Tumis Tempe – Stir Fry Tempe

Every now and then, we buy a few items from the local Sayuan (vegetable man). This week our maid had bought this special Indonesia food from the vegetable man.

Do you know what it is?

This is a Indonesia specialty and it is very popular here.

It is called Tempe and is a soybean product. Local Indonesians eat lots of soybean products to get their daily protein. Meat is pretty expensive for them.

We are going to share a recipe for how to cook tempe the easy way.

Ingredients:

1.      250 g tempe, cut into matchsticks 3 cm, fried
2.      25 grams of red and green chillies, cut into slices
3.      15 g garlic, thinly sliced
4.      25 g onion, thinly sliced
5.      2 slices of galangal (ginger)
6.      2 bay leaves
7.      1 sachet Royco all in one (an Indonesia brand all in one spice)
8.      2 tablespoons soy sauce
9.      4 tablespoons of oil
10.      200 ml of water

•   Heat oil and saute garlic and onion
• Add  galangal, bay leaves, chilli, and stir fry
• Add tempe, water, Royco all in one, and soy sauce
• Cook until flavored, and tempe almost dry

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Soft Chocolate Cranberry Brownie – A Perfect Chocolate Recipe

We love chocolate brownies. We love chocolate brownies so much that we can even live with a pizza shop chocolate brownie, remember? Why not have chocolate cranberry brownies for our Christmas party? Brilliant idea! Everyone will love it. This soft chocolate cranberry brownie is easy to make. You really got to try very hard to mess up this one.

This chocolate cranberry brownie is the ultimate chocolate treat for this Christmas. Actually it is the perfect dessert for any occasion, really.

It is soft, very moisturized. It is also very versatile. We can replace the cranberries with any other dried fruit. Cranberries are pretty expensive here in Jakarta. Maybe we can add chopped dates instead? Or dried apples? Even chocolate chips? Double chocolate brownie, that would be chocolate heaven.

To make a healthier version, we can use self-raising whole meal flour instead of the all purpose flour. Sounds good? Here is the recipe:

Cake base:

1. Sugar 1/2 cup
2. Salt 1/3 tsp
3. All purpose flour 1 1/2 cups
4. Butter  1/2 cup (softened at room temperature softened and cut into small cubes)
5. Milk 1/4 cup

Chocolate cranberry stuffing:

Dry ingredients:

1. White sugar 1/3 cup
2. Unsweetened cocoa powder  1/2 cup (unsweetened cocoa powder)
3. Flour 2 tablespoons
4. Vanilla 2 teaspoons
5. Cranberry  1 cup

Wet ingredients:

1. Milk 1 cup
2. Condensed milk 3 tablespoons
3. Eggs 3, lightly beaten spare
4. Butter  1/4 cup (microwave melt)

Note: 1 tablespoon = 15 ml = 1 Tablespoon, 1 teaspoon = 5 ml = 1 Teaspoon. 1 cup = 240 ml.

Cake base:

• Place all ingredients, except butter and milk,  in a bowl and mix well
• Knead the cubed butter into the flour gently
• Pour milk in and mix well
• Put mixture into an 8 x 12-inch glass baking dish
• Flatten the mixture to a 1cm high base with a spade (or use your dry hand, make sure you powder your hands with flour first)

Place baking tray into the preheated to 340F/170 Celsius oven, and bake for 15 minutes.

Make the chocolate brownie filling while baking the cake base.

Chocolate cranberry brownie fillings:

• Add all dry ingredients, except the cranberries,  into a mixing bowl and mix well
• Pour in all wet ingredients into the mixture
• Beat with a mixer at low speed
• Add  dried cranberries and mix well

Pour the fillings onto the cake bottom, and bake for 28 minutes until the cranberry filling is slightly shaking (very moisturized and soft) when gently  moving the baking dish.

Wait till the cake is completely cold, then cut and serve.

Photo credit: hmmlargeart fliker

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Mango Yogurt Parfaits – Christmas Recipe

We love mangoes ever since we have been in Jakarta and this mango yogurt parfait is such a delight to make. It is a perfect mango recipe for our Christmas in Jakarta. Even better we can make these  mango yogurt parfaits ahead of time and enjoy it when the party starts.

This mango yogurt parfait is very easy to make and yet tastes really refreshing and satisfying. Even Miss D can make this all by herself. If you don’t want granola, simply add some chopped nuts or chocolate and it will taste just as good.

•     Mangoes 2 cubed

•     Vanilla yogurt 3 cup (use low fat, or any other flavor as you like, but we always stick to the original vanilla flavor)

•     Granola 6 tbsp (add chopped nuts or chocolate if you like)

1. Puree 1 cubed mango and pour equal amounts into 6 glasses
2. Add ¼  cup of yogurt on top of the mango puree
3. Add remaining cubed mango on top of the yogurt (leave a few pieces of cubed mango for garnish)
4. Top each glass with remaining 1/4 cup yogurt and reserved mango cubes
5. Cover and refrigerate (for at least 30 min for best result)
6. Top each serving with a tablespoon of granola (or chopped nuts and chocolates) before serving.

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Sate kambing – Indonesia Lamb Satay

Remember the lamb we saw prior to  Eid Al Adha (The Feast of sacrifice)? Everyone got to have a piece of Lamb on Eid Al Adha (The Feast of sacrifice). So did us.

One of the easiest ways to cook Lamb is making them into Sate Kambing, an Indonesia Lamb Satay.

We can find Sate Kambing everywhere in Jakarta. It is the everyday food that people enjoy here. Let’s show you how to make your very own Indonesia Lamb Satay, shall we?

Lamb Satay:

• Lamb meat 500 grams
• Soy sauce 150 ml
• Lime 2 pieces (juiced)
• Skewers 20 pieces (soak in water the night before)

Peanut sauce:

• Peanuts 250 grams (fried, or simply use crunchy peanut butter)
• Garlic 4 cloves
• Red onion 5 cloves (or use 1 white onion)
• Red chilli 2pcs
• Water 500 ml
• Salt (to taste)
• Soy sauce 100 ml

Complement:

• Lontong (an Indonesia rice cake, optional)

1. Cut lamb into 1.5cm cubes, stick with skewers and set aside.
2. Blend all ingredients except soy sauce and water until smooth.
3. Mix with soy sauce and water.
4. Cook the mixture in a pan until smooth and bubbly.
5. Set aside until cool.
6. Marinate lamb skewers with mixture for 2 hours or overnight.
7. Grill lamb satay until cooked.
8. Serve lamb satay with peanut sauce, lemon juice, and Longtong (rice cakes).

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Mango Margarita

Happy Friday, our dear readers! How’s your Halloween night? Miss D can’t wait for tonight’s Haunted House. For us, the Halloween has not truly started yet.

To celebrate, how about some cocktail tonight?

We absolutely love cocktails and this Mango Margarita is our all time favorite. Besides, mango is always abundant in Jakarta. It is cheap and has a very beautiful flavor. What’s not to like about mango? For Miss D, she will just have a non-alcoholic version of this Mango Margarita and away we go. It’s one happy family.

We drink this Mango Margarita all the time during the summer back in Sydney. Now that we are in Jakarta, there is all the more reason to drink Mango Margarita. Use the best quality tequila you can afford…. this is the secret for making the best Mango Margarita in town.

Ingredients

• Fresh ripe mango 2 pcs (or use jars if fresh mangoes are not available)
• Limes 2 pcs (juiced)
• Tequila 1 cup (use more if you like)
• Triple Sec 1 cup (use more if you like)
• Ice cubes 1 cup
• Sugar ¼ cup (or to taste)

1. Cut mango into chunks
2. Put mango chunks, ice cubes and sugar into blender.
3. Pour in tequila, triple sec and lime juice.
4. Blend for 2-3 minutes (or until very, very smooth)

Before serve, taste to make sure you like it, or add more of anything you really want to.

Pour the Mango Margarita in a Margarita glass.  Decorate the glass with one slice of mango or orange.

Enjoy and have a really happy Friday night tonight.

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