Kupat Tahu ala Bandung

Abang tukang sayur in my place told me that he wants to go to Solo alias pulkam. Why so late i asked him and he said now the tickets already cheaper than last due days. O. yeah.... it was so crowded anyway, good choice.

So, i prepare many things before he leaves. Lazy housewife that's me, ain't go to market and prefer buy ready food, anything like bakso, empek-empek, soto, nasi Padang, and those food make my purse dried, healthy reason not in my priority :-D

I buy many raw vegetables, fruits, and the most important is 'lontong' with banana leaf. Fear and greedy make me buy lontong for 25 pieces and i realize that's too much after i'm ready to cook. Firstly, i wanna cook 'lontong sayur' coz i wanna feel like 'lebaran' again, made by me. In every 'lebaran' day i never cook main dish such as ketupat/lontong sayur, sambal goreng hati, rendang, or it's complement. As a daughter and a daughter-in-law, it's my obligation to visit my parents and my mother-in-law and taste 'lebaran' food they served. I just made some cookies like nastar, sagu keju, cheese stick, semprit, putri salju, and chocchips cookies for my big family, over than 50 jars. To release my intention making my own lontong sayur and feel lebaran again or whatever, i order it.

God knows me better. My fear and greed as much as my intention lost easily. In front of my stove, i change my mind. I put squashes and beans back to refrigerator, and suddenly i wanna eat Kupat Tahu ala Bandung. I don't know why coz i never eat and cook this food before. Searching the recipe from internet takes time so long rather than the cooking, and i trust my self to use this recipe. Yepp...yepp...yepp..... less than an hour, my husband and i eat Kupat Tahu ala Bandung. My kiddos don't want it this coz they already eat at school. They first day school after holiday is fun cooking theme, they cook fried fish which is the fish is from fishing they own at school pool, cook sauteed kale from school garden, and cook rice too, great school activities :-)

Tumis Kulit Melinjo

This is a cheap, easy to cook, and rising appetite food. For this recipe i use three packages 'kulit melinjo for @Rp.2000,-. Sometimes i mixed it with anchovy or 'teri medan' and i bet you didn't know you add two plates of rice then. There's no stiff recipe for this, you only have to use onion, garlic, green chili, oyster sauce, salt, and sugar. Just simple as you swallow it to your tummy.

When i was a child, my mom used to cook it.  And during her ages, mom reduced it slowly. 'Kulit melinjo' contains purin and it's not good for health coz it may causes hyperuricemia or high level of uric acid.

Actually until my age now, i never calculate any nutrient from the food i served to my family. I cook anything i want to. The standard is only white rice, lauk (such as red meat, white ones, seafood), vegetables, and tofu/tempeh. I introduced many kind of food to my family, even junk food made by my self like KFC style of fried chicken and hamburger. As long as they eat well and regular and have an adequate rest, God helps me keep my family stay health. Amen.

Gulai Cancang dan Rebung

I made this curry after find some fatty meats at freezer. Obviously those meat was rest from last Eid, hahaha....  It still good and look fresh from freezer, so i decide to make cancang curry with bamboo sprout.  I remembered when i moved from my mom house, she gave me some herbs and Minang spices such as curry powder and rendang spice. It has no brand labelled, coz my mom got it from her sister in law who works at Siteba market in Padang. She gave me some advice to make curry if we want the taste like Minang restaurant. That's not enough to put only curry powder to your curry but also give it a pinch of rendang spice. and a powder to cook some goat or sheep namely 'pemasak kambing haji majid no.1.' I don't know exactly the composition of rendang spice, but you can buy it at Minang stall on traditional market. Just tell the seller (Uni or Uda) that you want a rendang spice and pemasak kambing powder, they will give you that stuff. 

I should remain you that the secret recipe for Minang food is you should brave to use spices and know the technique to cook it. Different technique will produce different taste. And if you loose one material or less amount will produce different taste too. So, it's important to learn it from our predecessor like grandma or mom, listen to them, watch them while they were cooking to get same taste. My food taste not like my mom, she is better than me coz she knew the technique. I am a lazy person, i love to cook but don't want push my self into hard or difficult thing to do. I prefer blend the spices/herbs with blender or use powder rather than milled manually. I always ease amount of coconut milk coz of my fear. But, beyond it all, my husband and kids always love my cook :-)

Trip to Dieng, Jawa Tengah

Last week, i joined open trip to Dieng, Wonosobo, Central Java with Suka Jalan,which held by my high school's friends. Actually, i have been to Dieng before, two years ago maybe (forgot the time exactly) , with my big family. The panorama of Dieng at that moment was awesome, sunny day and the weather was not so cold.  We enjoyed so deeply especially about food culinary such as mie ongklok, carica sweetmeat, baked potato, and 'tambi' tea. We went to so many places like Telogo Warna, Museum, Arjuna Temple, Theater, and Sikidang Crater with so many pictures taken over there. Yeaah, beautiful memories :-)

I went to Dieng once more because Suka Jalan offered a destination to Prau Mountain, seeking for sunrise. Yeah, after climbing Papandayan and Bromo in last trip, i am so crazy with anything about mountain. It brought me to a different atmosphere. So calm, cool, and peace. Though climbing mountain is quite tiring, but when you get to the peak, the tiredness suddenly gone. And for all the great view you will get during the climbing, you will find there something satisfied your soul. Yeah, it's addictive. But, unfortunately the destination to Prau Mountain was being canceled coz of the rain. My friend told me that the path might be slippery and dangerous, and with so many participant, she can't take any risks coz of it. 

Though it's a little disappointed to me, i still enjoyed the trip. My friend switch the destination from Prau Mountain to Sikunir Hill to seek a sunrise. It's only take a half hour to the hill's peak and the landscape's so amazing. The path wasn't so hard but near to the cliff. We climb to the Hill at 4.00 a.m while it was still dark, the path was little bit slippery, the weather was so cold and windy.  Some participants didn't continue to the hill's peak coz they were not accustomed to climb, too bad whereas at the top, there's a view of Sindoro Mountain, Telogo Cebong (Cebong Lake), and many else. I took some pictures at there but my dullness i can't maximize my new camera to get beautiful pictures, hehehe......   

In this trip, i deliberately not going to theater and Sikidang Crater. Better for me to sit at the stall in front of the theater, drink a hot tea with local snacks. Oohh gosh, it's so delicious and cheap. Just for sure, i ate a half portion of fried Dieng's potatoes, a half portion of fried mushroom, a piece of fried tempeh, and a cup of  hot 'tambi' tea and for all that i just paid Rp8000,00. What a price! At Sikidang crater, i prefer not going inside. I just can't stand with the smell of sulfur, too strong. So, me with camera took some pictures of the market, drink hot 'tambi' tea (again), and bought some gift to my family. I bought carica sweetmeat, a kilo of tree tomato or we called it with 'terong belanda', four kilos of small potatoes, some raw potato crackers, and 'tambi' tea powder of course :-)  Because of this gift, my backpack was overloaded and almost break my backbone, lol!

Dieng is one of the most trip destination you have to visit in Indonesia. It is a lovely place and you will find something new in there. I think i never get bored to go there. I promise to my friend that i will be back at dry season and climb the Prau Mountain. Wish me luck!

I'm back with Banana Poffertjes

Finally, i write this blog again after a long...long time absences. Actually last 2013, i had wonderful time for my self. I resign from administrative position in campus, my term was over at January 2013 exactly. I only had some lectures, write a book, and trip to many places. Me and family was moved to our new house at Depok, moving my kids to their new school. Yup, many things to do, not hard but not easy too. Coz, our house is near to our office, me and husband have a much time to waste , it's only 10 minutes to go there. No traffic jam, no wet coz of rain drops, no heat, yay! But, for all of my spare time, i forgot to write this blog :-D

Oh, i need to tell this. I bought DSLR Camera last month, Canon EOS 600D. It was at promo time at EC, Margo City. I got credit installment for 12 months. So, it was cheap for me, hahaha..... I need it for my travelling. At October 2013, i went to Papandayan Mountain and it was gorgeous, awesome. Some friends of mine use DSLR Camera to take pictures over there and i only use pocket camera. I was envy, so hard. I told to my hubby for this and he said that he would like to buy it for me. I refuse his offered. I wanna buy it myself, with my money but i was too stingy to open my purse. And then, when the promo came with rational price in my thought, i bought it, yay! Now, i learn again how to take some picture of my food  with this camera.  I think i have no style of art or art of style ( i don't know which one is right :-p) for foody pics. So, better for me to start again , with different style of writing, pictures, and language. Using English in this blog makes me familiar with this language. I need this for my proposal, having plan to continue my study abroad. Sorry for the grammar :-)

Yup, lets talk about food now and stop for the intermezzo :-D. Last week, Abang Sayur ( a man who usually sell some vegetable around) brought me some banana, Pisang Uli. Most of it for banana fried and some are left for the mix of cake. My first plan was made banana cake but i remembered that my oven not in good condition. The temperature control lost function, it always hot like 220 Celsius degree and charred almost always, sigh! So, i move for second plan, made some cookie which baked on the stove. I looked up my takoyaki maker and i had an idea to made poffertjes with banana flavor. 

I use recipe from this site, but i skip cheddar cheese and add pure banana from two bananas which almost rotten. I put a pinch of baking powder beside the yeast too. I think the dough is heavy coz of the banana and not enough for the yeast, so i put the baking powder, and the result was great, perfectly expand. I love the taste, banana flavor never dies. Here is the picture, just one pic, the last one coz it was too late to remember taking picture for this, hahaha...........

Lumpia Tahu

Sering banget bikin ini, tapi biasanya dalam bentuk martabak. Nah, coba-coba bikin bentuk lumpia, ternyata asyik juga.....

Resep mah standar saja, karena bikin ini biasanya memang karena ada tahu sisa di kulkas yang bingung mau dibuat apa. Enak buat cemilan siang/sore hari.


Ingredients:
1 kotak tahu cina, haluskan
3 butir telur, kocok lepas
1 batang wortel, serut halus
2 batang daun bawang, iris halus
3 siung bawang putih, cincang halus
1 sdt saus tiram
merica secukupnya
garam secukupnya
penyedap rasa ayam *optional*
kulit lumpia *saya beli jadi*

Directions:
- aduk semua bahan jadi satu
- ambil satu sendok isian tahu ke kulit lumpia, bentuk dan gulung seperti membuat risol/lumpia
- goreng dalam minyak yang panasnya sedang sampai kulit lumpia berwarna coklat emas/matang.
- angkat dan tiriskan.
- enak dimakan hangat dengan saus sambal

Kue Pukis

Sebenarnya saya sudah punya cetakan pukis dari dulu, cuma bukan yang teflon. Agak males karena pas percobaan pertama agak lengket dan hasil panggangan pertama ada noda alias serbuk besi yang nempel di kue pukisnya.

Nah, kebetulan sebulan lalu, searching internet, cari-cari toko online yang jual cetakan teflon. Akhirnya sampai lah di http://www.leoonlineshopping.com/tokoleo/ dan borong beberapa cetakan kue lainnya seperti kue lumpur dan poffertjes/takoyaki. Harga sangat murah, cepat pengiriman dan barang bagus banget. Sangat puas :-)

Sebenarnya cetakan pukis ini dipakai pertama kali buat bikin kue pancong, secara nyokap dan bokap doyan sama yang berbau kelapa. Dan kebetulan di rumah masih ada sisa kelapa kering yang belum tersentuh sejak lama. Hhmm... hasilnya enak banget, hanya saja tidak sempat terdokumentasi karena bikinnya pas sarapan dan buru-buru mo berangkat kerja.

Nah, bikin kue pukis ini pas hari sabtu dan kebetulan ada tamu, jadi langsung habis dalam sekejap. Resep diambil dari buku resep sedap edisi ragam kue tradisional. Hasilnya memuaskan dan lebih enak daripada kue pukis abang-abang pinggir jalan, suer :-)

Ingredients:
Bahan biang:
50 gr tepung terigu protein rendah (kunci biru)
100 ml air *saya pakai air hangat suam2 kuku*
1 sdm ragi instan

Bahan:
7 kuning telur
3 putih telur
350 gr gula pasir *saya pakai 300 gr*
250 gr tepung terigu protein rendah
400 ml santan kental
1 sdm margarine, lelehkan
1/2 sdt garam
1/2 sdt baking powder

Bahan toping:
Meisis
Keju lembaran, potong memanjang

Directions:
1. Bahan biang: campur tepung terigu, ragi, dan air. Aduk rata dan diamkan sekitar 10 menit.
2. Kocok telur dan gula sampai kental dan gula menjadi larut. Masukan bahan biang, kocok kembali agar menyatu.
3. Masukan tepung terigu bergantian dengan santan sambil terus dikocok dengan mikser.
4. Masukan margarine leleh dan garam, Aduk rata
5. Diamkan sekitar 90 menit sampai adonan mengembang. Masukan baking powder. Aduk rata.
6. Panaskan cetakan kue pukis dengan api kecil/sedang. Jika memakai cetakan pukis teflon tidak usah diberi minyak/margarine.
7. Tuang adonan ke cetakan sampai setengah saja. Panggang sampai setengah matang, taburkan meisis atau potongan keju. Panggang sampai matang. Angkat
8. Sajikan dengan ditemani teh hangat.