Simple Chicken Rendang

Rendang is a popular dish during hari raya. But I didn't cook any this year. Today I'm craving for it, so I cooked some for lunch. This is my favourite rendang recipe. I don't like much rendang with kerisik as I think it's too heavy. So this is my way of cooking rendang and I think I'll stick to this recipe for now.

Ingredients:

~ Chicken pieces

~ 1 medium onion*

~ 4 garlic cloves*

~ half inch ginger*

~ 1 cm galangal*

~ 4 dried chillies*

~ 1 lemon grass - bruised

~ half cup coconut milk

~ kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped

~ turmeric leaves, finely chopped

~ cooking oil

~ salt, sugar, msg

*finely grind

Methods:

1. Heat some oil, fry the blended until fragrant with lemongrass.

2. Add in chicken pieces, cook until all sides brown.

3. Add in coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric leaves, salt, msg and sugar.

4. Add some water if sticky, let everything simmer for 40 minutes.

See, it's very simple. Just in an hour rendang is ready. if using kerisik you need to add another hour to prepare just kerisik.

Taa daafe baad....khodanegahdar

Javanese Pecal Wak Tipah's Special Recipe

Today I want to share my mom's no 1 recipe: Pecal. Pecal is originally a Javanese food. It's like gado-gado with a slightly different taste. This is the food people searching for at my house during hari raya. I asked mak why she serves pecal on hari raya because it is not a common food during the occasion. She said this culture has been passed from my grandmother which is originally Indonesian. From all her 6 siblings, only my mom inherited the recipe. Hence, my uncles, aunties and relatives came to my house to have it.

Mak always asked us, her daughters to learn how to make pecal. But then we always said mak make it better especially in blended the ingredients for the sauce. We always shouted from kitchen whenever the sauce has finished and mak will gets angry because she was busy in the living room entertaining guests. So, this year mak has decided that she wants me to make the  everything from A to Z. Luckily, nobody complained. :) Here, I write it down for my future reference.

The peanut sauce

  Tapioca leaves 

                                                                Mung beans sprouts

Cucumber

                                                              

Noodles

Ingredients (for sauce):

~ Dried chillies*

~ Onion*

~ Garlic*

~ Shrimp paste*

~ Peanut - deep fried, blend not too fine

~ Tamarind paste juice

~ Kencur/cekur - finely pound

~ Salt, sugar, msg

Methods:

1. Finely blend all the * ingredients. In a pan, heat some oil and cook the blended ingredients in a medium heat until it well cooked (dark red colour). This is the base of the sauce. Mak made this in a bunch to make the process of making sauce easier. Everyday heat it 2 times in morning and night and it can be keep for 3-4 days. 

2. To make the sauce, first mix well the chilli mixture with sugar, salt and msg. Add in peanut, kencur, some tamarind juice and water. Blend everything well not too thick. Adjust the ingredients to your liking. According to mak, put kencur more to get nice aroma. Sauce has to be make in a small quantity to get a fresh taste. If make in a large amount, make sure heat it frequently. 

Other ingredients:

~ Tapioca leaves, boil until soft with some salt and kapur makan to have a nice green color.

~ Mung beans sprouts, this is another speciality in my moms pecal because she made this by herself.

~ Noodles

~ Cucumber

~ Unripe papaya

~ Fried tofu

Actually you can put anything you like as the ingredient to eat pecal. Whatever convenient for you to find or whatever you like. 

This is  photo of last year hari raya

To date we have finished, 15kg of peanut, 20 bags of noodles, 5kg of mung beans. Tapioca trees around my house and neighbourhood also has been "kachal" (bald). Mak has stopped making pecal on 8th day of hari raya and she will make it again this weekend. Neighbours and families also being generous by giving the ingredients for pecal. Some of them gave mak some money because they knowhow complicated the process of making pecal. Alhamdulillah. Khoda ro shokr that with pecal our family's ties getting stronger. I just hope that this recipe won't extinct. Me myself will keep the culture forever. And I am proud of it. 

Taa daafe baad...salamati ba hameghi va khodanegahdar...

Singgang Ikan Parang

Ikan parang (sword fish) is mak's favourite. Yesterday she bought this fish form a fish monger that everyday came to my house. His name is Ah Kim, a chinese man. His trademark shout to call mak from inside house is like this "Kak Tipah...nak ikan tak?". Putri and fifin alwys imitate the way he shouts. Back to the fish, it's a long fish which I cut onto 6 pieces. 3 pieces I've cooked asam pedas yesterday. The balance which include a big roe (on the left side of the plate) I cooked today. One of the simplest menu yet very tasty for my liking.

Ingredients:

~ 3 pieces of ikan parang

~ 1 large onion, slice

~ 4 garlic cloves, slice

~ 1 inch ginger, slice

~ 1 cm galangal, slice

~ 1 tspn turmeric powder

~ Some tamarind juice

~ 1 green chilli

~ Salt, msg and sugar to taste

~ Cooking oil

~ Water

Methods:

1. In a pan, heat some oil and saute all the sliced ingredients for about 2 minutes until the aroma arise.

2. Sprinkle turmeric powder.

3. Stir in the tamarind juice and some water, when it's boiling, add in the fish and green chilli.

4. Cook for about 10 minutes.

I love the crunchy and sweet taste of onion.

Taa daafe baad..bezar fekr konam chi dige doros konam baraye eftar..khoda negahdar..

Sambal Belachan

My version of not so spicy sambal belachan. Did I tell that I can't consume too spicy foods anymore especially for foods that used dried chillies. Sigh....

Ingredients:

~ 1 medium Onion

~ 3 garlic cloves

~ 2 red chillies

~ 3 bird eyes chillied

~ half inch shrimp paste\

~ a handful of anchovies

~ sugar

~ Lime

Methods:

1. Fry all of the ingredients except sugar and lime for about 5 minutes.

2. Grind everything in lesung batu (mortar and pastle), taste with sugar. Put some lime juice before serving.\

3. I love to eat sambal belachan with ulam (raw vegetables). Yummm

Taa daafe baad..ghazahaye tond nakhor..del dar migiiri..:) khod hafez..

Terung Balado

Ingredients: 

- 1 medium eggplant, halves cut into 2 inch long

- 1 small onion*

- 4 red chillies*

- 3 garlic cloves *

- some dried shrimp*

- 2 kaffir lime leaves 

- juice of one lime

- cooking oil 

Methods: 

- Blend all the * ingredients

- deep fried eggplant until golden, set aside

- heat some oil, fry the blended ingredients until fragrant.

- add kaffir lime leaves and the fried eggplant

- taste with salt, msg and sugar

- cook until the eggplant coated with the sauce

Sambal Paru (cow's lung in chili sauce)

Ingredients:

- cow's lung. Boil for about 30 minutes with ginger, onion and salt. Then slice thinly, marinate with turmeric powder and deep fry for about 5 minutes. This steps is to make sure the lung become tender.

- 10 dried red chillies*, cut into smaller pieces and boil for about 15 minutes to discard the seeds and to make it soft

- 1 medium onion*

- 3 garlic cloves*

- 1 cm galangal*

- half inch ginger*

- 1 cm turmeric

- shrimp paste

- dried tamarind

- cooking oil

Methods:

1. Blend all * ingredients finely.

2. Heat some oil, pour the mixture and fry until 'pecah minyak' to make sure everything cooked.

3. Put in the dried tamarind for a bit sourness.

4. Taste with salt, sugar and msg.

5. Add in the fried lung. Cook for about 5 minutes. Done.