Wheat Tortillas

I've only bought tortillas a couple of times since moving to Jakarta because the packages are so expensive!  It's probably around US $7 for a package of 8.    A friend of mine says that she always makes her own tortillas so I got the recipe from her.  Here it is.  It is simple, and my kids really like it.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose white flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
4 Tbsp. Canola oil
2/3 cups water

Combine all the dry ingredients.  Then add the rest.  Knead a little until it sticks together.  Divide into eight balls and dredge in flour.  You can store them in the fridge in a plastic bag or roll them out immediately. Flatten to a 7 inch disk or larger.  Fry on medium high heat about 30 seconds per side.  Cover with a towel as you make the rest.

Easy Biscuits

DH loves Bisquick biscuits.  I think that I’ve seen Bisquick here in Jakarta on occasion,but as I recall, it is very expensive.  Awhile ago, I looked online (probably at allrecipes.com) and found an easy recipe that DH says tastes just like the Bisquick biscuits he likes so much.  It’s pretty simple to make and both DH and the kids love it warm from the oven.  They taste really good with a little bit of butter and honey.
Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter (softened)
2/3 cup milk

I mix the dry ingredients together first.  Then I put in the butter and milk and mix it all up with a fork. There is no need to knead the mixture.  Make 9 small balls (just pat the dough together)  and put on a greased baking sheet.  Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little bit of milk.  Put in the oven at 220C for about 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffin

I was at the store the other day and saw that they had Libby brand canned pumpkin.  I had been thinking about baking something like banana bread for the kids to take to school as a snack.  When I saw the canned pumpkin, I thought that muffins sounded good. 

After I got home, I noticed that I had 2 Granny Smith apples that had been sitting in the fruit bowl for over a week with no takers.  Poor little apples were starting to look a little sad so I thought maybe I could make some kind of muffin with pumpkin and apples.  I found a recipe at one of my favorite recipes sites: www.allrecipes.com. The recipe was for a pumpkin apple streusel muffin...perfect!

I did make a few changes since 1) I didn't have pumpkin pie spice and 2) along with the Libby brand canned pumpkin, I also found gold medal wheat flour.  Now that may not seem very exciting to you, but those things can be hard to come by here in Jakarta.  I've learned from experience now that if I see something that I want that is not readily available, I need to buy it right away.  The last time I thought I would go home and think about whether or not I wanted to pay US $7 for a bag of wheat flour, they were sold out by the next day.

Ok..now for the slightly modified recipe.  If you want the original recipe, you can find it here.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffin

Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour ( this way i can convince myself the muffins are healthy...ha ha)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp nutment
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple

Streusel                    

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together white and wheat flour, sugars, spices, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.               

The muffins were very moist and DH and I thought they were delicious!  Unfortunately, my kids didn't like the muffins as much as we did.  Still, I thought the recipe was worth keeping.  One of these days, I should probably just make a recipe as written and try it first before tweaking it.  As usual, I generally end up making changes because I don't have all the ingredients on hand.  I guess I could learn to plan to make something in advance and then go grocery shopping.  But...that would require too much planning and forethought...lol.

Clam Chowder in Bread Bowl

All this rain during the rainy season in Jakarta has been making me crave soup.  The other night I decided I really wanted some clam chowder in a bread bowl.  I looked up some recipes for clam chowder and came up with this one by taking parts from a couple of recipes.  I get most of my recipe ideas from www.allrecipes.com.  I mixed recipes because I really wanted clam chowder, and I didn’t want to run to the store to get anything I didn’t already have in my pantry.  The kids liked the soup although they weren’t too fond of clams.  DH loved the soup.  Everyone loved the bread bowls. So this isn’t the healthiest recipe, but it certainly hit the spot!
Clam Chowder

• 1 can cream of potato soup
• 1 can baby clams
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 1 green bell pepper diced
• 1 small onion diced
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 strips of bacon chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp. butter

I cooked the bacon in the bottom of a soup pot.  The bacon here in Jakarta is actually super lean and more like ham so I added 1 Tbsp. of butter and cooked the bacon in the butter. If using regular bacon, I would drain the excess fat and leave just a little bit for flavor.  When the bacon was part-way cooked, I added the onions and bell peppers and cooked everything until the bacon was crispy.  Then I added some potatoes and stir-fried them briefly.   I added the entire can of clams.  Then I added 2 cups of heavy cream and the can of cream of potato soup.  I added a little salt and white pepper to taste.  I also threw in roughly 1 Tbsp. of dried parsley…I think fresh would be better. I cooked the soup over medium heat until the potatoes were tender.

Bread Bowl
Before starting the soup, I started the dough for the bread bowls. I basically used the recipe for the Italian Bread Bowl from allrecipes.com. I liked this recipe because the ingredients were simple and I had them on hand. I halved the recipes and made 5 smaller bread bowls for our family instead of the 8 in the recipe.  The following recipe makes 4 large bread bowls.

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1-1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 egg white
• 1-1/2 teaspoons water

The instructions are pasted from all recipes.com with a few minor changes to the quantities since I halved the recipe.

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Add salt, oil and 1/2 the flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition.
3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
4. Punch dough down, and divide into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
7. To make bowls: Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.

Chocolate Strawberry Dessert

I bought some strawberries the other day, but the kids seem to have decided that they don’t like the local strawberries.  I think they are not as sweet as the ones they were used to back in the U.S.  Maybe I just don’t know where to get good strawberries, but all the ones I have bought so far do seem to be on the tart side.
So, since I had a couple of containers of strawberries, and no one wanted to eat them, I decided to make a dessert.  I looked at several different recipes on the internet and found one that was delicious!  We all liked it a lot.  Unfortunately I can’t find the website where I originally found the recipe. 
Here is the recipe I jotted down:
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips ( I just used the local brand of chocolate chips I found at Lotte Mart here in Jakarta…I don’t even know what kind of chocolate chips they are)
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. water
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (I used the Yummy brand that comes in a little tub…it’s roughly the equivalent of a block of cream cheese)
2 pt. strawberries
3 Tbs. strawberry jelly + 2 Tsp water
Place all the ingredients except for the strawberries and the jelly in a pan and stir over medium to low heat until everything is melted.  The filling should be nice and creamy.  Pour into a cooled pie crust.   Wash and remove the strawberry stems.  Put the strawberries on top of the filling and drizzle with strawberry jelly mixture.  Chill the dessert for 2 hours until the filling has set.
I used a ready made chocolate pie crust that a friend had given me awhile back.  I think this dessert would go really well in an Oreo cookie  pie crust.
Oreo Crust
Roughly 20 Oreo cookies with the cream removed
3 Tbsp melted butter
Crush the cookies inside a plastic bag with a rolling pin or hammer.  It’s easier to smash them in small batches.  Mix with melted butter.  Press into pie plate or pan and bake at 350F for 15 minutes. 

I actually didn’t have any strawberry jelly…just jam which is why the the filling looks a little lumpy between the strawberries.  It still tasted good.  The kids devoured it…strawberries and all!

Blueberry Cream Muffins

The kids love blueberry muffins so I've been on the hunt for a good muffin recipe.  I've tried a couple already, but they weren't all that good.  I came across this recipe for Ann's Awesome Blueberry Muffins and everyone loved it.  I halved the recipe and made 12 large muffins instead of 24.

Here is the recipe halved.

Ann’s Awesome Blueberry Muffins


2 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup sour cream

1 cup blueberries


1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2) In a large bowl, beat eggs. Gradually add sugar while beating. Continue beating while slowly pouring in oil. Stir in vanilla. In separate bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda.

3) Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with sour cream. Gently fold in blueberries. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.

4) Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.


I rolled the blueberries in flour and a little bit of sugar to keep the blueberries from staining the batter purple.  The kids loved the muffins except for the blueberries.  They thought they were too tart.  DH and I liked this recipe alot.  I think next time though, I may try it using canned blueberries.  That way the blueberries will be sweet and not tart.  I think my kids would like them better.  I still think this recipe is a keeper!

Maybe a little bit overdone but they were still nice and moist.

General Tso’s Chicken

One of DH’s favorite dishes is General Tso’s chicken.  I found a recipe online awhile ago that we really like.  I have modified the recipe a little since I am trying to get away from using corn starch.  Corn starch is used a lot in Asian cooking to thicken sauces and to make fried foods like sweet and sour chicken or pork.  The recipe as written makes a really good General Tso’s chicken dish.  We thought it still tasted great using flour instead of corn starch. I have made it both ways.  Serve the dish with plain rice.  This dish is definitely one of our family favorites…enjoy!
Here is the original recipe:

Sauce:

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1+1/2 tsp minced garlic

1+1/2 tsp minced ginger root

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup cooking wine ( I did not use cooking wine)

1+1/2 cup hot chicken broth

1 tsp monosodium glutamate (I never use msg)

Meat:

3 lbs deboned dark chicken meat, cut into large chunks

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp white pepper

1 egg

1 cup cornstarch

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

2 cups sliced green onions

16 small dried hot peppers

1) Mix 1/2 cup cornstarch with water.  Add garlic, ginger, sugar, 1/2 cup soy

sauce, vinegar, wine, chicken broth and MSG (if desired).  Stir until sugar

dissolves.  Refrigerate until needed.

2) In separate bowl, mix chicken, 1/4 cup soy sauce and white pepper.  Stir in

egg.  Add 1 cup cornstarch and mix until chicken pieces are coated evenly. 

Add cup of vegetable oil to help separate chicken pieces.  Divide chicken into

small quantities and deep-fry at 350 degrees until crispy.  Drain on paper

towels.

3) Place a small amount of oil in wok and heat until wok is hot.  Add onions

and peppers and stir-fry briefly.  Stir sauce and add to wok.  Place chicken in

sauce and cook until sauce thickens.

The changes I made were:

For the sauce, I omitted the corn starch. Then after stir-frying the onions and peppers, I added 6 Tbs. all-purpose flour and stir-fried briefly.  Then I added the sauce and the fried chicken pieces and cooked the sauce for 10-15 minutes until the sauce thickened.

For the meat:  I added all the ingredients except for the cornstarch and the oil.  There is no need to add the oil since the pieces were not being coated in cornstarch. I mixed the chicken pieces until they were thoroughly coated.  Then I coated each chicken piece with all-purpose flour.  I deep-fried the chicken pieces until they were crispy.  Then I added the chicken to the sauce.

Chinese Braised Soysauce Beef and Eggs

Growing up my mom would always make braised pork or beef with soysauce eggs. Alot of times she would also cook seaweed along with the meat and eggs.   I loved eating these dishes with rice or noodles.  The other day I was craving some braised beef and eggs so I decided to make my own.  The only problem is that my mom makes it with a spice packet.  I used to get the spice packet in Chinatown in Houston.  I looked online to see if I could find a recipe to make the dish without the use of the spice packet.  I used the basic recipe for braised soysauce eggs from the RasaMalaysia website with some alterations and additions.


Basic Recipe

6-12 hard boiled eggs
4 cups water
2-2 1/2 Tbs. dark soy sauce
3 Tbs. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
1 stick cinnamon
2-3 star anise
1 spiced tea bag (optional)
salt to taste

Additional Ingredients

1/4 to 1/2 lb. of pork or beef (very lean cuts of meat are not as desirable--some fat is better--I used beef stew meat)
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs. fresh ginger chopped finely
2 stalks green onions-cut in long pieces
2 red chilli peppers
1 tsp. powdered cloves (I think dried cloves would be better)
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1/2 tsp. white pepper powder
3 tbs. cooking wine (optional--my mom uses cooking wine. I didn't use any).

I chopped up 2 cloves of garlic and about 1 Tbs. of fresh ginger.  I chopped 2 red chilies.  I also cut a few stalks of green onion.  I stir-fried these in about 3 Tbs. of oil to flavor the oil.

I chopped the beef up into bite size pieces.  I dusted the meat with flour.  I added a bit more oil to the pan and then I browned the beef with the garlic, onions, chilli, and ginger.

I put the beef into the crock pot.  Then I added the rest of the ingredients (water, soysauce, spices). 

The dish turned out pretty well.  DH liked it.  The girls loved the soysauce eggs and my son really liked the beef.  It didn't taste exactly the same as the way my mom makes it...I think the spice packet really makes a difference.  Still, I liked it overall. 

I saved the stock.  It is good for a few days in the refrigerator and the flavor seems to improve with age.  Today I will probably make the girls some more soysauce eggs and my son some more braised beef.  I'll use the leftover stock to make a soup to put over some noodles.  We'll probably have that for lunch.

Cinnamon Rolls

The kids have been asking if they could have cinnamon rolls or muffins.  I found a recipe called Ninety Minute Cinnamon Rolls.  This recipe got really good reviews.  I went ahead and made a glaze/frosting for the top since many of the reviewers said they topped the cinnamon rolls with some frosting.  The cinnamon rolls were delicious!  This really was a good recipe. DH loved the cinnamon rolls too. The rolls were moist and airy...definitely not dense like some other recipes I've tried before.  I wish I had not put the frosting on top though because it was just too sweet for my tastes.  The kids really loved the cinnamon rolls and the frosting.  My youngest especially has a sweet tooth.


So here's the recipe:

Ingredients


3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1.Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.

2.In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

3.Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, softened margarine.

4.Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine/sugar mixture. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

5.Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Remove from muffin cups to cool. Serve warm

I used unsalted butter instead of margarine.  I also made 7 gigantic cinnamon rolls instead of the recommended 12.  I think I will cut the roll into 12 pieces as suggested next time. I had to cook the cinnamon rolls for alot longer and they were um....enormous! I also baked the rolls in a round glass dish instead of in muffin cups. I think the cinnamon rolls would have been just great without the frosting.  If you want to add some frosting, here's a basic recipe.
 
 
Cinnamon Roll Frosting
 
Ingredients
 
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbs. butter melted
2 to 4 tbs. milk
 
 

Pizza Crust

I tried out this pizza crust recipe that I found on allrecipes.com.  It's called Quick and Easy Pizza Crust.  It got alot of good reviews.  The kids really liked the pizza crust.  They didn't care for the peppered beef pepperoni that I put on the top.  I've had a hard time finding good old fashioned sausage or pepperoni here in Jakarta. 

Here's the recipe for the crust.

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups bread flour (I used regular flour)
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 450F (230C).  Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Stir in flour, salt, and oil and mix until smooth.  Let dough rest for 5 minutes.  Pat or roll out dough to form round circle.  Transfer to greased pizza dish.  Spread with desired toppings.  Bake for 15-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown (mine took 10 minutes).  Cool pizza for 5 minutes before serving.

Green Onion Pancakes

I grew up eating green onion pancakes.  I love them, and my kids love them too.  We usually eat them for breakfast.  They are easy to make and take just a very few ingredients.  If you are not familiar with them, green onion pancakes are a kind of non-leavened flat bread.  They are not like the fluffy pancakes you normally think of that are made from a batter. If you google Green Onion Pancakes or Scallion pancakes, you will find all sorts of sites that will tell you or even show you how to make them.


This is how I make mine:


Green Onion Pancakes

2 1/2  cups flour
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
salt
vegetable oil
1/2 cup of diced green onions

Mix 2 cups flour and boiling water.   Add 1/4 cup cold water and additional 1/2 cup of flour.  Knead until dough is smooth (maybe 5 to 7 minutes).  Put dough back in mixing bowl and cover with wet cloth and set aside.  Chop up green onions.  Put a little vegetable oil (maybe 1/4 cup) in a bowl.  Divide dough into 8 equal sized balls.  Flatten the dough...doesn't matter if it is round at this point.  Brush some vegetable oil over the top.  Sprinkle a little salt evenly over the top.  Add some green onions. 


Roll the flattened dough up like a jelly roll. It's okay if the oil and onions squish out a little.

Then start at one end and roll it up so that it looks like a wheel or a coil. Tuck the end under the bottom and pinch a little so that your coil stays together when you start to flatten it.

Flatten the coil slightly with your palm and then roll it out 1/4 inch thick with a rolling pin. You should be able to make roughly 8 CD sized onion pancakes.

Fry in a little bit of oil for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden and crispy.  I can fry about 3 in a large frying pan. I usually use a griddle and fry about 5 at a time.  My kids like their onion pancakes plain.  I like mine with a fried egg and warm soybean milk...yum!  How do you like to eat yours?

Tumis Kangkung

I recently learned how to make an Indonesian vegetable dish called Tumis Kangkung.  Kangkung is otherwise known as water spinach.  It is an Asian green leafy vegetable.  DH first encountered Kangkung while living in Malaysia and he loves the stuff.  He really liked the Tumis Kangkung after he tried it.  I liked it too.  Unfortunately, my kids are not fond of any leafy green vegetable.

Tumis Kangkung

250 g Kangkung
100 g bean sprouts
3 cloves of garlic
2 red shallots
2 red chilies
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chicken powder (Knorr)
3 tbsp. oil

Cut the Kankung into smaller sections.  Chop the cloves of garlic, shallots, and chilies. Heat oil in pan and stir fry garlic, shallots, and chilies.  Add Kangkung and bean sprouts.  Stir fry for a few minutes until Kangkung is wilted.  Add salt and chicken powder. Continue to stir fry until vegetables are fully cooked. 

I didn't realize that the kangkung really shrinks down once it is cooked. I would probably recommend using 500 g of kangkung if you want to feed more than a couple of people. Other than that, we really liked this dish. 

Banana Bread

My MIL has a really good banana bread recipe but I don't have it with me.  So, I looked up a banana bread recipe at allrecipes.com.  I looked through a couple of the "best" banana bread recipes and used a combination of a couple to make the banana bread from saturday night.  I thought it turned out well.  The kids loved it, and around here, that's pretty important.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar (I used 1/2 white, 1/2 brown)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp, salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla and then add bananas.  Mix flour, salt, and baking soda then add to mixture. Bake in greased bread pan at 350F for 1 hour.

Thai Green Curry

Here's our family's favorite version of Thai Green Curry Chicken. 

• 2 Tbsp. Thai Green Curry Paste
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 of small or medium yellow onion (chopped)
• 3 to 4 small potatoes cubed
• 1 cup of chicken cubed
• 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetables

Saute garlic and onions in oil.  Add chicken and stir-fry.  Add potatoes and mixed vegetables.  Add 2 tbsp. of Thai Green Curry paste (more if you want it spicier) and continue to stir-fry.  Add 1 can of coconut milk.  Simmer until potatoes are soft.  Serve over hot rice.

MaPo Tofu

My kids are not big tofu fans.  I grew up eating rice, noodles, seaweed, and of course tofu so I love the stuff.  The only tofu dish I have been able to get my kids to eat is called MaPo Tofu.  They generally don't like the kind that you might order at a Chinese restaurant.  This is the way I have to make it for them to eat it.  Personally, I really like this version of MaPo Tofu too.   It's really a very simple dish. This recipe is basically the one on the bottle of the chili bean paste so it's not my personal recipe.  I would post the actual recipe on the bottle, but my chili bean paste I bought here in Jakarta has the recipe written in Indonesian. The recipe is how I remembered making it when we lived in the U.S.

Ingredients:

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 stalks of green onion, diced
3 Tbs oil
1/2 lb. of ground pork or ground beef (we prefer pork although pork is difficult to come by in Indonesia since many grocery stores do not carry it)
2 Tbs. Chili Bean Sauce (available at most grocery stores that have some kind of Asian food isle...in Texas I usually got it at H.E.B.)
2 Tbs. water
1 package of tofu cut into small cubes (my kids like extra firm...you can use soft, firm, or extra firm)

Saute garlic and green onion in oil to flavor the oil.  Add ground beef and stir fry until pork is cooked.  Add cubed tofu.  Add chili bean sauce and water.  Make sure tofu and pork are mixed and evenly coated with sauce.  Simmer for a few minutes.  Serve over rice.  I made it for dinner tonight, but I forgot to take a picture.  I'll try and add a picture the next time I make it.  Oh, in case the chili bean sauce didn't give it away, I forgot to add that the dish is mildly spicy.  Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken with brown rice stuffing

My friend has a neat food blog at http://whydiscovertheworld.blogspot.com/. She posts different recipes from different parts of the world. She also posts recipes that she has tried that are just good. Today for lunch I made the recipe she posted for the roasted chicken with brown rice stuffing (http://whydiscovertheworld.blogspot.com/2011/05/roasted-chicken-with-brown-rice.html). My 3 kids ages, 2, 4, and 6 liked the dish as well as my husband.

Ingredients:
whole chicken
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 clove garlic diced
3 green onions (chopped)
2 tbs butter
fresh basil, parsley, rosemary (I used dried and still turned out well)
salt/pepper

Mix all the ingredients together with the rice. Stuff inside the chicken.  Season the chicken with oil, salt, and thyme. Bake in the oven at 350F for 1.5 hours.  Basting the chicken every so often is a good idea so that it doesn't dry out.

I made a few other changes to the recipe. I omitted the chopped celery since my kids are not big on celery. I stuffed the chicken with 1 cup of brown rice, but I made extra rice stuffing and placed the chicken on top of the rice. Then, every half hour, I basted the chicken with some chicken broth since the rice in the bottom of the dish would absorb any juices from the chicken. I probably should have stirred the rice because it got a little crunchy but just on the edges. It took about 1.5 hours to roast the chicken. The rice had great flavor as did the chicken. I rubbed the chicken with some oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme.

We will definitely be making this dish again.

Basic White Bread

I have never been able to successfully make bread using a machine or otherwise.  Then I came across this recipe, and the bread turns out really well every single time.  I don't own a bread machine or a kitchen aid mixer.  The recipe can certainly be made using those kitchen accessories, but they are not a requirement.  I got this recipe from the simple dollar website.  He has pictures and step by step instructions on how to bake bread. 

Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup milk
5 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
5 tsp. butter
1 pkg. active dry yeast
2.5 to 2.5 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water.  Add milk, sugar, salt, and melted butter. Mix in 2 cups flour.  Add flour 1/4 cup at a time until soft dough forms.  Knead for 10 minutes.  Cover and let rise 1 hr.  Punch down.  Roll out into rectangle the width of the pan. Roll up and tuck ends under.  Place in greased bread pan. Cover and let rise another hour.  Bake at 400F for 30 minutes. Makes 1 loaf.  I've heard that it does not work to double the recipe for bread if you want to make 2 loaves so I just made two separate batches.  The final product has a slightly crunchy crust and a really nice, soft, moist middle.  I always have to make 2 loaves because 1 usually gets consumed right away :)

Chewy Brownies

We really liked the Betty Crocker original supreme brownie mix. It is not readily available here in Indonesia.  Once in awhile I'll see some cake or cookie mix that is imported from the U.S, but they are so expensive.  A boxed cake/cookie mix will run around $4 to $5 US dollars.   I wanted to know if there was a good from scratch brownie recipe that would be just as good.  I looked around on the internet and tried a few different recipes.  I found one that we like.  So far, it's our family's favorite brownie recipe.  We like our brownies to be fudgy, moist, and chewy.  This one delivers.  I don't know that it is quite as good as the Betty Crocker mix, but it is definitely close.

I've found that the baking cocoa in Indonesia seems a little darker and richer.  The sugar here is very coarse so I could still see sugar crystals in the brownies after they were baked. The brownies still tasted good but they definitely looked and tasted just a little different from brownies baked in the US.  It's amazing what different brands and the coarseness of the powder and sugar will do to the final product.  My kids still loved the brownies and we quickly devoured an entire 8x8 pan. 

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I find that oil instead of butter seems to make for nice, moist, brownies)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

I mix the sugar and oil together first.  Then I add the eggs and vanilla and mix.  Finally I just dump everything else in and mix by hand using a whisk.  It is okay that the batter is lumpy.  I grease an 8x8 in. pan, pour in the mix, and put it in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes.  I wish I could remember which website I got the recipe from.  I didn't write down the name of the site.  If this is your recipe, thanks so much!  We love it!

Indonesian Satay

My son asked to have satay for dinner tonight.  He helped me make both chicken and beef satay.  We used the same marinade for both.  I got the recipe from a site called http://rasamalaysia.com/.  They have really great Asian recipes...Taiwanese, Indonesian, Malaysian, etc. I am going to try more of their recipes in the future.

Marinade for the satay:

good sprinkle of garlic salt (I used quite a bit)
some ground paprika
some white pepper
2 tsp. coriander powder
2 tsp. nutmeg powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves shallots thinly sliced
dash of soy sauce
lots of kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)

I did not make the peanut sauce that is normally served with satay.  Neither my son nor my husband are big fans of peanut sauce.  If you want to make the peanut sauce, the recipe is included at the Rasa Malaysia website.

I used chicken breast and flank steak for my cuts of meat.  I sliced the meat lengthwise in fairly thin strips.  The meat sat in the marinade for about an hour.  I put them on wooden skewers (skewers must first be soaked in water so that they do not burn on the grill) and my husband grilled them on our small grill.

The satay is generally served with rice.  Everyone really liked how the beef satay turned out.  Even though it was the same marinade, the beef satay was just delicious!  The chicken satay was good too...we just liked the beef better.

Recipes

Since we moved to Indonesia with just a few suitcases and put the rest of our things in storage, I did not get to bring my cookbooks. Before we moved, I was going to have typed all my favorite recipes onto digital recipe cards so that I would have them on my computer. Unfortunately, with everything that needed to be done and in such a short time frame, I just didn't have time to get to it.

So now, if I want to make something that I don't already know how to do off the top of my head, I look it up on the internet. I thought I would share the recipes that we like on this blog. I will just throw in a new recipe as a post periodically. This will be my digital collection that I didn't have the chance to create before we moved. We love food in our family so I hope that I will soon have a large collection of tried and true recipes. I am also hoping to learn to make many S.E. Asian dishes. My kids are like most kids, a little wary of new foods, but hopefully this will be an enjoyable experience for all of us.