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

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.

Bento Lunch Box




Ayam Pentul+Coconut Rice wrap with a slice of egg-omelet with carot / her's fav.fruit !

My daughter start her kindergarten school this week , for full day which is she will stay at school since 9am to 4pm .. oh dear, even school is a pretty close to our home, but still i feel sad too.  Home feel so quite. Sometime i wish she wouldn't have grown up so fast but then i realize that is so selfish I am, she need to be grow as a young lady. :) 

Try to wake her up early and prepare everything for her is a new 'chaos' at home today, but after a week seem everything  going on the right track. No fighting between mom and daughter LOL.  And I find another interesting moment too, preparing her lunch box menu and snack !!  I never thought this is gonna be an interesting and exciting moment for me, and i learn from many 'bento' moms .  And next, all the bento products just drive me crazy, they are so cute !!!  oh my..

Here is  just a sample of one of my daughter's bento lunch box. Can't compete with others 'bento' mom.. i just a beginner, but everything is just fine, as long as my daughter happy and eat whatever i put on her lunch box. I made Indonesian's Chicken Drumstick as known as Ayam Pentul. and write in indonesian, if you interest just let me know i will translate for you.  Try to prepare everything since night and fry it in the morning so no more chaos morning :D

Ayam Pentul
Bahan:
10 bh sayap ayam // chicken drumlets

Bumbu :
2 sdt garam halus // salt
1 sdm bawang putih bubuk // garlic powder
½ sdt lada halus // white pepper
½ sdt chicken powder // chicken stock powder
1 sdm olive oil
1 sdt gula pasir // sugar
1 sdm air jeruk nipis // lime juice
2 sdm susu evaporated // evaporated milk
1 sdt ketumbar bubuk // coriander powder

Bahan lain:
300 gr tepung terigu // all-purpose flour
2 btr putih telur // white eggs
Tepung panir kasar // Japanese Bread Crumb // Tempura Crumb

Cara membuat:
1. Potong sayap ayam, ambil bagian yg banyak dagingnya, kerat urat ujungnya, kumpulkan daging ayam pada bonggol sendi-nya sedemikian rupa sehingga bentuknya menjadi spt drum stick.
2. Campur semua bumbu halus, lalu ratakan pada sayam ayam. Diamkan lk. 15 menit.
3. Gulingkan sayap ayam pada tepung terigu, lalu celupkan di putih telur yang dikocok lepas supaya agak encer. Gulingkan lagi pada tepung tempura. Kepal-kepal agar tepung tempura menempel kuat. Bekukan dalam kulkas lk. 1 jam
4. Goreng hingga kekuningan, dengan api sedang, hingga matang.
5. Sajikan bersama saos botolan.

1. Cut chicken drumlets, with sharp knives bring all the meat from the top to the bottom part of bone, and you will see it will look likes a drum stick.
2. Mixed all the spices + milk + chickens into the medium bowl. Set a side, +/- 15 minutes
3. Roll the drumstick into all purpose flour , than dipp into white egss, and last roll into tempura crumbs. squize little bit harder so all the crumb will stick together.  Keep it cold in the icebox for 1 hours - me : sometime I keep into several ziploc, frozen and when i need its easy to take out from freezer.
4. Fry it with medium heat or bake 350 F for 45 minutes.
5. Serve with ketchup.