Sie Joe, Amsterdam

It was back in 1996 when I stumbled upon this cute little Indonesian eatery in the heart of Amsterdam. I was still an Indonesian student at that time and was staying near the city center. It was really special to find this place among the other little shops in this city's narrow streets. Not only I could indulge myself in my favorite dishes there but it also brought back the nostalgia of my home country. Sie Joe.

This is Stroop Susu; cold milk mixed with rose syrup. It's strange, yes, but it gives very nice fragrance that makes me giggle all the time, hihihi.. see? Don't know why, I just like this pinky milk.

The menu Sie Joe offers is packed with famous Indonesian food. This below is Ketoprak, a splendid dish with rice cakes, bean sprouts and peanut sauce, yum!

My all time favorite is Nasi Goreng Kambing or Fried Rice with Lamb.

Soto Ayam is Indonesian spicy soup.. and in Sie Joe, it is good..

Sie Joe

Kastengel

These cheesy cookies are cheesy and crunchy! I love them very much. The original name for this would probably be Kaasstengel (double a, double s). Kaasstengel is Dutch word for cheese stick. Indonesian people probably think that less a and less s is okay too. Probably, not sure, hihi.. It's easy to make and it's cheesy and crunchy.. wait, I said that already!

ingredients
175 gr/6 oz butter (room temperature)
2 egg yolks
25 gr/0.9 oz corn flour
225 gr/8 oz all purpose flour
150 gr/5 oz grated old cheese
1 tbsp dried chopped parsley
1 tsp chicken powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk for glazing + 1/2 cup grated old cheese for sprinkling

method
1. Mix the cheese and butter with a fork, add egg yolks, mix well.

2. Add the corn flour and all purpose flour to the butter cheese mixture. Also add the parsley, chicken powder and the salt. Mix well and knead the dough until it reaches the consistency of clay.

3. Flat the dough and place it in a baking sheet. Cover it with a plastic foil and store it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

 4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven for 180°Celcius/355°F

5. Remove the plastic foil and slice the dough into small rectangular form of 1x3 cm, 1/2 cm thick. Place the sliced dough on another baking sheet covered in baking paper.

6. Glaze or brush each one of them with egg yolk and sprinkle with grated cheese.

7. Bake cookies until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks for about 5-10 minutes. Transfer cookies to plates using a spatula, let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in air-tight containers.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Now that I live far away from home and some ingredients for my cooking or baking are just too difficult to find -or almost impossible to be imported- I gladly pop open a spice mix or ready to use cake mix on regular basis. Not that I would necessarily bake a cake from scratch if I could have been able to find the ingredients though.. Yeah, I'm lazybones.. Anyway, this time I bake Pandan Chiffon Cake from Pondan. 

Look at how beautiful it turns out! I love my Pandan Chiffon Cake. The ready to use cake mix has information about the necessary ingredients at the back of the box along with the baking instructions.

A special baking form that looks like the images below is needed for an optimal baking result. It is especially made for baking chiffon cake. Follow the instructions of how to grease this form and any other information about baking this cake at the back of the ready to use cake mix.

This is how it looks like a minute it comes out from the oven.

Earl of Sandwich, Paris

Hot sandwich is super yummy, only this kind of sandwich is not to be found in the city where I live. When I was in Paris I had the opportunity to try different variations of hot sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich, located at Disney Village. 

The Cannonballs; minced beef balls in red sauce

Tuna Melt; super good..

The Veggie; vegetables and cheese, yum!

..and salad. This is Chinese Chicken Salad with crispy fried wonton strips on top. The dressing is so light and refreshing!

Royal Thai, Amsterdam

My best friend celebrated her birthday party in an amazing Thai restaurant; Royal Thai in Amsterdam. With the good food and good company her birthday party was really a blast. The party girl and her "cheerleaders" surely had great time together.


The Appetizers; Spring Rolls, Thai Pastry with Minced Chicken, Prawn and Sesame on Toasts. Then different kinds of soup and salads, all yummy..

Now, the main courses. The seafood is just delicious. The beef and chicken are yum-yum too!

then the desserts..

and my favorite beverage; Thai Milk Tea

Ayam Merah

Frankly, I don't have any better name for this chicken than Ayam Merah or Red Chicken in English. It is a simple spicy chicken dish that I usually make whenever I have too many soon-will-go-bad chilies in the fridge. I love chilies, I stock chilies and I use chilies in my food almost every single day. I am crazy about chili.

This is how soon-will-go-bad chilies look like. They are old and wrinkly but still good to be ground into chili paste.

ingredients
serves 4-6
700 g/1 lb 9 oz skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
4 tbsp cooking oil (I use more)
4 stalks spring onions, chopped

for the chili paste
1 large onion or 4 shallots
3 garlic cloves
10 fresh red chilies, deseeded
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp chicken powder
1 tomato

method
1. Process all the ingredients for the chili paste in a food processor.

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and stir fry the chili paste for 5 minutes until it becomes aromatic. Season to taste with extra salt or extra sugar if needed. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the chicken and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until well coated in the chili paste. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat. Stir in the chopped spring onions. Serve with cooked pandan/basmati rice.

Fat Kee, The Hague

From one Chinese restaurant to another. That's how I run my life. This time my friends and I headed to The Hague for a simple lunch at Fat Kee. It turned out that we ordered much more food than what we could enjoy but like any other Chinese restaurants here in Holland, a doggy bag is always available. I love Fat Kee's fried rice and I am just a person who can't live without white rice or fried rice or any kind of rice. Rice is compulsory and I must get my daily doze of rice or I simply evaporate. 

and from one Chinese restaurant to another I also order the same old same old same thing over and over again. The images below show the exact same Stir-fried Water Spinach plus Fried Squid in Salt and Pepper we had for lunch here few months earlier.

As long as Chinese restaurant rocks, I'll never stop going there. Amen.