My Remedy

I haven't been feeling myself lately. I'm not sure if it's because of Aunt Ruby's in town, or is it because of the stuff that's been happening in my life. Don't get me wrong, life is beautiful now that I'm able to live it just like how I want it to be! But, it's the unexpected turn of events that gives a little nudge on the "Self, are you fully recovered?".

At times like this, the best remedy to keep me sane is Mom's cooking. She made the best food with her hand. She can't even imitate the taste of gorengan that you can find on the streets because Mom's gorengan tasted way much better than those on sale for Rp1.000,00 each. Even when she failed at making cookies, because the batter was to watery hence resulting a blob of crispy sugary substance, they still tasted good.

A couple of flights ago, she packed me some vegetable omelette, fried chicken, and some steamed broccoli. Nothing fancy, just a simple yet delicious range of food that suited my no-carb no-sugar diet. It was a long flight, but it didn't drained the life out of me because I had Mom's cooking to boost my energy.

I paired my dinner with a cup of Wedang Uwuh that I bought when Mom and I went to Solo. It's not the instant powder-type one, but the actual bag of herb itself. It consists, if I'm not mistaken, of cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger, nutmeg leaves, secang leaves, lemongrass, cardamom, and bits of rock sugar. Put them all in a cup, pour some hot water into it, and you got yourself a glassful of warm and spicy goodness. I didn't add sugar to my hot drink, and it tasted fine the way it is.

Despite the bad weather, I felt okay and managed to pull myself together through it all.  

Mom's Breakfast Buns

It was around 7 in the morning, just as the sun ray peeked through the window, when I accidentally woke up from my slumber. I was planning on having three more hours of sleep, but a deal is a deal: the moment I wake up, I am not going to put myself to sleep again.

My eyes were still half closed, my voice was rough, and I couldn't even walk properly. Mom was surprised by the fact that I woke up THAT early. She is used with having me waking up an hour past mid noon. "Lho, kok tumben jam segini udah bangun," she said, "mau ke mana?" which then I replied with a, "Mau sarapan yang enak, Tie." 

So, Mom made me these light and savory breakfast buns. Using the leftover burger buns from the fridge, that were about to expire, she toasted them and topped them with bacon, scrambled eggs, and melted cheese. Boy, it was a sight that made my eyes popped in the early morning.

I finished three buns and they were awesome! But, I do think they were missing a cherry on top: a nice drizzle of sweet and sticky maple syrup.

Ikan Tenggiri Balado

Siang ini Ibu gue masak Ikan Tenggiri Balado, lho. Enak banget, suer! Daritadi gue berpikir keras gimana caranya menuangkan kata-kata ke dalam postingan blog siang ini mengenai masakan Ibu gue yang satu itu, tapi ujung-ujungnya cuma bisa gue hapus lagi dan hapus lagi. Enaknya bikin bego. 

Ikan Tenggiri Balado ini adalah salah satu masakan Ibu gue yang gue doyan banget. Padahal beliau alergi seafood, kecuali cumi-cumi, tapi masakannya tetap enak meskipun nggak dicicip selama proses masak. Dan, kelihatannya nggak begitu rumit untuk memasak makanan yang satu ini: hanya tinggal goreng ikannya, dimasak dengan racikan sambal balado, dan voila! Nggak susah, kan? 

Ujung-ujungnya, gue cuma bisa duduk bego, kekenyangan, dan berjuang keras untuk mengucapkan, "Tie, enak banget ikannya." setelah selesai makan.

Mom's Homemade Burger Patty

It's New Year's Eve and Mom's preparing food to welcome 2015. This afternoon, she made a batch of burger patty to be grilled next year (that is me trying to break the ice, ba-dum-tss!). Like always, she didn't follow any recipe, she just made it up herself. Mom's recipe to make burger patty was pretty simple, you should definitely try it when you get the chance!

Mom's Homemade Burger Patty

Ingredients:

- a couple of onion 

- 4 cloves of garlic

- salt & pepper (as much as you like)

- 1.5 kg of grinned meat 

- 4 egg whites

- olive oil 

How to Make:

- dice your garlic

- slice, or chop, your onion accordingly

- mix your onion and garlic together

- pour some olive oil into your non-stick frying pan

- stir-fried your onion with medium heat until they are golden brown

When your onion is nicely cooked, turn off your stove and let the onion cools off

- prepare your meat by placing them in a container

- pour some salt & pepper onto your grinned meat and mix it well

My Mom prefer to use her bare hand to mix the meat with. If you would like to use some kitchen utensils, then be my guest. 

- next, pour the egg white and mix well

- when the onion is cool enough, spread them onto the grinned meat and mix well

Why do we have to wait until the onion cools off? This is so that the meat wont cook when it makes contact with the onion. 

- when your meat nicely mixed with the other ingredients, grab a chunk and make balls with it big enough to fit in your hand.

- then, with your finger, flatten it up until it shares the same thickness with your finger

 Your burger patties are ready to be cooked!

- pour a bit of olive oil into your frying pan and fry your burger patties with medium heat

Keep an eye on your patties, you don't want them to over cooked because it will make the meat becomes too dry. 

- voila, your burger patties are ready to be eaten!

Veggie Delight

How can you say no to corn on the cob? Or nicely boiled carrots and green beans? Or, even, a bowl of fresh and bright broccoli? I had all of those for lunch and dinner today. Not because I'm on a diet, but because I feel like having them. 

Vegetable is good for one's body. Other than the fact that they are rich in fiber that will help you do your business in the bathroom, it also enhance your physic. Carrots, for example, they enhance your eyes performance, while broccoli reduce the the risk of you getting a coronary heart. On the other hand, corn and green bean are very low in calories. Great and healthy, don't you think?

You don't have to always cook something with seasoning, especially vegetable. Just boil them for 3 minutes in a pan of boiling water and voila! you got yourself a batch of healthy food. Corns and carrots are sweet, sweet-toothed persons ought to fancy them, while broccoli and green beans are just bland, yet juicy. 

A bowl of corn on the cob

A selection of carrots and green beans

Broccoli! Broccoli!

If you're not into bland vegetables, you can make a bowl of sweet and savory mixture to eat them with. My Mom has this easy recipe to make it, and I shall share it with you.

Ingredients: garlic, onion, sugar, salt, pepper, Kikkoman soy sauce, and corn flour. 

How to Make:

- Mash the garlic and slice the onion

- Fry them with a frying pan until the color get darker 

- Pour some water, then add sugar, salt, and pepper

- Add some Kikkoman soy sauce and corn flour

- Whisk it 

Very simple right? You don't even need to measure the ingredients, you just have to taste it for yourself. If you think the mixture is lacking of sugar, then add some sugar. If it is lacing of pepper, then add some pepper. Be creative and don't be afraid to experiment!

You can also fry some chicken as a side dish to your vegetable platter, like my Mom did today. She fried some chicken breast and chicken thigh with instant batter. Not only the chicken will be crispy and McDonald-like, they will be savory and delicious as well.

So, what are the odds of you having vegetable for breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow?

Sweet and savory mixture to eat your veggies with

Fry some chicken if you want

Chestnuts: An Epic Fail Story

One day, after an appointment with my Chiropractor, Mom and I made a quick trip to Ranch 99 Market. We were going to buy some vegetables and snack, but we ended up buying a bag of chestnuts instead. After we pay for our nuts at the cashier, we went straight back home and proceed to cook the chestnuts confidently without following any How-to-Make instructions from the internet. Boy, were we wrong.. 

A gorgeous bag of Chestnuts

Not knowing the proper way to make Chestnuts become edible, Mom washed the nuts and put them in a steamer pot for hours. We just wait patiently, hoping that the Chestnuts would turn out well-cooked, cracked, and deliciously edible. An hour passed and there were no sign of any crack on our nuts. Two hours passed. Three hours passed. Nothing happened to our chestnuts. Mom decided to take a piece and took a bite. "It's not cooked," she said, "where did I go wrong?". 

The next day, Mom tried to boil the steamed Chestnuts, but her result was to no avail. Those Christmas treats reeked and ended up spoiled. 

Clean them with water

It turns out, the proper way to roast Chestnuts is for you to drown them in water for 8 hours before hand, then boil them in a pan. The result of the action would be a perfectly-cooked nuts that tasted sweet and nutty. It's as simple as that! 

Long story short, our first attempt to roast Chestnuts failed. The next time Mom and I tried to roast them, we would definitely follow the instruction properly. 

Do not steam them like we did!

Bratkartoffeln

One of my favorite dishes that Mom makes is this German-style fried potatoes named Bratkartoffeln. The speciality of this fried potatoes is that they were boiled before they were fried. The boiling was done so that the potatoes will be firm and chewy, yet crispy on the sides. It's just how the texture of the dish should be. 

Mom usually makes Bratkartoffeln with some bacon bits because, other than the fact that the bacon lets out lard a-plenty that makes the dish tasted more awesome, just because. Cooked with a block of butter and layers of onion, alongside crispy and savory bacon bits, this foreign dish is lip-smacking in so many levels! 

Bratkartoffeln

Now, let me remind you that my Mom usually doesn't cook by the book, she prefer to go with the flow when she cooks, as in "cook a handful-of-this for as-long-as-I-want-as-long-as-it-looks-good-and-taste-great" instead of following the exact recipe. So, here's my Mom's version of the recipe to make a bucketful of tongue-lashing Bratkartoffeln!

(Note: This dish serves 10, best to be cooked for a party or a family gathering. So, if you're cooking for 3, you might want to cut down the amount of the ingredients.)

Ingredients:

- 14 potatoes (the quality of the potato affects the quality of the dish) 

- 1 block of salted butter

- 1 garlic (but if you love garlic, you can add some more)

Cooking Utensil:

- big pot (to boil the potatoes)

- big non-stick frying pan (to fry the potatoes)

- wooden spatula (you don't want to scratch the surface of the frying pan, do you?)

- knife 

How to Make:

- Clean them potatoes!

You have to wash the potatoes because they are dirty. They were pulled from the earth, God-knows what kind of substance made contact with the potatoes, and we are in doubt whether the guy form the market cleansed them or not, so don't take the risk by not cleaning them. You don't want to indulge on pesticides, do you? 

- Boil the potatoes in medium heat for 15 minutes. 

Don't set the fire too big, you would end up with mushy potatoes. 

- When the potatoes are done being boiled, let them cool for a bit and slice them.

It's up to you whether you want to make thin slices or vice versa. My Mom usually slice them around half a centimeter because the thinner, the crispier, the chewier, the better. 

- Wash your garlic and slice them around half a centimeter as well.

- Take out your big non-stick frying pan and set the fire to low-medium heat.

- When the frying pan has heat up, put some sliced garlic into it and fry them for a minute. 

- Quickly grab your butter, cut one fifth of it, and put it in the frying pan.

If you like your potatoes buttery, don't be shy to add some more. As the butter melts and fuse with the garlic, they will make a sizzling sound and let out a gorgeously delicious aroma. 

- Stir quickly for around 2 minutes, until the garlic slightly change its' color.

- Put in the sliced potatoes and fry them for around 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown in color.

Be careful when you're frying the potatoes, as they are fragile and brittle. You don't want to stir too often and aggresively, otherwise your fried potatoes will end up mashed. 

- As the potatoes change their color, slowly flip them to their other sides so that they well evenly fried. 

- When you end up with firm and chewy fried potatoes, with crispy brown skin on its' side and dark yellow color in the middle, you have succeed at making your very own Bratkartoffeln! 

See? It wasn't too hard to cook yourself some German-style fried potatoes, right? As long as you enjoy cooking and experimenting with new stuff, you will have an excellent dish as an outcome! Now, go eat that Bratkartoffeln of yours and enjoy the evening. Trinksprüche!

Veggie Bacon Fettucini & Cheddar Roll

Merry Christmas! 

'Tis the season to be jolly, enjoy food and drinks with family ♫

This morning I woke up to an empty dinning table. There were no food in sight, except a few Rambutan. Mom had not cook anything, neither for breakfast, nor lunch. So, I took the advantage of the situation and made myself a Pancake for breakfast. "How about if I cook some pasta," offered Mom. I immediately nodded! At first, I was going to laze around while Mom cooks, but then and idea came up. The idea of using whatever ingredient in sight to make Mozzarella Sticks, like the one you can buy in Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, we only have a couple loafs of bread and some Cheddar Cheese at home, but desperate times call for desperate measures!

Cheddar Roll

Ingredients:

- 2 loafs of bread (I used Sari Roti's product)

- Cheddar Cheese

- Unsalted Butter

Cooking Utensils:

- Knife

- Oven Toaster 

- Cheese Grater

Hot to Make:

- Cut the bread crust away, leaving you with the soft and chewy white part of the loaf.

- Slice the bread loaf into four parts.

- Shred the Cheddar Cheese and put them on top of the bread.

- Roll the bread to envelope the Cheddar Cheese and pinch the edge with your fingers to seal it.

Before toasting

- Apply some Unsalted Butter on top of the bread.

- Put them in the Oven Toaster for 5 minutes.

After toasting

When you get a tray of crunchy and chewy Cheddar Roll as the outcome, it means that you succeed!

While I was toasting some Cheddar Rolls, Mom was busy making a pan of creamy white sauce to glaze the Fettucini with. She put Carrots and Bacons bits into the pan and start doing her magic. In less than half an hour, a bowl of Fettucini, along with a pan of aromatic white sauce was served!

Veggie Bacon Fettucini

Ingredients:

- Fettucini

- Water (to cook the Fettucini)

- 1 stick of Carrot

- 1 strip of Bacon (or 10 strips, I don't care, because Bacon is awesome)

- 2 tbs of Cooking Oil

- 2 cloves of Garlic

- A pinch of Salt

- A pinch of Pepper

- 1 cup of Fresh Milk

- 2 sticks of Celery 

- 1 cup of Flour

How to Make:

- Dice the Carrot, slice the Bacon, and cut the Garlic Cloves into small bits.

- Put them in a pan, along with the Cooking Oil, and cook them well. 

Cook them well, but not until the Carrot is mushy

- Cut some Celery and put them in as well.

Cut the Celery into small bits

- Pour some Milk into the mixture and stir well.

- Season the white sauce with some Salt and Pepper.

- Pour some Flour into the white substance and stir well. Later on, you will end up with a nice thick white sauce.

- Cook the Fettucini accordingly. 

If you like them a bit chewy and slightly stiff, then cook them until medium well. If you like them soft and mushy, then cook them until well done.

Boil a handful of Fettucini

Let them cook nicely

And there you have it, a plate of Veggie Bacon Fettucini and some Cheddar Rolls! Both dishes are pretty simple to make and goes well in this Christmas atmosphere. It's a shame it doesn't snow here in Indonesia, because what would beat the cold weather other than a plate of warm Fettucini and a glass of milk? 

Lunch is serve!

The Cheddar Roll went well with the white sauce

This one goes to Instagram