Aubergine in Garlic Sauce

My children love having aubergine dishes. I also find it delicious as Indonesian dish, e.g. cooked as lodeh. However, the kids usually ask for aubergine in balado sauce (cooked in Indonesian tomato sauce with a tint of chili). I also find it delicious but too tedious to cook. It is because we need to fry the aubergine first. 

Another favorite style of cooking aubergine for us, is aubergine in (spicy) garlic sauce. I usually buy the instant sauce (Singapore brand) to make it. This aubergine dish also needs us to fry the aubergine first before making the sauce. 

Last week, I wanted to cook aubergine we had but I did not have other ingredients either for aubergine balado or lodeh. After browsing for the possible alternatives, I decided to try making the non-spicy variant of the aubergine in garlic sauce. I did not have the instant sauce, but I had the ingredients to make the sauce.

It turned out to be quite nice and the whole family loved it. Although it still involved frying, I found this dish quite refreshing. I did plan to slowly add some chili so that my children can learn to appreciate spicy food also.

Below is the recipe of this dish.

Ingredients:

1 aubergine, cut into medium strips

oil to fry

corn flour

2 stalks spring onion, cut into small pieces

6-7 cloves garlic, minced

1 cm ginger, minced

3 tbsp (light) soy sauce

1 tbsp black vinegar

1 tsp white pepper

1-2 tsp white sugar

How to:

1. Dust the aubergine strips in corn flour, put aside.
2. Heat the oil. Not too much, just enough to fry the aubergine, but not deep frying it. Fry one side for around 3 minutes or until it is brown. Then, fry the other side also until it is brown. Drain the excess oil and put aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil. Brown the minced garlic for 1 minute.
4. Add the minced ginger until fragrant.
5. Add the aubergine.
6. Add the soy sauce, black vinegar. Mix until the soy sauce and vinegar well incorporated with the aubergine.
7. Add a bit of pepper and sprinkle the sugar on the aubergine. Mix them well.
8. Add the spring onion.
9. Add a bit of chili powder or cut chili if you want something spicy.
10. Taste it. If needed adjust the taste with salt/pepper/sugar. 
11.  Serve the dish with warm steamed rice.

Enjoy it with warm steamed rice.

Cheesecake Brownies

Chocolate cake is one of everybody's fave. OK, almost everybody.

I usually bought either supermarket or bakery brownies since it is convenient. But, having 2 young boys who start to appreciate the difference of ingredients' quality, I looked to some alternatives. I was actually quite amazed, how they could detect which brand of ingredients I used for some cases. So, for certain ingredients, when possible, I bought the higher quality ones to avoid arguments with these young boys at home.

Not long ago, I saw a cheesecake brownies recipe from Sara (www.dinneratthezoo.com) and thought that it looked good. Accidentally, a few days after that, a friend of mine made her cheesecake brownies using Sara's recipe. Based on my friend's comment, I was motivated to find a time to try the recipe out. Especially since I needed to provide more snacks for the boys during that (Covid-19) lockdown period. 

Since I used different size of baking pan than Sara's and some of the ingredients were not quite easy to find here, I modified her recipe a bit to cater to our situation. The recipe is easy to follow and the result is also delicious. It was quite a heavy cake, so I cut the cake into 16 squares. The baking pan I used was the baking pan for the Lapis Surabaya cake 22 x 22 x 4 cm. 

Ingredients:

Brownies layer 

170 gr butter

125 gr dark cooking chocolate (I used 74% choc content)

150 gr fine sugar

3 eggs (medium size)

2 tsp vanilla

125 gr all-purpose flour

4 tbs cocoa powder 

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs of hot water

Cheesecake layer

300 gr cream cheese

50 gr fine sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

How to make:

Brownies batter

1. Melt the butter and the dark cooking chocolate. It can be microwaved at 800 Watt for 30 sec (you may sometimes need longer) and stir the mixture until smooth. Or alternatively melt it using double boiler. Let it cool.
2. After the chocolate mixture is cool enough, add sugar, eggs, and vanilla, mix until the ingredients are incorporated.
3. Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and mix until it is well combined.
4. Put aside 1/4 of the brownies batter (for the decoration).

Cheesecake batter

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar. Beat it for a couple of minutes before adding the egg and vanilla. Mix again until it is well combined and smooth.

Baking the cake:

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C using upper and bottom heat.
2. Prepare the cake pan, line the bottom and sides with baking paper. 
3. Pour 3/4 of the brownies batter into the baking pan, level the batter.
4. Pour the cheesecake batter on top of the brownies batter.
5. Mix the brownies batter (1/4 of the batter) that we put aside with 1 tbs of hot water, mix to get a smooth mixture. Spoon this on top of the cheesecake layer.
6. Using skewer or a knife or fork (whatever you can find), make a pattern for a decoration purpose.
7. Baked the cake for around 30-35 minute or until the do the prick test, by pricking a skewer into the middle of the cake. If it is still wet, bake it a bit longer.
8. Let it cool before cutting the cake.

If you do not want to finish everything at once, you can freeze the cut cakes. Leave it in room temperature for a few hours before serving it or alternatively you can microwave it if you prefer a warm cake.
Enjoy the cake!

Serabi Saus Kinca

One of my favorites things to do in Indonesia and Singapore, or if I can say in most of Asian countries I have visited or lived, is getting delicious snacks almost all day long. I love going to the traditional market, looking for local snacks. In Indonesia, we call them: jajan pasar. Jajan means snacks, while pasar means market.

There are different types and styles of jajan pasar. For the same jajan, there could be different styles to prepare it. Why? There are several reasons. One of the reasons is adaptation of the taste to the preference of certain region. Sometimes, it can also be difficult to trace the real origin and history of the jajan.

One of the jajan pasar I like is serabi. In other place, it is also called surabi. The main theme of this jajan is the combination of coconut milk and palm sugar/javanese sugar.

There are a few variants of the palm sugar. I prefer gula jawa/javanese sugar. It is usually darker, and the taste is a bit different than other variants. I have difficulty to describe the taste in words.

Serabi consists of a pancake like snack and the sauce. Both the pancake and sauce are made with coconut milk. The difficult part of making the pancake is to make the holes of the pancake appear. It is actually similar with the trick to make martabak manis, another Indonesian favorite street snack. What I have done to make the holes appear on the pancake is: by beating the batter a few times using the ladle before pouring the batter to the pan. After a few serabis, sometimes we need to add a bit extra baking powder to initiate again the making of the holes on the serabi. It surely needs practice. I still make mistakes that prevent the holes to appear on the serabi.

Nevertheless, we did enjoy eating this during the lockdown time (Covid-19 related lockdown) in our region.

For the kids, since they are not as a big fan of coconut milk and gula jawa (palm sugar) as I am, I modified the serabi. Instead of eating it with the coconut milk/gula jawa sauce, I put different toppings, such as: slice of ham or slice cheese or chocolate, on top of the serabi while cooking the serabi.


Ingredients:
For the Serabi
150 gram all purpose flour
50 gram rice flour
25 gram sugar
1 tsp salt
3.5 gram instant yeast
1 tsp baking powder
250-300 ml coconut milk

For the sauce/kuah Kinca
250 ml santan (coconut milk)
1/2 tsp salt
70 gram palm sugar
2 pandan leaves (you can skip it if you don't have)

Alternative topping: cheese, ham, chocolate sprinkle.

How to make:

1. Mixed all the serabi's ingredients in a bowl until everything the mixture is smooth,
2. Set aside the serabi's mixture and let it rest for a minimum of 30 minutes,
3. Warm a non-stick pan (I used a small teflon pan) without oil/butter,
4. Beat the batter with ladle and pour around 1 ladle of batter into the pan,
5. Wait until holes appear on the serabi, then colse the pan using the lid of the pan. 
6. There are two variants:
• If you eat them with the coconut sauce: check until the bottom of the serabi golden brown before putting it aside.
• If you want to add topping: before you close the lid of the pan, add slices of ham or cheese or chocolate sprinkle. Close the lid of the pan for a while (not too long), check if the bottom of the serabi is already golden brown, then put it aside.
7. Continue with the rest of the batter. 
8. To make the sauce:
• Mix all the ingredients for the sauce,
• Boil the mixture 
9. Serve the serabi with the sauce. If you make the modified ones (with slice ham/slice cheese), serve them without the coconut/palm sugar sauce.

I hope you enjoy them!

Serabi with kinca (coconut milk/palm sugar) sauce

Serabi with cheese topping

Marble Cake

Marble cake is a classic cake. It is easy to find in local supermarkets and bakery. The advantage of this cake is that it is easy to make and does not need special skills to make.

Since we have been staying at home for almost 2 months now because of the Covid-19 limitation of movement, I thought that it may be a good idea to let my children learn to make a cake. This cake is good choice to start learning to bake.

My youngest boy was interested to make something. Since it is his first time making cake by himself, I helped him a bit with preparing the ingredients and when he needs extra help in handling the tools and mixing the ingredients.

In this recipe, I used cream fraiche. The addition of cream fraiche will make the cake moist.

Ingredients:
200 gram all-purpose-flour
200 gram butter (room temperature)
150 gram sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp cream fraiche
3 tbsp chocolate powder (if you do not like stronger chocolate taste, you can reduce it to two tbsp)

How to make:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 Celcius,
2. Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until we have an almost white mixture,
3. While waiting for the mixing of the butter and sugar, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder. Put aside,
4. Add the eggs one by one to the butter and sugar mixture, and mix until it is fully incorporated. Scrape the side and bottom of the bowl regularly,
5. Add the cream fraiche and mix until it is fully incorporated,
6. Divide the batter into two portion. Add the chocolate powder into one of the portion and mix it using spoon until it has a smooth texture and the chocolate is fully incorporated into the batter,
7. Prepare the cake form. Pour the white batter first. Then, pour the chocolate batter in the middle of the white batter. Using a knife or spoon or fork, make a zigzag movement a few times,
8. Bake the cake for around 30-40 minutes or until it is golden brown. Do a prick test, by pricking a satay stick into the middle of the cake. If it is still wet, bake it a bit longer,
9. Remove from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack before serving.

My children found the cake delicious, but still thinks that the chocolate was not strong enough. They are pure chocolate lovers. That is why, if your taste is in the sweeter side, you can also increase the sugar content to around 175-200 grams. 

Let me know if you also love classic cakes and if you have other ideas of baking to fill in this stay-at-home period with family.

Oven Baked Honey Lemon Chicken with A Hint of Rosemary

Stay-at-home order, related to Covid-19 rules, has been in place (in our area) for more than 40 days. I know that this stay-at-home period is quite stressful for everyone. Everybody has to restrict their movement: no school, working-at-home arrangement, no dining out, no playing outside. But, that is surely the more reasons for us to be nicer to others. I was very surprised to encountered, during my groceries shopping, few not-very-friendly people. Last week, a senior lady pushed me with her bicycle while I was standing in front of the table of a vegetable seller (waiting for my vegetable being wrapped for me).  I did not understand why she pushed me with her bicycle and then just stood there next to me and not waiting in the correct waiting line. The effort I made to avoid being angry and avoid making argument with people in public spaces, surely giving me more stress.

To avoid more stress, I also tried from time-to-time to prepare simple dishes for the family.  Since everybody is at home during this period, we have to plan all meals and snack for the whole family. I am struggling with daily menu. I find that preparing healthy but not boring menu is difficult. I frequently ran out of ideas and energy to plan and execute the food preparation. That is why, simple dishes are from time to time are my life saviour. Because simple dishes mean less stress. 

Last week, I ran out of ideas. It was almost dinner time, but I have not cooked anything. I opened the refrigerator and saw chicken legs and lemon. Then I looked at my garden and I saw that it was time for me to trim my rosemary. I remembered that I saw somewhere recipes for honey lemon chicken. However, I was too lazy to browse for the exact recipe and just made my own version of oven baked honey lemon chicken and served it with home made cream white asparagus soup.

The boys (both the young boys and the adult) at home love it. 

This chicken dish is easy to prepare and we just need to put it in the oven and wait. The taste is not strong, but that is why it was perfect companion for the cream white asparagus soup. 

Do you also love to cook a simple dish once in a while to reduce your stress level?

Ingredients

1+ kg chicken legs (cut into smaller pieces)

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

2 tsp white pepper

20 cm long fresh rosemary branch (release the rosemary from the branch, discard the stalk, and chop the rosemary leaves)

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp lemon

1-2 tbsp olive oil

How to make:

1. Clean the chicken and place it in a big bowl,
2. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and add the honey, lemon, and olive oil. Mixed well,
3. Use the mixed ingredients to marinate the chicken for around 30 minutes or more,
4. Warm the oven (I use convection oven) at 180 Celsius,
5. Put the chicken in a roasting rack and keep the rest of the marinate in a small bowl,
6. Bake the chicken for around 15 minutes and apply the rest of the marinate to the chicken using brush,
7. Return the chicken to the oven and continue baking for another 15-30 minutes, or until the it is cooked thoroughly. To check if the chicken is done, pierce the chicken and check if the meat is already white, not pink anymore and the juice is also not pink in colour.

The chicken is also delicious to eat with steamed rice. I may be biased, but as Asian I love eating many things with rice and sambal (Indonesian chilli paste).

Spare Ribs with Sweet Coriander Sauce

Our family love to have, once in a while, BBQ or grilled food. One of our favorites is spare ribs in sweet coriander sauce. Since I am quite lazy, I frequently make things using oven instead of the real deal: grilling over coals. It is easier for me to clean up, and I do not have to stand quite long outside the house. 

When I moved to Europe, I noticed that western style grill food mostly seasoned with only salt and pepper. The sauce they use for dips usually mayonnaise, mustard, BBQ sauce, garlic sauce, or similar. However, in Indonesia we usually have grilled food with variety of rich sauces. One of my favorites is sweet coriander sauce. It is typical Indonesian.

Here is the recipe I usually use.

Ingredients

1 kg Spare ribs

2 tbs oil (vegetable oil)
1 tbs finely chopped garlic

1 tbs coriander seeds (ground)

3 tbs (Indonesian) sweet soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp white pepper

(for dips and extra)
sweet soy sauce
2-3 shallot (chopped)
bird eye chili 
lime
tomatoes (cut)

How to make:

1. Clean the ribs,
2. In a bowl, mix the vegetable oil, chopped garlic, grounded coriander seeds, sweet soy sauce, salt and pepper,
3. Marinate the ribs with the mixed sauce. Keep it in the refrigerator until you want to bake it,
4. Warm the oven (I used fan forced) at 200º Celcius,
5. Bake the marinated spare ribs for 30 menit,
6. Change the oven to grill mode, and  continue to bake for 15 minutes,
7. Prepare the sauce: mix the sweet soy sauce, chili (if you like), cut tomatoes and chopped shallot. Sprinkle the sauce with lime juice to taste.
8. Serve it with lontong (Indonesian rice cake) or white steamed rice.