Canned Food Party

Celebrating our love for canned food, a few close friends and I decided to have a canned food party, or was it actually my excuse for serving my guests with bad food? Ahem ahem ;)

Here are the easy breezy food I served that day...
Canned Fruit Salad

- 1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 can of peaches, drained
- 1 can of grapes, drained
Dressed with mango yoghurt, a bit of condensed milk, lemon zest and lemon juice.
Easy peasy. PS. You can also use a mixed fruit cocktail.

Corn Kernels with Bacon and Coriander

- 1 can of corn kernels, drained
- a few slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
- a sprig of coriander, chopped
- lemon juice, black pepper
Cook bacon pieces in a hot pan until they're browned and most of the fat has been rendered, add corn, let brown, add coriander at the end, add black pepper and squirt some lemon juice.
Done and done.

Indonesian Home Style Sop Ayam (Clear Chicken Soup)

- 1 small chicken, remove excess fat and most of skin
- 3 cloves of shallot, cut into sections
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 3mm thick chunks
- 1 small potato, cut into cubes
- a handful of macaroni (since I don't have them, I used fusili)
- half a can of hot dogs (cut into chunks)
- half a can of spam (cut into cubes)
- olive oil, ground nutmeg, hot water, salt, pepper, crispy shallot, spring onion/Indonesian celery/coriander

Saute shallot in hot olive oil, add chicken, add carrot and potato chunks, add hot water, bring to boil, cook until you have a nice chicken stock and the carrot and potato chunks are tender, add hot dog and spam chunks, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, garnish with crispy shallot and greens, serve.

Since back home we serve sop with perkedel (Indonesian potato cakes), I tried to make my own perkedels (again, after failing many times)...

Perkedel Kornet (Indonesian Potato Cakes with Corned Beef)
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- 2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced (about 2-3 mm thick)
- 3-4 tablespoon canned corned beef
- crispy shallot
- 1 egg, beaten
- ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, olive oil for frying and baking
I microwaved sliced potatoes on high for about 10 minutes, or until softened. They get a little watery after microwaving, thus, I drizzled a bit of olive oil and bake them in 200C oven until most of the liquid is gone (this way, it takes shorter time compared to baking the potatoes soft, and less greasy compared to deep frying the potatoes prior to mashing). Mash while the potato chunks are still warm (it's ok to leave a bit of chunks), add corned beef, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, crush some fried shallot into the mix (optional), and mix well. Roll about 1 tbsp of potato mix into a ball and flatten slightly. I refrigerated mine overnight, but if the potato balls are firm and dry enough, it is not necessary (I just couldn't risk another failure). Heat up oil for frying (medium heat), dip each potato cake into beaten egg and fry until golden brown. I've tried baking them, coating them in panko breadcrumbs etc, but nothing's as good as the authentic deep fried version ;)

My first successful perkedels! Yeahhhh~ it's a day to remember!

Baked Spam and Pineapple in Teriyaki Sauce

I've made this before...I liked it so much, I made it again! The recipe can be found here.

For dessert...I didn't wanna bake anything...I served a very summery Indonesian classic...
Iced Canned Fruit Mix

- 1 can of longan
- 1 can of lychee
- 1 can of rambutan
- ice, iced water
Mix the canned fruit with some of its syrup, add iced water and ice cubes until you achieve the desired level of sweetness, and serve ;)
Very very refreshing!

Could the above food (plus rice) serve 5 big eaters? Of course not! We also ordered 9 pieces of chicken from KFC with waffle fries ;) ...and we taught our Hong Kong friend to eat like a true Indonesian, i.e. plate instead of bowl, rice + corn + perkedel (carb+carb+carb), eat with your bare hand, shape rice and stuff into a small mountain, shove into mouth with your thumb...and don't forget...one leg up on the chair.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of that as my hand was dirty with food. The scene was priceless!