Kue Lapis Tepung Beras

Posted by Lisa on Wednesday, December 27, 2006. Filed under: ,
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Kue in Indonesia is a word given to a lot of variety of food such as cakes, breads, cookies, puddings, savoury snacks etc. This Kue Lapis means Layers Cake. But it is not a baked cake. Most common method to prepare traditional snacks and appetizers in Indonesia are steam and fry. Just like this Kue Lapis.

There are 2 kinds of traditional Kue Lapis. First is the one made from rice flour (Kue Lapis Tepung Beras) and the other is made from Sagoo flour (Kue Pepe). Both Kue lapis have the same method of cooking.

This Kue Lapis I post here is my mother's recipe. Normally, she will use fresh Pandan Leaves and Suji Leaves to get the green color and the aroma. But we can use Pandan Pasta instead. Because it's kind a difficult to find the leaves here in India. If Pandan pasta is not available, replace it with green food color (or any color you like) and a little vanilla ekstract to get the good aroma.

Ingredients:
3 glass rice flour
1 1/2 glass sagoo flour
1 1/2 glass white sugar
6 glass coconut milk from 1 big size of coconut
Pandan Leaves, torn and knotted
1/2 tsp salt
few drops Pandan Pasta (or food color)

Combine sugar, coconut milk, salt and pandan leaves in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir constantly to dissolve the sugar. Strain and set aside until it become lukewarm.

Put rice flour and sagoo flour into a large mixing bowl. Pour in the coconut milk gradually and mix well. Strain the batter if needed to make sure there are no lumps in the batter.

Divide the batter into 2 Add few drops Pandan Pasta (or food color) to the half part of the batter and leave the other part white (I divide it into 1/3 part green and 2/3 part white).

Heat an oil greased 25 x 25 cm pan inside a hot steamer for 5 minutes. Pour 50 ml (1 ladle) of white batter into the pan. Cover the steamer and steam for 5 minutes until it getting firm. Open the steamer and pour 50 ml (1 ladle) green batter over the white, and steam for 5 minutes.

Repeat the procedure, alternating white and green batter until all the batter is used up. After the final layer is set, steam for a further 20 minutes. Remove from steamer and let it cool. Serve by cutting the kue with an oil greased knife.

Fish Biriyani

Posted by Lisa on Tuesday, December 26, 2006. Filed under: ,
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Since I never make chicken biriyani with the perfect taste, This Fish Biriyani always become my favorite thing to serve for our guest at home. We love it from the first time we tried this recipe. If you like, you can try it also..


Ingredients:
For Fish Masala:
500 grams King Fish
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 - 2 tsp chili powder (as required)
1/2 tsp salt

3 Onions (big size), finely sliced
1 big tomato, chopped
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
2 tbsp curd
1 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
salt as required

For the Rice
3 cups of Basmati rice
6 cups of water
1 Onion, chopped
2 tbsp ghee
5 cardamom pods, Crushed
3 sticks of cinnamon
3 cloves
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt (as required)

Roasted Cashew Nuts and Yellow raisins..



Preparing the fish:
Clean and wash the fish pieces, drain it well. Marinate them in turmeric powder, chili powder and salt for about 1/2 - 1 hour. Heat oil in a pan, then fry the marinated fish. Keep aside


Preparing the masala:
Heat a small amount of oil in pan. Add sliced onions and fry on a low flame, till it becomes slightly brown. On medium flame, add ginger-garlic-green chilly paste and tomato, stir it until it become paste around 5 minutes. Add garam masala powder,curd, coconut milk, coriander leaves and salt and stir it for 5 min. Add fried fish pieces and reduce the flame and cook till it starts to boil. Keep a side.


Preparing the rice:
Heat ghee in a pan.Add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and onions and fry till onion turn slightly brown. Add rice and stir for another 5 minutes. In a pressure cooker put water along with salt and let it boil. Pour the rice into the boiling water then close the cooker with the lid and cook until one wistle. Turn off the flame.



Preparing the biriyani:
Take a deep bottom vessel and layer rice and fish masala. Pour 2 tbsp of ghee and tightly cover with a lid. Keep it on a very low flame for 10 min.Garnish with roasted nuts and raisins.

Onde-onde Ketawa

Posted by Lisa on Monday, December 25, 2006. Filed under: ,
3 Comments

Onde-onde ketawa. It means Laughing Onde-onde (!?). No, better not to translate it to English.... ;-p. It sounds better if we call it just like it should be : Onde-onde Ketawa.

I'm not quite sure from which part of Indonesia this food is originally come. But when I lived in Bumiayu, a small city in Central Java, this food can be found easily. So lets say, it's Central Java...

Actually, Onde-onde is an Indonesian snacks made from white glutious (sticky) rice powder with sweet moong dal paste as filling. The differences between the real Onde onde I mention above and this Onde-Onde ketawa is that the latest one is made from all purpose flour instead of glutinous rice powder. And it doesn't have anything as filling. It makes Onde onde ketawa taste more crunchy and not sticky like the other one.

The cooking method is quite easier. It doesn't take much time to make the batter. But we have to be carefull with the frying method. Use a lof of oil with medium heat only. The balls should be deep-fry in medium hot oil to let them bloom (sorry, I still cant find the right world to decribe it... ;-p) perfectly.

Ingredients:
100 ml water
175 grams white sugar (I used only 150 grams)
1 egg
2 tbsp cooking oil
300 grams all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp soda powder
100 gram white sesame seeds
oil for frying

Boil water and sugar in a pan until the sugar dissolved. Let it cool. Beat cooking oil together with egg in a low speed mixer until well combined (2 -3 minutes). Add sugar syrup little by little and beat them for another 1 minute. Sift together flour, baking powder and soda powder into the sugar mixture. Mix well with a spatula.

Make balls (10 grams each) from the batter. Drop it into water, then roll it over a bowl of sesame seeds. Deep fry the balls in medium hot oil with medium flame until golden brown. Remove from pan. Drain it with kitchen towel.



Cireng

Posted by Lisa on Saturday, December 23, 2006. Filed under: ,
4 Comments

Cireng is a short name of Aci Goreng, which means Fried Aci (Kanji). Actually I'm still a little bit confused which one Aci (Kanji) is. Is it Tapioca or Sagoo starch. In this recipe, I used Tapioca for 2 reasons. First is because actually both starch are similiar. And second one is because that's the only starch I have in my kitchen... ;-p

In Indonesia, we can find this fried snacks easily in 'Tukang Gorengan' (I dont know how to translate it to English, sorry ;-p). Thats how we call someone who sells Fried Snacks in Indonesia. If you want to know the taste of this Cireng... well, just imagine how it will be when you bite a rubber... ;-p. I mean, the food is very elastic, especially when it is alerday cold. So eat them when they are stilll hot... By the way, I really enjoy chewing it when it's cold.. hehehe

100 grams Aci (kanji) --> Tapioca Starch
1 tbsp all purpose flour
75 ml water
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove, pasted
30 grams soya beans, soak in water until tender
1 stick of spring onion, finely chopped.

Mix all the ingredients until well-combined. Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry 1 tbsp of the batter until become golden yellow and dry. Do it to the remaining batter. Remove from oil.
Enjoy it when it is still warm.
Recipe Source: Dapur Bunda

Onion Uthappam

Posted by Lisa on Tuesday, December 19, 2006. Filed under: , ,
4 Comments

I like Uthappam better than dosa. For me, the taste of the fried onions give a good combination to the sour taste of the batter.

Earlier, we can eat uthappam only when we had breakfast in hotel (breakfast in hotel..!!?? ;-p). But since I knew that uthappam is made using the same batter as idli and dosa, I'll make my own uthappam whenever I have left-over idli/dosa batter.

Enjoy hot Onion Uthappam with Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:
3 cups Idli/Dosa batter
salt as required
2 Onions ( or as required), finely chopped
3 green chilies, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped corriander leaves (green cilantro)
1/2 tsp minced ginger (optional)

Mix together all the ingredients except the batter in a bowl, set aside.
Add a little salt to the batter, mix well.
Heat a dosa pan and spead a little oil over the pan. When it becomes hot enough, place a laddle of the batter and spread it (it should be thick than a normal dosa). Sprinkle onion mixture on top of the batter evently and cook for about 1 minute.
When it is cokked on one side, turn over, add a tsp of oil all over its edge and remove when fully cooked.

Lemet (Ketimus)

Posted by Lisa on Friday, December 15, 2006. Filed under: , ,
4 Comments

The third and also will be the last entry for "Proyek Cinta untuk Bunda Inong" is this recipe below. Bunda Inong called it as Lemet, but I knew it as Ketimus. This is one of Indonesian Traditional Snacks. Normally, it contains of tapioca, coconut and jaggery. But in this recipe modified by late Bunda Inong, using banana as filling.


Ingredients:
500 grams tapioca, finely grated (or make a paste of tapioca)
100 grams fresh grated coconut
200 grams jaggery, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
2 - 3 banana, cut into long pieces
banana leaves as required

Mix all the ingredients until well-combined. Take one sheet of banana leaf. Put one tablespoon of tapioca mixture and add one piece of banana. Wrap them by rolling the banana leaf and fold in both end of the leaf. Repeat wrapping process to the remaning mixture. Put all the wrapped lemet into a hot steamer, and steam for 40 - 50 minutes. Let it cool before serve.

Tips:
- To make the work easier with the banana leaves, heat the surface of the leaves over a small flame. It will make it more soft and easy to fold without breaking it.
- To make the tapioca paste, you can cut them to small pieces and put it in a blender (food processor) instead of grate it.

Recipe Source: Lemet Pisang a la Bunda

Potato Donuts

Posted by Lisa on Tuesday, December 12, 2006. Filed under: ,
3 Comments

My next entry for "Proyek Cinta untuk Bunda Inong" : Donat Kentang (Potato Donuts) . These Donuts are very soft and delicious. Enjoy it with Donut Dusting or powdered sugar for the best taste. For the recipe click here.


Chocolate Pudding with Biscuits

Posted by Lisa on Sunday, December 10, 2006. Filed under: , ,
1 Comment

This is one of my entries for "Proyek Cinta untuk Bunda Inong". I submited the original version, because the project does not allow any modification. Well, actually I did not make modification in this recipe except adding vanilla sauce since the pudding has 'a moderate' sweet taste...

For recipe please visit DapurBunda or click here

Masala Chai

Posted by Lisa on Monday, December 4, 2006. Filed under:
1 Comment

I was in a trip to Hyderabad a couple years ago when the first time I tried this kind of tea. Normally, I make an ordinary type of tea. Simply boil some water and add tea powder in it. Sometimes I pour in milk or just let it plain without milk and sugar. Even enjoying tea with milk is quite a new thing for me. I just knew it after my marriage with my husband, and learn about tea time tradition in India.

This Masala Chai tastes excellent. I fell in love with it instantly. When I reached back to my home in Cochin, I started to make my own masala chai. Well, it takes more time for me to get the best taste I expected. But this recipe below is perfect. At least for me and my husband. So enjoy your tea...

Ingredients:
2 cups of water
3 tsp tea leaves/ 2 tsp powdered tea
1 piece of Dry Ginger, crushed
4 cardamom seeds, crushed
4 cloves
1 piece cinnamon stick
4 black pepercorn
1 cup of whole milk
sugar as you desire

In a medium pot, bring water to boil, add tea leaves/powdered tea to it. Boil again until the liquid darken. Add all the masala to the tea. And let it simmer for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. Do not over-boil because it will make the tea taste too strong. Remove the tea from the heat. Strain and pour the tea to 3 cups equally. Add milk and sugar as desired. Your Masala Chai are ready to serve.

There is a very easy way to make the Chai in a minute. Go to a big Supemarket and get yourself an Instant Masala Tea Powder in a box .. ;-p

You don't need to add anything to it, except milk of course. Just boil it with water and the Chai is ready. I brought some of these Instant Masala Tea to Jakarta early this year when I go home to visit my parents and family. It's so easy to make...

Well, I got to go now... Want to enjoy my tea... :-)


Carrot Cupcake

Posted by Lisa on Thursday, November 30, 2006. Filed under: ,
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These are another cupcakes I made for the birthday. I found the recipes in AYAHBUNDA magazine. Too bad I didn't have a chance to taste it cause there was nothing left in the kitchen. My husband packed and brought them all to his office.

Ingredients:
180 grams all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
125 grams granulated sugar
50 grams palm sugar
2 tsp pineapple jam
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp spekoek powder (mixed of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (I used only 1/2 tsp)
150 grams carrot, shreded
125 ml vegetable oil

  • Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line standard 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. Sift all-purpose flour together with baking powser, set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together: eggs, granulated sugar, palm sugar, pineapple jam, salt, vanilla powder, spekoek powder, and cinnamon powder until it become light in colour.
  • Add to the batter one by one: flour mixture, shredded carrot and vegetable oil. Beat on low speed until well-combine.
  • Divided batter evently among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
  • Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool slightly. Frost cupcakes with buttercream

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake

Posted by Lisa on Saturday, November 25, 2006. Filed under: ,
1 Comment

I made these cupcakes for my daughter's 2nd Birthday. There wasn't a party, but distribute some small sweets to our neighbours sound very nice :-) Since I don't make Indian Sweets - well I mean I have never tried to make some, maybe later - baking a cake is the most possible thing for me to do. And small cake is just perfect for a small girl's birthday.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large whole eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup warm water

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 standard 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners.Into the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Attact bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; add the eggs and yolk, the milk, oil, vanilla and warm water. Beat on low speed until smooth and combined, about 3 minutes; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divided batter evently among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake come out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool slightly. Invert cupcakes onto the rack; then reinvert and let them cool completely, top sides up. Frost cupcakes with buttercream, swirling to cover and garnish with chocolate curls.

Recipe Source: Vania's Blog taken from Martha Stewart 's BAKING HANDBOOK

Homemade Donuts

Posted by Lisa on Friday, October 13, 2006. Filed under: ,
1 Comment

I got this Donuts recipe from book of Variety of Donuts owned by my friend in Madras. I have made it so many times, so I don't need to look at the measurement of the ingredients every time I want to make it. The taste is good, even my daughter can eat 2 in once ;-p. Well, actually I made them in small size.... :D

For myself, I like it plain. Without chocolate topping, sprinkles, or some powdered sugar. But when you have time, and like to see them in pretty look... just dress them with anything you desire. Crushed roasted peanuts work the best for me. My daughter loves the chocolate, and my husband will eat anything I give him on his plate... ;-p

Ingredients:

500 grams bread flour (I used all purpose flour instead)
100 grams granulated sugar
11 grams instant yeast
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
100 grams butter
250 ml fresh milk


Directions:

1. Mix together in large bowl: wheat flour, granulated sugar, yeast instant, Baking Powder and salt. Stir them until well-combined
2. Add the egg yolk, and followed by butter. Knead until well-blended.
3. Pour in the cold milk in batches. Mix to form a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 1/2 an hour (if you use hands), until the dough become smooth, light and elastic.
4. Form the dough into a ball, place it in a large bowl and cover it with wet and clean cloth. Set aside for 1 hour.
5. Divide the dough into equal size small balls. Make wholes on the balls using your finger. You can use Donuts shaped cutter if it's available.
6. Deep dry it in hot oil with low-medium flame until it's golden brown and rise.

Tips:

- If you use Active Dry Yeast, dissolve it first in 50 ml warm water before you mix it with the flour. Don't forget to reduce the milk until 200 ml
- Use a wooden chopstick to spin the donuts while you fry it. It will helps you to keep the shape of the whole.
- Let them cool before decorate them with chocolate and sugar

Cocoa Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Posted by Lisa on Thursday, October 12, 2006. Filed under: , ,
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I got this recipe from Quaker Oatmeals website. When I have too many oats in my kitchen, I decided to try it. The muffin is very delicious and easy to make.


Ingredients
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 small)
1/2 cup fat-free milk
5 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
2 egg whites or 1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 400°F. Line thirty-six miniature muffin cups with paper baking cups or spray bottoms only with cooking spray.
In large bowl, combine flour, oats, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda; mix well. In medium bowl, combine bananas, milk, margarine, egg whites and vanilla; blend well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not overmix.)
Fill muffin cups almost full. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Store tightly covered.

Orange Muffins

Posted by Lisa on Tuesday, October 3, 2006. Filed under: , ,
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Since I live in India, preparing breakfast become a new routine. When I was in Indonesia, we (and I think most of Indonesians) didn't cook breakfast. We bought it. There's some reasons for that. One of them is because school (and also office) hour begin so early there. Most schools in Indonesia will start at 07.00 AM... It makes most of Moms don't have enough time to prepare during hectic hours in the morning. And another reason is because there are so many people sell food for breakfast... with so many options.

But things are going different here in India.... And now I'm getting used to make breakfast with the local taste... Idli, Dosa, Poori and Appam are the most common food for breakfast. But one day, we tried this recipe for breakfast... ;-p Like what western people eat for breakfast.. hehehe. But we are asian though..... Even the muffins taste so great, we still prefer dosa or idli. So I think next time I will make it for some other purpose.. maybe for tea time snacks...

I got this tasty muffin recipe from one of my favorite baking blog: Vania's Recipes


1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine melted
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 eggsgrated rind of 1 orange
  • Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and blend well.
  • Melt butter. Take off heat and stir in orange juice, eggs and orange rind. Beat.
  • Stir liquid into dry mixture and blend just until moistened.
  • Spoon into greased muffin cups and soak 1 sugar cube in orange juice and place on top of batter.
  • Bake 375 F for 15-20 minutes or until done.
    A handful of coconut or raisins added to this batter would also be delicious.

Recipe Source: 'Muffin Mania' by Cathy Prange & Joan Pauli.