"Thank You"

I've just arrived home from the beautiful Bali Island this afternoon. It was an enjoyable great trip. Hundreds of pictures have been loaded into my compact flash card. I have no idea when I'll have time to edit and share them with you.
I feel so grateful that I have a chance to visit this wonderful place (again) and photograph their rich traditional culture and beautiful sceneries.Thanks very much to my Parents & my sister who took care of our children during my short vacation, it gave me a chance to spend intimate time with my husband and recharged my energy. *Special thanks to my darling husband to let me join his business trip :)) Now, I'm back.
I just want to say thank you to all readers for your support. Many many thanks to all of you who wrote comments in this blog. I'm sorry for my late reply. Happy Thanksgiving!

Warm Brownie Cups

There are two things that made me very happy this week.
First, I'm back to my regular swimming activity after more than two months absent.
Last Friday morning, I started with 1600m long breaststroke, 500m less than my normal distance. Not bad at all! The whole day, I felt so good about it.
Second, I'm back to my regular baking recipe trials.

Actually, I bake about 2-3 times a week regularly, but not trying a new recipe. Just baking muffins, or brownies or simple cake for my family using the recipes that I have tried before.
I remember back in 2006-2007, almost every week I tried at least one new baking recipe. I miss those days.

So ... here I tried another type of brownies! *again?* :)
Brownie is a treat that never disappointing. It is a wickedly tempting treat. Sometime, even it comes out from the oven without perfect result (not fail), but it never left more than 2 days.
I took the recipe from one of my 'very thick' recipe book that I own for more than 5 years; The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook. This recipe was published on Martha Stewart Living Magazine Okt/Nov 1992; it was 18 years ago! Luckily, I was not too late to find this recipe, at least no more than 20 years :o

What is so special of this type of brownies?
It's the texture. It has 'pudding' texture. It also is very soft (especially when we serve it warm) and gooey. We need to bake it in individual custard cups or ramekins.
Delicious, of course!
So, to produce this soft texture, one of the requirement is 'beating the eggs until foamy and light', not 'just mix' like regular brownies. The combination of the foamy beaten eggs, two type of chocolates and using 'au bain marie'/waterbath baking method, give this brownies lovely texture, resulting in its smooth and rich flavour.
My children really love this brownies, ... 2 days after I tried this recipe, I baked one more time.
Yup, one cup is never enough!
Warm Brownie CupsIngredients
Makes 5.
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions :
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place a baking pan half full of water in oven.
2. Bring a saucepan of water to barely simmering. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Place over water and stir until almost melted. Remove bowl from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally.
3. Sift together twice all the dry ingredients except sugar. Set aside.
4. Beat eggs and vanilla until foamy and light. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Stir in chocolate-butter mixture. Fold in dry ingredients. Pour into five 8-ounce custard cups, filling each nearly to rim. Place in baking pan; water should come halfway up sides of cups.
5.Bake for 30 minutes or until brownies have risen to just above the rim and tops are cracked. They should be firm to the touch. Let cool for 5 minutes, then serve dusted with confectioners' sugar.
note :
Oven temperature : 350 F ~ 180 C

Gulai Daging Sapi

Saya selalu kagum dan berterimakasih kepada banyak penemu-penemu peralatan dapur yang pada akhirnya mempermudah proses masak-memasak. Pernahkan terpikir bagaimana dipermudahnya kita mengupas wortel atau kentang dengan adanya 'peeler' atau mudahnya kita menghancurkan bawang putih dengan bantuan 'garlic masher'? Cobalah perhatikan peralatan dapur yang kita miliki, dari yang sesederhana parutan berbagai ukuran hingga yang secanggih bread maker atau food processor. Betapa dimudahkannya kita beraktifitas di dapur dengan keberadaaan alat-alat tersebut.

Saya tidak mengenal seorangpun penemu alat-alat tersebut. Tapi tidak jarang, ketika saya menggunakan peralatan tersebut saya berpikir,'akan repotnya saya tanpa alat-alat ini'. Kagum dengan keberadaan alat-alat sederhana dengan fungsi yang hebat.
Salah satu alat yang sampai saat ini sangat saya kagumi adalah Cetakan Roti Jala (seperti foto di atas). Berbeda dengan cetakan roti jala 'edisi' terdahulu, yang mengharuskan kita menuang adonan pada cetakan yang telah diposisikan di atas wajan, cetakan model ini memungkinkan kita bekerja dengan lebih 'rapi' dan mengurangi ceceran adonan disekitar kompor. Sangat praktis dan fungsional.

Roti Jala sendiri cukup populer di Indonesia dan Malaysia. Hidangan bernuansa Melayu yang biasanya disajikan dengan Kari/Gulai.
Resep Roti Jala sudah pernah saya posting bersama resep Kari Ayam.
Kali ini, roti jala saya sajikan bersama Gulai Daging Sapi, yang resep aslinya adalah Gulai Kambing. Kalau pun ingin menggunakan daging kambing, tentu tidak salah. Pilihlah bagian daging tanpa lemak.
Gulai Daging Sapi
Sumber : Primarasa Hidangan Indonesia Terlezat
Bahan:
500 gr daging sapi
600 ml air
3 sdm minyak goreng
2 butir cengkeh
4 cm kayu manis
1 buah kapulaga
2 buah klabet (saya tidak pakai)
2 sdt bumbu kari bubuk
2 batang serei, memarkan
4 lembar daun jeruk purut
+/- 700 ml air
200 ml santan kental
4 buah terung bulat kecil, biarkan utuh (saya tidak pakai)
1-2 sdm air asam jawa
2 sdm bawang goreng

Bumbu Halus :
5 buah cabe merah
8 butir bawang merah
3 siung bawang putih
1 cm jahe
1 cm kunyit
1 cm lengkuas
2 sdt ketumbar
1 sdt merica
2 sdt garam
1. Potong daging menjadi 10-12 bagian, sisihkan.2. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam wajan, tumis bumbu halus, masukkan cengkeh, kayu manis, kapulaga, klabet dan bumbu kari, aduk. Masukkan serai dan daun jeruk, aduk hingga baunya harum.3. Masukkan potongan daging, aduk hingga daging berubah warna dan kaku. Tuangi air. Tutup wajan, masak hinggal daging empuk. Bila air mengering dan daging belum empuk, tambahkan air panas secukupnya.4. Masukkan santan dan terung, timba-timba santan hingga mendidih. Tambahkan air asam jawa, kecilkan apinya, masak terus hingga kuahnya berminyak, angkat.5. Pindahkan gulai ke dalam mangkuk saji, taburi bawang goreng, hidangkan.

Ontbijtkoek

One day I was cleaning the shelves in my kitchen, when I realized that one of my habbits is writting a recipe on a 'post it' (the small yellow square paper which can stick on almost anything) on my shelf. Of course, it's not all the recipes but just some of them that I regularly make it.

So far, there are 'only' five selected recipes that sticked on my kitchen shelfs. The popular Fudge Brownies recipe, my son's favorite 'Curly Bread' recipe, the all time favorite 'Peuyeum Cake' recipe, the traditional snack 'Colenak' recipe and my husband and daughter's favorite 'Ontbijtkoek' recipe. I didn't write the whole recipe on those small papers but only the ingredients connected by some arrows to explain where the ingredients have to be mixed to.

You know, I posted this 'oldies cake' recipe last year when we still lived in Mumbai. I tried the recipe from my favorite 'traditional Indonesian snack recipe book'.
After back to our home country, I got another Ontbijtkoek recipe from my auntie, who regularly bakes this cake. Soon this recipe became our favorite one. The cake is softer and not too dry like before, because it uses 'a little' melted butter.

The original ontbijtkoek recipe uses 'kenari' (~javanese almond/canarium commune) on the top, but the ontbijtkoek from our oven uses chocolate chips (to obey my children's request) and also any kind of peanuts that I can find in my kitchen.
Using one recipe, I can produce 2 loaves of Ontbijtkoek in one go.

Here the simple Ontbijtkoek Recipe;
Sift together 1 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp vanilla powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon and pinch of ground gloves and nutmeg. Set aside.

Beat 5 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup palm sugar until thick and frothing.

Add the sifted ingredients and 2 tbs melted margarine, stir well.

Pour into a loaf baking pan lined with grease-proof paper that has been brushed with butter and sprinkled with flour.

Sprinkle with kenari or peanuts or chocolate chips.

Bake at 180 C for about 40-45 minutes until done.
*spread margarine on top of the cake, right after it comes out from the oven.

Ayak 1 3/4 cup tepung terigu, 1/2 sdt vanilla bubuk, 1 tsp kayu manis bubuk and sedikit/sejumput cengkeh bubuk and biji pala bubuk. Sisihkan.Kocok 5 telur , 1/2 cup gula dan 1 cup gula palem hingga kental dan berbuih. Tambahkan bahan-bahan kering (yg telah diayak) dan 2 sdt margarin cair, aduk rata.Tuang ke dalam loyang panjang (loaf pan) yang telah dialasi kertas roti/kertas minyak serta diolesi mentega dan ditaburi terigu.Taburi kenari atau kacang atau chocolate chips.Panggang pada suhu 180 C selama kurang lebih 40-45 menit, hingga matang.
*Olesi dengan margarin sesaat setelah kue keluar dari oven.