Indonesian Fried Meatballs from Bakso Goreng Indra, Semarang

Some Indonesian food pornage for ya.
My mom's in town for Hari Raya Idul Fitri holiday...and she brought some Indonesian goodies with her. This is one of them, I specifically asked for them.


Crunchy on the outside, fluffy and a bit chewy on the inside. Heavenly!
In Indonesia, we devour them with a tasty broth. My mom didn't bring the broth, so I tried to make it myself. The original street version probably has a bagful of MSG and then some. Mine doesn't so it doesn't have that certain "umami", but it's close enough.

Pork broth for bakso goreng
Recipe
- HK$20 worth of pork bones (with a quite bit of meat on them)
- 3 shallot, cut into chunks
- 2 cm ginger
- hot water, salt, pepper, sugar
- a sprig of chopped spring onion for garnish
- crispy shallot for garnish
- chilli sauce as condiment

In a stock pot, drop the bones into boiling water, simmer for about 30 minutes, turn off the heat, let it be for about 15 minutes, turn on the heat again, heat until almost boiling, turn off the heat again. Repeat this process for about 3 times or until the meat on the pork bones are super tender. Season with salt, pepper and sugar, serve with fried meatballs, garnish with freshly chopped spring onion and crispy shallot.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo Crust and Strawberry Compote

Finally! Something I baked that SC likes!

I baked this white chocolate cheesecake to celebrate SC's birthday, and I am sooo happy he likes it! (Normally he doesn't like my baked goods...I like things fluffy and he likes things...exactly the same as what we can buy from Hong Kong bakeries, and I am no Hong Kong bakery...)

Anyway...it's really easy to make, and it's yum.
Rich, creamy, buttery white chocolate + savory-ish cream cheese + chocolatey oreo + sweet & tangy strawberries and sugar = fantastic...
It's almost as certain as 1+1 = 2, right?
I'm so good at math, it's scary.

Recipe
Oreo Crust
- 1 pack of Oreo cookies
- 3 tbsp butter
Throw everything into food processor, pulse until smooth, pour into greased pan, level it with spoon and push them down until packed. You can pre-bake this before adding cheesecake batter at 180C for 5 minutes, but I didn't bother...

If you don't have a food processor, place the cookies in a glad bag and bang em good.

White chocolate cheesecake
- 1 bar of Lindt white chocolate (100 gr), chopped into chunks
- 1 box of cream cheese (250gr), chopped into chunks
- 5 tbsp cream
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp corn flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
Pulse everything in food processor until smooth and mixed well, taste and see if you need more sugar (the white chocolate is already sweet though), pour into greased cheesecake pan, onto the oreo crust, bake in a 180C preheated oven with over a water bath for about 30-40 minutes or until it's just a bit wobbly in the center. Let cool and refrigerate. Bring it back to room temperature before serving.

Again, you can totally do this without a food processor. Soften the white chocolate and cut the room temperature cream cheese into smaller pieces. Just mix 'em smooth using a hand mixer or a whisk.

Strawberry compote
- 1 cup strawberries, halved
- 3 tbsp caster sugar (or more, if needed)
Pour strawberries and sugar in a sauce pan, cook on low heat until you see some strawberry juice and it thickens a bit. Keep tasting and add sugar if you want it thicker and sweeter. Add some of the compote when serving the rich and creamy cheesecake.

My apologies for these crappy "recipes", I really normally just adjust as I go along T_T

August Birthday Junk Trip

Some memorable yumminess from my first ever junk trip last weekend.
I can't believe that I've been living in Hong Kong for more than 8 years and I have NEVER been to one. Madness!

Some food's included in the price of the trip. You might think that those are simple food, but boy...I am telling you...everything tasted extra delicious after swimming from your boat all the way to the beach and back!

Some fellow junk trippers also brought some more additional treats on board...

Yummy soy sauce chicken...


Some tofu with lo sui sauce...


They might not look it, but this was the best, and most tenderest duck I've tasted in my life!!!

I most post another shot of my all time favorite Hong Kong junk food...

Yellow siu mai with a drizzle of soy sauce and chilli oil. OMG, tasted too bloody fantastic after the swim...I think I ate about 20 of them at least...


A strong sangria...

Lookie what Javier caught!

Clams (plus some empty shells I picked out at the beach)! Too bad not enough to make pasta al vongole for everyone...


The boat owner caught this hugeeee squid! Wow!

We also had awesome birthday cakes for the August birthday boys...

This mango number is from St. Honore.


And the perfect, rich chocolatey ending from Awfully Chocolate.

My first junk trip was absolutely fantastic! I had tonnes of fun, met lots of great people, and I am now so fabulously golden brown! Thanks so much for organizing, @littlefatchick!

If you wanna book a junk trip, here's the website.

I will post more funage at my other blog.
Meanwhile, please also check out my junk outfit photography gig for the ever so fabulous Miss ChicMcMuffin!

SC, Mama & Siu Pak's Birthday Celebration at Home

Here's one of SC's birthday celebrations this year.
SC and his mom has the same birthday ^_^. Normally we'd celebrate in any nearby Chinese restaurants, but this year we had the celebration at SC mama's home.

SC's mom prepared all these yummilicious food!

Juicy, sweet, succulent boiled prawns. Dipped in soy sauce and freshly chopped chillies. Yum!


Steamed fish with light drizzling of soy sauce. SC's favorite fish (minimum boneage).


Squid and vegetable stir fry. Look how pretty!


Clams and preserved vegetables. One of my all time favorites from SC's mama!


Spicy curry crabs. I think I shamelessly ate about 90% of this dish...


Fish cake & vegetable stir fry. I am not a big fan of choy sum, but these are super sweet!

Normally, I'd try to make something as a contribution to the party, but since I didn't have a chance to do so (I was busy doing last-minute birthday gift shopping), I bought these macarons from Jean-Paul Hevin.


Baby M was curious...what are you photographing, mama?


Look at my little party animal ^_^


And here are the birthday lady & gentlemen...

PS. Siu Pak has his own doggie cake!

Happy birthday to SC, Mama and Siu Pak!

PS. If you wanna see what I bought for SC, check it out here.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Brittle - Couple Bet

There's a local bakery in my area that sells this fantastic peanut and dark chocolate brittle. Not too sweet, not too rich...crunchy and just perfect. We love buying a bit (HK$10 worth) for snacking when we had our post-dinner walks.

One fine day, we went to buy some, and SC asked me if baby M can eat this. I said no, because it has peanuts...and chocolate. Maybe after he turns 1, he can try a bit. SC proceeded to say that the thing has butter. I was not 100% sure, but I thought it didn't have butter. My palate is shit, but I couldn't taste butter in it. We proceeded to "debate" whether or not it has butter. SC (smugly) insisted that it must have butter, I insisted that it doesn't. Fine.

I proposed a bet. He needs to ask the owner if the brittle has butter. If it does, SC wins, if it doesn't, I win. The bet's HKD100.

Actually I had my doubts, but what the hell, I wanted SC to ask the bakery owner ^_^.

We went to the bakery, and SC cheekily asked the owner "Does this brittle have butter? I am OK with butter (suck ass), in fact I loveeeee butter (Almost implying that he wouldn't buy if there's no butter. Cunning!).

But...still...

I WON!
Bwaahahahahaha. HK$100, come to mama!
Look at SC's sosad face when parting with his HK$100 bill...
Well, at least he can have some delicious yet butterless dark chocolate peanut brittle to snack on while weeping his loss...

Rujak Serut - Indonesian Shredded Fruit Salad

The perfect little salad for summer. Ultra refreshing, very appetizing, full of textures and flavors. I love this as an appetizer, side dish, snack or even dessert. Making this does require quite a bit of work shredding the fruits, but the result's totally worth it.

The fruits

These super cute and adorable rose apples. I love the bit of crunch and spongy texture, its sweetness with a bit of tang, and its adorable shade of pink!


These green mangoes have deep yellow interior. The texture's firmer than the yellow ripe mango, it's very fragrant, it almost has coconutty/floral scent, and it is very sweet. I pretty much gnaw on the thin and small seed to clean up the part of the flesh which I could not shred. The cook's prerogative!


Jicama is a must in many Indonesian fruit salads. It gives the combo a nice crunch, with fresh yet earthy flavor.

I've also used fresh ripe pineapple, which I didn't photograph because I am forgetful. But I am sure everyone has seen pineapples before. Golden deliciousness!

Peel and shred all the fruit into matchsticks (except the rose apples, simple remove the core and chop away). I just used half a jicama, 1 mango, 2 rose apples and half a pineapple.

The combination of fruits is not fixed. Feel free to use anything which are available in your area.

The palm sugar dressing

The majority of the dressing is palm sugar, for its deep, sweet, coconutty, almost caramel-ish flavor; then salt to balance the sweetness; tamarind paste and lime for the sourness; a touch of shrimp paste for that extra savory umami-ness; and bird's eye chillies for the hot slap on the face.

I didn't exactly measure when I made the dressing, I started with a few chunks of palm sugar pieces, a tsp of sea salt, a tiny drop of shrimp paste, 1 tsp tamarind paste, 1 chilli, juice of 1 lime and a bit of hot water. I mix them together and keep adjusting the flavors to achieve the perfect balance of everything. The paste would be thick in the beginning, you can dissolve it by adding more hot water until you reach a thin-ish syrupy consistency (I should be killed for my very unclear "description", I know) and keep adjusting the flavors as you're thinning the dressing.

This is the kind of salad that needs quite a bit of dressing. All the fruits should be able to get just submerged in the dressing to let all the flavors marry.

Pour dressing over all the shredded fruits and refrigerate. The already multi-faceted flavors of the dressing will be combined with all the different juices from the fruits, you can imagine how complex it is, but yet...perfectly balanced. Just before serving, squeeze a bit of lime juice for that final punch.


Serve cold, of you can even add ice. If you wish, top with a bit of roasted nuts for more crunch.

Enjoy...and happy Friday!

Spicy Sardine Sandwiches - Happy Birthday, Indonesia!

Something loosely red and white to celebrate Indonesia's independence day.


This spicy sardine dish is something I always had back home in Indonesia. I always had it with lotsa rice, but thanks to Tigerfish, I am inspired to make the sardine dish a topping for sandwiches. Perfect for a light dinner.

Oh wait, considering the number of sandwiches I gobbled up...it probably shouldn't have been considered a light dinner after all. ^_^'

Recipe
- 1 can of sardines in tomato sauce
- 2 shallot or half an onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- salt, sugar, cooking oil
- chopped spring onion and crispy shallot for garnish
- slices of your favorite bread (toast with butter if you wish)
- cheese slices (optional)

Saute garlic and shallot in hot oil, add sardines, balance flavors with salt and sugar, set aside. Butter and toast your bread slices if you want. Arrange them onto a plate. Top with slices of cheese (if using). Half and cut sardines to suit the size and shape of your bread, place generous serving of sardines on the bread, top with the sauce, garnish with chopped spring onion and crispy shallot....

...and merdeka!

Happy birthday, Indonesia!

Black Truffle Paste Fried Rice

My lazy Sunday lunch.
The lunch was a lazy type, but the day couldn't be further from a lazy day.

It was a crazy Sunday, as always.
- Helper's off
- Crying baby
- Crying baby who wouldn't stop crying
- SC claiming that he couldn't make the baby stop crying
- A small dinner gathering
- Multiple trips to supermarkets (I should've made a list!)
- No aircon until about 5.30pm (SC's energy saving/health policy, thank God our flat's pretty breezy)
- Sweaty chopping & cooking sessions
- A fun dinner
- Tiramisu making
- Good bad Sunday TV

I was trying to fit a homemade lunch in between, hence the lazy fried rice.
Recipe
(serves 2)
- 2 bowls of leftover rice (I use a mix of Japanese short grain & Chinese brown rice)
- 3 heaping teaspoons of black truffle pate (or more if you want)
- butter, olive oil, salt, pepper
Heat up butter and a bit of olive oil in a non stick frying pan, add rice, mix about and cook until heated through. Turn of the heat, add black truffle pate, mix well, season with salt and pepper, serve.

You can add shaved black truffle if you have some lying around (I obviously didn't), and you can serve this as a side dish of a meaty main course with salad.

Today is again a crazy Monday. I'll try to enjoy it.
Over and out.

Light Dinner? Bellota Ham Open Sandwiches

One fine weekend, a good friend of mine came over and she brought goodies. Whew, and what goodies she brought, two packs of Bellota ham! Let's just say that our plan to have a light dinner was effectively ruined.

We devoured the ham with chunks of sweet melon and with slices of goat cheese...


And we also made sandwiches. Slices of sourdough; salad lightly dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice, goat cheese and the ham. Still sounds like a light dinner?

Ahem, we consumed our melon ham and sandwiches with this roasted corn, coriander and chicken soup..


...and glasses of this bastardized Sangria


...and this coffee cream soda granita

Light dinner...fail.

Anyway, gotta go stuff my face soon, diet's off on weekends. Yippie!
Happy Friday & happy weekend, everyone!

Baby M's Antics at Caffe Habitu

After an afternoon of window shopping, we went to Caffe Habitu for a bit of rest and a dose of my favorite rose latte.

Baby M lovessss Caffe Habitu's comfy chairs...


He climbed up...


...and down...


...tried to harass other diners...


...met and bullied another baby.
Here's baby M saying bye bye to his new friend...


SC ordered hot chocolate. A very un-summery choice huh?


And we tried their aloe vera cake.

Light, not too sweet, refreshing, with a bit of crunch and chocolate at the bottom. We love it!

Caffe Habitu's website.