Beef Rendang

Beef Rendang is an Indonesian dish made by simmering beef for hours in coconut milk and spices until the liquid has evaporated. It's then fried in the oil the meat releases, caramelizing what's left of the sauce around each piece of meat.

Of course if you are not a fan of beef, you can change the meat to chicken or even lamb. Please take note that chicken cook much faster than beef or lamb, so you need to cook the spices and coconut milk for some times before putting in the chicken. Otherwise the chicken meat might be too soft at the end of your cooking. 

Ingredients:

For spice paste

8 shallots

3 clove of garlic

2 thumb-size of turmeric

1 thumb-size of ginger

2 thumb-size of galangal

8 stalks of lemon grass

8 dried chilies

8 chilies padi / chilies

2 Aniseed

For Kerisik

100g grated coconut

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 tsp coriander seeds

1 whole chicken chopped in pieces or 1kg beef  cut into cubes

200g grated coconut for fresh coconut milk

Salt to taste

8 Kaffir lime leaves (squashed, 4 pcs finely sliced)

1 cube of gula Malacca (or brown sugar)

Methods:

1.       Preparing kerisik:  Toast all ingredients for kerisik in a non-stick frying pan till it turns light brown. Be watchful during the toasting process in order not to burn the ingredients.

Cool the toasted ingredients before blending it in a blender until it is finely blended.

2.       Preparing fresh coconut milk:  Add grated coconuts into 2 cups of water and squeeze the juice out of it. For second round, do the same thing with 1 cup of water instead for a thinner coconut milk.

Keep a handful of the squeezed grated coconuts and blend it with the thinner coconut milk.

3.       In  a non-stick pan, add the blended spice paste and half of the coconut milk to boil.

15 minutes later, add in lime leaves, gula Malacca and kerisik.

4.       For Beef Rendang:  Add in beef cubes and continue to simmer for another 1 hour until the oil is separated from the sauce.  Stir occasionally to avoid the sauce sticking on the pan. Add in the thicker coconut milk and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.

For Chicken Rendang: Simmer the paste for 40 minutes before adding the chicken piece & the thicker coconut milk. Continue to simmer for another 20 minutes until the oil separated from the sauce and chicken is cooked. Stir occasionally to avoid the sauce sticking on the pan.

5.       Add salt & sugar to taste.

6.       Dish is ready to serve, it taste better overnight.

Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cake

Ingredients (for 21cm Tube Pan):

For egg yolk mixture
4 egg yolks
33g caster sugar
47g vegetable oil
67g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
57ml mango yogurt drink

For egg white mixture
4 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
47g caster sugar


Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns light & fluffy.
2. Add in oil and continue the beating until mixture turn pale.
3. Add in mango yogurt drink & mix to combine.
4. Add in plain flour, baking flour & salt and mix until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape the bowl and mix one final time before setting it aside.
5. In another clean mixing bowl (very important to ensure that there is no drips of egg yolk or oil in this bowl), whisk egg whites until they turn foamy.
6. Add in cream of tartar & whisk until soft peaks form.
7. Gradually add in sugar & whisk until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat else the meringue will turn watery.
8. Transfer one-third of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture, beat it in. This will stabilize the mixture.
9. Gently fold in the remaining meringue in two batches.
10. Once no white streaks remains, pour the batter into an UNGREASED tube pan.
11. Lift the pan aabout 10cm off the table top, drop it vertically onto the table to remove any larger air bubbles.
12. Bake at 150 degree C for 40 minutes. The cake tends to crack if the temperature is too high.
13. Once the cake is done, invert it immediately & cool it on a wire rack. Do not unbold the cake until it has completely cool down.


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Ingredients for alternate pan size:

23cm Tube Pan
For egg yolk mixture
5 egg yolks
42g caster sugar
58g vegetable oil
83g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
71ml mango yogurt drink

For egg white mixture
5 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
58g caster sugar

Baking time: 50 min


25cm Tube Pan
For egg yolk mixture
6 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
70g vegetable oil
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
85ml mango yogurt drink

For egg white mixture
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
70g caster sugar

Baking time: 60 min

Mashed Potatoes with Homemade Gravy

Ingredients 
Mashed potatoes

8 potatoes, peeled        
½ cup of butter, melted
½ cup of milk, room temperature 
Salt and pepper to taste
 

For Gravy

4 tablespoon of butter  
4 tablespoon of flour 
4 cups chicken stock

Methods

Mashed potatoes 
1) Cut potatoes in small cube, cover with salted water, and boil just until tender (about 20  minutes or so). Drain well (important). Once drained, put the uncovered pan of potatoes on the burner over medium heat for just a couple of minutes; this will steam off any additional water so your potatoes will be fluffier – be careful not to scorch them. 
2) Once all water has evaporated, remove the potatoes from the heat and immediately add the butter and milk. Mash with potatoes masher, just enough to remove the lumps – do not stir them, as your potatoes will end up like glue. Salt and pepper to taste. 
Gravy 

1) In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until melted – but not burned.
2) Add the flour and whisk until it’s well incorporated – important to cook at least 1 minute so the flour taste is absorbed – whisking continually.
3) Add the chicken stock and whisk until thick. If you’d like it a little thicker, keep it on the burner a little longer so that it cooks down prior to serving it.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoon of unsalted butter

800g of sliced fresh mushrooms

1 pinch salt

1 yellow onion, diced

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

sprinkle of thyme

2 cloves garlic, peeled

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves for garnish, or to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat; stir in and cook mushrooms in butter with 1 pinch salt until the mushrooms give off their juices; reduce heat to low. Continue to cook, stirring often, until juices evaporate and the mushrooms turn to golden brown, in approx. 15 minutes. Set aside a few attractive mushroom slices for garnish later, if desired. Add in diced onion into the pot and cook until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 more minutes.
2. Stir flour into mushroom mixture and cook, stirring often for 2 minutes to remove raw flour taste. Add thyme into mushroom mixture; followed by garlic cloves. Pour chicken stock and water into mushroom mixture. Bring it to simmer and cook for 1 hour.
3. Transfer soup to a blender in small batches and puree on high speed until smooth and thick.
4. Return soup to pot and stir in cream. Season with salt and black pepper and serve in bowls, garnished with reserved mushroom slices.

Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing

Ingredients

Homemade Italian dressing:

3 tbsp of white vinegar

2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
8 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley

1 tsp of yellow mustard
Salt to taste

1 green pepper, cut into stripes

1 packet of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 red onion, chopped fine

1 cup of fussili pasta

Instructions

1. To prepare dressing, whisk all the ingredients of Italian dressing in a large bowl. Taste and adjust to own liking.
2. Put a pot of water to boil, add 1 tbsp of oil and a generous pinch of salt. When the water is boiling, put in fussili pasta and cook just 1 minutes lesser than usual cooking timing so that the pasta is not overly soft. Transfer pasta into cold water to stop it from cooking, drain pasta.
3. Pour pasta, cut pepper, cherry tomatoes and chopped onion into the dressing bowl.
4. Mix well and chill for minimum 2 hours before serving, best when it is chilled overnight before serving.