Bola-bola Daging Sapi

Beef Balls in Oyster Sauce. That is the best way to say what this is. People in Holland like to serve their beef balls with simple juice made from rich and creamy butter and a bit of provincial spices and of course it is also served together with mashed potato and beans. I eat this beef balls with white rice :) hence the sweet savory sauce.

ingredients:

makes 10 balls

500 gr/17 oz minced beef

1 egg

1 tbs bread crumbs

1/2 cup chopped cellery leaves

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

few drops wochester sauce

salt and pepper

2 tbs cooking oil + 1 tbs butter

for the sauce

1 onion, sliced

1 tbs oyster sauce

2 tbs sweet soy sauce

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

method:

1. In a bowl, combine the minced beef and the rest of the beef balls ingredients together (except for the oil and the butter) 

2. Once it is all incorporated, divide it into 10 beef balls.

3. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. Once it is warm, slide in the balls. Cook each side for about a minute. Top side, bottom side, along the middle side, all side has to be browned.

4. Once all balls have changed colors, line them alongside the furthest side of the frying pan leaving an empty space in the middle. Add the sliced onions in the middle. Add also oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt and pepper. Pour in the water too. Close the pan. Set the stove to low heat. Let the balls slowly cook for 10 minutes.

5. Open the lid and mix the sauce with the beef balls. Close the lid again and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

6. Beef balls are ready to serve. This is a delicious companion to mashed potato too I guess.. The sauce is then served as the gravy.

Bakwan Jagung

Bakwan would probably mean deep-fried snack made from a mixture of vegetable or shrimps. I am not sure if the meaning of it is actually true but I think it is somewhat meant something like that, at least I hope it would mean like that ;) Bakwan Jagung is corn fritter. A deep-fried snack made from a mixture of batter and corn.

ingredients:

makes 8 snacks

1 can sweet corn, 212 ml (netto weight 150 gr)
1 cup flour
2 tbs rice flour
half shallot or about 2 cm thick with diameter of 3 cm or just small amount of shallot, peeled
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp coriander seed or use  coriander powder
salt and pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions
1/4 cup finely chopped celery leaves (optional)
1/2 cup water
cooking oil for deep-frying

method:

1. Grind the shallot, garlic, coriander and salt until smooth paste. The use of food processor is okay too here.

2. Add the corn and gently grind it together with the shallot+garlic+coriander paste. Do not grind it violently as it will crush the corn too much, just grind slowly and softly only to flat the corn and to nicely mix it all up. using a food processor could be a little bit tricky here as the corn can be crushed too much, but it is not impossible to use food processor. I did it once and it worked just fine. Just be careful not to smooth-processed the corn.

3. In a bowl, combine together; the ground corn mixture, the flour, the rice flour and the chopped spring onions.

4. Add  water, mix it all together until it becomes a firm batter and not to liquid-ish (look at the picture below as reference) and feel free to add a bit more water if necessary.

5. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fill it in with cooking oil. Once the oil hot enough, about 175°C/350°F, ladle the batter to the hot oil and spread it a little bit to the side.

6. Deep-fry the batter for about 2 minutes one side, then turn over and fry again until it turns golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain well with kitchen paper.

Spicy Shredded Rotisserie Chicken

Rotisserie chicken is a gift from heaven. It is delicious, juicy and crispy all at the same time. I see people eating this with fries or with rice just like that, but I like to improvise a little bit.. or a lot. It is easier to work with than the raw chicken, you know, save more time :) In Indonesia I could easily find this in big supermarkets but here I usually come across this in traditional markets. I like it a lot and I often shred it into small pieces and stir-fry it in oyster sauce.

ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 onion, sliced
2 green chilies, sliced
2 red chilies, sliced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs sweet soy sauce
1 tsp chicken powder
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
100 ml water
3 tbs sunflower oil for sir-frying

method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Stir in garlic and onion until the onion becomes translucent. Add the chilies, green and red all together at the same time. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes over medium heat.

2.  Add, oyster sauce, soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, chicken powder, salt and pepper. Stir-fry for a minute. Add water, stir-fry again for another minute.

3. Add the shredded chicken, stir-fry for a minute. Reduce the heat. Close the pan. Leave it for two minutes. Open the pan, stir-fry for a minute. Close the pan again for another two minutes.

4. Turn off the heat. Open the pan and serve this special dish with warm white rice.

Martabak Telor Mini

The original  Martabak Telor is a lot bigger than the version below. And when the word "original" appears, it also means that my version is pretty much "edited" and that some ingredients in the original version need to be substituted too. In time like this I wish I were back home, waiting for the original version of Martabak Telor being prepared by the street seller. Now, before I dream the dream that takes time to come true, I'll just be happy with my very own version of this snack.

ingredients:

makes 8

250 gr/9 oz lean or extra lean minced beef
2 cups chopped spring onions
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 tbs corn starch mixed with 1/4 cup of water to glue and seal the wrappers
oil for deep frying
8 spring roll wrappers

method:

1. Brown the minced beef. Use a non-stick pan without adding extra oil or margarine. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, try to whisk 3 eggs first, add nutmeg, sugar, salt and pepper. Add the spring onions and lastly add the browned minced beef. Mix it all together. When the mixture is not liquid-ish (because using only 3 eggs), you can add an extra egg. The idea is to make this filling not too liquid-ish because it results in the filling running away to every direction once we put it on the spring roll wrapper. So, please make sure that the filling is firm but not too firm, a little bit extra liquid from the egg will be ok.

3. Heat the oil for deep frying. While waiting for it to reach the temperature of 175°C/ 350°F work on your snack. 

4. On a spring roll wrapper, add 2 tbs of minced beef-egg mixture, fold it neatly like you make an envelope out of a single sheet of paper. Seal it by applying the glue at the very end part of your envelope.

5. When the oil reaches the desired temperature, slide the snacks into the pan. Maximum 4 snacks at a single frying stage. Turning occasionally until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain well on kitchen papers.

This video shows how the original Martabak Telor is made, the one that is in my dream *wink wink* Just to sit neatly next to the seller and curiously watch him prepare mine: