Turmeric root and kaempferia galanga fried rice

I made this Saturday morning and seeing the boys and hubby really really love its taste I decided to make it again the next day. I even made some bento for my boys, you can see it HERE. Too bad I did not had a chance to take any picture so I am using one of my bento pictures. But I'll update it when I make it again.

We call this fried rice a Nasi Goreng Kunyit, it's translated as turmeric fried rice.
My mom made this a lot when we were little, especially when one of us complain about having stomachache. Back then I did not know any details about good benefits of turmeric roots etc, I just know its good for you, and I love its taste too.

NASI GORENG KUNYIT DAN KENCUR
Turmeric and Kaempfria galanga fried rice

Ingredients :
3 cups cooked jasmine rice (preferably leftovers from the previous day)
If you use fresh cooked rice, let it cool completely then storage in the fridge for couple hours.
2 tbsp cooking oil

Grind into paste :
1 inch fresh turmeric root
1 inch fresh kampferia galanga
3 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper (as desire)
(if you like spicy hot, you can add fresh Thai bird chili at this point)

Method :
Heat the cooking oil and when it's ready add the seasoning paste in and cook until fragrant. Add the cooked rice and stirring until all the rice becoming yellow. Keep stirring until done. Ready to serve with some omelet or sunny side egg with sliced of fresh cucumber.

Korean BBQ Tofu

I just tried this new trick to make plain tofu taste more flavorful and enjoyable for my boys. They love tofu already but I thought this might be something new for them.
If you do not like tofu, try this trick, you might change your mind. Use extra firm tofu, cut it into cubes then you can enjoy it for your Asian salad to substituted chicken.
My boys just eat them like that along with stir fried rice noodle with some vegetables for dinner tonight. I also packed some leftover for tomorrow's lunch, you can see it HERE

Korean BBQ Tofu 

Ingredient :
1 block firm tofu
3 tbsp Korean BBQ Sauce (terriyaki sauce is optional)
dash of salt (if desired)
3 tbsp cooking oil

Method :

• Cut the tofu into small squares, about 1.5 cm thickness
• Marinade the tofu with Korean BBQ sauce and salt for couple hours (I did mine overnight)
• Heat the cooking oil in a nonstick skillet, then pan fry the tofu until one side get caramelized brown, turn it once and let the other side get caramelized as well.
• Carefully take it from the pan and put it in a paper towel.
• Ready to serve.

I like to enjoy tofu with some fresh Thai bird chili and a little bit of soy sauce, it's the Indonesian way :D

Centik Manis

I decided to make this yesterday afternoon because it was raining all day long, the boys were so bored and so was I. Didn't feel like spring at all here in Bellingham and sometimes I wonder if summer will ever come.

Centik Manis is one of my favorite traditional Indonesian snack. I do not know exactly who came up with such name, but CENTIK means pretty and little, while MANIS means sweet. So centik manis is translated as  Indonesian pretty and sweet snack, even though its taste is not as sweet compared to most American dessert.  It tastes similar to rice pudding or tapioca pearl pudding. But has firmer texture.

I love when my mom brought some from the traditional market nearby our house. Making this is really brings back my childhood memories.
Traditionally centik manis is wrapped in a plastic or banana leaves, but since I am too lazy I thought using pudding mold or jello mold is more practical and can still be pretty. This time I used putri ayu molds. If you lack of such molds you can simply pour the mixture in a 8X8 pan to be sliced afterward.

Centik Manis

Ingredients :

50 gr multi color tapioca pearl
75 gr mung beans starch (tepung hunkue)
100 gr sugar
800 ml coconut milk (I used 1 can (400ml) of coconut milk and added 400ml more water)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Vanilla extract (I use vanilla bean, 1 bean goes along way)
1 pandan leaf (sold at most asian market fresh and frozen)

Method :

• Boil the tapioca pearl until done, drained and set aside
• Mixed the rest of ingredients in a 2 quart pot and turn the heat on medium low
• Keep stirring until the mixture got thickened
• Add the cooked tapioca pearls  
• Stir again and make sure everything is mixed and cooked 
• ladle the mixture into molds
• let it cool and well set
• release it from the molds and ready to serve

Matcha Macarons

This is my first attempt tackling french macarons! It wasn't a "trial and succeed" thing but I would not call it a failure either. The "feet" trade mark is there but somewhat the texture did not turned as what I expected. But practice makes perfect ... practice makes perfect. 

I think I have to reduce the amount of sugar next time.
The real trick I learned in making macaroons is not only on how to get the perfect hard peak with the white eggs, but you also have to let the piped batter sit over the counter for at least 1 hour. Many says 30 minutes up to 1 hour, but I'd suggest for at least 1 hour to get a perfect form of skin.

Matcha Macarons


Ingredients :
100 grams white egg (I use 3 eggs whites) room temperature.

25 grams granulated sugar

Pinch of salt
225 grams confectioners' sugar (next time I'd use 200 gr)
125 grams skinned almond powder
15 grams matcha/green tea powder (Next time I'd only use 10 gr)

For Chocolate filling :

½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream
120 gr bittersweet or semisweet chocolate 

Method :

1. Grind ground almond and confectioners' sugar with food processor to make sure there’s no lumps.
2. Whip the eggs whites with a pinch of salt and slowly adding in the granulated sugar until soft peaks formed. Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites half at a time and start folding (do it slowly).
3. Pipe the macaron batter onto baking paper.
4. Bake at 300F (160C) for 12 - 15  mins.
5. Let it cool and fill the macarons shell with chocolate filling.

To Make Chocolate filling:

Heat the cream until really hot, then slowly pour it into the chocolate chunk and slowly stir till it get really smooth and silky, let it cool before you put into the macarons shells.

Happy Mother's Day

Okay, I don't have the recipe to post here but my oldest son wants me to put the soup he made for lunch on Mother's day. And before we go there, I'd love to share some mother's day presents I got from the boys. They made it at school. I am so happy and blessed to be a mother of 3 amazing boys!!! they're ROCK!!

At first I thought this is a decoration

The message inside

He wrote this using a fountain pen ^__^

Sun Flower

Alright now for the soup. Hubby supervised him during to cutting and cooking process, but it's 100% his recipe that he learned from school.

The is made out of some leeks, carrots, potatoes and some cooked chicken breast.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL WONDERFUL MOMS AND MOMS TO BE

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon-Frosting

I made this cupcakes a long time ago but never posted here, because I wasn't too happy with the pictures. I keep thinking maybe when I make it again I'd take another pictures, but guess what? I made the cake again and again and again and I never got a chance to take any pictures. The cake disappear so fast, my family love it so much.

I combined 2 recipes, one I got from a good friend of mine RUMAH MANIS (I think she uses Martha Stewart's) with another banana cake recipe I got a long time ago.
I love the cooking method on the Martha Steward's recipe, because it uses melted butter instead of creaming the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Very simple and easy! works really well for me.
But I referred to the other recipe for the amount of butter and eggs, because I knew the result is always moist. So the combinations works just perfect!

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon-Frosting


Ingredients :
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter/1 stick (melted) --> I used 3/4 cup
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 4 bananas) plus one banana for garnish (optional)
2 large eggs -->I used 3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method :

• Preheat the oven 350F, line standard 12 cups muffin pan with paper liner
• In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt
• Make a well in center of flour mixture, In well, mix together butter, mashed banana, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (Do not over mixed)
• Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cup
• Bake until done about 25 - 30 minutes.
• Remove cupcakes from pan, let it cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with honey-cinnamon frosting.
• Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place on each cupcake if desired.

For the frosting :
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I use more because we love cinnamon too much)

Method :
In a medium bowl, using electric mixer, beat the confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey and cinnamon until smooth, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Oatmeal Cookies

I am so into baking mood lately, just the other day I baked some Japanese Cheese Cake for the 2nd time, and yesterday I baked this Oatmeal cookies for the boys to snack on after school. I have one 2nd grader and one Kinder-garter who are always hungry after school, and I also have one terrible twos at home. Making 1 batch of cookies would only last them for couple days, so I decided to make 2 batches.
I adopted the recipe from MYRECIPES.COM, What I love about it is it only uses brown sugar, so it's not too sweet I supposed, and I would feel less guilty giving it to my kids :d
I added a little twist with the spices, instead of using just cinnamon and cloves I used the famous Dutch Spekulaas blended of spices (the combinations of some nutmeg, maze, cinnamon, cloves etc). When the cookies are in the oven my kitchen smells amazing!!

I love that blended of spices, love its smells and its taste. It's very popular in Indonesia as bumbu spekoek. We normally use it for lapis legit or thousand layers cake. Maybe someday I'll bake that cake again and share the recipe here.

Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe adopted from myrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
• 1 1/4 cups oatmeal
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use spekulaas spices)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I use spekulaas spices)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (I omit it)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method :

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and butter until well blended. Add the oatmeal, egg, and milk, stirring well. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Gradually add to the oatmeal mixture, stirring well. Stir in the walnuts, raisins, and vanilla. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls, spaced about 1 inch apart, onto the baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough.