.

The traditional shape is rectangles but as you can see, we choose the heart-shaped cookie cutters for this.

Place them onto the greased baking trays.

Then preheat the oven to 420 degree F while you brush the cookies with whisked egg yolks and butter and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Some extra sprinkles will be fun :)

Once everything is ready, put the trays  and bake till they are beautifully done for around 20 minutes.

Oh my, it looks yummy indeed :).

What's your favorite family recipe? Do you like cooking it with your kids as well?