Spaghetti Bolognaise

A Continued Family Tradition

It's end of the year. The weather hasn't been good for the past few days, making me feel gloomy.

We had a half-day out yesterday and when we came home it was time for me to cook dinner. The choice fell on spaghetti bolognaise, a quick and simple pasta dish that has been my mother's signature dish for every birthday occasion in the family when my siblings and I were young, until now. Yes, I am continuing the tradition, however, there's a minor change in the way of cooking the sauce. If my mother cooked and serve the minced meat separately, I would put all of them together. And if some Italian family that I know during serving would mix the pasta with the sauce, I would let people take and put it themselves on their plate so they can have as much as they want. It is quite interesting, though, how people treat the sauce. Some think that it is a kind of soup so they would put as much as they could on the spaghetti. In the end, they have a lot of left over of sauce in plate. What a waste!

The fact is: the tomato sauce is meant to be thick, especially when it is cooked together with the meat, because the meat absorbs almost all the liquid. But it doesn't mean that it is dry. It is just a rich meat sauce. Therefore you should only put a scoop or two of the sauce for a standard size of pasta plate. If you haven't done so, try it. You can't be less than agree with me, I have done this all my age...

Some 17 years ago, I had once learned from a dear friend in Verona, when serving the dish he would put the spaghetti that's already mixed with grated parmesan cheese, put the sauce on the pasta and top it with a cheese slice (because we didn't have mozzarella at that time). Then he put it in the oven until the cheese melted. Wow! That's how the restos do it, isn't it?
Until now I sometimes do that way, but very seldom of course...because nobody in the house could wait even a single minute more. They will keep on coming back when I am cooking the sauce and once I put it on the pasta dish, it will 'disappear' from the kitchen... :))

Rendang Kotogadang

A West Sumatra-Indonesia Delicacy

It's end of year holiday season again. It's time to prepare all your needs for the season irregardless where you are heading to. Holiday is just a season to celebrate. Part of the preparation is to cook Rendang for the family to bring for the holiday. Our holiday destination has limited places of halal food, so we usually bring our own cooked meat and we would have it during dinner time or before we go for an outing. During the day time when we were out, we would normally take vegetarian food that is definitely free of any kind of meat.

This dish is quite a saver. Everybody in the family likes it. I will share the recipe with you in my recipe page. Hope you guys will love it as much as we do.

Bluder, oh Bluder...

Bluder (D) roti - Dutch-style vanilla cake with raisins.

That's what I found from an online Dictionary: A Comprehensive Indonesia-Englis Dictionary by Alan M. Stevens, A. Ed Schmidgall Tellings.

This is a little bit different from the normal bread. The dough turns out to be cake-like-batter, thus it is quite difficult to make it a round shape. In this case I had to use a spoon to scoop it to the cups. Why cups? Again because of the texture, it has to be held by a cup so that it will raise nicely.

My first attempt with the bluder wasn't a successful in look. But the texture was just perfect and the taste as well. I am thinking the next time I am doing it again I will use an ice cream scoop, hopefully it will get a better look.

Klappertaart

Young Coconut Custard


Made this upon my sis-in-law's request. The last time she visited me,
I made klappertaart for the first time. When she was coming again a
couple of days ago she asked me if I was going to make the tart. I assume that she liked the one I made last time. Why not? I asked my hubby to buy some young coconuts, however, there's only a siamese coconut which is smaller than the Indonesian one. Still it's alrite to use it.

From one recipe I got two 8" round aluminium foil tins. Once the klappy was cold enough, everybody's ready to dunk theirs spoons into it. Easy guys....haha, my hubby finish almost half of the tin. My niece had more than a scoop. My sis-in-law? Since she's a weightwatcher, she really took her time to enjoy the small scoop that she had. The tin was empty within two hours and with a big smile on my face, delighted that they liked it. Hey...who wouldn't be happy to find your effort was worth the while...?!

Opera Cake

I was so eager to bake another Opera Cake before the year ends. Had been wanting to do it before my wedding anniversary this mid-month. But I guess my mood just flew off when my darling hubby told me that he would be having company dinner on that very day. Just like last year. So, I put the Opera on hold until a few days later.


When it was done, I quickly divided the cake into a few. This is for free tester for my prospective customers :). Well, it worked alright, because a dear friend straight away asked me to make another one for her daughter's birthday! Not as a birthday cake, though (because her hubby already ordered from a cake shop), but it was a hit! Relatives asking for the recipe. You guys can also have the recipe and bake it yourself. You just need to wait patiently and come back often to see if I have already posted the recipe here... :)) I will also try to upload the 'under progress' picts so you guys can have a better idea on how to do it. But if you think it's too tedious, don't hesitate to give me a buzz and order the cake from me ;)



Here's how my friend, Emi, enjoyed her Opera Cake as her dessert after dinner. (Photo courtesy of Emi on fb)



26 Dec '10

And this is the one that went to Aleza for her daughter's birthday.

Chôux Pastry with Chicken and Cheese

Soes Ayam Keju

Having passion for trying new recipes will always end up with me craving for wanting to bake cakes or cook dishes, like this one. I had been wanting to make this simple yet filling and yummy dish. Since there were too many on the "list to bake & cook", it only got its turn yesterday.

You may think what is in the list until this took me so long to put my hands on... The answer is "hundreds!", because you won't believe it if I tell you the list has a thousand waiting items for me to bake or cook :)

Kitchen activities does not stop at one recipe. Even from one you can create so many varieties. It's your hands and mind creativity...

Back to the chôux, it turned out beautifully with its light brown colour. However, because prior to baking this I had made some Tom Yam Fried Rice for dinner, when I finally put this on the table, my 'troop' was already surrendering...can't take anything else for the evening ^_^

Very well, that means I will have the chance to wait till sunshine and make more lively picture with its help. Meanwhile, I had put the dish in an airtight container and put it in the fridge. That'll do for the night till breakfast time.....

Cupcakes with Fondant

5 December 2010

My (Very) 1st Affair with Fondant



Aren't they so cute...??? I have been holding back to use fondant as a decorating media. Because...people here are very much health conscious that they could not afford to have it because of the sugar content. But there was one fine day I read on facebook that someone is giving a crash course on making basic figurines with fondant. What the...I just jumped in to register and taraaaa...these are the results. I am ready to take the challenge for cakes with fondant orders. Pour 'em in, baby!