I always wanted to take food photos and  play with my food styling without worrying about time.  Knowing that it is difficult to do these during workdays, I set out to take better pictures during this holiday.  I can use the natural sunlight, I can afford to trial and error with my food plating, and I can take as many shots as I can.  It is really a fun thing to do. Well of course it means there are more tidying and cleaning around the apartment that I must do afterwards, but who cares when you have all the time in your hand.  By the way I don’t always take the photos. For example these ones were shot by my husband slash photographer for a lot of the photos on my blog.

Back to the food, here is the recipe…..

Ingredients

6 large handfuls of fresh egg noodles.

Chicken mince
300 gr chicken mince
4 garlic cloves
2 cm ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce

Chicken broth
1 kg chicken carcasses
2 cm ginger, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 shallot
2.6 L water
salt and pepper

Condiments

Oak lettuce leaves
Sliced shallots
Fried eschallots
Chilli sauce
Fried wonton wrappers

How to

Chicken mince

1. Process garlic and ginger in a food processor.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok.  Add garlic and ginger until fragrant, then add chicken.
3. Stir fry the chicken and break the chicken lumps with your spatula.
4. When the chicken is half cooked, add salt, pepper, soy sauce and sugar.
5. Keep stirring and breaking the lumps until the chicken is fully cooked.
6. Transfer into a bowl and set aside.

Chicken broth

1. Put all of the ingredients in a large saucepan on medium heat and let it boil.
2.  Lower the heat, and then let it simmer for 1.5 hours.  Season with salt and pepper.

How to serve
1. In a serving bowl, add 1 tsp fish sauce, 1/8 tsp white pepper and 1 tsp of garlic oil or plain canola oil.
2. Blanch 1 handful of fresh egg noodles in a boiling water according to instructions.  Drain and set aside in the bowl from step 1 above. Toss noodles quickly with chopsticks.
3. Add oak lettuce leaves, chicken mince and the condiments.
4. Serve with chicken broth.  (I like to pour the chicken broth into the noodles).

Makes 6, adapted from Sedap Sekejap.

I often think about what I want to write about the food I am cooking or how to plate it even before  I cook it, sometimes even before I get the ingredients from the shop.  That just demonstrates how writing on this blog about my cooking is as enjoyable as the cooking itself.  When thinking about what to write about these cookies, I was not sure what to title this post because in Indonesian this cookie is named Lidah Kucing, or literally translated Cat’s tongue.  I just didn’t want whoever stumbles into this blog of mine (however remote the odd is) gets shocked and report me to RSPCA for animal cruelty .   Luckily I found another name of this cookie in one of my English cookbook, ie light butter cookies.  Phew..

These cookies are meant to be light and crisp.  Mine are still not as light as I wanted it, but I am quite satisfied with it for now.  The first attempt a few months ago was appalling.  I kinda underestimated this cookie because I thought it was so simple that nothing could stuff it up.  However, I failed!  the reason being the oven was too hot.  The edges browned too fast before the body of the cookie was fully baked.  This time I followed the instructions more carefully, making sure to cream the butter until fluffy before adding the egg whites, because based on my reading other blogs that’s the key to make the cookie light and crisp.

Ingredients

125 gr butter
100 gr sugar
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
125 gr cake flour

How to

1. Heat oven to 150C.
2. Cream the butter then gradually add sugar.   Continue mixing until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg whites one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla extract.
4. Sift flour and fold in to form a smooth mixture.
5. Spoon mixture into a piping bag with a small plain tip.
6. Pipe onto baking trays.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cookies have lightly browned edges.
8. Remove cookies immediately from the baking tray to prevent sticking.
9. Transfer to a tray and set aside to cool completely.
10. Store in an airtight container.

In order to live a more healthy life, I have been making salad for our weekday lunches within the last year.  After several refinements, the salad composition we are happy with is cucumber, lettuce, chickpeas or beans, corn, and a protein.  The vegetables element is pretty much fixed, but the protein can be varied to entice our palate.  I normally add steamed fish tofu or pan fried frozen fish cakes to the salad as it is easy.  However  lately I feel bored with these two items.  What can I make in advance and suitable for a salad accompaniment?  Flicking through my Thai cookbook, I found this recipe.

Ingredients

500 gr prawn meats
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots, sliced finely
1/4 cup coriander leaves and stem, chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sugar

How to

1. Process prawn meats in a food processor until smooth.
2. Mix with the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl with your hands until thoroughly combined.
3. Shape into 15 patties.
4. Deep fry in a medium heat oil.

Makes 15

My motivation to cook  mostly comes from my appetite, what I feel like eating which covers a very broad range of cuisines,  from Indonesian to Italian, from soup to salad, or from light to hearty food.    Inspiration can also come out of the blue, usually after flicking through my cookbooks collection with mouth watering food images.   So what about mie kangkung?  Why did I make it? That’s the question asked by my husband after I told him we were having it for dinner.  I never made it before, and it’s not something we commonly ate in Indonesia anyway.  So why? The answer is “I don’t know”.  I just remembered I had it a few times for lunch at a small cafetaria in BRI building next to the office building I worked in in Jakarta.  It was one of those nameless food establishments, but it was known to its patrons as Fancy.   My mom made it a few times as well, though I remember me and my brothers not really fancying it.   Oh well, I guess sometimes I don’t need to have a specific reason to cook something, do I?

Ingredients
5 garlic gloves
3 red chillies
1 tbsp dried shrimp, toast on a fry pan, and pound in a mortar and pestle

500 gr chicken breast fillet, diced
1 tbsp dried shrimp
2 tsp light soy sauce
5 tbsp sweet soy sauce
4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp chicken powder
1.5 l water
4 tsp corn flour and 2 tbsp water, mix to form a paste
2 tbsp cooking oil

Main accompanying ingredients and condiments
100 gr bean sprouts, blanched in boiling water, drain, set aside.
500 gr fresh egg noodles, cooked in boiling water for 1 minutes, drain, set aside.
250 gr water spinach, blanched in boiling water, drain, set aside.chilli sauce
lemon/lime juice
dry eschallots

How to

1. Process garlic, red chillies and dried shrimp powder with a hand blender until smooth.
2. Heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok, stir fry mixture no 1 until fragrant.
3. Add diced chicken, and stir fry until half cooked.
4. Add light soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, pepper and sugar.  Stir fry  until evenly combined.
5. Add 1.5 L water and 2 tsp chicken powder, and bring it to boil.
6. Add corn flour paste and quickly stir.  Let it boil, and then remove from heat.
7. To serve, place noodle, water spinach, bean sprouts in a bowl. Then ladle the chicken broth and diced chicken.  Serve with condiments.

Makes 5

A classic Indonesian savory snack which is very similar to Empanada or Curry Puffs.

Ingredients
Pastry

250 gr plain flour
50 gr butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
50-75 ml water

Filling

200 gr chicken breast, cooked, shredded
50 gr mung bean noodles, cut 2 cm soaked in warm water for 5 mins
1 medium carrot, diced 0.5 cm
6 eschallots, thinly sliced
3  garlic, minced
2 hard boiled eggs, cut into 8 pieces each
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup celery leaves, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp white pepper
1-2 tbsp water

How to

Pastry

1. Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre, add egg and butter.
3. Mix with your hands while adding water slowly.
4. Mix until the mixture forms a smooth dough, form into a ball.
5. Cover with a cling wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for 15 mins.
6. Roll the dough with a rolling pin or pasta machine until 3mm thick.
7. Make a 10cm diameter round shape using a cookie cutter.

Filling

1.  Heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok.
2.  Fry sliced eschallots and minced garlic until fragrant.
3.  Add carrot, cook until half cooked.
4.  Add chicken, mung bean noodles, shallots, celery, salt, sugar and pepper.  Add 1-2 tbsp of water. Stir until everything is fully cooked.
5.  To assemble, place a round pastry on the palm of your hand, put a portion of filling mixture approximately 1 tbsp in the middle of it.
6.   Fold the edges together, press them with your the tips of your thumb and fore finger.
7.  Heat cooking oil in a wok and deep fry the pastels.
8.  Serve with chilli sauce.

makes 16-18

Ingredients

7 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1 tsp TBM (emulsifier) – optional
120 gr granulated sugar
120 gr cake flour, sifted
120 gr butter

Buttercream
100 gr Cheddar cheese

How to

1. Heat oven 180 c.
2. Grease a 20 cm x 20 cm x 6 cm pan, and cover with a baking paper.
3. In a medium bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until soft and pale approximately 7 minutes.  Set aside.
4. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and whites, sugar and TBM until thick, pale  and voluminous approximately 10 minutes with a hand mixer.
5. Fold cake flour into the batter with a spatula, and then fold creamed butter.
6. Transfer the batter into the pan.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
8. Once baked, remove from the pan, place on a wiring rack, and peel off the baking paper. Let it cool completely.
9. Place the cake on a chopping board, cut it into two equal pieces.
10. Spread buttercream on top of one of the pieces, and then grate cheddar cheese over it.
11. Place the second piece of cake on top of the one with cheddar cheese, and then spread buttercream on top of the cake.  Grate cheddar cheese over the cake again.

I appreciate that it takes practice to be good at something, yet I can’t help feeling disappointed when encountering imperfection in my baking result, even for first attempt such as this one.  I only started baking recently.  There are so many recipes to try but only limited time to do so. Therefore I can’t afford to have to repeat a recipe again and again.  However, sometimes repeating is inevitable.  I just have to accept it as a learning process, for example making swiss roll because there are a few things that can easily go wrong, and you have to make it once before you know the traps.

The outcome is actually not a total failure, but there are a few things that need to be improved: cake a bit too dry to my liking, the filling too sweet, the skin of the cake stuck to the kitchen towel when being rolled, and it’s sticky because of the icing sugar.  The recipe is not to be blamed because I have so much faith in it. The only way to prove that the flaws occurred during the baking process is to try it again, and try I will.

The recipe below is as per the cook book, but where I adjusted the ingredients, I marked them in italics.

Ingredients:

140 gr plain flour (120 gr)
55 gr unsalted buttter (45 gr)
1/2 tsp salt (1/4 tsp)
6 eggs (5 eggs)
164 gr sugar (125 gr)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup strawberry jam

How to:

1. Heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Grease a swiss roll pan sized 46cm x 31 cm (42 cm x 30 cm), cover all sides with baking paper. Set aside.
3. Melt butter in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Place 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan and let it simmer.
4. Place eggs and sugar in a glass or stainless bowl, and whisk until combined.  Place bowl over the simmering water and continue whisking until the egg temperature hits 43C.
5. Remove from the heat and continue whisking with an electric mixer, medium high speed, until pale and thick, approximately 6-8 minutes.
6. Transfer 1 cup of the mixture into the melted butter, stir until combined.
7. Fold flour into the egg  mixture (point 5 above) carefully not to deflate the batter.
8. Lastly, fold the egg and butter mixture (point 6 above) into mixture from no 7.
9. Pour the mixture to the swiss roll pan.  Use an offset spatula to push the mixture against the sides and into the corners of the pan, and smooth the top.
10. Bake until the cake is deep golden brown, springs back lightly when pressed with a finger, and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 25 minutes.
11. Sift icing sugar over a kitchen towel.  When the cake is done, invert the cake onto the towel.  Remove the baking paper the cake was based on.  Trim 0.5 cm from all sides of the cake.
12. With the short side of the cake close to you, hold the kitchen towel edge and start rolling the cake and towel together to the other end of the cake.  Set the cake aside on a rack, seam side down until cool for about 10 minutes.
13. Unroll the cake, spread a thin layer over the cake, leaving 2.5 cm border around the edges.
14. Reroll the cake gen, carefully peeling off the kitchen towel as you roll.

Ingredients

225 gr eggs
225 grams water/milk
85 grams butter
3 grams salt
125 bread flour

How to

1. Preheat oven to 220 C.
2. Combine water, butter and salt in a heavy saucepan.  Bring to a full boil until the butter is fully melted.
3. Remove pan from heat and add flour at once.  Stir quickly and vigorously with a spoon.
4. Return to heat and continue stirring until dough forms a smooth, dry ball that does not cling to the spoon or the sides of the pan.  Do not overcook the dough.
5. Transfer dough to bowl of mixer with flat beater and add eggs slowly beating on medium speach.
6. Continue beating until all egg is absorbed.  Dough should hold its shape when lifted on the end of a spoon, but should be smooth, moist and workable.
8. Place a plain tip in a pastry bag and fill with the dough.
9. Pipe dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper into strips about 2 cm wide and 8 cm long.
10. Bake for 10 minutes.
11. Reduce heat to 190C and finish baking for another 10-15 minutes.