BAKED CHICKEN WITH GREEN CHILI

This post will be my last entry in 2012, so before we head to the NYE's dance I start writing it and will finish it later.. next year :)

so HAPPY NEW YEAR.. I WISH EVERYBODY WILL HAVE A BLESSED AND BETTER YEAR IN 2013

POTATO CAKES (INDONESIAN STYLE)

Today I spent most of my day in my kitchen, my original plan was to cook our daily dinner, today I cooked Baked Cornish Hen with green chili, I ran out of my green chili sauce so we went to the store to buy some green chili and tomatillo, as I was working on those, my friend called me and told me that they wanted to visit us and asked me when the good time was, we did not have any particular plan so we agreed to see them on Wednesday, a day after New Year.. while we were chatting on the phone, my mind has already made plan, thought what to serve for our lunch, what I had in my refrigerator... then I came up with our Indonesian Yellow Rice as I have the instant seasoning, I just bought potato flakes and some chickens last night.

So after I finished with my dinner ( which was so yummy, I'll talk about it in other post later), I started making Potato cakes, this time I was cheating, I used store bought potato flakes, the original way was to boil, steam or fry chunky cut potatoes, then smash them, same way as we make mashed potato, today I took the short cut, here was what I did.. I have to write it down for my future reference.. Potato cake is one of the must have side dishes for Yellow Rice

Here is the Yellow rice I made for my sister's house warming party in Houston last summer, the decorated Yellow Rice are usually for celebrations like birthdays, house warming, graduations, and a simple way for Indonesians to give thanks...




Ingredients:
- 15 oz ( 1 box) Potato flakes ( Hungry Jack)
- 2 cups of water + 2 cups of milk
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped green onion
- dash of grated nutmeg
- 2 tbsp of crushed fried shallot
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 tsp of garlic powder

How:
- heat water, milk and salt in a pan until boil
- remove from the heat
- pour potato flakes in a big bowl
- add the boil liquid, quickly stir until well blended
- let it cool a bit
- add the rest of ingredients
- mix well
- form 2 inches in diameter and half an inch thick patties
- chill patties in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
- heat oil in a nonstick saute pan, about 3/4 inch
- before we put the patties in the hot oil, dip them in some lightly beaten egg white
- slowly put the patties in the pan, reduce the heat to medium high
- fry the patties until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side
- drain on a cookie rack

KAASTENGELS AKA CHEESE COOKIES

I just realized I did not post anything this month, I was planning to write some recipes but I did not get to do it.. got distracted to do something else, with holidays errands, shopping, baking cookies (not a lot though) and daily life goes on..

So before 2012 ends I'm going to share this recipe.. I don't know where this cookies originated, my guess is from Dutch, because the name sounds like Dutch to me, the cheese is imported from there and my country was its colony for more than 350 years,  so there was no wonder if our parents "stole" some of their culinaries  :P . Usually we make this cookies for special occasions, like Christmas, New Year and else

Ingredient:
350 grams or 3 sticks and 2 tbsp of unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks
225 grams or 8 oz of grated EDAM Cheese
75 grams or 3 oz of grated Parmesan Cheese ( the original recipe calls for Edam, but I like to mix it with Parmesan cheese)

Parmesan and Edam 

grated Edam

a little not: while I was preparing the dough I let both of the grated cheeses  in the refrigerator with the lid off to make it a bit drier so we still can taste its crunchiness in the cookies

Sieve:
450 grams or 1 lbs of all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 tbsp corn starch

eggwash:
1 eggyolk
1 tbsp milk

topping:
50 grams or 2 oz of shredded Parmesan cheese

heart shaped cookie cutter

Method:
- Beat butter and egg yolks until light color
- add flour
- add cheeses
- knead until well blended, wrap in plastic and let it chill for a while
- roll the dough, we can use cookie cutter or roll like a rope and cut it at the length and thickness we like
- place in the nonstick cookie sheets (ungreased)
- brush with egg wash and top with shredded Parmesan cheese
- bake in a 350'F preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes

- for about 6 dozens cookies

EASY HASH (BROWN)

Our conversation this mid morning:
I : so what's for breakfast (brunch)
Hb: potatoes?
I : with what?
Hb: ooh I don't know.. jalapeno?? (we have bunch of jalapenos in our backyard)
I : with turkey (again??)
Hb: yeah..

I went to my kitchen and brushed clean 3 medium size potatoes and nuked them in the microwave for 3 minutes (covered) while I was thinking what else to add in.. then I opened my veggies drawer, I took out onion, carrot and cilantro, as I was taking my leftover turkey meat,  I saw my smoked sausage, perfect... no turkey :)...  then I went out to our backyard to cut 1 jalapeno pepper

and I prepared them:
- 1/4 small onion, diced
- jalapeno, chopped
- carrot, shredded
- sausage, diced
- cilantro, chopped
- salt and black pepper to taste

What I do:
- Peel potatoes and grate them (with cheese grater), add them in a preheated skillet with a bit of oil, cook for a few minutes
- add the rest of ingredients except cilantro
- cook until all soft, add in cilantro
- get a clean bowl, scoop some of potatoes and press hard to mold
- flip in a clean plate, add some biscuits (ssst.. I used some dinner rolls, IMO make no difference)

MONGOLIAN BEEF

Okay.. before I forget, I'm going to write this down.. it tastes so delicious.. I can't recall if I ever ate Mongolian beef before, so I don't know the real taste, but using the recipe I followed today, I'm so satisfied with the result, so I'm going to share it here, for my future reference too

I have this cook book, Martin Yan Chinatown Cooking, for almost 10 years, it sits nicely (but dusty) in my cabinet, I rarely used it, last week when I dusted it, I opened it and this recipe caught my eyes and I decided to try it, as I have some thin sliced beef in my refrigerator.

I used most of the ingredients in his recipe but cooked it in my way.. much easier way :)

Ingredients:
- 1 lbs of beef meat, the recipe says flank or tri tip cut, thinly sliced
- marinate in sauce:
- 2 tbsp of hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of fried garlic oil
- 1 tbsp of chili sauce (optional)
- 1 tbsp of rice vinegar
- 1 tsp of cornstarch
- 1 tsp of brown sugar, I used 1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- black pepper

other ingredients:
- 2 tbsp of cooking wine
- 1/2 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 tbsp of oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped

for garnish:
- chopped green onion, or sesame seeds

Method:
- mix well the sauce ingredients, pour in a ziploc bag, add in the beef, gently massage the meat and marinate for at least 1 hour (in the refrigerator)
- heat the oil in a wok, add grated ginger, onions and garlic, cook until fragrant
- add the meat with all the sauce into the wok, stir for few minutes, add cooking wine, cook until the juice comes out clear, set it on a plate, garnish with green onion and sesame seed

Serve it on steamed rice but today I went an extra mile, I boiled some vermicelli noodles and made salad with chopped butter lettuce, chopped cucumber, fresh bean sprouts and some grated carrot, I added: fish sauce, rice vinegar and garlic oil for the sauce and oh a splash of Ponzu sauce (can be substitute with lemon juice)

For serving:
- mix noodles with the sauce, add salad, cucumber and carrot, add the beef, then garnish with roasted peanut and fried shallots.. nyum nyum.. very refreshing, a hint of sweet, sour,  savory and a bit spicy from the chili sauce, satisfied my tummy

BAKING BREADS

I was in my baking mood..  I mean.. starting to use my bread machine again after my long vacation.. these few weeks I had a hard time for making breakfast, lack of ideas, so when I bake breads, breakfast will breads, toasts and bread again.  After looking around my old bread pictures, I decided to make sweet roll using the recipe from a book I got for bread machine recipes, I modified it with some filling, and I'm sure it will make my morning easier for s few days :)

Ingredients for the bread:

3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup /1/2 stick of butter/margarine
1 large egg
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp of salt
3 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp of yeast

the dough 

 For 16 sweet rolls: divide the dough in 16 equally size, roll and put them in a greased muffin pan

cover and let them rise for 30 minutes 

Modification of sweet roll, using the same dough recipe:

For the fillings... I made 2 rolls, first roll's ingredients:
- Jimmy Dean sausage, browned
- 1 cup of cheese ( I used Italian blend)
- chopped green onion

browned sausage

1 cup of cheese

dates + brown sugar

Second rolls I used chopped dates mix with brown sugar

Method: using bread machine for the kneading and rising, about 90 minutes

Divide dough in 2 parts, I like my sausage roll bigger, so I divided 2:1

On a floured surface, roll the dough until it gets to 1/4 inch thick... then spread the fillings (in order: sausage, cheese and green onion), then carefully roll it to a log form, secure the end with a bit of egg brush.
- repeat it with the other part, fill it with date and brown sugar mixture
- put the rolls in the greased pans, cover with plastic wraps, let them rise again for 30 minutes
- brush with egg wash before put them in a preheated oven, bake for 40 minutes in 350'F, if the top of the breads get too brown, cover loosely with aluminium foil, continue baking until they are all done
- Cool for 10 minutes then take them out of the pan and cool them again in a baking rack 

with meat filling

dates filling

ready to bake

date roll

sausage roll

my breakfast 

It's a good way to start the day.. for sure.. oh and the cheese melts in my mouth.. yummilicious

AN EASY BRUNCH..STUFFED BELL PEPPER

It's on sale at our local store, 2 for $1, so I bought a couple of it, I'm not a big fan of any kind of bell peppers, but my hubby likes them very much..  after a week of eggs breakfast, today I decided to make his brunch without eggs, we have bunch of bacon, ham, sausage, hot links, eggs.. in our refrigerator.. yes I stocked them like crazy after coming back from our big trip and they were on sale (Friday sale), it's hard to resist buying them all :P

What we need:

- a nice red bell pepper, symmetrically cut in half, clean out the seeds, brush with olive oil 

- breakfast sausage, break and brown in a skillet

- add finely chopped shallot and jalapeno pepper, stir until the onion softened

- add in chopped onion chive or other favorite herbs 

- fill bell pepper with  sausage mixture

- top with favorite cheese

- bake in a preheat oven, 350'F for 15 minutes

Ready to serve, nyum nyum 

STUFFED TOFU AND MEATBALL (CHINESE STYLE)

It's been a while I did not post anything, well.. we (I and my husband) went on oversea vacation for about 4 weeks, after returning, we had to adjust ourselves back to our local timezone, it was 14 hours different, then we had to catch up with our daily chores.. well,, the real reason is.. I have no mood to cook and write. oh well..

The weather is getting cooler.. now  it's the best season here in AZ, though it's a bit late than last year, the cooler temperature is definitely here now... much much nicer and enjoyable..

The meal I want to talk about in this post is one of our comfort foods in my family back in my country, we did not cook it as we could buy it anytime we want and it much simpler than make it in our kitchen, but in here, I have to cook it myself as nobody sell it here.. and it's perfect meal for the cold days like nowadays

Okiedokie.. let's start with the ingredients:
- 4 oz of ground chicken (thigh meat)
- 4 oz of ground pork
- 4 oz of shrimps, peeled and ground
- a few stems of green onion, thinly chopped
- 1 tsp of tapioca starch
- 1 tsp of fried garlic
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 eggwhite (small egg)
- salt and pepper
- 1 lbs (pack) of firm tofu, cut in half, then diagonally cut the halves (make 4 pieces), carve a hole with a knife, then carefully dig out the hole, leave the tofu that we dug out aside

For the meatball:
- Combine all the ingredients, form a ball, about ping pong ball size, leave 1/4 part of the mixture for tofu's fillings
For the tofu's filling: grind the tofu and blend it in the meat mixture, mix well, then carefully stuff it back to fill the hole on the tofu
- meanwhile, in a big pot, boil water, season with salt, pepper or fish sauce, or boil chicken/beef broth, put the meatball in the boiled water/broth, cook it until the meatballs float, set aside, repeat with the stuffed tofu, carefully put them in the boiled water, let them cook until the fillings are cooked, set aside
- prepare the noodles, cook following the instruction on the package
- boil some bokchoy or beansprouts
- set noodles in a bowl, add veggies, meatballs and tofu, add hot broth, garnish with fried shallots, green onions and chili sauce

his bowl, more noodles, more tofu and he was stuffed for the whole night :)

EIGHT BRAID LOAF

A quick post.. today I decided to try this beautiful Eight Braid Loaf, I saw the recipe from a cooking forum I joined, completed with the tutorial how to braid, so this afternoon I gathered my gut and tried it out..  it's not perfect yet, as you can see the ropes weren't evenly rolled, but it's something I've never thought I'd be able doing it and I'm proud of myself.. I definitely will make it again.. I promise I'll be more patient in rolling and braiding it  :)