Beef & Chicken Franks in Spicy Tomato Sauce: Jerks & Hot Jerks

Sometimes I fancy myself as an omnivore. But to be honest, not really. I am really a meat lover. I do admire vegetarianism, though. Be it for health reasons, religious reasons, other noble reasons I can't think of, I-wanna-be-cool reasons, I-just-follow-my-bf/bff/boss reasons (i.e. I-have-no-opinion reasons), or I-am-only-vegetarian-on-the-record reasons. HAHA! For what it's worth, it shows self control and I have none :p

I'd like to share a personal vegetarian encounter, though. My friends and I had a super bad experience with one. Someone we knew, who is a hard core vegetarian and a noble religious practisioner (a wannabe?), is super mean to others. We aren't talking about mildly cunning here...but pure evil. Mean, mean, mean. We always wonder if this person has to be mean to human beings to compensate being so nice to animals (by not hurting/eating them)? ^_^

However, no worries. I don't generalize. I believe that it's one isolated case, and there are so many great vegans in this world, despite the jerks....which I found in a Taiwanese snack shop LOL:

...and girls just love bad boys...so, here are the HOT vegetarian jerks, wait until the tops come off ;)

I think enough jerks for today, aye? Let's move on to my love for meat. Most of my dishes contain meat. They are the star, and the fruits and veggies are the supporting actors/actresses. They could do an award winning performance, but I paid the tickets to watch the star. Hehehe.

Here's another favorite hearty dish. Easy, quick, and always satisfying:

Beef & Chicken Franks in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Starring: Nicely Marbled Beef & Sliced Chicken Franks
Supporting Actors: Sliced Tomatoes, Garlic, Shallot, Chilli, Soy Sauce, Sweet Soy Sauce, Pepper, Ketchup, Sambal ABC (ABC Indonesian chilli sauce)
Extras: parsley flakes, olive oil, a bit of butter

Brown chicken frank slices, set aside. Saute garlic, shallot, chilli in olive oil with a bit of butter, add beef and chicken franks, pour sauces, cook through, garnish with parsley flakes.

If you like this, you might also like my Bistik Trio

PS. If I had to be a vegetarian, I might weigh a gadzillion lbs, as I could see myself compensating the lack of meat with truckloads of carbs ^_^

Baked Spiced Eggplants with Tamarind Dip

Are you a scary movie person?

Most of my friends aren't. They won't watch scary movies, even if theirs life depended on it. Sous chef is a huge scary movie fan and will watch whatever guaranteed to scare the crap outta him. I am half and half. I like watching scary movies, in broad day light (no fun, eh?), or late a night with a huge group of people....and...to be exact, I just watch the top right corner of the screen whenever a super scary scene is anticipated. If the scary scene is visible everywhere on the screen, including from the top right corner, I would simply close my eyes. HAHA. Yes. I am a timid little mouse with a tiger's taste.

I love classic scary movies involving mystery of spiritual world...and I hate aliens in scary movies (I stopped watching The X files when they started to blame everything on aliens). My favorite scary movie of all time is The Exorcist. I remember watching a rerun of the series on TV with my dorm friends in my uni days, after which around 6 of us would snuggle in one bedroom being scared. Hmmm...so far this post has not done anything to build up everybody's appetite, aye? LOL.

I simply wanted to share this as I just got back from scaring and sickening myself watching an early 10:35 AM scary movie screening at a cinema nearby. The movie is called REC, a little predictable but they've done a great job keeping everything so real. There's one thing I hated about this movie, which was the camera movement. Although I've closed my eyes 30% of the whole movie, it still managed to cause me motion sickness which lasted the whole day, I barely had any appetite, which is almost NEVER (haha). The movie was really not suitable to watch while eating...even pop corn.

But here's something I like to snack on while watching my favorite chick flicks ^_^

Baked Spiced Eggplants with Tamarind Dip

Recipe

The Baked Eggplants
- 1 long eggplant, sliced around 5 mm thick
- 5 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt, a dash of pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp ground corriander
- 1 egg, beaten
- bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 200C. On a plate, mix flour with salt, pepper, sugar, cumin and ground corriander. In a bowl, beat an egg and on a separate plate, mix bread crumbs with a bit of salt and pepper. Grease an oven tray, dip eggplant pieces into flour, then egg, then bread crumbs, and lay on oven tray in just 1 layer. Bake until golden brown, flipping just once.

The Tamarind Dip
- 2 red chilli, sliced thinly
- 1 small clove of shallot, sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 piece palm sugar
- fish sauce, light soy sauce

Dissolve tamarind paste and palm sugar in hot water, add chilli, shallot, fish sauce and light soy.

If you don't mind deep/pan frying, these taste even more fantastic fried. Hehe ;)

I am submitting this to Wandering Chopstick's event, Weekend Wokking. Hosted this week by Marija from Palachinka. Check it out more eggplants recipe!

Now let me think of a lame excuse not to attend next week's sickening scary movie screening. Any ideas? Hehe

Super Easy Peanut Butter Oreo Mousse

I am losing it. Totally losing it. I meant my waist line (sob-freaking-sob), and I only have myself to blame. OK. I've never been stick thin. I always have chunks of meat here and there, but there were at least kinda at the right places ;). I had quite a waist before. Boy, I miss it.

There are a few (or a lot) of reasons behind the disappearing waist line....namely:
SOUS CHEF
Yes! I wrote this in capital letters. Plus, he can't argue against it here, so I am gonna blame it all on him. HA HA HA! Seriously. If you had a partner in crime, who shares the same flaming passion for tasty treats, the temptation gets too great to resist. Sous chef loves desserts, (despite all the denials) especially anything rich and chocolatey and I received regular, if not daily requests or demands to bake something decadent. A huge chocoholic myself, how could I resist? When faced with chocolates, my will power to resist automatically reduces itself to sub zero.

I am not really a couch potato. Unbelievable as it sounds, I actually enjoy physical exercises. However! If it's a situation such as:

An hour of body combat class (even if taught by Mr. Super Sexy Instructor)

-VS -

Mr. Super Sinful, Rich, and Gooey Dark Chocolate Cake

What is it gonna be?
Right.....(PS. If any one of you chose the class, kindly click the X button to exit this blog right now. Hehe)

I faced such situation almost daily now...and what made it even worse? Midnight Snacking! I guess, the more we eat, the hungrier we get. Yesterday, at around 11 pm (after having a proper dinner at around 7 pm, and a bite of dessert at 8) I mentioned that I fancied a bowl of the (again) sinful Indonesian Indomie Goreng (dry instant noodles), and then I thought better of it and decided not to go for it. However, my sweet sweet sweet loving Sous Chef, ever so kindly, insisted to cook the noodle and brought it to my already embedded on the couch lazy ass. Tell me how to say no to THAT?!!! My will power...I probably didn't even have one in the first place. LOL!

Aaaanyway...as long as I am enjoying every second of it...it's worth it!

Here's another worthy reason to indulge...
Super Easy Peanut Butter Oreo Mousse

Recipe
(yields 4 small cups)
- 1 cup of whipping cream
- 2 tsp sugar (you can omit if you don't want it so sweet)
- 3-4 tbsp peanut butter
- 4 oreo cookies, crushed

Mix cream and sugar in a mixing bowl, beat the heck outta them until fluffy, add peanut butter, beat until well mixed, fold in oreos, pour into small cups, refrigerate to set. No egg, no bake, easy peasy.

I am submitting this to...

NO BAKE!
by The Peanut Butter Boy

Shoot. Sous chef is probably now flexing all of his IT related muscles trying to find a way to delete this blog. I should stop blaming lol

Nasi Tim Ayam Jamur - Indonesian Steamed Rice with Chicken and Mushrooms

It was just yesterday when I gushed and marvelled at how I love participating in blog events. The day hasn't ended yet, I looked at my calendar, with scribbles of food names reminding me of the blog events I was dying to join, and I realized that there are too many events, too little time. Mind you, I don't always scribble everything down, if you look at the number of events I've bookmarked under my "Food Blog Events" folder in my laptop...it is much much worse (the size of the folder is wayyyyyy bigger than the size of my work related folders all combined. LOL).

I like joining events which are doable enough for me. That rules out joining super challenging baking events. Not only because I suck at baking (big time!), but also because I do not have the energy struggling to attempt yet another baking disaster, especially on weekdays hehe.

Normally, I like doing my blog event assignments on weekends, when I can leisurely enjoy shopping for materials, taking my time whisking stuff while watching TV, surviving failures and disasters, and bending myself out of whack all around my flat to get better pictures while barking instructions at poor lil' sous chef. HAHA!

However, judging from the number of items pitifully scribbled under 31 August, and looking at the number of completed events I've posted. Plus the numbers of weekends I lost to August birthday celebration buffets, I had to sacrifice a day of exercising (ahhh...another LAME excuse to escape exercise) to accomplish this dish I've promised my good blogging pals, Ayin and Deetha.


Nasi Tim Ayam Jamur - Indonesian Steamed Rice with Chicken and Mushrooms

Of course, whenever I am under extreme time pressure, the culinary murphy's law happens upon me, totally expected and predictable! (The universe, or whoever it was, you need to do better next time! Do the exact opposite for mushroom's sake!)

I needed either fresh shiitake, button or straw mushrooms, and of course, they were nowhere to be found! HAHA! So I had to get an expensive teeny tiny bowl of other mushrooms instead, which took forever to clean! To top it off, my air con was leaking like hell (it's like I was having a mini tropical storm at my very own home!), I had to line up a bucket, a mixing bowl, and a huge colander to tackle the water!

and still, the floor was wet, and when I was super excitedly walking to the kitchen to check out my rice, I slipped, did a little dance in the air, and my right butt cheek landed flat on the floor, my left ankle hit a sharp edge of the wall, my right wrist hit the floor hard! I either scared the crap outta my sous chef or amused the heck outta him. LOL! SC asked if I'd be pissed if he took pictures, I guess I might have...but came to think of it...too bad he didn't, eh? That would've been one heck of a picture! HAHA!

Recipe
The chicken
- 2 boneless chicken thigh fillet, remove excess fat, cut into cubes, leave some skin for moisture
- 1 pack of mushrooms (whichever mushroom is available lol)
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cm ginger, crushed
- dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, chinese five spice powder, corn starch, olive oil

Marinate chicken pieces with a bit of dark soy, sesame oil, sugar and 1 tbsp corn starch while preparing for other materials. Saute garlic and ginger in hot olive oil, add chicken pieces, cook for a while, add sauces bit by bit according to your taste. The dominant flavors are garlic and dark soy with a touch of sweetness, the rest of the flavors should be mild

The rice
- 2 cups of rice
- 250ml chicken stock
- water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- a dash of sesame oil
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1 clove of garlic, finely sliced

Arrange some of the cooked chicken at the bottom of rice cooker (I didn't use all the chicken pieces, I left some to be served with the rice later), add rice, add chicken stock, add water (up to the required level), add sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper, sugar, ginger, garlic, mix a bit. Cook until rice is done, add some of the separated chicken into the bottom of a small bowl, add rice, pressed, serve onto a plate, garnish with chopped spring onion, fried shallot flakes, and some sweet soy sauce.

The soup
- 250 ml chicken stock
- 1 silk squash, peeled and cut into bite size chunks (optional, you can other other vegetables)
- water
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar
- a bit of finely chopped spring onion and fried shallot flakes for garnish

Saute ginger and garlic in olive oil, add silk squash, add chicken stock, add water if you want more soup, bring to boil, cook until the vegetables are cooked through, season, garnish, serve.

All disasters aside, I had a lot of fun and we ended up having a fan-bloody-tastic meal. The chicken was tasty and tender, the rice was rich and fragrant, the silk squash was sweet. It was pretty close to what I had back home in Indo, if not better, HAHA!

I went through a lot doing this one, so I could sing it song of praises if I wish to. Dammit!

Chicken & Mussels Fusili in Spicy Chilli Bean Sauce - Food Blogging Events Fever

Food blogging events. Wow! There are just sooo many of them nowadays...check them out here, you will find sooo many different topics you can choose to participate in. You name it, they got it. Hats off to those food blogging events creators. Despite all the fun, it is a hard work to host an event, unless you are having other people hosting for you, which I think is very clever. Pure genius! ^_^

Do I like food blogging events? To be honest, I LOVEEEEEEEEEEE them! Probably a little too much...that sometimes I kept thinking about what I could come up with before I fall asleep and as soon as I woke up (SC, no worries. You were also there in my thoughts - pranching around amongst all the ingredients in ballet tights hehe).

Why do I love participating in food blogging events so much?
- I am a natural born virtual party animal. I sniffed a party, I got all itchy to join :). I got to know many cool food bloggers from everywhere from these virtual parties!
- I'll never get out of ideas. The events are stimulus for me to build ideas around various themes. Plus, they gave me the necessary nudge to try new things. Without participating in food blogging events, I probably wouldn't have known what leek is ^_^
- I know participating in events boosts hit rate, linky links and stuff like that, but I'd rather not get too focused on that. It could spoil all the fun for me :)

One of my favorite food blogging event in which I try to participate regularly is Presto Pasta Nights, created by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast. This event motivates me to should create a new pasta/noodle dish, at least one day of the week ^_^...and here's my spicy pasta this week:

Chicken and Mussels Fusili in Spicy Chilli Bean Sauce

Recipe
(serves two)
- 5 handfuls of mini fusili pasta (they are smaller than your regular fusili)
- approx 8 medium sized mussels, deshelled, marinate in lime/lemon juice
- half lb of skinless, boneless chicken breast meat, whacked and cut into bite sized chunks
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- a sprig of fresh corriander, chopped
- 3 tbsp of chilli bean sauce (dau ban jiang)
- olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, corn starch

Marinate chicken pieces in a bit of lime/lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1 tsp corn starch. Start cooking pasta as instructed in the packet. Saute garlic, shallot, some of the fresh corriander, add chicken and mussels, add the chilli bean sauce, mix well, cook until the meat is almost done. Drain pasta, use some of the pasta water to thicken sauce, pour the pasta into the sauce mixture, mix well, add seasoning if necessary, garnish with freshly chopped corriander.

Now it is my turn to go pranching around in pink ballet tutu in SC's mind while SC's thinking about video games