Young Jack Fruit with curry (Gulai Nangka)

Gulai nangka, is one of traditional Padang (West Sumatera) dishes. Whole cut-up chunks of young jack fruit is cooked in coconut milk and spices, including tumeric, galangal, ginger, chili (of course).

The seeds, pulp and segments can all be eaten, and the texture is very much like tender chicken, and similar to banana palm hearts. Sometimes called ‘vegetable meat‘, in the Asian supermarkets. Gulai nangka can be serve with plain white rice.

Ingredients

250 g young jackfruit (nangka muda), chopped into 2 cm cubes
250 ml thick coconut milk
250 water
2 turmeric leafs – optional
2 dried bay leaves (daun salam)
1 stalk Lemon grass (Sereh/Serai), chopped or 2 teaspoons of Lemon grass powder
Spice Paste
2 cloves of garlic
3 shallots
5 red chillies, seeded
2 bird’s eyes chillies, optional
2 cm fresh turmeric or 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 Candlenuts (Kemiri)
1 cm ginger
1 cm galangal or 1/2 teaspoon of Galangal powder

Method:
Boil the meat or bones with 250 ml water to make the broth.
Grind or blend the spices. Then sauté until it's fragrant and adds bay leaves, lemon grass and turmeric leaf (if you have it). Then bring it to the broth and add the coconut milk.
When it's boiling, put inside all the vegetables. Continue cooking until the vegetables well-cooked.

Goldfish Arsik (Ikan Arsik)

My mother is a Bataknesse. Batak People, is the indigenous tribe of North Sumatra Island. One of the significant tribe in Indonesia. They live on highland of Sumatra, precisely on Tapanuli. One of the traditional food is Ikan Arsik. This is one of my favorite food.

Ingredients:
1 goldfish, clean out the stomach and skin
1 lime
6 cloves of garlic
8 cloves of small red onion
chili paddy or bird's eye chili (as much as you like)
2 tsp Sichuan pepper (Andaliman)
6 candle nut
4 lemon grass, cut into 4 cm in length
2 tsp tamarind
6 cm galangal, cut into 3 (if you don't have you can just use ginger eventhough the taste is not really the same)
1 tsp ground turmeric

a bunch of basil leaves (daun kemangi)

1/2 pound of yardlong bean

1 bamboo shoot cut it into pieces salt
water

Cut lime in half and squeeze out the juice on top of the fish. Let it immerse for 15 min. Meanwhile, in a blender, blend garlic, onion, chili, Sichuan pepper, candle nut, salt and half of the lemon grass until smooth. Add some water as needed. Make tamarind juice by mixing the tamarind with 250 ml hot water, and then discard the pulp.

Fill up the fish stomach with smooth blended seasoning. Do not forget to add ground turmeric to the seasoning and mix it well just before filling up the stomach cavity. In a big pan, put yardlong bean and bamboo shoot. Arrange the remaining lemon grass and galangal and then place the fish on top of it. Pour the rest of the seasoning. Cook under medium heat. Add tamarind juice and stir it well (be very careful not to flip over the fish too many times). Cook until done in one side and then flip over the fish and continue to cook until both sides are cooked. You may cover the pan with the lid during cooking. At last add the basil leaves just before turning off the stove.

Serve it with warm steam rice.

Kolak Singkong (Braised Cassava with Palm Sugar and Coconut milk)

Kolak Singkong or braised cassava with palm sugar and coconut gravy is a local dessert that is already familiar in Indonesia. The filler may vary from one region to another. The fragrant leaf of a type of pandanus sometimes known as fragrant screwpine.


Ingredients:
1 pandan leaf (screwpine leaf) or 1 sachet vanilla
1 big cubes of Gula Jawa (Javanese Palm Sugar)
3 large cassava
1 can of coconut milk, add 1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt


Directions:
Peel skin from cassava, wash clean, cut into small cubes, place in a boiling pan.
Tie knot the screwpine leaf or vanilla and add it into the pan.
Add sugar, salt, palm sugar, coconut milk, and the water into the pan .
Bring to boil everything inside the pan until cassava become tender, taste the soup if its sweet enough for you, turn off the stove.

Tips:
Serve warm or cold as desired.

Riso Fritto Indonesiana "Nasi Goreng"

Ingredienti per 4 persone

800 gr di riso cotto
3 cipolla rossa di tropea
1 spicchio di aglio
2 peperoncini rossi piccanti (salsa di piccanti)

1/2 cucchiaino di pepe

60 gr germoglio di soia

1 carote

200 gr cavolo cappuccio

10 gr zenzero

10 gr curcuma
4 cucchiaini di olio di semi
3 pomodori tagliata a pezzetini

sale quanto basta
150 gr pollo tagliata a pezzettini

2 uovo al tegamino
2 cucchiai di salsa di soia salata

2 cucchiaini di salsa di soia dolce

Preparazione

Cuocete il riso in abbondante acqua, quindi scolatelo e fatelo asciugare e raffreddare per qualche ora

Tagliate finemente le cipolle, cavolo, carote e ; tagliate in piccolo pezzi peperoncino ed eliminate i semi e poi grattugiate l’aglio dopo averlo sbucciato.

Versate in una padella l’olio di semi, aggiungete l’aglio grattugiato e scaldate, unite le cipolle ed il peperoncino, il sale, carote, cavolo e germoglio di soia. E poi aggiungete il pezzettini di pollo e il pepe.

Rosolate il pollo, aggiungete pezzettini di pomodori. Nella padella lasciare un spazio libera e mette l'uovo mescolate finché diventerà dura. Poi mescolate tutto insieme nella stessa padella. L'ultima, aggiungete il riso; aggiungete le salse di soia dolce e salata, mescolate bene per far insaporire e saltate. E servite. Buon appetito!

Queen Biscuits

Ingredients

1 kg all purpose of flour

400 gr sugar

400 gr butter

2 dl milk

4 eggs

sesame seeds

a pinch of ammonium bicarbonate

a few drops of orange's essence

Put sugar, orange's essence, ammonium bicarbonate, butter and eggs in a bowl. Mix all with care. Then add the flour. Work well with the dough continuesly. When it finish, let the dough stand in hot place at least for 1 hour.

Make the dough in a small form of sticks. Around 5 cm each. Roll it in a bowl of milk and after with sesame seeds. Bake it for 15 minutes (250° C).

Onion Bread

My Brazilian friend is very good at cooking. Once time she cooked a very good bread. It was so delicious!

Here is her recipe:
3 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup warm milk
1 onion(medium size)chopped into small pieces
2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cups oil
1 stock cube
1 kg flour

Mix well all the ingredient apart of flour. Then at the end add a kg of flour. Work well with the dough (until it creates many holes). After it make many small balls of dough and put them on a greased baking tray. Let stand at least 1 hour. When its ready, bake it in oven around 15 minutes with 220°C.

Coconut Cookies

A saturday night, my husband and I were invited for dinner. By one of our close friend, Roberto(an italian friend). As a gift for Roberto, I decided to make coconut cookies.

I made the cookies, using the American receipt. And added some of the ingredients as I like. I called it as biscotti di cocco (coconut cookies).

1 cup butter 255 gr
1,5 cups granulated sugar 380,5 gr
1 large egg
2 tablespoon water
3 tablespoon lemon extract
2,5 cups flour 630 gr
0,5 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
0,5 cup shredded coconut
almond or peanuts as a decoration

Preheat oven to 180°C, preheat butter. Mixing cream butter and sugar using electric mixer. Then add egg, water,orange extract.
In another container, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.
Mix all the ingredient all together, batter it. Then after, mix with coconut.
At the end, dough in a very small balls. On the top of each ball put the almond or peanut.
Bake it to 12 - 15 minutes.
at the end, BUON APPETITO!

Oil Cake

This recipe is very fast to make and very easy. And the taste is really so good!

Ingredients:

200 g sugar
3 eggs
250 gr flour or potato starch (better)
1 cups seed oil
pinch of salt
grated the peel of lemon
1 yeast


Mix eggs with salt, the peel of lemon and sugar. Then at the end mix it with flour and oil.
Bake in oven 170 ° C for 1/2 hour.