Rendang Padang, and My Rant...

I feel so lucky sometimes, to find out what I want to do with my life. People ask me, why do I love to cook, and to be honest, I can't answer that. Do I cook stuff so I can post it on the blog? Not necessarily. My reason to cook goes way beyond that. My blog is just one of so many ways to kill boredom. Do I cook because I have to? Not really. I'm at the point where what I cook at home, doesn't satisfy my passion anymore. I want to do something more. Something beyond my knowledge. Something totally new. If I get to choose what I want to do with my life, I want to be in the kitchen 24/7, with several potty breaks when needed. (Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point) I cook, simply because I like it. Strange, I know. But I'm the kind of person who does shit just because. I wish the question "what inspires you to cook?" could stay unanswered. If you want something that resembles an answer, how about this, I'm blinded by love.

I've been talking about going back to school a lot, up to the time it feels like I'm just bluffing. Well, it's quite hard for middle-class family like us who are still improving our life. It's just sad that we're too poor to afford childcare, but yet we make too much to get childcare benefit. This has been worrying me for the past couple years, I've decided to stop overthinking shit and make a move. So I applied to culinary school and applied for the financial aid. Just wish me luck.

With so many instant spices available, what I could've done was bought the rendang instant spice package and cook it. But I hate shortcut. Not because, "Ooh, shortcut is for loser blahblah. I'm fancy. I'm cool, that's why I make things from scratch. Shortcut doesn't taste as good as homemade." Nope. It's just because I like making things from scratch, it's for personal satisfaction. I just love the act of cooking. It makes me feel good. This is my vice.

Lemon Bars

 

The weather has been lovely. The kiddie pool is out, actually used as a pool with "real water" instead of a makeshift tent with blankets and pillows. Time to ditch the jackets and the boy is so happy he can finally wear sleeveless shirts. Somehow, summer days make me think of lemon bars. Perhaps it's the lemon, with its yellow, sunshine-y color, resembles an oval sun. Or it's just me trying to find an excuse to share this lemon bars with you through my blog...

I'd never thought I would love fruity baked goods. But lemon bars are different. To me, it's like eating sour brownies with shortbread base. Darn it, you know what? I'll just be honest with you. I love the shortbread base so much, sometimes I scrape off the lemon curd, save it for later, and just eat the cookie part. Not that the curd isn't tasty, I'm just that kind of a weirdo. I will also say, that the curd is so chewy, I wanna marry it.

Rhubarb Curry

I've seen rhubarb in both farmer's market and grocery store but honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with this red, celery-lookalike vegetable. The first time I tasted it, it was at the rhubarb potluck Brook from Learn to Preserve invited me to (thanks, Brook!). While I'd had never cooked with rhubarb before, I offered to bring some pandan cake. They had this spread of all rhubarb goodies, and my favorite were the rhubarb ketchup and rhubarb jelly. Enjoying rhubarb with some of the nicest people in Seattle was a blast. I went as a rhubarb virgin and came home as a rhubarb lover.

Then out of nowhere, I started to imagine how good it would be to have strips of rhubarb in red curry, instead of bamboo shoots. Went home with one mission, to try this brilliant idea of mine (most ideas are brilliant until proven silly). Well, lucky for me, I liked it. The tartness of the rhubarb, spicy curry and cubed chicken complements each other so well.

Fun with Pho

When we used to live in Beacon Hill, we went out for pho at least once every 2 weeks. One of the perks of living in south Seattle is the abundance of Asian grocery stores and eateries. Actually, I still shop for groceries there. I don't know what stop us from going out for pho, but we haven't been out for pho in the longest time. The joy of eating pho at home is we get to choose whatever we want. While I like less noodles and more herbs, my husband is the otherwise. I think that could be the reason why we haven't been going to pho restaurant.

  

Most people associate chicken soup with being sick and needing nourishment. That's how we look at pho. When Seattle's weather isn't being kind to us, we like to have a bowl of pho. The cinnamon scented broth and the noodles cooked just right, with slightly cooked beef slices and crunchy beansprouts, that must be better than medicine, yes?

 We love pho so much, we even made this pho cake, made out of cake and fondant.

Baked Pork Buns, My BUNdle of Joy

I have a confession to make. My favorite meat to cook with is pork. As boring as it sounds, I make pork stewed in soy sauce at least once every 2 weeks. For variation, sometimes pork belly is used or pork feet for that gelatinous texture. I don't know why, the first day of pork stew, it's still good just eaten with steamed rice. The second day, I started to get the itching to make something else out of it. And most of the time, I relented and make pork buns using the leftovers.

Instead of steaming them as usual, I baked them.

Updated Corn Fritters, Crispier and Better

Is there any food that you loathe as a child, but grow to love? I have a lot. One of them is corn fritter. Growing up, corn fritter made by my mom's helper wasn't the best. While she is a great cook (she's still working for my mom until today, that makes it 16 years!), her corn fritter is always soggy, oily and whenever you eat them, it leaves this unpleasant oily film inside your mouth. Being the most loyal member of clean-your-plate club, it always perturbed when I had to leave this lumpy disk of doughy corn on my plate.

A decade later, I'm so far away from home. Yet, I crave the food that I used to hate. Sometimes, the homesickness is so strong, I even miss food that I've never had. Last year, the corn fritter came to me in my dream. No, I'm not being funny, it sure did. After calling my mom for the recipe, she just told me the ingredients, with no details of the measurement at all. So there I was in the kitchen, guessing how much each ingredient I need to make this corn fritter. The first try came out too familiar, soggy and oily. So I decide to put more corn in the mixture. While most people looooove the doughy fritter, I adore crispy fritter. And the fact that I cheated and used frozen corn paid off. The corn kernels stay crunchy, while the fresh corn kernels turn mushy.

Simple Sambal, but It Will Burn Your Mouth

My love of spicy food can be dated back to when I was a 2-yr-old. I'm not talking about Sriracha-spicy. I'm talking about real, fiery, burn-your-mouth kind of spicy. My mom used to joke, it's because I'm a tiger, to maintain my fierceness, I have to consume copious amount of spicy chilies. She also said that is why I'm so impatient, bold, crude and barbaric yet ambitious. And she thinks all that qualities, if I polish myself quite nicely, it will actually help me to get further in life (yeah, hopefully..)

My son also loves spicy food. He can handle his chilies better than most adults I know. We make sambal once a month, and it'll last us exactly that long. While he likes sambal oelek, nothing compares to the homemade one. We can tinker with it, make it as spicy as we like. I don't know how he gets this way. All I remember was he wanted to try some sambal when he was 1.5 years old. Let him try a dab, since then, he's hooked. Of course I make sure to throw away the chili seeds. That's the culprit to the burning sensation in your mouth. After awhile, no-seeds sambal is too weak for him. So I leave just enough seeds in our sambal.

Sambal to us is like pesto to most people. You can slather it on any protein you have. Or slow cooked eggplants in it. We do lots of things with it. Very versatile. Sometimes I just want to bathe in it (uh, not a good idea, of course, it will sting you like no other!) The neat thing about homemade sambal is, you can control the heat.

It makes me miss home, where you can just fold your legs up, with a plate of hot steaming rice in front of you. At this point, who needs eating utensils? As barbaric as it sounds, it does taste better that way. You can feel each grain of rice between your fingertips. The burning sensation of the chili seeds against your skin. You're using all five senses to eat. Just don't rub your eyes.......

Point Defiance Zoo & Cake That Reminds Us of The Trip

After months of sun deprivation, of course we were ecstatic to know that we would be having a sun-filled weekend. We went to the zoo on Saturday. While we love the Woodland Park Zoo, we were just there few months ago, so we decided to visit Point Defiance Zoo. Yes, it's quite a drive to Tacoma from where we live. But it's worth the trip. What I love about this zoo is, the animals are more active and easier to spot.

The kids were well-behaved, no one complained about being tired or hungry or sleepy or bored. That classifies as a good day. We saw all the animals (except the red wolf), soaked up all the sunshine and went home happy.

He loves the sandbox, telling me how it feels like sugar. My reaction? "He better NOT put it in his mouth".

The next day (Sunday), we made a cake that will remind us of our trip to the zoo. We practically toss things into the mixing bowl, without any recipe. But we did jot down the measuring of the ingredients, in case we want to make it again next time. Lucky for us, it did turn out well. The butter reminds us of the bright, yellow sun. Brown sugar resembles the sand in the sandbox. And the chocolate.. uh.. let's not elaborate.

Ghetto Soto Ayam

Seattle's weather has been so beautiful lately. The sun is out, which makes me want to go out more often (this is so rare.. I'm usually a homebody). Unfortunately, I've been feeling under the weather. Stuffy nose, clogged up ears, and sore throat. Hell no. So instead of taking a walk to playground, today we made soto ayam. It's Indonesian clear chicken broth (well, slightly yellow to be exact).

While they do sell the instant spice sachets, I find it superfluous to use. It's not that hard. If you own a mortar and pestle, you can make any Indonesian dishes (and of course you need a pantry full of Indonesian spices). Heck, I don't own mortar and pestle, but magic bullet could also doubled as spice grinder.

Spicy Fried Tempeh, and How I Miss My Mom

I haven't written for quite awhile. Had a moment where I find it hard to process my thoughts into words. I miss having my mom around, so there's an adult to talk to during the day when my husband is at work. Ironically, I didn't have a good relationship with my mom as a child. We rarely talked, except when I was talking back. I didn't know why she was so.. bitter and unloving. I'm not going to elaborate, but I discovered something when I was 16. She's been holding so much burden by hiding someone else's secrets just so we, her children, won't lose respect for that "someone". To make long story short, since then, I see her in different light.

Funny how my mom lives thousand miles away from me, but her voice is always in my head. Making comments. Sometimes it's a nice one, sometimes it's mocking me. When I was playing puzzles with my son, her voice in my head said "Start with the sides first, then you just fill in the middle parts". After how many years, the memories just flooded back. Like that one time she told me how God would punish me in the future, by making me marry the boy I socked in kindergarten "so watch out, don't hurt people". 

While driving to my grandmother's house, we would pass a river. A really dirty one. There were people brushing their teeth there, taking a dump, taking a bath, using the water to cook their meals. I was (and still am) grateful that we have proper plumbing, so using the dirty water wasn;t necessary. Then I saw something else, I'm sure they've been there forever, but didn't notice til that day. There were two men, in their underpants and wifebeaters, stomping something inside a barrel with their sweats dripping down. Undoubtedly using the dirty water, too. My mom noticed me looking at them, said nonchalantly "Oh, they're just stomping on the soy beans that they'll turn into tempeh". My 8-year-old self, who love tempeh so very much, got so disgusted and wouldn't touch it for the next 5 years. While my mom swore she never said that, I'm sure it was her selective memories playing tricks on her.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Shortbread Bars

I've been feeling down lately, due to the weather and delay in schooling. I try not to whine about it, but sadly, I have to wait until next year to go back to school. While I'm disappointed, our decision is the best for our family. Talking about, isn't it spring already? Why does the fall/winter weather linger around, I do not know. Whenever the weather is icky, I feel icky too. I'm much happier during summer time.

We, human, have no control over Mother Nature. If only we could prevent natural disaster, if only we could change the weather. Sadly, we can't. Don't be discouraged. One thing we can control is ourselves. So to cheer us up in this gloomy weather, and trying to cope with news of natural disaster, something as simple as chocolate shortbread bars could help. I won't say that it'll cure our heartaches or make us forget all calamities. But it does help. It makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Collard Greens, The Indonesian Way

Yesterday, I experienced an impulsive longing for home. Yes, even after 7 years of living here in Seattle, the home to my guts is still Indonesia. I miss street vendors selling snacks, while it might be unhygienic, it was cheap and satisfying. My dad used to say, whatever food that is sold in a kaki lima, it's gotta be good. It's like the fast food of Indonesia, minus the trans fat.

I especially miss Padang food, where they'd take out several dishes at once upon your arrival. So you just pick which dishes you want. You don't even have to wait to order. There's a saying, hit the ground running. This is "hit the chair eating". Or if you decide to get a take-out, they'll wrap your food in banana leaves. Hot food + banana leaves = heaven. I think the hot food helps permeate its fragrance.

I usually like their rendang, cooked brains and cassava leaves in coconut broth. But since it was an impromptu lunch, and I didn't have cassava leaves in hands, I tried using collard green. It has the pleasant bitterness that cassava leaves offer, I didn't expect it to work this well. Served over hot rice, it felt almost like home. 

Puffy, Chewy and Delicious Scallions Pancakes.

Most of my girl friends' weakness is always desserts. When choosing snacks, sweets will always be the number one choice. As much as I love chocolate, I find myself craving for salty, savory snacks almost every day. Sometimes the snacking urge is so sudden, I need a quick fix. Opening a bag of chips isn't it.

The other day, my son and I were reading the dimsum book, with beautiful illustration that never fails to whet our appetite. We stopped at the scallion pancakes recipe. Last time we had it, it was about 3 months ago. He wanted it, I wanted it. The decision was made, "scallion pancakes for brunch!", we cheered. Beside being so delicious, it is fun to make, too! These puffy golden pillows would make a great appetizer. Cut into smaller wedges and serve with toothpicks if you're feeling fancy.

His Favorite Cinnamon Buns

Between March and April, we've been to IKEA for copious amount of time. With each visit, my 4-yr-old son would ask for their $1.25 cinnamon bun. He loves it so much, sometimes waking up, the first thing he asks is "did you make cinnamon bun today?" 

He loves helping me in the kitchen, but the only thing he helps me with from start to finish is cinnamon bun. When making other treats, halfway through, he'll announce that he's bored and would rather do something else. Eminently, when it comes to this puffy sweet bun, he waits for the dough to rise, even reminds me to check on it every 30 minutes. Roll the dough up with his tiny hands and tell me whether I cut them too thick or too thin. He wants to make sure it comes out perfect. While he prefers savory food, dark chocolate and anything-cinnamon-flavored top his favorite snack list.

Chicken Noodles, Comfort Me Please?

It was a drizzly, cold morning when I was waiting for the bus. As crazy as it sounds, for the past five years, I rarely go out by myself, without my kid(s). It feels liberating, yet nerve-wrecking. When I left the house, the kids were still sleeping, the boy tucked next to his dad and the girl slept soundly, the only noise was their snore.

I was going to an open house for a culinary school. About 6 years ago, I applied to this same school but due to financial and immigration problem, I had no choice but to back out. Now the latter is settled, so we decided it's time to go back. Despite my worry about being socially inept, I made small talks without turning red (major improvement, I dare say). And heck, I like this school. There was another school that I was considering but it doesn't fit my needs and it's quite a distance from where I live, while this one is just a 10-min drive away.

Spinach soup

Pandan Cake: No, It's Not Kryptonite

As a rule of thumb, when there is a choice, I won't consume food that's artificially colored. Ironically, my number one weakness is chiffon pandan cake. To my defense, it's a quite difficult task to find fresh pandan leaves (otherwise known as screwpine leaves) here in Seattle. Awhile back I found fresh pandan leaves at the Asian grocery store I frequent, but the next week I was shit out of luck. It's so much easier to stock up on pandan extract. I have 2 kinds; one without added coloring and the other one looks like it's loaded with kryptonite. Guess which one I ended up using?

Red Curry, We Had Poor Man's Curry Yesterday

Seattle's weather is pretty interesting. You can get sunshine, wind, hail and snow all in one day. I like to joke how Mother Nature is PMSing, and when she's in shitty mood like this, I'd love a bowl of comfort, please. What can you make from 2 baking potatoes, and half of chicken breast? Well, if your pantry is like mine, you can make Thai curry! While I can't say it is authentic, but it's better than most Thai places we've been to. Spicier and has more flavors than the bland-ish curry they serve.

Usually when our fridge is fully stocked, we'll put kabocha and bamboo shoots into the curry too. But because I wasn't well prepared this time, it was just potato and chicken breast. But what important is the curry paste. As long as you have good curry paste, you're good to go. 

This is my trusted red curry paste recipe. It has never fail me. Ever.

Ingredients:

• 6 red chilies, remove the stems, chopped (I use 10, because I'm nuts)
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp lemongrass powder
• 1 tsp minced galangal
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp dried shrimp paste
• 1 tbsp oil 

It's up to you to either keep the chilies seeds or discard them. I keep them because I like spicy stuff. Put everything in a blender (or in my case, magic bullet), then process them until it turns into smooth paste.

For one recipe, I use 5 tablespoons of red curry paste to 3 1/2 cups coconut milk and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce. But I usually eyeball it depends on my mood that day. Some days I like my curry a bit less spicy but when I need the extra heat, I go crazy. It was good for cold weather, gives you warmth and save your electricity (hey, who needs heater if you're eating curry?) My son could have 2 bowls of rice with it if I allow him.

If It Wasn't for Harold Crick, I'd Never Have Tried Cookies and Milk

There are lots of cookies in this world, and having overactive imagination, I sometimes like to ponder, how would A taste paired with B, hence me concocting this weird cookies. But if I die tomorrow and have to choose my last cookies, without a doubt, I'll pick the ol' chocolate chip cookies. Back then, when I wasn't allowed to use the oven (ehm, actually I was too scared to go into my parents' kitchen, lots of rats!), my favorite chocolate chip cookies was Chips Ahoy.

Believe it or not, I'd never had cookies with its loyal companion of all time, milk, until I watched Stranger than Fiction. Harold Crick, the IRS agent, fell in love with the baker he's auditing. I don't recall the whole detail, but there was this one scene where Ana Pascal offered him a plate of cookies and told him to dip em in milk. I used to think it was just a cutesy thing to do, that serves no real purpose whatsoever. It wasn't bad, and actually I'm liking it. This means a lot, coming from someone who cannot drink milk as is (don't like how it tastes, somehow it induces vomit). I think that's why I'm so short.... The milk lends buttery taste to the cookies. The icy cold milk and warm cookies create the hot-and-cold sensation. Sometimes if you leave the cookies long enough in the milk, it absorbs the liquid, filling the airy holes in the cookies with it. And kinda like it.  I drink milk as an excuse to eat cookies.

From Sausage to Corn Dogs

After weeks of being busy doing homework and school-related stuff, last weekend my husband finally had spare time to spend quality time with me. Our idea of quality time? Sausage making. Amid the hum of the stand mixer, we talked. We were catching up. Nowadays, juggling with two kids (me) and pursuing his master degree plus working full-time (him), it's hard to chat without interruption of a 4-yr-old wanting attention. Or a 3-month-old needing her milk. Or a homework needed to be done. 

 

Chewy Whole Wheat Boule

If I went back in time and told my 15-year-old self that I'd be baking bread at least once every 2 weeks, she wouldn't believed me. After constant disappointment from buying grocery store bread, I'd rather bake it myself. While bread is ubiquitous, my longing for bread is so sudden, there's no time to go out and buy it. 

Men cannot live on bread alone. It's true to a certain degree, because it needs to be brushed with olive oil and kosher salt! Bread is so universal, you can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Depends on what you serve it with. Today for breakfast, I had a small wedge of this whole wheat bread dipped in black coffee. For lunch, I had it with a bit of softened brie and salad of chopped celery and carrot (quickie salad I called it). For dinner I might have it with the vegetable soup I made earlier today. After one day eating bread alone, I'll be craving for rice again tomorrow.