This Sunday is my me-time day, and what is a me-time without eating your fav food? This is the exact question that inspired today's recipe. One of my fav food is fried stuff. I know, I know, its not very healthy, but what can I say, I love it. Fried food is my definitely sinful delights!

You must be familiar with the quote "You Are What You Eat". I hold this quote dearly and it is why I always make sure what I eat is good. A good food will keep your mood up and your cheerful meter full and these are the key to be a good person.

Today's recipe is not a typical Indonesian dish, I got the idea from watching a food channel instead. This is what happen when you watch half dozen episodes of cooking shows after 10 PM instead of going to bed like a responsible adult, you end up wanting to try the recipe you watched for breakfast.

This is another recipe inspired by one of my best friends. I mean, you can not talk about a food and how good it is without making me drool and end up trying to cook it (or get it somehow). This lovely friend of mine has a special chicken nugget recipe (her chicken nuggets are so good, people who tasted it beg her to make more for sell). Unfortunately today recipe is not her chicken nugget recipe because her recipe requires a lot of skills of cooking which I don't possess. Laziness is what I possess. So today's recipe is an easy and fool-proof one. The kind of recipe everyone loves, and the only kind that I am able to cook. 

If there's a 3D printer that can print an actual edible food, I'd definitely would get one but that will be the end of this recipe blog and the beginning of a new blog about my journey into becoming morbidly obese :P

As you have read from my previous posts, I have this craze over tofu. Its funny how people around me think that I am a vegetarian or a healthy eater because I love tofu (if only they know what I do to my tofus.. pffff.. I even make sugar pie tofu from times to times, and that's far from healthy). Most of them also comment how bland and tasteless tofu is. At first I thought they are just tongue dead.  After tasting every white tofu brands out there at our local groceries, I must admit that my friends aren't fully tongue dead. These white tofus do lacking in flavor. I guess mostly all the tofu sold at our groceries are meant to be a part of a dish instead of become a dish by itself.

If you are looking for a simple way to make appetizer or snack with tofu, then today is your lucky day! I am sharing you my (not so secret anymore) trick on making simple white tofu tasty. 

Toffu is definitely my top favorite protein source. It has subtle flavor and very versatile. You can use it for savory or sweet dishes. Back home at my parents' place, we have toffu and or tempeh on our table for each meal time (yes, it means minimum two times a day, and sometimes for snacks too). There are so many ways to cook toffu, you can use as meat replacement too.

Today I am making Perkedel Tahu or Toffu patty, using firm white toffu. My mom used to make it too, and she would add chunks of shrimp in it. I didn't have shrimp so I substitute it with crab stick. I was making this patties for supper but it ended up as my afternoon snack. My love for tofu and fried food knows no boundary nor discipline... 

This is my all time favourite side dish: Kering Tempeh. Its sweet and savoury at the same time. I can eat it simply with steamed rice and I'll be happy. My mom used to make jars of it, its like a staple to have on our dinner table. Whenever I go back to Indonesia I always ask her to make few packs of it for me to bring back to Québec. My love for this one defies all boundary (drama-queen mode on). I know its risky to bring home-made food through airports, but for this one I am willingly take the risk. I don't do it often anymore tho since I know how to make it and I can finally get tempeh in Quebec. Of course my mom's Kering Tempeh tastes better but I must say I am pretty proud of mine as well. 

The tempeh on this recipe suppose to be crunchy sticks so the key of a good Kering Tempeh is (obviously) getting the right Tempeh. Some tempeh (like the one I have) can't get crunchy altho I have deep fried it, which kind of a bummer. It doesn't stay good as long as well. The use of galangal and kaffir lime leaves in this recipe are also crucial, please don't leave out those two magical ingredients. Without them your Kering Tempeh will be like Madonna's latest discography; bland and boring. 

Sambal or chilli paste is one of the most must-have condiment in Indonesian dining table. We eat it as one of our staple food, it is almost as important as having rice on our plate. We have tons of different sambal recipes. Usually there are a typical sambal for a typical menu. Sambal bajak is one of the common sambal we have as condiment. This sambal is so awesome that it has its own site.

One of the unique part of this sambal is that it is not made of soft paste but rather chunky paste. I find it better to do this sambal by hand using mortar pestle than using a food processor. Its a lot of work tho, so better to make a big batch at a time. I am afraid if I make this sambal too often, I will end up with arms like Popeye's. 

Today's recipe is totally not a traditional Indonesian recipe at all, however I cook it often since I tend to have a lot of moose meat. You can use any strong-flavored meat such as lamb or even turkey. I used a lot of spices to soften the meat flavor yet careful enough it doesn't taste too much like a big triangle chunk of deep fried spice mix. 

Sambal Tauco is a crucial condiment for Coto Makassar, the previous recipe I posted. Well actually its pretty good that you can put it in most of Sotos, or even as a dip for your favorite tempura. If you can't find the Tauco paste, you can replace it with Korean Soy bean paste. 

Okay, once again I upload food that is not from my home country, but this potato salad is just soooo good I feel bad not sharing it with you. I made this last month for Octoberfest, everyone just loved it. Its super easy to make and tasty. As a big fan of potato salad, this definitely a cool choice to make, especially it has a good mix of sweet and sour taste and not as heavy as creamy potato salad. It won't override your main meal. 

On summer, one of the best fruits to snack on is watermelon. Its sweet and juicy, very refreshing. Unfortunately, I usually end up with lots of left over (well you know how big that fruit is). I was thinking is there any way to use this fruit other than for snack and dessert, then I stumbled upon this interesting salad recipe: watermelon salad. Its super easy and super fresh. Yay! 

A rissole is a small croquette, wrapped in pastry and rolled in breadcrumbs, usually deep fried. It's filled with

savoury ingredients like a mixture of chicken or meat. This is another one of my favorite snacks. In Indonesia, fried snack/finger food like this usually served at gatherings, either family gatherings or even formal business gatherings.  Personally, I can eat it just about anytime. I find it best eaten when it's freshly fried and with a dab of hot and spicy sauce. 

Ingredients for the wrappers:
 250 gr flour
600 ml water or fullcream milk , you can mix the milk and the water
1 or 2 eggs
2 tbsp melted butter
¼ tbsp salt
½ tbsp maizena

butter for greasing the skillet

Ingredients for the filling:
250 gr of smoked meat
3 boiled eggs
200 gr mayonnaise  (I like the one with the yoghurt mix)
200 gr cheese, shredded (you can use any kind of cheese, I used light cheddar in this recipe)

Breading mixture :
2 eggs, beaten
Breadcrumbs

Making the wrappers:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients until the batter is smooth.
2. Pre-heat a non-sticky skillet at medium heat and grease it with a bit of butter, ladle about 1/8 cup of the batter onto the skillet, like making pancake. Make sure the pancake is not too thin, so it won't be easily broken. Once the surface become dry (not liquidy), means your wrapper is ready. Put aside.
3. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Filling mix:

1. Slice your meat thinly.

2. Dice the boiled eggs (oops, I haven't diced mine when I took the photo)

3. In a large bowl, add the meat, egg, shredded cheese and mayo. Try to fold it gently so everything is well mixed without being too crushed. 

4. When all the preparations are done, put a spoon of filling in each of the wrapper and fold it just like making an egg-roll.

5. Roll the rissole in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Repeat the action again and then fry the rissole in the frying pan with medium heat. Fry until it’s golden brown.
6. Serve the rissoles with your favourite sauce. Mine was spicy sauce, Sriracha-like.

PS: I put my rissole in the fridge before frying it so the breadcrumbs don't crumbles too much in the frying pan. You can make it in a big amount and freeze it. Simply fry it anytime you want.

Happy cooking!!

This is definitely my favorite side dishes to eat with bubur ayam. Its sweet and savoury at the same time, and its easy to cook too!

What could be better then a plateful of home made corn fritters on a snowy spring evening?!  Yeah, its late March already but the sky still generously or should I say, unmercifully shower us with its snowy love here in Qc. Since cold weather always makes me hungry for finger foods, I try make some at least once a week and tonight I decided to cook my old time favorite finger food: Corn fritter! I know, I know, fried food isn't very good for our health, but these are delicious!

Tonight cooking theme was what the french calls touski: 'le tout ce qui a dans le frigo' a.k.a whatever is left in the fridge. I managed to gather some bits and pieces to make myself a tasty and decent salad for supper. I even found a proper drink to go with it :) 

I love fried finger food. I know its not healthy but it just sooo good. I can eat it as a snack anytime or as real meal with other side dish. Today I made around a 75 dumplings. I made this big amount in purpose because I am going to travel until February 2014 without my family and I want them to still be able to enjoy my cooking while I'm away. I freeze the rest of the dumplings so whenever they miss my cooking, all they have to do is fry the dumpling or steam it. Isn't a great idea?!

I have uploaded another post before on how to cook  lontong without banana leaf, it was fun and easy. Today I finally managed to cook the real lontong with banana leaf! 

Cooking lontong with banana leaf actually isn't as complicated as I thought it would be. It does take a little bit more effort and time, but its all worth it!

Super easy side dish, main ingredients are carrot and soya sauce. Literally. My all time fav, fast and failproof. 

Water spinach is a bit hard to find in North America so when I find one I try to make the best out of it. Good thing with this spinach, it doesn't take much to cook it into a nice simple dish.