Gulai Kambing - Lamb "Stew"

What's with the quotation marks on the "Stew"?
Because I didn't exactly stew the lamb ^_^'
I was not in the mood for any stewing, it's a weekday night! I need something quick and tasty.

Beef & Pumpkin Soupy Stew

I need to learn how to recognise more Chinese characters!
All I can read recognize guess are Chinese characters of food that I hate (including papaya) or absolutely love (various meat, dishes, including char siew ^_^)

Why the sudden dedication to learn more Chinese characters?

I went to the supermarket and grabbed a pack of beef for stir frying. The meat was beautifully marbled, fresh and all...it costs quite a lot. I took it anyway. A few steps later, I saw a pack that's a lot cheaper. The meat looked fresh and marbled...and in such a package, I couldn't recognize which part of beef the meat was based on sight. Anyway, I bought it and planned to do a simple stir fry.

I went home and happily started prepping my cheap beef.
It looked suspicious, not the kind of beef I normally use for stir fry, there were lots of fatty chunks and tendons, which I tried to get rid of. I had difficulties slicing the beef, but tried my best anyway.

Luckily, SC's mom came over and saw my struggle. She checked the package and turned out...I've bought a bad pack of beef brisket. What an idiot (me)! Stir frying it would be a disaster. We would end up chewing on something as rubbery as the soles of raggedy old boots! So I changed my plan and did an easy stew.

Recipe
- 1 lb of beef brisket (get a better one than mine, know your cuts of meat, or read labels ^_^')

- half a small pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, cut into large chunks
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 2 clove shallot, cut into a few chunks
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- cooking oil, hot water, salt, pepper, ground nutmeg

Saute garlic and shallot in a bit of oil, add beef brisket, add hot water (a little of a lot, depending how much "soup" you want from the stew, I like this version more soupy, just like Indonesian sop or soto), bring to boil and simmer until tender (I pressure cooked it for 25 minutes). Once the beef chunks are tender, add pumpkin chunks, cook until the pumpkin chunks are tender, or until completely dissolved in hot water, it's up to you. Season with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg.

I couldn't believe how delightfully savory it was! I'll be looking for more el-cheapo beef brisket on sale to make more soupy stew next time.

PS. I've learnt how to recognize "beef brisket" in Chinese. Heheheh

Simple Beef Brisket & Daikon Stew

Hello, cooler weather...hello, stew!

(As if! Actually I stew all year round, solely because I am lazy ^_^')

Normally I love dark, bold, thick and rich sauces for my stew. For beef brisket, I usually love chu hou sauce, satay sauce, dark soy, brown sugar, kecap manis...but this time, I am trying something that's a bit more...minimalist, compared to my usual taste.

The result surprised me.
In a good way :)

Recipe
- 1 lb beef brisket, cut into chunks
- 1 medium white radish (daikon), cut into strips
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 2 cm ginger, crushed
- 2 shallot, cut into chunks
- hot water, olive oil, salt, white pepper, nutmeg
- crispy shallot and freshly chopped corriander for garnish (optional)

Saute garlic, ginger and shallot in hot olive oil until fragrant, add beef brisket chunks, brown them a bit, add daikon chunks, mix well, add hot water, bring to boil, season and simmer until the beef brisket chunks are tender, about 1.5 hours (or about 25 minute in a pressure cooker).

Garnish if you wish, prepare a dip of dark soy, sweet soy and chopped chilli or Chiu Chow chilli oil or chilli sauce...

Hearty and tender beef chunk, very flavorful and meaty broth, and the daikon...they're like sponge which absorb all the goodnesses from the meat and broth...

...feel free to slurp loudly ^_^

Satay Pig's Tongue Stew

I grew up eating all kinds of offals, which some people might consider awful.
I ate hearts, gizzards, livers, intestines, and even (gasp!) brain...normally either deep fried (and consumed with spicy chilli paste) or stewed in delicious Indonesian spices. One of my favorite is...tongue (pig or ox, fine by me), cooked until tender, sliced super thick.

Most Hong Kongers love innards too! However, sc hates tongue. He hates seeing the rough texture of the tongue's outer "skin", which reminds him too much of a...tongue (duh!). He probably feels like he's french kissing a pig or a cow every time he eats a tongue dish.

Naturally, he goes "yuck" every time I tried to buy myself a tongue to cook for dinner.

This time though, since I've promised (cross my heart and hope to die kinda promise) to clean the tongue really really thoroughly and remove most of the outer skin of the tongue...he let me buy and cook one.

I love tongue grilled or stewed, for as long as it is cut real thick. I love it tender and juicy, not thin and crunchy. This time, I need bold, strong flavors, to make sc forget all about the tongue and only think delicious. Thus, I chose satay sauce stew.

Recipe
- one pig's tongue (or ox tongue)
- 5 cm ginger, peeled, crushed, divided
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 3 cloves of shallot, cut into chunks
- 2 red chilli
- 3 medium sized ripe tomatoes, cut into 8 sections each
- 2 potatoes, cut into chunks
- Chinese satay sauce (I used the one from Lee Kum Kee)
- Freshly chopped corriander (optional, for garnish)
- hot water, olive oil
- a touch of salt, pepper and sugar (if needed)

Scrub the tongue clean (and I removed most of the outer skin since sc doesn't wanna see it), cut tongue into 1 cm thick chunks, blanch in hot water with half of the ginger and rinse in tap water. In a pressure cooker (or stew pot), saute a garlic, shallot and ginger in a bit of olive oil, add tongue chunks, add tomatoes and potatoes, add a couple spoonful of the satay sauce, add hot water until everything's just covered, bring water to boil, pressure cook for 25 minutes (or stew on low heat for a minimum of one hour or until the tongue chunks are melt-in-you-mouth tender). Once done, adjust seasonings if necessary, garnish with freshly chopped corriander and serve with steamed rice.

Tender and juicy chunks of tongue, soft potatoes, spicy satay sauce with quite a punch of acidity from the tomatoes. This dish is great when the weather's cooler, but I'm always up for a good stew any time ^_^

This time, having forgotten that he was enjoying some tongue action from a pig...sc enjoyed the dish very much :D

Quick & Easy Semur Ayam - Outta My "Designer" Kitchen

Just like I've previously mentioned, there was a moment of my life when I love designer items.
Designer bags, shoes, watches, jewelries...LV, Gucci, Prada, Tiffany...you name it, I've probably lusted over it :p

These days, I drool at different kind of brands...such as Canon, Le Creuset, Miele, or Tefal. However, since I can't afford them, I'd normally settle for their Chinese "alternatives", such as Midea (this brand makes affordable stuff and they work well too! I have quite a lot of Midea stuff in my kitchen).

When I first moved into my new place, I didn't realize that apart from the breath-taking view, my kitchen has a "designer" item!
Wow! Really?

Well, not really....but close enough.
It's not exactly a brand you'd see in a kitchen....
What is it?

Wouldn't you love anything Gucci Guchi in your kitchen?
You can even sing it!
"Guchi guchi yaya dada...."
Sexy eh?
With or without an H, this sink has helped me prepare loads of wonderful meal...

I certainly rinsed and cleaned my chicken over my Guchi, and dumped lots of carrot, garlic and shallot skin into it while preparing this dish...

Quick and Easy Semur Ayam

A severely simplified version of a semur (Indonesian sweet stew) dish, perfect for a weekday dinner.

Recipe
(serves 2)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 cloves shallot (I use more shallot compared to garlic for sweetish dishes)
- 2 x 1 cm pieces crushed ginger
- 2 pieces of chicken thigh fillet, remove skin and excess fat, cut into bite sized chunks
- 1 carrot, cut into bite sized chunks
- cinnamon, clove, ground nutmeg, ground corriander seeds
- water, olive oil, salt, pepper, sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

Saute garlic, ginger and shallot in olive oil, add chicken pieces, add carrot, add water, season with spices, salt, pepper, and sweet soy sauce. Cook until the carrot pieces are tender. Garnish with crispy shallot (optional), serve with steamed rice.

Sous chef will give little Guchi the tender loving care it deserves by cleaning, scrubbing and wiping it dry.

Beef Shin in Red Wine with Baked Potatoes in Cheese, Garlic & Herbs

I hate wine.
Red. White. Rose. Champagne. All of them.
To those who appreciate it, wine might taste fruity, chocolatey, oak-ish, sending them back to a chateau in France or a valley in California, whatever. To me, wine tasted sour, bitter, and smelt weird.
Oucchhhhhh! (Got hit by gadzillions of saute pans thrown at me by avid wine fans. Opps)
I'm sorry but it was my truth. Was.

Sous chef, recently enlightened by the great health benefits of a glass of red wine a day regime, which apparently is greater than a cup of broccoli a day, started bringing crappy cheapest-of-the-bunch bottles of red wine home, and insisted that I drink half a cup a day. Boy, it was a torture.

Later on, I thought I've found a great way to enjoy ruin wine. Ehm, by mixing it with loads of sprite and ice. All the sugar I drank probably exceeded the health benefits of red wine, antioxidants and all. Opps again. But after my recent cheddar cookies and red wine experience, I discovered that to enjoy wine, I gotta drink it with something I love, something that's gonna make the wine sweeter, something which magically gets rid of all the sourness and bitterness. Something like what I had last night.

Beef Shin in Red Wine

Recipe
(adapted from here)
- 1 kg beef shin (you can change this to other parts of beef, the original recipe called for chuck steak, but I only had beef shin :p)
- 4 cloves of garlic (peeled, crushed)
- 1 whole onion (cut into large chunks)
- 2 sticks of celery (cut 1 cm thick pieces)
- 1 carrot (cut into 1 cm thick pieces)
- thyme (I used dry)
- 3 bay leaves (I used dry)
- chicken stock (I used powdered version, 3 tsp)
- red wine (the recipe called for 1 whole bottle, but I used just 1-2 cups of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, just until it's fragrant)
- bacon (I skipped this, cos I didn't have any, but it's still delicious)
- olive oil, hot water (just enough to cover everything), salt (1 tsp), black pepper, sugar (2 tsp)

I used pressure cooker, so "slow cooked" beef turned "fast cooked" beef. Hehehe. In the pressure cooker, I sauteed garlic and onion, threw the beef in, threw the rest of the ingredients, close the lid and pressure cook for 20 minutes, adjust flavors before serving. If you don't have a pressure cooker, simply bring to boil and cook on low heat until the meat is tender.

I served this dish with...
Baked Potatoes in Cheddar, Garlic and Herbs

Recipe
- 2 large potatoes, halved and sliced thinly (about 3mm thick pieces)
- grated cheddar cheese (or parmesan, just enough to cover the top of the potatoes)
- italian mixed herbs (oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme)
- 4 small cloves of garlic, crushed with skin
- black pepper, salt, olive oil
- lime/lemon zest (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C. I lined a baking pan with foil (lazy to scrap bits and pieces off the pan), scatter potato pieces (if possible in 1 layer), drizzle olive oil, season with salt, pepper and herbs, grate cheese all over, bake until the cheese's golden brown and the potatoes are soft. Grate lime/lemon zest when serving.

Cheers to good health and better sleep!

Burnt Beef Shin Stew - A Beautiful Disaster?

Let's take a break from the beautiful island and delicious food of Bali (I know you guys are probably sickkk of it), and get back to the normal disastrous reality *grin* (you know you miss it).

Here's another disaster, which happened quite a while ago. It was all drama drama drama. I was preparing the dish as we were expecting a friend to dine with us, and while the dish was cooking in a pressure cooker...due to its high sugar content, plus the way the meat absorb liquid...after about 15 minutes, I smelt something burning...and yep. The bottom of my almost brand new pressure cooker was pitch BLACK!!! My heart sank to my toes and I got all teary eyed seeing how my new HK$800 pressure cooker got ruined.

In between sobs, I scraped every bit and pieces of the burnt beef shin, and if you cut away the burnt parts, which was about 80% of it...it was actually tasty. Smoky (of course), savoury, sweet, and very tender.

Eventually, I tried making the dish again, making sure that I added enough liquid, and shortened the cooking time.

Beef Shin Stew

Recipe
(serves 4)
- 1 pound of beef shin
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 4 cm ginger, crushed, divided
- 1 small carrot, peeled, chopped into 5mm thick chunks
- Chinese 5 spice powder, pepper, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, brown sugar, sweet soy sauce, olive oil, hot water (the dominant flavors should be smoky and sweet)

Boil whole beef shin with some ginger, cut into 1-1.5cm thick chunks, set aside. Saute garlic, ginger, and onion, add beef shin, add seasoning, add hot water to cover the meat and cook. I used a pressure cooker, and cook it for about 15 minutes (first attempt was 25 minutes). Without a pressure cooker, simply cook in low heat until the meat is tender and all the spices and seasonings are absorbed well (about 1.5 hour minimum), check from time to time to make sure it isn't burnttttt. (Sob)


Is it just me, or the burnt version actually looks more beautiful than this boring, successful one?

Special thanks to SC, who scraped every bit of burnt parts off the pressure cooker, it is now all shiny and new. You're truly my hero!

Spicy, Sweet, and Tangy Beef Brisket Stew

This probably sound really annoying...considering there are places which are not literally freakin' cold...like -40C cold.

But I really can't stand both summer heat and winter cold. I am the kind of creature which survives in super pleasant temperature of 17-23C. In summer, my home is where my AC is...and in winter...my home is where my heater is. I generally start using heater when the temperature hits below 10C (boy, I am NOT good for the environment).

In teeny tiny Hong Kong flats, we don't generally have oil radiators, they are too gigantic. If I were to place one in my living room...I'll have to jump over it/the sofa to get to the other rooms. So, we normally get one of those tiny fan heaters (about 20 x 20 x 10 cm), which are not the safest of all, but at least it leaves me a bit of space to trip over its cable. Since it is tiny, it is not really strong enough. Good thing I can lug it around the flat, so it follows me wherever I move.

Recently, I learn a couple of new ways to keep me warm....
1. Eat more
2. Eat more
3. Eat more

Seriously. I get hungry every few seconds, it is getting ridiculous!
I hope this spicy and filling dish could lower the frequency of my hunger...

Spicy, Sweet and Tangy Beef Brisket Stew

Recipe
- 1 lb beef brisket, defrosted, washed, excess fat trimmed, cut into bit sized chunks
- 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, cut into chunks
- 3 cm ginger, crushed
- 4 tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 bunch of fresh corriander, chopped
- 3 red chilli, chopped
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 piece of palm sugar
- light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white pepper, sugar, rice vinegar
- olive oil, hot water

Heat a pot, saute garlic, ginger, and onion with a bit of olive oil, add brisket, add tomatoes, add hot water just to cover the content, add soy sauce, palm sugar, pepper, sugar, rice vinegar. I used a pressure cooker, so I just put the cover on and cook for about 20 minutes. If you aren't using pressure cooker, cook for about 2-3 hours until the brisket pieces are tender, add water when necessary. At the end, add chilli, lemon juice and chopped corriander. Perfect with steamed rice...go the extra mile by adding kerupuk udang (Indonesian prawn crackers) and fried shallot ^_^

Holiday snaps of the day...

Faking it: A fake Christmas feast...at Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong.

Cheers to good food, good food, and more good food!

Indonesian Ox Tongue & Brisket Stew - Semur Lidah & Daging

I've been hearing the magical power of pressure cooker for the longest time. Reducing 3 hours cooking time to just 20 minutes?! Wow!!! Is it for real?!! Now I don't have to spend my whole afternoon checking out my stove every 15 minutes? and I will be able to enjoy yummy stew dishes on weekdays??? Gosh, I thought such miracles only happens in (my friend's imaginary) culinary heaven...

So, the moment I heard about a major sale in a famous department store, SOGO (of which I have HK$200 cash coupons hehe), I wasted no time and marched straight to kitchen appliances floor, ignoring floor after floor of gorgeous clothes, bags, shoes, scents and jewelries, which were all on sale, and practically calling my name, enticing, pleading, begging me to check them out and buy them. Boy! It was the hardest thing I had to do...even harder than my post graduate examinations.

Once I got to the floor, I managed to ignore all the kitchen appliances demonstrations , despite my obvious, palpable attraction to them (I learnt my lesson well ^_*), and found Tefal's Clipso Basic Pressure Cooker. It is a beauty. It's love at first sight. I know all pressure cookers from famous brands probably perform very similarly, reducing cooking time, durable, blablablah...So what made me choose this baby?
- The small volume is just right for my household
- The foldable handles (I have a thing for two ear handles instead of just one long handle) fits my non existent space perfectly
- The price (at HK$1071 - about USD137-after discount, it was the cheapest among all famous branded pressure cookers)
......and the fact that I saw Jamie Oliver on the brochure. Hehe.
So much for my decision making wisdom :p

As expected, it's gonna be damn hard not to de-virginize my pressure cooker the moment I got home. If it was my dream hunk, I'd push him through my door, rip his shirt off, and get him to unclog my plumbing and fix my washing machine (this is not a metaphor hehe). So the moment I got home, the box of the cooker was savagely torn...it underwent some serious cleaning process...and it was ready to go!

Guess which dish de-virginized my new love?

Indonesian Ox Tongue and Brisket Stew (Semur Lidah & Daging)

Recipe
- 1/2 lb beef brisket
- 1 small ox tongue
- 1 large potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
- about 8 cm ginger, crushed
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1 cup chicken stock/chicken stock cube/powder/or just plain water
- Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), or you can use palm sugar/brown sugar
- salt, white pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg
- crispy shallot and mint leaves (as garnish/optional)

Rinse brisket and ox tongue, cook in boiling water and half of the crushed ginger for about 10 minutes, drain, set aside. This way, you will get rid some of the excess fat, after boiling, trim excess fat further with scissors if necessary. Saute onion and ginger until fragrant, throw in garlic, then diced tomatoes, ox tongue, brisket, salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, kecap manis (until it looks a bit dark), add water/chicken stock just to cover everything.

If you are using a pressure cooker, put the pressure cooker lid,set to "cooking meat" and cook for 20 minutes, release steam, take lid off, throw in the potatoes, cook until potatoes softened, adjust seasoning.

If you are not using a pressure cooker, use a bit more water/stock, cook with low heat for about 2-3 hours, checking from time to time, add liquid when necessary, until the meat gets tender and the sauce thickened, adjust seasoning.

Cut ox tongue into about 1 cm thick pieces, cut beef brisket to 5 cm long pieces, garnish with crispy shallot and mint leaves. Serve with steamed rice.

A friend of mine asked if the pressure cooker could shorten a 5 days work to just 1 day work...yeah, right! We wish!

Pork Teriyaki Stew & Roasted Zucchini with Balsamic Vinegar

Against all Halloween odds, tonight our celebration doesn’t involve pumpkin, candies or any other spooky-cutey-halloweensy food. We’re going to a Chinese HOT POT joint! Awwww!!!

I stopped by a costume shop yesterday night…and boy! It was a total chaos! All kinds of slutty nun, dirty school girl, naughty nurse, sexy policeman, chubby skeleton, and kinky emperor wannabes were so close to groping each other while trying to grab anything (and anyone) in sight. There were at least 10 languages being shouted to and from every direction and there was almost no more red devil horns head gear by the time I elbowed my way in.

After dodging flailing bloody arms, scary masks, kinky costumes, and neon colored wigs, I got my horns…and the food devil was born…

I was sooo close to wearing the free cut-out mask from yesterday

This dish below has nothing to do with Halloween, but the food devil just loves teriyaki sauce. It is her poison of choice.

Pork Teriyaki Stew & Roasted Zucchini with Balsamic Vinegar

Recipe
Pork Teriyaki Stew
- 1 lb pork ribs (I had some with soft bone)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
-1 cm ginger, crushed
- teriyaki sauce, pepper, olive oil, hot water
Saute garlic, ginger and onion in hot oil, add ribs, add teriyaki sauce, add hot water, stew for 2-3 hours until the meat’s tender. If you have a pressure cooker...grrrr...I am green with envy!

Roasted Zucchini with Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 zucchini, peeled, sliced into 1 cm thick slices
- 4 cloves of garlic
- balsamic vinegar
- salt, pepper, olive oil
Preheat oven to 200C, arrange zucchini in a tray, scatter garlic, rub some oil, add balsamic vinegar, season, roast until zucchini pieces are a bit charred.

Now, ready or not...here I come!

Soto Daging Babat - Indonesian Beef & Tripe Soup

What did you wanna be when you grow up? What was your dream job? Are you doing it?
These questions reminded me of my primary school days. We were always asked this question and the most popular answers were:
- For boys: a doctor, an engineer, or a pilot (I think at that time lawyers didn't make as much money as now, especially in Indonesia hehe)
- For girls: a flight attendant (uh huh!), a nurse (see how we grew up positioning ourselves as the assistance to men?), or a good mom
- A general answer which will get you an A in exams: I want to be someone who will glorify my country's name (Orang yang berguna bagi nusa dan bangsa). Yeah, baby, yeah!

I've never really been through the stage of wanting to be a flight attendant (that time I didn't realize how sexy and attractive this occupation sounds to guys hehe) or a nurse (I can't stand seeing people in pain, and I am wayyy too self centered to take care of others), but I always had good grades stating that I wanted to be someone who's useful for my country. Hahaha!

I've always wanted a creative job. First, I wanted to be an architect. There was a huge misconception that if you could draw a decent picture of a house by the mountains with flowers, a rising sun, some birds and a couple clusters of cloud, then you'll grow up being an architect. Yeah, right. Later on, I realized that there are many other jobs creative people could do, other than architecture. Everything needs creativity.

Although I am all grown up now (borderline old, only young at heart hehe), I still have my dreams. My current list of dream jobs are:
1. Taking pictures of fashion bloopers and bitching about it (I'd need a camera with a tele lens and camouflage outfits in colors of Hong Kong train station walls/Hong Kong skyscrapers)
2. Drawing & writing funny comics about life in Hong Kong
3. A good mom with a successful career
4. An immigration officer, so that I could be as rude as I like, and it will be considered a great performance. Hehe.

I am not sure if the dreams will ever come true, but this morning I spotted something interesting...and I didn't have my camera with me. So I'll just have to draw it down. Hehe...hope this isn't you, walking towards Hong Kong's most famous landmark office building, Bank of China Tower ^_^

Shoot. I almost forgot to talk about food.

I am a big fan of instant spice mixes. I wanted Soto, but I never have the wide array of fresh spices needed to make the paste from scratch. So I went for the short cut (as always. hehe) and the result was every bit as tasty as something made from scratch.

Soto Daging Babat (Indonesian Beef & Tripe Soup)

Recipe
- 2 packets of Indofood Soto Ayam Instant Spice Mix (you can buy it online here)
- half pound beef brisket
- half pound beef tripe (I bought a frozen pack, so it's been cleaned)
- half pound beansprouts (I bought HK$5 worth of it, and I think the guy gave me more than half pound. Add as much as you like)
- a sprig of corriander (chopped)
- 4 cloves of garlic (crushed)
- 4 cloves of shallot (thinly sliced)
- 5 cm ginger (peeled and bruised)
- hot water, salt, pepper, kecap manis, olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 2 small red chilli (chopped)
- 1 tomato
- fried shallot for garnish

Boil frozen beef brisket and beef tripe with half the ginger and shallot, 1 tsp salt and a dash of pepper for about 15 minutes, drain, cut into bite sized chunks. In hot oil, saute garlic, shallot and ginger, add brisket and tripe chunks, add hot water, add instant spice mixes, bring to boil then lower the heat, cook for 2.5 hours. Blanch beansprouts in hot water, drain. Add beansprouts, tomato, and a bit of corriander, cook for 15 more minutes, squeeze lemon juice and cook for 15 more minutes. Garnish with chopped corriander and crispy shallot, drizzle some kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and serve with steamed rice, fresh sliced tomatoes, wedges of lemon and the chopped chilli on the side.

You can use other kinds of meat, such as chicken or lamb, and you can add boiled eggs and crackers. Feel free to jazz it up.

Dream job #5. Is there any job which involves enjoying deep fried food and/or bacon all the time?

Rosemary Roasted Pork Belly and Stewed Pork Ribs with Potatoes

I woke up this morning feeling pleasantly surprised. The temperature is down to the perfect air-conditioned-like 23C. Wow! Autumn is here! I am super excited to purchase endless supplies of boots, boots and more boots. Low heeled ones to commute, high heeled ones for when I feel sexy or won't be walking at all, chunky ones with fringe to keep up with trend, crocheted ones to match my girly frocks...and so on, and so on, and so on. They will all have something in common, which is....CHEAP! Hehe. Quantity > quality. Maybe that's why my legs and feet are always hurt. :p

I think the little kitchen bitch inside of me felt the arrival of autumn too....as all I wanted to do recently was stewing, stewing and more stewing! It's just like how my joints get painful when a typhoon is coming, minus the pain, just a little itch ^_*

I was wondering if a stew would be a perfect opportunity to use the beautifully dried rosemary I received from Kits Chow recently. Thanks so much, girl! I've been dying to try using more herbs, such as rosemary and oregano, but did not even have the strength to move my azz far enough to buy them from any luxury supermarkets, let alone trying to plant them myself, just like what you did. Bravo!

The feeling of opening a package...I could imagine that it was just like an early Christmas morning (since growing up in Indonesia, I've never actually celebrated Christmas that way hehe)

I got a book of how to make my own natural beauty treatments (I could really use some...other than just my single bottle of Olay)...and the packs of dried rosemary and oregano! Wow! Thanks again so very much, you're awesome!

I saw a pack of beautiful pork ribs and a pack of crazy cheap pork belly, and couldn't resist but to buy them both (just like how I couldn't resist buying pairs after pairs of cheap boots hehe). Plus, I kinda wanted to use the oven...it's been abandoned for quite a while, I am sure it is pretty depressed. I should really name my kitchen appliances, guys. Am I nuts? Does anyone do the same?

Rosemary Roasted Pork Belly & Stewed Pork Ribs with Potatoes

Recipe
- 1 pack (1/2 lb) pork ribs with bone
- 1 pack (1/2 lb) pork belly
- 1 large potato, cut into bite size chunks
- a couple of tbsp chopped dried rosemary
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- salt, pepper, sugar, olive oil, hot water

Rub pork ribs and belly with chopped garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Heat up pot, throw in ribs and belly (skin down) and let them brown a bit, add hot water just enough to cover everything, bring to boil, add salt, pepper sugar, cook until the meat is cooked, remove pork belly, continue to simmer the ribs in low heat for about 2 hours-3 hours, you will know when it is done when you see the meat falls off the bones. Throw in the potatoes only in the last 30 minutes. Adjust seasoning when necessary. I like them intense and tasty.

Preheat oven to 200C, grill pork belly until the top skin is golden and crisp, basting it with the juices from the simmering ribs from time to time.

You'll get crazy tender pork ribs and super crunchy pork belly to match.

Would it be too crazy to start wearing my boots now when it's 23C? No, right? I saw people started wearing them when it was 32C anyway!

Indonesian Beef Stew

I always fancy myself cooking "Indonesian" dishes.

That either shows:
- how proud I am of being Indonesian (Ms. Nationalist of the Year medal, I am here) or
- how I miss my home country's food or
- I just have major MAJOR misconceptions about Indonesian cooking, i.e:

a. Not everything drenched in kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)/palm sugar/coconut milk should be called Indonesian cooking
b. Not everything cooked/eaten/loved/missed by someone from Indonesia (i.e. me) should be declared as Indonesia's national dish
c. Not everything I used to eat back home in Indonesia are necessarily Indonesian inspired/influenced

- or all of the above

Conclusion: Whatever. I can call anything Indonesian if I want to. HAHA.

Example: Oh gosh, that cheeseburgers are SOOO Indonesian (yes we have hot dog & burger vendors on bikes in Indonesia, I used to eat it and lots of it after church in Jakarta, so yeah. That makes it Indonesian)

Just like this beef stew. I fancied beef semur (Indonesian beef stew), but I didn't have the complete set ingredients needed for a traditional semur. So...I just used whatever I had and call it semur LOL

Ingredients
- half-1 pound of beef brisket
- 1 medium sized carrot, sliced about 5mm thick
- 2 small potatoes (I love the sound of small potato haha), cut into cubes
- garlic, shallot, ginger (crushed), some for boiling (1 clove of garlic, 2 cloves of shallot, 1-2 pcs of ginger), some for stewing (2 cloves of garlic, 4 cloves of shallot, abt 3 cm ginger, sliced thick then crushed)
- kecap manis, palm sugar, salt, pepper
- nutmeg powder (you can grate fresh nutmeg if available)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp cooking oil (I use olive-canola mix)

Cook beef brisket in boiling water, salt, pepper, ginger for about 5 minutes (or until the excess fat's gone. I was using frozen beef brisket so it took a bit longer), drain, cut into chunks, set aside. Saute garlic, shallot, ginger in 2 tbsp hot oil, add beef chunks, add water, add carrot and potatoes, add more water if necessary, just to get everything covered, add some kecap manis, salt, pepper, palm sugar, nutmeg powder, cook until water's reduced but not completely dry, adjust seasoning, squeeze lemon juice, serve with rice.

Indonesian or not, I love it. :)