Persian Dolmeh

I love dolmeh, such an easy finger food and you won't stop eating just for one. The other day, I decide to use a ground chicken .. since I wonder if the taste will as good as using ground beef. Actually I like the taste.  I grind my own chicken, so I have the best taste of chicken rather than buy the ready one from the store.

Here is the recipe, is pretty much easy to make but I suggest you to cook the filling day ahead and keep in the refrigerator until you ready to use it so you won't end up stay in the kitchen too long, well the story is different if you like cooking and spend time there :) but I just thinking about practical thing.

Persian Dolmeh

Ingredients 

1 jar of grape leaves or if you can find the fresh one , you might need about 50 leaves

1 cup rice

1 medium onion

1/2 cup yellow split peas 

1/3 cup lemon juice or vinegar

2-3 tablespoons sugar

250-500 grams ground chicken / ground beef / ground turkey or skip for vegetarian style

1 cup for every fresh herbs such : parsley, cilantro, green onion, dill,

1 tbsp dried taragon 

salt, pepper

turmeric

oil

water

Directions:

Chop up the onion and fry it in a pan. Add the meat once the onion is golden in color and fry the meat. Add about half a cup of water and allow the meat to cook. You will add salt, pepper, and turmeric to the meat as well. Allow the meat to cook for at least 20. Once the meat is cooked set it aside and allow it to cool.

Heat up water in a pot and boil the yellow split peas for approximately 15 minutes. Then drain and set them aside to cool.

Heat up water in a pot and bring the rice to a boil. Drain the rice and set aside to cool.

Clean any fresh herbs and chop them up slightly using a food processor

Mix all these ingredients together in a bowl, add salt and pepper for taste.

If you are using fresh Grape Leaves you will need to boil them in water for a bit so that they soft. If using Grape Leaves in a jar bought from the store make sure you wash them well so they have no preservatives left on them (it will ruin the flavor if left on the leaves).   For this step I did a day ahead so the leaves won't be too wet when I use it.

Take the leaves one at a time and lay them on a surface or cutting board. Take some of the mixture and place it on the leaf and then begin wrapping the leaf.

add oil to the pot you plan on using to cook the Dolmeh in. Take a few leaves that aren’t wrapped and place them on the bottom of the pot. Take all the prepared Dolmeh’s and place them on the bottom of the pot leaving no spaces.

Meanwhile , take the 1/3 cup of lemon juice (or vinegar) and add the sugar to it. Add about a cup of water to the juice/sugar and stir everything together. Once the sugar has dissolved pour the contents all over the Dolmeh’s in the pot.

Place a plate (or something else thats heavy) over the Dolmeh’s to make sure they dont move around. Turn the burner on to medium-low heat and place the lid on top of the pot. Allow the Stuffed Grape Leaves to cook for 30-45 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving, preferably in the fridge overnight

Moroccan Harira

Spring definitely is here ; we had very cold winter - not much of snow coming as I don't remember that my kid not going school due to the weather, we were lucky compare to the other states, but the freezing cold was almost everyday . Layer of layer of clothes is MUST when you decide to go out , even just to drop kid to school near by.

 

And since I go work everyday after drop kid to school , my very helpful kitchen appliance that I love so much is slow cooker pot .  Just toss everything into the pot before go work, set the timer and everything is ready when every one back home in the afternoon.  One of recipe I love too is Moroccan Harira - easy to cook yet so healthy ..

 

 

MOROCCAN HARIRA

 

100g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained

100g dry lentils

450g ready-diced lamb, cut into 1cm cubes

1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp each ground ginger, saffron strands and paprika

50g butter

100g long grain rice

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

4 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

4 large ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped

lemon quarters, to serve

 

Method

Tip the chickpeas and lentils into a large saucepan or flameproof casserole. Add the lamb, onion, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, saffron strands and paprika, then pour in 1.5 litres/21⁄2 pints water. Season.

 

Bring to the boil, skimming all the froth from the surface as the water begins to bubble, then stir in half the butter. Turn down the heat and simmer the soup, covered, for 11⁄2 -2 hours until the chickpeas are tender, adding a little more water from time to time as necessary.

 

Towards the end of the cooking time, prepare the rice. Bring 850ml/ 11⁄2 pints water to the boil in a saucepan, shower in the rice, the rest of the butter and salt to taste. Cook until the rice is very tender. Drain, reserving 3tbsp of the liquid.

Onde Onde / Sesame Seed Ball

 

 

I must to admit 'food' is my biggest weakness.. I love food, good food, soul food, may be because I am asian ! We always appreciate home cook food . Now, here a thousand miles away from home - I move to different land, I found myself miss my mom food alot - I do cook for family, but sometime the sensation is different than I ever feel before.

There is one sweet snack I miss alot is onde-onde / sesame seed ball - some called, 'Ma Tuan' One of the most beloved Asian sweet dumpling. The texture of dumpling itself is not hubby or little one fav. so, you know next ... I am the one who will enjoy the sweet ... I don't mind at all .. :)))

Onde-onde / Sesame Seed Ball

Recipe : Ika - Ikaray Kitchen

Ingredients :

For Dumpling

250 glutinous rice flour

50 gr tapioca flour

50 gr sugar

1 tsp salt

250 cc warm lite coconut milk

sesame seed

For Filling :

150 gr dried,hulled and split yellow mung beans

200 gr sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanila extract

about 200 gr water

Directions :

Making filling :

1.Rinse the mung bean, put them in a bowl, and add water to cover by 1 inch. Let soak for 2hour or overnight.

2.In medium heavy pot, add water , beans , salt, let boiled and cook until tender and add the sugar , vanila. Stir and cooked until the bean firm and smooth out. Turn off the heat.

3. Transfer to plastic container and cool at room temperature before using. The paste can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for a month.

4. Measure 1 level tsp of paste for each dumpling and roll each portion into a small ball. Put on a plate, cover, and set aside.

Tips : an easy way, skip (1)-(2) by put all the ingredients into the pressure cooker, close the lid, turn the heat to medium high. Wait until pressure cooker give a wishtle sound than start to set the time for 7 minute. And you are done !!

Making Dumpling :

Put the flours , sugar, salt, in a bowl and make a large well in the centre. Pour the warm coconut milk into the flour mixture . Use the wooden spoon or spatula to combine, stirring and eventually pressing the ingredients into the ball. Transfer to a work surface, the dough will still be warm , so be carefull and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap

take about 1 tbsp of dough, roll into a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces to yield 15-18 balls total.

for each dumpling, take a ball of dough and make a deep indentation to create a little cup. Aim to make the cup about 1 inch deep. You can build up the wall by pressing it between your tumb and index finger. Put a ball of paste in the well, tapping it down a bit. Close the cup, making sure that the filling is closed. Pinch and twist off any extra dough and seal well.

Roll the dumploing between your hands to make it perfectly round and smooth, slightly wet your hands before this final roll if the dough feel dry . Set aside and repeat to make more. cover the filled ones to prevent drying.

Put the sesame seed in a small bolw. Dunk each of dumpling into the bowl of water, shake off the excess water and then put it in the bowl of sesame seeds. Dredge the dumpling to coat it well with sesame seed, the place it back on your work surface. Repeat the remaining balls.

Use a wok or a pot, (about 4 quart pot) . Pour in the oil to a depth of 2 1/2 inches. Heat over medium . Fry the ball, 5 at a time, for 7 minute, frequently turn and stir the balls to prevent uneven browning.

To better taste, try to eat them the day after they are made !! :)

The Common Cookies

 

Ask Indonesian people, what a popular cookies for Eid Celebration ? no doubt, they will say "Nastar" and "Katetong" - a very simple cookies yet delicious.  You are not celebrate Eid, if you don't have nastar - well, I think that is a real MANTRA !!  As like other who celebrate Eid in Indonesia - far away from home, I want do the same , bake a humble nastar and katetong. eew, why I just bake once a year since hubby and daughter loves this ?

The other hand, I just realize that another cookies named : katetong - has a different named around the country. Some called cat tounge (which make sense to me, katetong - sound like cat tounge) or Lingue di gato are so named because their shape resembles a cat’s tongue.  They also look a lot like a ladyfinger.  Katetong have a wonderful buttery flavor and can be served plain or frosted with a glaze of bittersweet chocolate.  You can also sandwich two cookies together with the chocolate glaze or with a little jam or Nutella. 

I got this recipe from my beloved friend, Ika Ray - so talented lady, who loves to bake and cook  . I need to re-post the recipe since I told my daughter, someday she need to bake her own :)

 

 

Nastar / Pineapple Tarts Recipe

Recipe : Ika Ray Kitchen

Pineapple Jam Filling
Ingredients:
4 large pineapples
300 g sugar
1 clove
1 inch cinnamon stick

Method:
1. Slice and grate pineapples till fine. You can use a food processor do grate it.
2. In medium pot ( i used spaghetti pot - so the pot deep enough to simmer the jam and not much of mess around the kitchen after work) put the grated pineapple, cinnamon stick, clove, let it simmer until the juice has dry up. Than add sugar .
3. Stir till the pineapple has thickened and dry.

Note : You can make the filling in advance and refrigerate it.

Pastry
Ingredients:
350 g margarine
350 gr butter
150 g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
900 g all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

Egg Brush
2 egg yolk plus 1Tbsp water

Method:
1.Preheat oven at 150° C.
2.Cream margarine, butter and sugar till white.
3.Add in egg yolks and beat at low speed for 1 minute.
4.Fold in flour gradually.
5.Take about 2 tsp pastry dough, roll, press with your finger put a filling, roll it again.
6.Brush with egg brush. Add clove for decoration (optional)
7.Bake in a preheat oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes or when tarts is light golden brown in color

 

Katetong / Cat Tounge Cookies

Recipe : Ika Ray

Ingredients:
white eggs from 3 eggs (approx.90 - 100 ml)
450 gr margarine
150 gr butter
350 gr powder sugar
75 gr shreded cheddar cheese
600 gr all purpose flour (shive)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Direction :
Beat margarine, butter, sugar until smooth and fluffy.
Add white eggs, little by little, beat again until smooth and well blended. Gradually add flour .
With spatulla add cheddar cheese, mix well.
Place the dough inside a piping bag (i used plain tip). Then squeezed
out the dough into a greased kattetong mould. or just I just placed the dough on a cookie tin which was lined with a piece of parchment paper - pipe about 4 - 5 cm long
Bake in a preheat oven at 350F for 15-20 minute until done

Haleem - Persian Breakfast

 

One evening, while we had dinner, my husband told us about his childhood memory - it always fun to hear about Persian custom from him; and one of his story was about 'Haleem' - a type of breakfast dish , which is so popular until today. Haleem is a thick Persian high calorie dish. It is a special dish prepared for breakfast or during Ramadan since its good for the stomach.  This dish is slow cooked for some hours which results in a paste like consistency.  *in fact the other side of story was, he kind of missed this dish too , but he won't even bother to tell me to make this dish for him *eh, is this typical of man ?  *

Anyway, short story I search for the recipe and next day, I visited one biggest International food store in my city which sell (almost) every products from different country. I'm sure, everybody there know me, since I always go there once at least once a month. I picked some stuff to make this dish, but not tell my husband until ready to serve *oooh, what a nice wife *wink*

I admit, this dish is not (so) appealing and I'm not blame on you if you don't feel like to try but as my little one always say 'don't judge by the cover' - the dish it self absolutely delicious!! . As my husband recommend the original recipe is using lamb shoulder but I couldn't find the lamb at the store that day, I substitute with turkey tight.

I let my little one, involved in a cooking process , *well.. this is part of trick to make her eat a new kind of food too* . She read the product label, (oh.. turkey!! - she loves turkey meat) , wash the turkey , put in the slow cooker pot etc. Hey, I'm not surprise when she asked the porridge for breakfast and even dinner LOL

 

Haleem (A Wheat and Meat Persian Breakfast)

Recipe : from Azita - Turmeric & Saffron - with a little change from me

 

Ingredients:
3 cups pelted wheat, rinsed, soaked overnight in 4-5 cups of water, drain before cooking
2 pounds meat (preferably lamb shoulder or turkey breasts) - in fact I chose turkey tight
enough water

1 sliced onion

3 cups of milk
Salt , Pepper to taste

Toppings:
Cinnamon
Butter, melted
Sugar *I'm skip this one*

Method:
Place the lamb or turkey in a medium sized pan, add salt, pepper, onion slice and enough water to cover. Cover and cook for about 1-1/2 hours on medium heat or until the meat is tender. Stir occasionally, to prevent the formation of a crust on the bottom of the pan.  If juices evaporate before turkey is done, add 1/4 cup water. Remove from heat and let cool. Remove and separate meat from bones if using turkey tight like mine and shred into small pieces. Reserved the liquid for next step

Place wheat in a heavy bottom large stew pot on medium heat, pour in about  6cups of water and some of liquid from the meat, bring to a gentle boil for a few minutes, reduce heat to low and cook for about 1-1/2 hours. - if you like to use a slow cooker pot, it will work too - trust me, no mess in the kitchen.

Pour the cooked wheat in a food processor in small batches and pulse till it becomes of a creamy and smooth texture. Using a wooden spoon is recommended.

 

Combine the meat and the wheat mixture and return back to the heavy bottom pot on medium to low heat. Add the milk one cup at a time. Simmer for an additional 30-40 minutes till it reaches the desired consistency and becomes sort of supple and stretchy. Taste and add salt if needed. If you don't like to add milk to your haleem substitute it by adding water instead.

To test the stretchiness, use a wooden spoon and gently scoop some haleem. If there is some stretch as you are lifting the scoop then that's the perfect haleem. Your chances of reaching the desired pull of the haleem is better if turkey breasts are used instead of using lamb.

Serve warm in individual bowls or place it in one big bowl. Top with cinnamon, sugar and drizzle with melted butter. If there are any left overs you may freeze them in small plastic containers.

Lubia Polow

Let me make confess here : I do love lubia polow but I don’t like to cook it . It’s always become disaster dish to me. I always ignore my husband request, especially after he mention about how cooking rice is become a lovely chores for Iranian – jezz, I never tough how hard to cook rice before, well, to make it simple I always put rice into the rice cooker, easy.. and no complain

Anyway, short story, I met my in-law a couple years ago. With help from my husband to translate their conversation finally I got the secret of cooking this lovely rice – don’t worry I share with you. The critical point of cooking Persian rice is when you add the rice into the boiling water, and when you must to take the rice from the heat. It's all about the time, guys..

Here is the recipe I hope you enjoy it.

Lubia Polow (Rice with Green Beans)
(inspired by my sisters-in-law, farah and zohreh)

Ingredients :
2 cups of white basmati rice
1 large onion, chopped fine
2-3 cups of fresh green beans , cut into 1-inch pieces
3 big tomatoes, chopped or just using 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp of turmeric
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of advieh (persian rice spice mix)* easy to find at mid-eastern grocery store or make your own, see the note
2 1/2 tsp of salt
3 tsp of olive oil
1 lb of beef meat or lamb, cut into small dices *we like using lamb meat, more faster to cook and taste much better than beef meat. or using chicken meat, it work well too.
1 tbs of garlic powder
pinch of ground pepper
To my taste, I add 1 tsp of paprika powder

Note, :
* Advieh : mix very well 2 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp cumin, 2 tbsp cardamom,store in an air-tight container for next use

1. Rinse your basmati rice. until the water in the bowl is rather clear. And add 2 cups of cold water, set aside for about 30 minutes-1 hours.

2. Place the 2 cups of rice and about 4 cups of water in a saucepan. Add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil Bring to a boil and then let it boil for about 6-8 minutes more. To know when the rice should be removed from the heat and drained, taste a few grains. They should be soft but still have a bit of toughness in the center of the grain. Once you drain the rice in a strainer or colander, Strain and rinse with cool water. Set aside.

3. Saute the onions with 1 TBSP of oil on medium heat until they begin to brown. Add the meat until browned,add the tomatoes, turmeric, cinnamon, advieh, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes.

meanwhile, in a small wok saute the green beans with a small amount of oil, its about 5minute, set aside

4. Once the meat mix is cooked, add green beans,set aside. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil, 2 tablespoons of water, and 1 tablespoon of saffron water to the bottom of a clean non-stick pot. Add a layer of rice. Cover with a layer of the green beans and tomato mixtures. Sprinkle some advieh on top. Repeat layering until both rice and green beans and meat mixture are gone always ending with a layer of white rice. Be sure to add advieh as you go.

5. Cover rice and cook on high for 10 minutes. Mix 2 tablespoons of saffron water with 2 tablespoons of canola oil and pour over rice. 

6. Cook for about 10 more minutes on medium-high heat. Then cover the pot with 2 paper towels and place a tight-fitting lid on top. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 35-40 more minutes. (The paper towels help keep in the steam). Don’t overcook ,you don’t want the rice to become too mushy.

7. When you are ready to serve, a very common presentation method is to invert the rice on a plate so that you can present the tahdiq (the highly coveted crust of rice that forms at the bottom of the pot). Yummy ...

Have a nice weekend, everyone

Sneaky mommy .. Hidden Veggie Dish

 

Ok, here it goes. When I grew up , it was so rare to see broccoli or cauliflower on our dinning table. Well, my mom used to cooked a lot of different kind of veggetables, which is so easy to find in the market such a waterspinach (kangkung) , bean sprout (toge), Chinese mustard green (sawi) etc. And since I moved to different county those vegetables that I used to eat become a luxury veggie for me,  – if I want to get those I need to drive long way to Asian Store near by my house about 12miles.

Back to broccoli and cauliflower story, I’m not ‘crazy’ about eating those 2 green veggies – booo !! Anyway, I try my best to give , to introduce any kind of vegetable to my daughter. So far, she is doing good : her favorites are spinach, carrot and beansprout. But with broccoli or cauliflower, I need to use my trick. “Hidden Veggie Dish”. so far its work well.

Like this recipe, she has no idea I put veggies that she refuse to eat into the dish. *grin*

Cauliflower Soup:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ribs celery, chopped to yield 3/4 cup
1 large or 2 small shallots, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 head cauliflower (1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
Hand full of broccoli

Garnish : croutons and turkey bacon *we didn’t eat bacon, so we used turkey but you guys can substitute with bacon too.

 

Directions
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the celery, shallots, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chicken broth, thyme, cauliflower, broccoli. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

In batches, puree the soup in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the croutons and turkey bacon

Indonesian Chicken Risoles

Off for too long ?? jeezz, after finished with Girl with Dragon Tatto Trilogy now I'm stuck with The Hunger Games Novel .. oh.. no, I know I'm in trouble .. reading alot, ignoring my sewing machine even getting lazy to updating my cooking blog. In fact, the weathers are so insane, we reach 90F for spring today.. I think i better prepare for my little garden than sitting here to update my blog.

so many thing need to be done, I need to paint a new bedroom  for my kid, she is geeting bigger now, she has many friends for playday at home and sleep over on other weekend . So, let see how the new room will gonna be ? . I still need to paint my back porch too. wuhuuu.. a lot of work for me.

Anyway, I still love my cooking blog - so I just want to share a little recipe, like Risoles may be ? oh.. this is not little, this is a lot of work , I suggest you to prepare the Risoles filling day a head, or you will end up like me , mess around the kitchen :p

Rissoles are a snack food in Indonesia, where they are called risol (pronounced 'riss-ol'). They are commonly filled with chicken, egg, carrot, common bean, potato, and eaten with chilli sauce or bird's eye chili.

Indonesian Chicken Risoles Ingredients:
For filling
1 onion, chopped
125 g chicken, cubed
150 g carrots, cubed or shreded if you try to make it faster.
150 g potatoes, cubed into tinny size
50 g peas
125 ml milk
75 g flour
200 ml chicken stock
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
hand of full chopped green onion
5tbsp of butter

For skin wrapper
1 egg
50 ml milk
1/2 tsp salt
70 g flour
150 g water
1 tbsp butter, melted

For crumbing
4 egg whites
400 g bread crumbs, panko or fine
Oil for deep-frying

Directions:
For filling
Heat butter over medium heat. Stir-fry onion until translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add chicken pieces, cook for about 3 more minutes.
Combine carrot, potatoes and peas into the wok. Continue cooking until all ingredients are well distributed, about 2 minutes.
Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt.
Add chopped celery and mix well.
Add flour and stir continuously for 5 minutes.
Pour milk and chicken stock into the wok. Let simmer for 5 minutes, till the mixture thickens, stirring a couple of times to ensure even cooking.
Turn off heat and let cool.

For wrapper
Combine flour, salt, water milk, butter and egg yolk in a bowl. whisk until well corporate, and than use your strainer to get a very thin batter, no crumble batter at all.
Pour 1/4 cup of batter into a lightly oiled and preheated non-stick pan (20cm).
Cook until the sides start to curl up, about 1-2 minutes over medium heat.
Loosen the sides with fork and flip the pan quickly on a plate to get the wrapper off.
Continue with the rest of the batter.

For assembling
Place a tablespoon of filling into the middle of a wrapper.
Roll the side of wrapper away from you, form a 5cm log.
Fold both sides to the middle, ensuring no gaps.
Roll the risoles up and brush the tip with egg white for sealing.

For crumbing
Prepare two plates, egg white and crumbs each.
Dip risoles into egg white. Coat it with crumbs.
Dip the crumbed risoles back into egg white and coat it again with more crumbs , doing this until finish, keep at refrigerator at least 30minute, to make sure the crumb is stick togehter.

For frying
Heat cooking oil in a saucepan, put the rolls into hot oil, don't over crowd. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Serve warm with bird's eye chili.

Lapis Legit Durian

It's been an ages I'm not making this cake - ah, making lapis legit is a time consuming task that demands a lot of patience. I spent a very long hours to bake 1 8inch round layer cake like this. But you know, every time I complain about the process of making lapis legit, the result is always worth it.

Lapis legit contains several different spices, as we called 'bumbu spekoek ' but this time, I add some durian mothong ; well totally different flavor from original lapis legit aroma.

I promise to make an original taste of Lapis Legit next time *cross finger* :D

Lapis Legit Durian

Recipe : From Lydia - My Kitchen Blog

Ingredients (8" x 8"):
400g Butter
150g Sugar
10 Egg Yolks
1 tsp Durian Essence
1 cup Durian Puree (+/-)
60ml Milk
200g All-Purpose Flour
50g Corn Flour

7 Egg Whites
150g Sugar

Methods:
1. Grease and line the bottom of a 8" x 8" baking pan. Preheat oven to 200degC (upper heat only).

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Add in egg yolks and continue to cream until smooth and fluffy.

3. Add in durian essence, puree and milk, and stir until well blended. Sift and fold in flours until well combined.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy then add in sugar gradually while beating. Continue to beat until stiff. Stir it into the batter and mix until well combined.

5. Spoon about 100g of the batter into the baking pan and spread it evenly. Place it in the middle of the oven and bake until golden brown.

6. Remove it from the oven, use a fork to prick some holes on the cake. Then spoon another 100g of the batter onto the baked layer and spread evenly. Bake until golden brown. Repeat this step until all of the batter is used up.

7. Remove the cake from oven, invert and cool on rack.

Dirty Rice

Oh..wow, first time posting for New Year 2012 - No bad at all :)

This dish is pretty simple and one of alternative to clean up your refrigerator. You can use almost all ingredients you can find on your kitchen :)  Inspired by Paula Deen - with several modification from me, since we didn't eat pork , I add some green healthy veggies.  And one note from me is , using BASMATI RICE or long grain rice only ; so the texture of rice will still look nice and you won't find broken rice when the rice is cooked (this is big NO .. NO when you serving rice to my Iranian's Husband  ^-^  )

Dirty Rice by Fitri Rumah Manis

Ingredients

4- 5 chicken liver (you can skip the liver if you don't like the taste, but trust me..you will never taste the liver after you mixed all the ingredients together)

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup oil

1 cup chopped onion

8 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup green onion

1/2 cup chopped green onions, both white and green parts

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 tomato, seedless, diced
4 cups basmati rice, cooked

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Red chili flakes

Directions

Put liver in separate saucepan. Cover with water and simmer until tender. Chop fine and set aside. Saute ground meats in oil until well done. Add onion, garlic, celery,green onions,green beans. Cook until tender. Add livers, parsley, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook about 15 minutes. Add rice then season with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes and add tomato dice at last. Serve immediately

Mirza Ghassemi //Persian Eggplant Dip

Mirza Ghassemi / Persian Eggplant Dip is a dish come from north part of Iran, I learn to make this delicious , a healty food from my sister in law when i visited her for the first time in Hannover - Germany . Since than I loves to make this dish to every one when we have a party at home . Very simple dish and yet healty ..

Mirza Ghassemi / Persian Eggplant Dip

Recipe : from my beloved sister in law, Farah Alireza Rahmani

Ingredient

3 large eggplants (5 medium)

3 large tomatoes, remove the skin and chop into small pieces or 1 can of chopped tomatoes

7 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoon tomato paste

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon turmeric

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pierce the eggplants and bake for 40 minutes in the oven until soft in the inside and the skin is crispy on the outside. Or grill them on a barbecue grill until eggplants are well cooked. Set aside to cool.

Remove the skin and mash the eggplant with a fork - while i need to make a pot of dip, i usually using a food processor

In a skillet saute chopped garlic in hot oil until light brown on medium heat. Add in the turmeric and stir.

Add the mashed eggplant and cook for about 15-20 minutes, stirring thoroughly.

Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and pepper to the mix, stir well and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes over medium heat .

Pour the beaten eggs over the eggplant mixture, stir until well blended. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.  Serve with flat bread and fresh herbs such a bassil leaves

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Finally the fall season is here, oh .. I missed my summer time. Well, actually the weather still pleasant reached 70 F everyday, but we need a jacket to walk around off course. And this is a good time for soup :) to make you feel warm and healthy in the same time. So I chose Persian Noodle Soup, this soup is not look appetizing , but I tell you .. this soup is sooooo delicious and healthy. My daughter loves persian noodle soup, ahaa.. the easy way to feed her with vegetable. And don't forget spinach is a great choice to stay healthy.

According to my husband, Iranian loves to eat noodle soup for snacking ! oh.. not me or my daughter, this soup is a heavy soup, can fill you up for the rest of the day. If you decide to do some a little diet, just eat soup ... you wont be hungry anymore

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Ingredients :

2 large onions, sliced thinly length wise

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup chickpeas / garbanzo beans

1/3 cup navy beans

1/3 cup red beans

1/2 cup lentils

2 tsp turmeric

3 cups fresh parsley

2 cups fresh cilantro
1 cups fresh mint

20 springs of fresh chives or scallions ( green portion of scallions only)

1 1/2 lb baby spinach

2 oz reshteh - Persian noodle or substitute with linguine

1 tsp flour

salt & pepper for the taste

Garnish

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp dried mint

kashk, whey ( sour cream can be substituted for kashk)

Directions :

Soak beans for a few hours in water.

Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add chickpeas / garbanzo beans, red beans, and turmeric, salt, pepper. Sauté for a few minutes together.

Add 8 cups of water or stock . Season with salt, cover and cook for one hour.In the mean time rough chop all the herbs

Add lentils and herbs to pot. Cover and cook for another 1/2 hour on low. Stir the pot every so often during the cooking process

Break off noodle into three sections and add to the pot.

Add spinach.  Cook covered for another 1/2 hour. Make sure to stir the pot every so often.

Place flour in a small bowl. Take 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the soup and add to the flour

Mix well until there are no lumps. When adding flour to soups it is always a good idea to use this technique to ensure that there are no lumps in the soup.

Add water and flour to the soup. Adjust seasoning by adding salt. Cook for 1/2 hour longer on low. At this point your soup is ready as the beans should be cooked. You can further cook the soup to deepen the flavors, however, it must be on very low temperature, since this soup is very thick, chances are the bottom will stick.

For the garnish fry onions in oil. I have found that vegetable oil works best and the chances of burning the onions is much less. Once the onion turns translucent, lower the heat and allow for the onions to slowly caramelize

Once they have tuned into a golden color add dry mint and allow for the onions to crisp up. This takes about an hour from start to finish. It is best to prepare the garnish while cooking the soup .

Place soup in a bowl, add a pinch of fried onion to the center along with a dollop of sour cream if you like (or just skip like me :D )

Tips :

1. Since I have no patient with chopping vegetables especially cilantro and parsley, most the time I just put everything into the food processor, and voilaa... just a second, all the veggie chopped very nicely. 

2. Waiting for beans become tender is spend a lot of time, when I'm in rush i use can bean instead but add the beans near the end of the process so that they don't overcook

Green Tea Mochi

I've been craving for mochi for quite of time, but just today have time to make. Quite easy but yes, a lot of mess around kitchen :O anyway, so far only me love this cute little snack, my husband and daughter refused them as well .. they don't like the texture at all .. LOL

GREEN TEA MOCHI

Ingredients
2 cup Mochiko (glutinous rice powder)
1 3/4 cup warm water

1 cup sugar
1 tsp green tea powder

potato starch or maizena flour for dusting and controlling the sticky dough

red bean paste for filling or you can use any kind of filling, such nutella, peanut butter jelly if you like.

DIRECTION :
In a large bowl, mix the rice flour, sugar, green tea powder and water until smooth. You may need to use a hand blender or mixer to make sure there aren't any lumps.

Pour batter into a shallow microwavable dish and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 4 minutes. Remove dish and pull off plastic to release steam. Stir the mix until smooth again microwave again for another 3 to 5 minutes until the top is dry.

The dough will be a white sticky blob. Allow it to cool so you can handle it. In the meantime, take out your red bean paste and form teaspoon sized balls. The paste is firm enough to easily work with. In a flat dish, like a pie plate, put 1/4 cup cornstarch. Cornstarch is used to dampen the stickiness of the dough. It’s not optional — it’s required. The dough is the stickiest thing you’ll ever encounter

When the dough has cooled, scoop a golf ball sized piece of dough and drop into the cornstarch. Lightly toss to coat the outside of the ball so you can handle it. Roll the dough into a ball, then flatten to form a 3″ circle. Place the red bean paste in the center and pinch edges together to seal. Roll the ball in the cornstarch once again, then roll between the palms of your hands to create a ball shape.

Cover finished mochi tightly with plastic wrap , mochi can be left at room temperature for a few days or refrigerated for longer keeping

RED BEAN PASTE
Try to make the paste day ahead

1 cup small red beans
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Wash the beans, cover the cold water, and soak overnight. Drain beans and discard water. Place beans in a 1 1/2-quart saucepan, add 3 cups cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 1 hour, or until very soft. Monitor the pan to make sure water doesn't dry up. Drain and discard the water.

Place the beans in a food processor and process until smooth. Add brown sugar and process until just combined. In a medium saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the bean paste and cook, stirring 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture is dry.

Remove from heat. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use; it will keep for 1 week.

DON'T STEAL THE IMAGES !!

Pisang Goreng // Fried Banana Fritters

You gotta be kidding me !! *LOL* that is probably your first expression when you see this recipe on my blog after a month (or more) no updating my page . Well, I know everybody know how to fried banana but what they don't know (may be) is how to make a very crispy, crunchy , golden batter. It's probably simple thing but for me this is a big deal ^_^

Gosh ! you see this is not joking, but I've been searching through Internet to make a crunchy batter , dig to many cooking book e.t.c until I found one recipe and for now I'm happy with the result. For me, who loves banana especially fried banana fritters or PISANG GORENG or GORENG PISANG like Indonesian people called. Eating the crispy, crunchy batter is always bring a different sensation, aha.. i know you will laugh at me.. but if you try you will know what I'm talking about.. ^_^

PISANG GORENG

Thank you to Ellie - http://almostbourdain.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

1/2 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup corn flour

1 tbsp rice flour

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

180ml water

1½ tbsp oil

5-6 bananas, halved

Oil for deep-frying

Method
Combine the various flours, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Pour in water and combine into a batter. Add in oil to mix.

Coat banana halves in batter and deep-fry in hot oil for three to four minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

Remove and drain on paper towels

DON'T STEAL THE IMAGES

Bola Kacang Hijau Siram Santan

This year, the holy month of Ramadan comes on summer day. Is pretty tough for some Moslem's to do fasting, but since we've been practiced at very young age, so it's not such a big deal anymore . The activity during Ramadan is more personal interest for me, you do what you belief in your heart and soul. and , i think everybody knows what the best for themselves. :)

Spending time together with family, share the food with people , enjoying the food my mom used to cooked for family, listening the 'adzan' calling for praying are the interesting moment I missed a lot since I live here. The atmosphere are totally different.

what i always do during Ramadan , is bake / cooking something more traditional for fasting break / iftar, well just try to make something like my mom used to make. This time , for iftar I made "Bola Kacang Hijau Siram Santan" or Mung Bean Ball Cake with Coconut Milk Sauce

And this is my entry for Joy From Fasting To Feasting hosted by my friend, Lubna Karim ( she is has a great cooking blog, filled with Indian Recipes.) And next I invite you too join into the party too. Please klik HERE to join the event

Ingredients for Skin :

200 gr white glutinous rice flour
20 gr tapioca flour
1/4 tsp salt
30 gr granulate sugar
2 tbsp cooking oil
175 ml warm coconut milk (i used lite coconut milk)

food coloring : green - i use pandan flavor and pink - i use rose flavor

Ingredients for filling :

50 gr un-skined mung beans, soak into the water for an hour
75 ml lite coconut milk
2 pandan leaves

1/4 tsp salt

25 gr granulate sugar

Ingredients for The sauce

750 ml lite coconut milk

1 pandan leave

2 tsp rice flour

1 tsp tapioca flour

1 tsp salt

Direction :

For Filling, i prefer to make filling one day ahead, too avoid spend a lot of time in the kitchen :D

1. steam mung beans about 30 minute, let it cool

2. mix coconut milk and mung bean with blender, until smooth. turn off the blender. put into the medium bowl, add the rest of filling ingredients, mix well.

3. into medium pan, put the mixture filling and cook with low heat about 5 - 10 minute. keep watching pan, the filling is easy to burn. Set aside, let it cool before go to next step.

4. measure the filling about 30 gr and with clean hand roll the filling into a small ball. set aside.

For Skin :

1. mix all the flours, salt, sugar. add cooking oil, warm coconut milk into , mix very well , until everything comes together nicely.

2. divide the dough into 3 batch, add different food coloring into it *i use green, pink and the rest just plain.

3. take the dough just about 10 gram and put the filling inside, and roll into a small ball with your finger. remember to cover your dough to avoid dough become too dry.

4. steam for 15 minutes.

the sauce :
cook all the ingredient with low heat. be careful not over cooked.

Serving :

put the mung bean ball into the plate, serve with coconut milk sauce and sprinkle with toasted black sesame seed and ground peanut.