Soto Daging Babat - Indonesian Beef & Tripe Soup

What did you wanna be when you grow up? What was your dream job? Are you doing it?
These questions reminded me of my primary school days. We were always asked this question and the most popular answers were:
- For boys: a doctor, an engineer, or a pilot (I think at that time lawyers didn't make as much money as now, especially in Indonesia hehe)
- For girls: a flight attendant (uh huh!), a nurse (see how we grew up positioning ourselves as the assistance to men?), or a good mom
- A general answer which will get you an A in exams: I want to be someone who will glorify my country's name (Orang yang berguna bagi nusa dan bangsa). Yeah, baby, yeah!

I've never really been through the stage of wanting to be a flight attendant (that time I didn't realize how sexy and attractive this occupation sounds to guys hehe) or a nurse (I can't stand seeing people in pain, and I am wayyy too self centered to take care of others), but I always had good grades stating that I wanted to be someone who's useful for my country. Hahaha!

I've always wanted a creative job. First, I wanted to be an architect. There was a huge misconception that if you could draw a decent picture of a house by the mountains with flowers, a rising sun, some birds and a couple clusters of cloud, then you'll grow up being an architect. Yeah, right. Later on, I realized that there are many other jobs creative people could do, other than architecture. Everything needs creativity.

Although I am all grown up now (borderline old, only young at heart hehe), I still have my dreams. My current list of dream jobs are:
1. Taking pictures of fashion bloopers and bitching about it (I'd need a camera with a tele lens and camouflage outfits in colors of Hong Kong train station walls/Hong Kong skyscrapers)
2. Drawing & writing funny comics about life in Hong Kong
3. A good mom with a successful career
4. An immigration officer, so that I could be as rude as I like, and it will be considered a great performance. Hehe.

I am not sure if the dreams will ever come true, but this morning I spotted something interesting...and I didn't have my camera with me. So I'll just have to draw it down. Hehe...hope this isn't you, walking towards Hong Kong's most famous landmark office building, Bank of China Tower ^_^

Shoot. I almost forgot to talk about food.

I am a big fan of instant spice mixes. I wanted Soto, but I never have the wide array of fresh spices needed to make the paste from scratch. So I went for the short cut (as always. hehe) and the result was every bit as tasty as something made from scratch.

Soto Daging Babat (Indonesian Beef & Tripe Soup)

Recipe
- 2 packets of Indofood Soto Ayam Instant Spice Mix (you can buy it online here)
- half pound beef brisket
- half pound beef tripe (I bought a frozen pack, so it's been cleaned)
- half pound beansprouts (I bought HK$5 worth of it, and I think the guy gave me more than half pound. Add as much as you like)
- a sprig of corriander (chopped)
- 4 cloves of garlic (crushed)
- 4 cloves of shallot (thinly sliced)
- 5 cm ginger (peeled and bruised)
- hot water, salt, pepper, kecap manis, olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 2 small red chilli (chopped)
- 1 tomato
- fried shallot for garnish

Boil frozen beef brisket and beef tripe with half the ginger and shallot, 1 tsp salt and a dash of pepper for about 15 minutes, drain, cut into bite sized chunks. In hot oil, saute garlic, shallot and ginger, add brisket and tripe chunks, add hot water, add instant spice mixes, bring to boil then lower the heat, cook for 2.5 hours. Blanch beansprouts in hot water, drain. Add beansprouts, tomato, and a bit of corriander, cook for 15 more minutes, squeeze lemon juice and cook for 15 more minutes. Garnish with chopped corriander and crispy shallot, drizzle some kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and serve with steamed rice, fresh sliced tomatoes, wedges of lemon and the chopped chilli on the side.

You can use other kinds of meat, such as chicken or lamb, and you can add boiled eggs and crackers. Feel free to jazz it up.

Dream job #5. Is there any job which involves enjoying deep fried food and/or bacon all the time?