Bubur Sumsum (Indonesian Rice Flour Warm Pudding)

Bubur Sumsum is made from rice flour, cooked in coconut milk, and served with palm sugar syrup. My mom and some of our Indonesian friends believe that consuming Bubur Sumsum will sooth the sore coming from a tiring body. It is supposed to be energizing, and it gives strength when needed. Not sure if it indeed works that way, but I like this comfort food very much.

ingredients
serves 4

100 gr rice flour
700 ml water
200 ml canned coconut milk
1 tsp salt
2 pandan leaves, knotted

for the palm sugar syrup
200 gr palm sugar, cut into small pieces
1 tbs sugar
400 ml water

method

Make the palm sugar syrup first.
Place all ingredients for the syrup in a sauce pan. Put it on the stove over medium heat. Stir it occasionally until it is boiled. Set aside, let it cool.

For the Bubur Sumsum:
1. In a pan, mix the rice flour, salt, water, and the coconut milk. Whisk it until it is all incorporated.
2. Put the pan on a stove on medium heat. Add the knotted pandan leaves. Keep on stirring to avoid lumps.
3. When it boils, and bubbles come out from it. The Bubur Sumsum is ready.
4. Serve with the palm sugar syrup. Spoon the Bubur Sumsum into a bowl, top with the syrup.

(Failed) Banana Cake

This is the third time I failed in baking Banana Cake. The first two times were long time ago. It was two epic fails that did not make it to this blog (but then again, I was in hiatus too :)) Anyway, I tried baking a batch again today, and it was another failure, bummer!

I don't understand what goes wrong, it tastes okay, but it seems to be doughy, it isn't risen. Well, I need to concoct another recipe then. Until then I just have to eat this stupid looking failed banana cake. 

For this cake I use the following ingredients:

200 gr/7 oz margarine

200 gr/7 oz sugar

225 gr/8 oz self-raising flour

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

3 eggs

2 tbs orange juice

a pinch of cinnamon powder

method

1. Mix margarine and sugar with an electric mixer until they're all incorporated.

2. Add eggs, mix on high speed for a few minutes until the batter has risen. Lower the speed of the electric mixer. Add the self-raising flour, bit by bit, keep the mixer on. Add the orange juice, cinnamon powder, and mix it again on the lowest speed for about one to two minutes until the mixture is all incorporated.

3. Spoon the batter into a tulband cake mould that has been greased and dusted with flour. Bake in a preheated oven, 180°C/356°F for 50 minutes.

Vegetable and Smoked Fish Congee

It was supposed to be Bubur Manado, a special congee from a beautiful place called Manado in South Celebes, Indonesia. The ingredients for making Bubur Manado were not easy to find here, and I just could not manage to compile all the spices needed, therefore I use the name Vegetable Congee or Bubur Sayur instead of Bubur Manado.

ingredients
serves 6-8

225 gr/8 oz short-grain rice
3 liters/5 oz water (a little bit extra water is better)
200 gr/7 oz spinach
100 gr/3,5 oz canned sweet corn
salt
pepper

condiments
smoked mackerel (I used the ones with black pepper)
chili sambal from a jar

method
1.Wash the rice and place in a large saucepan with the water. Cover and cook for about 2 hours, stirring regularly.
2. Add the spinach, corn, salt and pepper. Stir well, then return to the boil and cook for a couple of more minutes.
3. Serve the congee with smoked mackerel and sambal.

note: you can skip the smoked mackerel if you are a vegetarian

Gado-gado Salad

Gado-gado Salad is an Indonesian dish of slightly boiled vegetables served with peanut sauce dressing. Gado-gado in Indonesian literary means "mix-mix" since it is made of rich mixture of vegetables such as potatoes, string beans, bean sprouts, spinach, chayote, bitter gourd, corn and cabbage, with tofu, tempeh and hard-boiled eggs, all mixed in peanut sauce dressing, sometimes also topped with krupuk (if you are vegetarian, there are plenty of onion crackers available in the market), and sprinkles of fried shallots. That's what Wikipedia says, and I agree with it :)

For the peanut sauce (enough for a large serving of salad), I use these following ingredients:
100 gr ground roasted peanut
1/2 tbs palm sugar
1 tbs chili paste 
1 tbs dark soy sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 tbs tamarind juice
a pich of salt
about 70 to 100 ml water (depending on the preferred thickness of the sauce)

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor. Served with the boiled/steamed vegetable of your choice, and any meat substitute such as boiled eggs, fried tempeh and tofu. 

I sometimes add boiled eggs, and some other times I add Lontong or compressed rice cake to my Gado-gado. Few slices of cucumber will give an extra crunchiness to this salad. Enjoy!

I made Nasi Goreng few days ago. Nasi Goreng is one of my favorite Indonesian dishes. I guess I'm now back to blog about what I eat and cook again, yay!

It has been a while since I posted food recipes. I found it a bit hard to juggle between my study and everything around my life. But I recently got to know someone who could manage to administrate blogs and other social media among other things that revolve around this person's busy schedule.  So, I decided to try managing my past time and take a look at this old blog of mine. I would gladly post some stuff from my kitchen. I kind of miss blogging.

ingredients

serves 4

12 oz/350 gr cooked rice (left over chilled cooked white rice)

2 tbs sambal or any chili paste will do

1 egg, well beaten

1 tbs margarine plus 1 tbs cooking oil

1 tbs sweet soy sauce

1 tbs fish sauce

any left over meat products (I used thin-sliced beef balls, optional)

1 tbs chopped spring onions 

1 tbs fried onions 

sliced cucumber and tomato

method

1. Heat the margarine and the oil in the preheated wok or deep saucepan and stir-fry the sambal for 30 seconds, then add the sweet soy sauce and the fish sauce. Add the left over meat and the rice. Stir-fry for a minute, break the rice down as much as possible into individual grains.

2. Quickly add the egg. Stir until the egg is cooked. Once the rice becomes hot, add in the chopped spring onions.

3. Serve with fried onions, sliced cucumber and tomato.