"My Cooking Kitchen"

Lemper

2006-05-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

Lemper or it's called "Sticky Rice Stuffed Parcel" in English.

Usually the filling for Lemper is made with shredded chicken. However this time I made it with turkey. Yeahh..turkey...it actually tastes as good as chicken meat.
If you celebrate Thanksgiving day and have a lot of turkey leftover, then this dish helps your leftover goes away.

Also, Lemper is usually wrapped with banana leaf. However if you live in the country where banana leaf is hard to find or if you just want to make it simple, you can use plastic wrap to wrap the lemper. The other reason to wrap the sticky rice is also to avoid it from being dry.

I got this recipe from my mom. And the recipe as follows:

For Sticky Rice:
- 500 gr white glutinuous rice, soak in water for about 1 hour.
- 11/4 cups coconut milk
- salt to taste
- 1 pandanus leaf, tie a knot (to gain the flavor of the sticky rice)
- plastic wrap/banana leaves for the wrapper

For filling:
- 1 big boneless chicken breast, boiled and finely shredded or leftover turkey breast meat, finely shredded
- 1 tsp whole coriander seeds, finely grinded/ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp cumin, finely grinded/ground cumin
- 3 pieces curry leaves
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp shrimp paste (optional)
- 1/2 tsp zedoary(kencur) powder
- 1 tbs sugar or to taste
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 3 pieces candlenuts
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 pieces shallots/red onions
- a little bit of tamarind water
- little oil

Direction:

*Sticky rice:
1) Lightly oil the steamer (the reason is to make the sticky rice easier to take without leaving lots of rice once it's done).
2)Put the sticky rice with pandanus leaf and steam for about 15 minutes.
3) Once done, the sticky rice will be half cooked, remove it from the heat and put it into a big saucepan/big bowl, then add coconut milk and salt. Stir well until all the coconut milk is absorbed to the sticky rice.
4) Put it back in the steamer and steam for another 20 minutes or until cook.

*For filling:
1) Boil the chicken with little salt, then finely shredded /ready cooked turkey meat, shredded
2) Mix all ingredients together, except curry leaves and coconut milk. Then grinded well to make a paste.
3) In medium heat. heat oil in the saucepan, and fry the paste for abit.
4) Add coconut milk and curry leaves. Stir well. Season to taste
5) Add shredded chicken/turkey. Mix well until all the coconut milk is absorbed.

*Preparation:
1) Lay sticky rice on the plastic wrap. The thickness is about 1 finger. Press firmly.
2) Add shredded chicken on top of it.
3) Add sticky rice again
3) Wrap it with plastic wrap.

ENJOY!!

Empal Gepuk

2006-05-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

EMPAL GEPUK.....Empal means Sweet Fried Beef and Gepuk means smashed. So, in English the recipe is called Indonesian Smashed Sweet Fried Beef.
Why smashed? In Indonesia, after the beef is fried, it is smashed a bit to look fluffier in texture and tastier. It will make you much hungrier just to see it with a bowl of hot steamed rice, sambal terasi (shrimp paste chilli sauce) and some fresh vegetables.

This recipe is originally courtesy of my mom.

Here's the recipe,,,

*INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Lbs Lean boneless beef chuck, cut into big square
- 3 pieces big red chillies (omit it if you don't like spicy)
- 1 piece medium galangal (if dried, soak in water for abit)
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/4 cup coconut milk mixed with lots of water, the consistency of the coconut milk water should be very thin.

Grinded Spices:
- 1.5 tsp corriander seeds
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 piece medium fresh turmeric, peeled and grated or 1/2 tsp dried turmeric
- 1 piece candlenut
- 1 tsp sugar
- A little tamarind water

*DIRECTIONS:
1) Heat the wok and add a little bit of oil, then stir fry the grinded spices and galangal until smell good.
2) Add a very thin coconut water just enough to cover the spices. Season with salt to taste. Stir well.
3) Once the mixture is boiled, add the beef and cook until tender (My secret is: **Use the pressure cooker to cook the beef so tender much faster -- about 10 minutes)
4) Cook in the medium heat until the coconut water reduced about to dry. Then add the 1/2 cup of coconut milk. stir.
5) Check the beef, see if it's tender enough. If it's still tough, cook more and add a little of water bit by bit. Make sure to leave a little bit of liquid/sauce when the meat is done to fry the beef later.

**Cooking with pressure cooker:
A) Fry the spices and galangal in the pressure cooker saucepan until smell good.
B) Add thin coconut water just enough to cover the spices. Season with salt to taste.
C) Once the mixture is boiled, add the cubed beef. Add more water if the liquid is too little.
D) Cover the pressure cooker and cook in high heat until the second line of the stick comes out (follow your pressure cooker direction), then reduced the heat to medium and set the timer for 10 minutes. When the timer is off, turn off the heat and cool down.
E) Open the lid, cook in a medium heat until the coconut water is reduced to dry.
F) Then add the 1/2 cup coconut milk, stir well, and cook until the liquid is reduced and thicken. Leave the liquid a little bit to make the sauce when you fry the beef later.

6) Heat the wok and fry the beef with its little sauce until dark brown color.
7) Smash the fried beef with wooden pestle softly so that the meat is not broken into pieces.
8) Serve with hot steamed rice and sambal terasi.

To Make Sambal terasi/sambal tomat:
1) In mortar, grind chillies and roasted shrimp paste.
2) Add salt and little sugar to taste.
3) Add little water to make liquidy abit.
3) Add chopped tomato (for sambal tomat), omit adding the water as it has enough liquid from the tomato itself.

What is Bittermelon?

2006-05-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

A little bit information of bittermelon. As you see the following is the picture of bittermelon:

The name is bittermelon, but I don't think people usually eat it like watermelon/rockmelon/fruit. Well. I've never seen it myself other than as a juice mixture and being cooked. It's the family of squash and cucumber..you can see from the shape ;) This bittermelon usually is sold in asian markets and famous in Asian countries. They can even be useful for medicine like diabetes. Anyways, I found this website that explains what Bittermelon is in more detail [My Bittermelon Page!]

So hopefully this information is useful for people who wonder "what is this bittermelon really?" :)

Sambal Bittermelon

2006-05-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

This time I tried making bittermelon. Not many people like bittermelon because of the bitterness. I used to not like it either, however when it was cooked spicy...it tasted sooo yummy. So that was when I started liking it.

Anyways, in Bahasa Indonesia, bittermelon is called Pare and the word says it all. The vegetable is bitter but tastes good for people who like it, like me ;)
According to a belief, people who have sweet blood (meaning you can get bitten so easily by mosquitos/similar insects), by consuming this bittermelon helps the blood to be less sweet :D and supposed that no more bugs are interested in your blood. (hmm..I guess you need to eat tons of it to make it work,,,hehe,,,perhaps like everyday?!!)

This recipe is originally taken from my mom.

And the recipe,,,
I made this recipe pretty spicy by using habanero* chillies.

*Ingredients:
2 small bittermelon, thinly sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
1 big clove of garlic, minced finely
1/2 medium red onion. diced finely
2 small orange habanero chillies/10 thai chillies, seeded and sliced
1 big red chilli, seeded and sliced
1 big bay leaf
1 tsp roasted shrimp paste
salt to taste
a pinch of sugar
about 1/4 cup of water, add more if needed

*Direction:
1)Heat oil in a medium high heat and stir fry the garlic and onion until smell good.
2)Then add chillies and bay leaf, stir.
3)Add tomatoes and bittermelon. Stir until the tomatoes and vegies about to soft. Add water, sugar, salt and shrimp paste. Stir well. It should have some little liquid left in the pan as the sauce.
4)Served with hot steamed rice.

The bittermelon should be soft but still crunchy to bite.

* Habanero chilli is known as one of the hottest chillies in the world. It's often used in tropical fruit salads, fish, salsa, bean stews and ceviche.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken in Cream Sauce

2006-04-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

This recipe is originally adopted from kraftfoods.com. It is a very simple recipe. It only needs 15 minutes to prepare everything and done.
It's "A flavorful and balanced dinner that will be a hit with the whole family", which is true..:)

And for the recipe...as follows:

INGREDIENTS:
- 11/2 cups brown rice, uncooked
- 1 can (14 oz.) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided or 2 tsp chicken stock powder mixed with 2 cups water, divided
- 6 pieces Ritz Crackers, finely crushed
- 2 Tbsp Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese or 2 Tbsp very finely grinded Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese
-1 Lbs sliced boneless skinless chicken breast tender
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup Philadelphia Chive & Onion Light Cream Cheese Spread
- 3/4 Lb [1 bunch] asparagus spears, trimmed,sliced and steamed/boiled with salt water
- 13/4 cups water

DIRECTION:
1) Cook rice with 11/2 cups chicken broth and 13/4 cups water in a rice cooker.**(see note)
2) Meanwhile, mix cracker crumbs and parmesan cheese on plate. Rinse chicken with cold water; shake off excess water. Dip chicken in cracker mixture, turning to coat.
3) Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Place chicken on serving plate. Set aside, keep warm.
4) Add remaining 1/2 cup broth and cream cheese spread to same skillet. Cook on medium heat until mixture just come to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer 3 minutes or until sauce thickens.
5) Boil the asparagus with salt for 2 minutes, drain.
6) Serve rice and asparagus with chicken and sauce.

NOTE:
** The original recipe is using "Minute Brown Rice", which you only need 1/2 cup water and 11/4 cup broth to cook, however I used Nishiki Brown Rice. And I like my rice is tender to bite. So I added 1/4 cup of broth and 11/4 cup of water more than the original recipe to balance the flavor.