foodbuzz 24 x 24 : a balinese feast

Balinese spices

A few months ago, my husband and I went to Bali, Indonesia for our honeymoon. One thing about GT and me is that we are foodies. And what do foodies do in a new country? We eat the local food and that is exactly what we did in Bali. Dining in Bali is really quite a highlight with an array of international cuisines. But after eating Italian to Japanese, we found Balinese food to be our favorite. It is quite an extraordinary cuisine.

So, while we were there, we found that there were a few restaurants that offered Balinese cooking classes. With an extra morning to spare, we booked one of these classes. For this month's Foodbuzz 24 x 24, I wanted to remake some of the recipes we made at our cooking class at Sate Bali (jln. laksmana 22A, kerobokan, bali).

gado gado : assorted vegetables with peanut sauce

ingredients

• 200 gr green beans, blanched
• 200 gr bean sprouts, blanched
• 200 gr white cabbage, shredded
• 200 gr spinach, blanched
• 200 gr bumbu kacang, recipe to follow

directions

1. mix all ingredients and season to taste

bubmu kacang
ingredients

• 35 gr garlic
• 25 gr cardamon
• 10 gr red chili
• 120 gr palm sugar
• 15 gr fried shallots
• 500 gr fried peanuts
• lime juice from 1 lime
• 1.5 liter water

directions

1. grind all ingredients except water in a food processor
2. place mixture in a heavy saucepan, add water and reduce to thick consistency over low heat
3. let cool and ready to use

 sambal tomat: tomato sambal

ingredients

• 4 tbsp oil
• 15 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• 4 large red chilies, sliced
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, cut into 6 wedges
• 2 tsp roasted dried shrimp paste
• 2 tsp fresh kaffir lime juice

directions

1. heat oil in a pan. add shallots and garlic, saute for 5 minutes over low heat. add chilies and saute for 5 more minutes, then add tomatoes and shrimp paste and simmer for 10 more minutes.
2. add kaffir lime juice. put all the ingredients in a food processor and pure coarsely. season to taste with salt. 
3. cool before using.

This sambal can be frozen. This is an ideal accompaniment to grilled fish or for making nasi goreng (fried rice) or mie goreng (fried noodles).

be celeng base manis: pork in sweet soya sauce

ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• 1-1/2 lb boneless pork should, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 3 inch ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 tbsp sweet soya sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp black peppercorn, crushed
• 2 cup chicken stock
• 6-10 bird's eye chilies, left whole

directions

1. heat oil in a saucepan, add shallots and garlic, saute for 2 minutes over medium heat. add pork and ginger and continue to saute for 2 more minutes over high heat. add broth lots of soya sauce and black pepper, and continue to saute for 1 minute.
2. pour in chicken stock and simmer over medium heat for approximately 1 hour. when cooked, there should be very little sauce left and the meat should be shiny and dark brown, if the meat becomes too dry when cooking, simply add a little more chicken stock.

pepes ikan: steam marinated fish

ingredients

• 1-1/2 lb tilapia, skin removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup basic seafood marinade
• 1 tbsp tamarind juice
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 5 salam leaves
• 3 tbsp oil

directions

1. in a deep bowl combine fish, basic marinade, tamarind juice, black pepper, leaves, salt, and oil, mix very well to coat fish evenly. cover and marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
2. place fish and marinade on foil and fold over to make a poach.
3. bake in a 350 degree F oven until done, about 30 minutes.

serve with sambal tomat and lime.
base be pasih: basic seafood marinade
ingredients

• 5 red chilis
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 4 inch ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 medium sized tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 10 candlenuts or macadamia nuts
• 1 tsp dried shrimp paste
• 4 tbsp oil
• 2 salam leaves
• 2 lemon grass, bruised
• 2 tbsp tamarind pulp

directions

1. process all the ingredients except oil, tamarind pulp, salam leaf and lemongrass until coarsely ground. 
2. heat oil, add ingredients except tamarind. stir frequently over moderate heat for about 5 minutes until fragrant and golden color. 
3. finish with tamarind pulp and let cool.

nasi gorend: fried rice

ingredients

• 300 gr steamed rice
• oil
• 50 gr chicken, chopped
• 50 gr shrimp, peeled 
• 1 egg
• 60 gr cabbage, shredded
• 15 gr leek, shredded
• 20 gr sambel ulek
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp sweet soya sauce

directions

1. saute chicken and shrimp.
2. add garlic and egg. add cabbage and leek, cook until withered.
3. add steamed rice and other ingredients. 
4. taste then serve on plate and garnish with fried shallot on top. 
5. taste the serve on the plate and garnish with fried shallot on top, fried egg, and chicken sate.
6. ready to serve with condiments in a separate bowl. 

Luckily, I was able to find most of the ingredients at a local asian grocery store, oriental food market (2557 madison avenue, montgomery, al)

This post is part of Foodbuzz’s 24×24 for the month of June which features 24 meals in 24 hours in 24 blog posts.

candied walnuts

My sweet husband had picked up some walnuts for my banana nut breads from Costco. And one thing about shopping at Costco is that you'll be left with a big bulk of something no matter how much of it you use.  I use about 1 cup of walnuts for each batch of banana bread. Costco sells walnuts in 5 lb packages, which equates to about 10 to 12 cups I think. So, what do I do with all these walnuts?

One of my favorite things to eat in salads are candied walnuts. I've actually never made them or even thought about making them until my dad told me that he made some the other day. After retiring, he has been learning how to cook and bake through YouTube. Pretty impressive huh? Some of his ventures include tiramisu and Moroccan chicken. Sooner or later, he'll be joining my brother (eatdrinkplay) and me in the food blog world.

So, to celebrate my father and his cooking embarkations, I've decided to make some candied walnuts.

candied walnuts
from simply recipes

ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 raw walnuts
• 1/8 tsp salt

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Use middle rack in oven. Lay walnuts out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 5 minutes. Test for doneness. If not quite toasted enough, toast for 1 or 2 more minutes. Be careful not to burn. Remove from oven and let cool in pan on a rack.
2. Pour sugar into a medium saucepan with a thick bottom. Have walnuts nearby, ready to quickly add to the pan at the right time. Cook sugar on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon as soon as the sugar begins to melt. Keep stirring until all the sugar has melted and the color is a medium amber. As soon as sugar is melted and the color is a medium amber, add the walnuts to the pan, quickly stirring and coating each piece with the sugar mixture.
3. As soon as the walnuts are coated with the sugar mixture, spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet, lined either with a non-stick mat, or aluminum foil. Use two forks to separate the walnuts from each other, working very quickly. Sprinkle the nuts with the salt. Let cool completely.

Note: For step two, you can use a fry pan, which is today's Foodbuzz daily special.

{tried & true} nougat candy

Yay! More goodies from Asia! I'm not a big fan of candy but I do have a sweet tooth now and then. Along with the yummy mochi my husband's colleague brought back as gifts, she also brought us some nougat candy. These were soft nougats, which came in three flavors: green tea, milk, and chocolate.

Nougats can be made with roasted almonds, walnuts, pistachios or hazelnuts. These are made with peanuts. I love all sorts of nuts, so how can I not love nougat candy? It was really tough not to eat them all up before I photographed them. Here is my last bit! Yum!

peach streusel coffee cake

We've been in heaven with the abundant number of farmers markets around Montgomery. After discovering Hampstead's, I heard about another one in Eastchase on Saturdays. My husband and I couldn't help it but we ended up with way too many peaches than we can eat. So what would you do with one too many peaches? Well, I made cake!

peach streusel coffee cake
from william sonoma recipes

streusel ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

cake ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 lb peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced 1 inch thick

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F. grease and flour a 9-inch round spring-form pan.
2. to make streusel, in a bowl, stir together the flour, brown and granulated sugars and cinnamon. add the butter and, using a pastry blender or fingers, cut or rub in the butter until coarse crumbs form. set aside. 
3. to make cake, in a bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. in another bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wire whisk, beat egg, butter, milk, vanilla and almond extract until creamy, about 1 minute. add to the flour mixture and beat until evenly moistened. there should be no lumps or dry spots. do not over-mix. 
4. spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. if using a spring-form pan, arrange peach slices in concentric circles from the pan sides to the center. gently press the slices into the batter. sprinkle evenly with the streusel. 
5. bake until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. remove the sides of the spring-form pan. serve the cake warm or at room temperature. 

chair makeover

My mother-in-law has been talking about re-upholstering her dining room chairs for several months. After some research on Google, I realized re-upholstering a piece of furniture such as a chair is not that difficult. We took a quick trip to the Joann's, my Mother-in-law picked out a pattern that she liked, and voila!

I followed the directions from wikihow. It's so easy! I highly recommend trying it.

Sorry about the armless (after) and arm chair (before) photos. I finished all the armless chairs without taking a "before" photo.  It's not that bad, right?

red velvet cupcakes

Our oven died! Yes! Appliances have expiration dates. Not sure what happened but the oven just shut off and would just not turn back on. Thank goodness I wasn't making anything at the time. It was just preheating. No efforts wasted!

So, after a long, ovenless week, a brand spanking new one arrived. To "de-flour" our new dual ovens, I decided to make a very familiar recipe, my red velvet cupcakes. It also happens to be my husband's favorite. Lucky him! Instead of the cream cheese frosting, I melted some white chocolate chips with a splash of milk to create a white glaze to spread on top of these cute little cupcakes.

There is no doubt that the oven works!

Be on the look out for my next creation... chicken cordyceps consomme, which reminds me of today's Foodbuzz daily special. 

{tried & true} green tea & strawberry mochi

My husband's coworker, who just came back from Asia, brought us some green tea and strawberry mochi made in Japan. The most accessible mochi here in the states, is mochi ice cream. That is actually the contrary in Asia. I'm not saying that they don't have mochi ice cream, rather mochi is everywhere, in every flavor, filled with anything one can imagine. One of my favorites is a fresh whole strawberry wrapped with a thin layer of azuki bean paste and then wrapped with a thin layer of mochi. It's pretty amazing!

hampstead farmer's market

I am very excited to share this discovery with y'all. Just last week, the Town of Hampstead opened up their farmer's market for the season. I stopped by to check it out and happily went home with some blackberries, peaches, and some herbs. Please keep an eye out for awesome creations with these goodies if I don't end up eating them as is. Then my only kitchen accessory I'll need is a colander, which is today's Foodbuzz daily special.

sugar doughnut muffins

My friend, Patty, raved about these doughnut muffins after she made them a few weeks ago. She first heard about these doughnut muffins from a local bakery outside San Francisco, Downtown Bakery & Creamery. Of course like a recipe hoard, I asked her to send it over. I got it and filed it away but it was not forgotten.

I love my coworkers! They all take turns bringing in breakfast once in a while and two of the top choices are doughnuts and muffins. So its about my turn to bring in something, so I decided to make the two office favorites with one recipe. I searched through my piles and piles of collected recipes and pulled out the one for sugar doughnut muffins!

sugar doughnut muffins
from downtown bakery & creamery

ingredients

• 12 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1-3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1-2/3 milk
• 1/4 cup buttermilk*
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups of granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

*to substitute buttermilk, add 1 tsp vinegar to 1/4 cup of whole milk

directions

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F. place rack in the middle of the oven. generously grease and flour muffin tins. also grease the surface the muffin cups to prevent the muffins tops from sticking to the pan.
2. using a mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together until mixture is light and fluffy. beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated into the batter; set aside.
3. in a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; set aside. in another bowl, combine the milk and buttermilk; set aside.
4. alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture into the egg batter, starting and ending with flour mixture. mix until all the ingredients are fully combined and batter is smooth. don't over mix. 
5. scoop enough batter into each muffin tin so that the batter is even with the rim of the cup. 
6. bake 30 to 35 minutes until the muffins are firm to the touch. remove from the oven and let cool just enough to be able to handle. 
7. in a small bowl, stir together cinnamon and sugar. 
8. roll muffin into the butter and then roll around in sugar mixture until fully covered. 

 Note: Next time I would add some vanilla to the recipe, which happens to be today's foodbuzz daily special.