Every body knows that I’m one of these people who (almost) will eat anything (within boundaries) and what makes matter worse it’s not just the quality of the food but also the quantity, albeit the size of my belly.  My Achilles heel is dessert. I find this extremely annoying as I’m really into baking sweet and cute pastry. I don’t particularly like them because I find them too sweet and a tad too rich which is ironic because I love candy and I’m so addicted to creamy ice cream.

I have a list of sweet things I would like to make, some I have tested and amended to meet my taste bud which turns them into bitter and plain dessert. The rest are still waiting in my cookery Journal to be brought into live.

The last sweet dish I made was a Rocky Road Cake which turned out into a huge success both for me and  Hangman, I even brave enough to made a special version using only dark chocolate (85% cocoa content) instead of milk chocolate to bring as a gift for my dearest friend Raw Junkie in Holland. And to my relief, she loved it.

I like this recipe because I can control what I put in, as most Rocky Road Cake in stores are made with raisin (I just can’t eat this dried dark grape), nuts (I prefer my nuts mixed with chilli and serve with grilled meat on skewer) and marshmallow from pork gelatine - I just had to make some amendments. I substituted the raisin with dried apricot and pork gelatine based marshmallow to bovine based or even vegetarian marshmallow. And no nuts, period.

Rocky Road Cake

400g bar milk chocolate (you can mix and match the chocolate with dark or white chocolates)

1 tin of condensed milk

100g butter

Bag of marshmallows (I diced to smaller bits)

Packet of chopped nuts (optional – I don’t use nuts)

Packet of digestive biscuits (chocolate chip cookies is even better!)

Two handfuls of dried apricots (chopped to small bites)

Direction

1.       Put the digestive biscuits in a thick plastic bag and roughly crush so that you end up with nice chunky biscuit pieces, then set aside.

2.       Melt the chocolate and the butter together on a low heat on a ban marie (or in the microwave), then once melted, add the condensed milk, mixing thoroughly.

3.       Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and add in the digestive biscuit and all the other ingredients.  Mix well.  You can add as little or as much as you like of the other ingredients and vary it to suit your tastes.

4.       Tip the mixture into a tin lined with cling film (this well help you later!), flatten out into the tin, and place in the fridge to set.

I'm really bad with pictures so I will have to leave this post (again) imageless.

Potatoes

I have always loved potatoes but growing up in Indonesia limited my knowledge on 'tatties' is to normal potato (white) and sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are more considered as a dessert item rather than a staple ingredient in our daily meal and I remember my dearest mum used to make us warm fruity punch of bananas and sweet potatoes cooked in coconut milk, sugar and excessive cinnamon, every time the cold weather came around (which is odd since cold weather in our island is around 20 degree!) She would serve it with warm sweetened jasmine tea. Oh, the good old day.

Not until I moved to Edinburgh that I realised how many type of potatoes are actually available. Along the years, I've learnt what to buy (depending on the season), how to cook them and what I actually like. And I'm proud to say that I have gained the skill to recognise them by appearance, well some of them anyway. Actually, I think have became a Tattie snob. Every time somebody told me they just had a meal with potatoes I would immediately ask what kind of potatoes and how was it served. My work colleagues are happy enough to indulge me in this new obsession but it is my poor friends abroad who struggles to keep up. Apparently the Dutch are not so into different type of potatoes as the British, which I pity as they really don't know what they miss.

I like idea of having different type of potatoes a long the year, Rooster in the winter and Jersey Royal in the summer. Slow roasted potatoes, golden and crunchy when it's cold out side and simply boiled with a knob of butter when the weather is warmer. My favorite is Jersey Royal with Chives. Simple and just unforgettable. I embarrassed to say that I only found out about Jersey New Potatoes this summer, when I had to cook something 'Scottish-ish' for our Canadian relative. I've Googled on how to cook these potatoes and stumble into one Chef who suggests to keep it as simple and I'm so glad I followed his advise.

Jersey Royal with Chives

450 grams of Jersey Royal Potatoes
A handful of Chives, finely chopped (or snipped)
50 grams of butter (or a knob)
Sea salt and Black Pepper

Method

• Wash the potatoes but don't peel the skin. Place the larger ones on the bottom of the pan and the smaller ones on the top. Pour boiling water enough to cover all the potatoes and add some salt.
• Cover with lid and on medium heat cook for about 20 minutes.
• Test the potatoes with fork or skewer. Don't overcook them as they need to retain the shape but do make sure they're well cooked. Under cook potatoes are probably worse. 
• Turn the heat off and drain the cooked potatoes.
• Mix the butter, pepper and chives together.
• Add the herb butted into the pan and mix it together. Be careful not to crush the potatoes. Another way to mix everything without crushing the potatoes is by putting the lid back on and swirling the pan around to get each one thoroughly coated. 
• Enjoy!!!

My next obsession is the rare and probably out of season Purple Potatoes.

Beef in red wine vinegar

I don't have the patience to cook a proper Beef in Red Wine. So I cut corner, I ended up with Beef in Red Wine Vinegar.

Ingredients:
Marinade:
300 grams of beef (I used the cheap beef brisket)
2 Kiwis.
2 tbsp of cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt

• Diced the beef.
• Peeled and mashed the kiwis. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix in the beef. Leave the mixture for at least 24 hours. The kiwis will help tenderize the meat, it will also add a bit fruity flavour.

Ingredients:
4 Carrots (cut in chunk)
2 Red onions (finely diced)
A handful of thyme
150 grams of mushrooms (roughly chopped)
200 grams dried apricots (roughly diced) 
150 ml of Red Wine Vinegar
300 ml water
2 tbsp fried chilies
2 tbsp flour
Olive oil
Sugar
Salt

• Pat dry the beef. Try to get as much Kiwis / marinade mixture of the meat.
• Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a thick bottow saucepan. Add the beef and cook till brown, then add the flour and let in cook for another 2 - 3 minutes. 
• Add the Red Wine Vinegar, Onions, half of the chopped apricots, Thymes and water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes.
• Add the carrots, mushrooms, the rest of the apricots and chilies. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
• Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste (if your dish is sweet enough, skip this ingredient. Sometimes the vinegar makes the dish to sour so I used sugar to balance the flavour)
• Serve with potatoes

I use kiwi because it contains high acidity level. Yes, lemon or lime probably contains a higher acid level but they don't have the fruity flavour Kiwi gives.

Chocolate Coffee Mousse

This recipe is damn easy. No complication whatsoever. And the result is amazing. Too bad I was too busy eating the mousse I forgot to take pictures. 

Ingredients:

100 grams Marshmallows

50 grams Butter

200 grams Chocolate

1tsp Coffee

100 ml Cream

• Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.
• Put the saucepan on the hob, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt the contents, stirring every now and again. Remove from the heat.
• Meanwhile, whip the cream with the coffee powder until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture.
• Pour or scrape into 4 glasses or ramekins (or whatever you can find in your kitchen), and chill until you want to eat. The sooner the better!

 PS : I served mine with homemade raspberry coulies.

Bagels with cheese, coriander, chili and dried apricot

unch.
I'm not a sandwich person, I can have it twice a week max no more than that. According to my work mate I always have elaborate lunches, apparently that means I rarely have sandwiches. I personally think it has something to do with my Indonesian background, I grew up with rice or noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I did have the occassional toast for breakfast but it was more for a treat in the weekend.

So the habit goes everywhere with me, it doesn't matter where I live, I will always have my elaborate lunch.
Here is one of my elaborate lunches, Bagel with cheese, coriander and dried apricot.

Ingredients:
Bagel, sliced in half
Cream cheese
A handful of corianders, finely chopped
A medium size chily, deseeded and finely chopped.
A handful of dried apricot, chopped.
and some nice grated cheddar.

I'm not giving an exact measurement it's a freestyle dish, if you like it cheesier than add more cheese and if you like it spicier add another chili. And when you assembled your perfect bagel, warm it up in the microwave about a minute and half so the cheese and apricot will melt.

Yummy warm bagel!



PS: Most people will think that adding raw chili in your bagel is crazy, so feel free to opt this ingredient out.

Banana Bread

Banana bread. I've only heard of this particular dish a couple of weeks ago when a workmate mentioned that she just had the best banana bread ever. I'm not so into dessert or cake but I certainly love my bread, so I asked "What the heck is a banana bread?"

Apparently a banana bread is not a your day to day bread, it's more cakey. The idea of banana in a cake doesn't really get me going but somehow I can't get it out of my system. Everytime I walk pass the fruit section in the supermarket I have this urge to overbuy on bananas just so I have some leftover.

So today, even though I'm choked with cold, I decided to make a loaf of banana bread. After minutes googling the internet, I finally found one.

I adapted the recipe to my taste.

 Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon cinammon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 175 C or gas 3/4.
Mix the bananas and melted butter in food processor (or in a large mixing bowl with wooden spoon)
Add in sugar, beaten egg and cinammon.
Add baking soda and salt, and mix in
Add the flour last
Pour the mixture into a buttered loaf pan (I use a 4x8) and bake for an hour.
Cool before serve

This bread is not just delicious but it makes the whole house smells like bakery!
(I had my banana bread with homemade blueberry jam)

4 spice lamb curry

I'm officially 27! Hip hip hoera!!
I'm not big on birthday so no birthday parties for me instead I went to work. My boss gave me a huge birthday hug and I found a huge birthday card on my keyboard, signed by the whole team! Thank you guys!!

My other big indulgence on my birthday is not cooking tea. As much as I like cooking, it is a nice feeling to be able to sit on the sofa watching crap telly while your other half is working hard on preparing a delicious meal.
So there was I, sitting comfortably under my green blanket watching American Idol season 9 - Atlanta Auditions while my husband cooking 4 Spice Lamb Curry, my choice of course.

He never had chick peas ever before so the fact that chickpeas is one the main ingredients in this dish was a huge challenge for him. He served the food unconvinced, mumbling "I don't think it's going to be good. I doesn't look right". But he was soo wrong. The dish was amazing. The lamb was soft and tender, the chickpeas were to die for and sauce was amazing.

I really think he should cook more.

 You think?

Four Spice Lamb Curry
from Good Food - 101 Best Ever Curries Book

takes 3o minutes
serves 4

Ingredients

2tbsp oil
1 large onion, very finely chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
500 gr lamb fillet, cubed
1 large pepper, seeded and cubed
1 lamb stock cube
3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
410g can chickpeas, drained
a little shopped fresh coriander, to garnish


1. Heat the oil, then fry the onion for about 4 minutes until soft. Stir in the spices reserving 1 tsp of cumin, then fry for a few seconds more. Toss in the lamb and pepper, and stir fry over a high heat until the meat has browned.
2. Stir in 200ml water, crumble in the stock cube, season well, the cover and cook for about 6minutes until the mixture is pulpy and the meat is tender. Stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas and remaining spoonfull of cumin, and heat through for 2 minuutes. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water to thin it a little. Serve with scattered coriander,

Serve with cous cous (or rice or naan or even chips!)

27 years old

My birthday is coming up.
I'm going to be 27.
I'm not on my early twenty anymore, I'm on my late twenty!!


If I had to wrote a list of things I want to do before I turn 28, that list will be sooo long it'd be impossible for me to fulfill it. So I decided not to bother at all. Not because I'm lazy or anything, I'm just being rational. Ok?

I'm looking forward for my birthday tomorrow, the hubby promised to cook anything I want.
I can't wait!!

Red Velvet Cookies with chocolate topping

When I said I can't bake, I really mean I can't bake.
There's something about exact measurements that just don't do me. Don't get me wrong, I've tried to bake from a simple sponge cake to a basic chocolate cookies. None of them were edible. My hubby is living victim of my inability to bake. 


I stumbled over this recipe weeks ago on joy's page and I thought 'what a pretty cookie'  and I did the unthinkable. I baked it. And guess what, the cookies turned out great. Ok, they looked like they were made by a 10 years old but hey, they tasted amazing. 

Red Velvet Cookies with Chocolate Topping

adapted from Joy the Baker (who adapted it from Rachel Ray)

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon red food coloring (I added 2 tbs because it wasn't red enough)

1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease and flour the pan well so the cookies don’t stick. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

Using a mixer, 5 Tablespoons of butter with the granulated sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, food coloring and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk until smooth.

Place 1/4-cup scoops of batter 2 inches apart of the prepared baking sheet, spread the batter out with a butter knife, so they’re not completely flat but spread out a bit. (I did it slightly differently by placing a spoonful of batter rather than 1/4 cup scoops, so I'll have more cookies : D )


Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 15 to 17 minutes. Let the cookies sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

For the chocolate toppings, melted 300gr of milk chocolates and spread liquidish chocolate onto the cooled cookie. Leave them in the fridge for about 10 minutes (or until the chocolates set)


Serve with cold milk.

Sate

Sate or Satay is a barbeque dish not fried dish.
Ordering sate in chinese restaurant or even Thai restaurant in Edinburgh is usually a no no for me as most of them deep fried the sate. So a couple of months ago, I decided to learn how to make Javanese Sate the serves with Kecap Manis Sauce instead of peanut sauce. After spending days googling recipes and some disastrous try out, I finally managed to cook a Sate dish that is close enough to the one I used to eat back in Indonesia. I even (somehow) found out how to make the Pickled Cucumber!! Hooray for internet.

Ingredients:
Serves 2
500 grams of Chicken, cut into small bite sizes cubes.

Marinate: 

• 2 tsp of ground coriander seeds
• 2 tsp of ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1 tsp of ground candle nuts
• 2 red chilies, finely chopped.
• 3 cloves of shallot (1 red onion), finely chopped. 
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbs of oil (please don't use olive oil)
• Juice of one lime (chuck in the squeezed lime too if you want)
  
• a dash of white pepper
• Lots and lots of Kecap Manis (Indonesian Sweet Soja Sauce)

Mix all the ingredients together.
Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours before grilling, for best result leave them marinated for a night in the fridge.

If you're cooking in the summer then finding bamboo skewers is dead easy but finding one in winter time is pretty challenging. You're best option will be your local chinese supermarket who will have bamboo skewers all year long. To avoid burnt sticks, soak the skewers in water for an hour before grilling (longer if you have time)

Stick the meat cubes onto the skewers, I tend to put about 5-6 cubes per sticks. It all depends on  how long your skewer is and how small your meat cubes are.

Since I don't own a charcoal grill, I cook mine on an oven grill. Preheat the grill and then grill them until they're done. Don't worry if you see some burnt bits on the meat, it's all good. While grilling, baste the sate with marinate which has been mixed with some more kecap manis and juice of a whole lime. I baste my sate so frequently while grilling, they usually come out quite sticky and juicy (yummy!). Grill til the sates cook all the way through and caramelized.

My favorite sate sauce is Kecap Manis Sauce, it's sweet and sour.

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 2 cloves of Shallots (1 red onion), finely sliced.
• 1 tbs of brown sugar
• Juice of a whole lime
• 1 kaffir leave (if you happen to have the fresh one then slice it finely, but 1tsp of dried one will do too)
• A pinch of garlic salt
• 3 chilies, finely chopped. 
• Lots and lots of kecap manis
• 1 tbs of oil
• A handfull of peanuts, fried / roasted and finely chopped.

Mix everything together

Acar Ketimun (Pickled Cucumber)

This side dish is sooo easy to make, it's so easy to go wrong (at least for me)

Ingredients:
1 whole cucumber, cut julienne style
2 shallots (1 red onion), thinly sliced.
1 red chili, cut in half.
7 tsp of sugar
10 tsp of white vinegar.

Mix all the ingredients together in a tube with lid (I used an old pasta jar) except the cucumbers. Stir it all up til the sugar disolves. Then add the sliced cucumbers.
Put the lid on and keep it in the fridge for at least a night before serving.

Serve Sate with Acar Ketimun and Lontong (Rice Cake) or Rice

Pairs of Pears..

I just got back from my second trip to the gym and strangely enough I actually enjoyed it. I might go again, who knows.


Pears! I love the look, the smell, the shape and the delicate taste.
But what would you do if you bought too many of them??


Beef and Pear Salad
Serve 2 (but I ate them all by myself - so serve 1)

200 grams of Beef Steak, cut in thin stripes
2 pears, diced to small biteable pieces 
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1tsp of garlic salt
1tsp of white pepper
1tbs of tomato ketchup

• Sauted the thin stripes of beef steak in some oil until brown 

• Add in the tomatoes and spring onion and leave it cooking for 3 minutes 

• Add the cubed pears and mixed it up. The pears will automaticaly provides liquid required for the dish but if you think your it's too dry, you're welcome to add water or stock

• Cook the mixture until the pears turn soft and golden brown.

• Add the garlic salt, pepper and tomato ketchup

Yummy Mango Pear Jelly
Serves 5

1 pack of Mango jelly
2 pears

This is probably my favorite (healthy) dessert ever. All I did was cook the mango jelly according to the instruction on back of the the box. While the jelly mixture is cooking, I sliced the pears as thin as possible. Add the sliced pears into serving glass and pour in the jelly mixture. Leave them in the fridge for half an hour to harden.




Serve cold

My ever growing belly...

New Year's resolution. I don't believe it, I think it's a hoax. But with my trousers getting tighter everyday, I feel like I should do something and maybe this new year is the right time to start. So I decided (foolishly) to join a gym, not just the a gym, but the same gym that hubby goes. I thought maybe exercising with him will be fun (again foolishness). Well, that was 24 hours ago and now that I had some time to think, I'm actually dreading it. I paid for the gym membership last night and promised him that I will go for my first spinning class tonight (in 45 minutes to more precise!!) with him. Help!!

I'm still hoping for a really really bad weather. Snow storm maybe? Anything to keep me going......

Garlic Pasta

Happy New Year, people.

After spent almost two bloody hours in the cold watching the Big Blue Man walking from the Holyrood Park to High street, I craved for something warm. I tried Starbucks but the que was just unbelievable so I went to use their toilet instead (hey, since I'm in Starbucks might as well warmed up). We passed several people eating chips (with vinegar by the smell of it) and thought, why not, but guess what the waiting line for the chippy was freakishly long. And no, it's not because it's the best chippy in Edinburgh it's just because it's the only one open in New Year's day. Crap.

So we're hungy, cold and dissapointed by the entertainment provided by Edinburgh Tourism. I'm not writing here to complaint about Edinburgh Tourism Board's lack of creativity so I'm going to take a deep breath and just let it go. Back to my belly - we need something. He said, we can go home and cook something. Don't take me wrong, I love cooking but the thing is I ran out salt (like at all) and since it's New Year's day every single shop around our house is shut. And trust me I've tried cooking with salt, challenging as it is it's duable with soya sauce and fish sauce as substitutes, however, I seriously don't feel like eating Asian food. I want proper scottish food! Pie or Stew!

So we went on a Salt Hunt. We tried every open shop on Highstreet and North Bridge. Just when we were about to give up, we saw the light on Jordan Valley Wholefoods store on Nicolson Street. I know they won't sell my normal coarse sea salt but hey, any salt is better no salt. So I went in and asked the guy behind the counter if he has coarse sea salt, he said unfortunatelly he ran out of normal sea salt but he did have a slightly more expensive coarse salt. He pointed towards some white pinkish crystals stuff in clear jars, I said that can't be salt, it's pink. He told me it's a Himalayan Rock Salt and it costs £4.20 for 500grms. I said no way I'm paying that much for salt, I don't care where it comes from. He said understandable as he wouldn't buy it himself - Ha! I went for small packages of Garlic salt and Lemon salt, at least it'd save me chopping up some  garlic tonight.

At home, the idea of making steak pie evaporated by my lazyness in kneeling dough so I thought stew it is. Just a couple of minutes after slicing my lean steak, my belly rumbled and I realized that my belly ain't going to last long enough for stew.

I need something quick! Since my fridge is practically empty and there's no stores open, it has to be something very practical and what can be more practical than pasta? (get some chips you numpty) Since I already sliced the beef I might as well use it. I've got no basil nor cheese but I do have a bottle of passata infused with garlic and garlic salt. Since I'm off tomorrow, why not binge on Garlic it's healthy and keep unwanted vampires at bay.

So here it is my Linguini with Tomato and Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:
200 grms Linguini
350 grms of Passata infused with garlic
200 grams of lean steak, cut in bite pieces
1 onion, diced.
2 chilies, sliced with seeds.
2 spring onion, chopped finely
1 ts of garlic salt
1 ts of cayenne pepper (optional)
black pepper
a cup of brocolli (just because it's the only I have in my fridge, feel free to use other veggie)

• Cook your linguini per instruction
• Heat oil in a skillet, brown the steaks (but don't cook it all the way) and then add onions and spring onions. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or until golden.
  
• Add the rest of ingredients (I added a cup of water just because I like the sauce not so thick)
  
• Stir the mixture and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the sauce reduces and thickens slightly .
• Serve over pasta 

The dish is so delicious it makes me wonder, why? This is not my first pasta sauce using just garlic for flavour but how come it tastes sooooo different. After (literally) checking all my ingredients I realized the key is my new garlic salt for Jordan Valley. What ever they put in it, it definitely helps.

You think I should go back and buy more?

Happy New Year People.