Kroket

This is Indonesian snack made from mashed potato filled with minced beef and fried in hot corn oil. Some sort of Potato Croquettes.

ingredients: 

makes 8

450 gr/ 1lb potato, steamed, peeled, mashed

2 tbs potato powder/milk powder

salt 

for the filling

150 gr/5½ oz minced beef

salt, pepper

a pinch of ground nutmeg 

for the coating and deep frying

4 tbs plain flour

1 egg, beaten

55 gr/2 oz bread crumbs

corn oil, for deep frying

method:

1. Heat a non stick saute pan. Stir in the minced beef and cook gently for about six minutes or until it almost dries. Add the salt, pepper and ground nutmeg and mix well together for few extra minutes. Set aside.

2. Mix the mashed potato with potato powder/milk powder, salt and pepper. Divide it into 8 portions.

3. Grease the palms of the hands with corn oil to avoid the mashed potato get stuck on the palms. Take 1 portions of mashed potato, flat it on the left palm and transfer one tsp of minced beef onto the mashed potato. Roll up the edges of the mashed potato so that the minced beef is secured inside the mashed potato and then shape it to form cylindrical croquettes. Repeat the same process for all remaining portions.

4. Pour the beaten egg onto a plate or a small bowl and spread out the breadcrumbs on another plate. Spread the flour on different plate too. Roll each croquette in the flour then dip it in the beaten egg then roll it in the breadcrumbs to coat. Repeat the same process for all remaining croquettes.

5. Heat the corn oil in a deep-fryer to 180-190°C/350-375°F. Add the croquettes, in batches to prevent the temperature of the oil dropping. Deep fry for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on kitchen paper.

Iki Sushi, Harderwijk

Sushi all-you-can-eat restaurant in a small fisherman town Harderwijk. Especially for this June they offer 50% discount for lunch, exclusive the beverages. As someone who won't miss this rare opportunity, I'd like to show what my friend and I order there in a one go. 

This isn't a pure Sushi restaurant. What they offer is actually a mix of different kinds of small portion of Asian food. But everything is delicious here and the place is cozy and comfortable. I like this place.

Sayur Sawi Asin

A friend of mine once served this for our lunch and I instantly fell in love with this sort of sour soup. Can't really tell what's in it, though :( and frankly I do not even know its name. My friend and I name it Sayur Sawi Asin which means Salty Vegetable Soup. Yeah, a pretty funny name for sour soup.

As the Lord knows I know nothing about this soup except the fact that this is too simple to prepare and that the ingredients are easy to find, I think this is worth it. Just go to local Asian store, get a package of greenish, conserved vegetable-look-alike (in a plastic wrap, look at the image below) and you're ready to cook.

ingredients:
serves 4
1 package of greenish, conserved vegetable
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 chicken drumsticks or any kind that still has bones attached 
1500 ml water
salt and pepper
for the chili paste; grind 10 eye bird chilies and 1 chili (previously boiled) together with 1 garlic clove in a mortar and pestle. Add a dash of lime juice (optional), after all the soup is sour already.


method:
1. Put the chicken and water in a sauce pan over high heat and bring to the boil.


2. Lower the heat and simmer, skimming the surface until no more foam rises.


3. Add the garlic cloves, cook for a further 5 minutes.


4. Open the package of the greenish, conserved vegetable, slice the content into smaller pieces, set aside its juice. Finally, add the sliced vegetable and its juice to the sauce pan. Cook for a further 15 minutes.


5. Add salt and pepper, mix it all together. Serve with rice and chili paste.

Soto Ayam

Lazybones like me make this great Indonesian style spicy Chicken Soup definitely not from scratch. Lazybones like me use instant spices that come in packages like this Soto Ayam spices; BAMBOE Brand and at the back of the package we all can find the cooking instructions. As easy as that.. Feel free to add different kinds of the condiments. Few drops of lime juice make the dish even more exotic.

The picture below shows the condiments I use;
-shredded, cooked chicken
-hard boiled eggs
-shredded cabbage
-blanched tauge
-chopped celery
-chopped spring onion
-ready-to-use mung bean noodles
-fried onion
-potato chips
-sambal/chili paste

Tai Soen, Utrecht

Me and my friends like to get together for lunch at Chinese restaurants throughout Holland. This time we do it in Tai Soen at Godebaldkwartier 275, Utrecht. These dishes below serve four people.

Squid in special hot sauce (can't remember the official name for this)

Water Spinach in garlic sauce

This one tastes so good I don't bother knowing what's in it, but it surely doesn't belong to lunch when we eat everything accompanied with white rice, this is supposed to be for Dim Sum or at least for appetizer. We share a habit of ordering food at the same time and eat it all at once too no matter if the food is not meant for main course ;))))

Stir-fried rice sticks with beef

Gone in sixty minutes!