Sunday, July 27, 2014

042 - Miso Udon Bowl! #EasyCooking

It’s late at night. You just had a rough day in the office. Your girlfriend is mad at you for no reason (period?). You’re alone in your apartment. And you’re hungry as f**k.

Why not make a hearty MISO UDON BOWL?

Easy to whip up (thanks to the ready-made udon noodles and powdered fish stocks), and totally customizable to your liking!

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For 1 servings, you will need:



1 portion of Fresh/Dried Udon (Weighing approximately 200 grams). Fresh, ready-made packaged udon cooks faster. Hence; it’ll feed your hunger faster
1 packet of instant Dashi powder. Sold in most international groceries store in box of 10, sold around IDR 20K
1 tbsp of Miso
1 tbsp of Sugar
3 cups of Water for the soup stock
2 cups of Water (or more) for boiling the noodles.
Plenty of Ice Cubes

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Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Pour 2 cups of water into a saucepan and let it boil on high heat. Once boiling, put your Udon in. Read the package of the noodles! The ready-made noodles should take 2 minutes to be done, while dried ones can took 7-9 minutes to cook!

Perfectly summarizes a bad day right?
But be not afraid, for Udon is here!
Exactly 2 minutes for this bad boy to cook up nicely!

Step 2 – Get a bowl and fill it with ice and water. After the noodle is done, transfer it to the ice bowl. This will stop the cooking process, and makes the noodle chewier and have more bite to it. Yummerz!

Ice Age 5 - Udon Goes for A Swim


Step 3 – Now, let’s cook the broth. Boil 3 cups of water. I’m adding spring onions (purely optional) for aroma. Once boiling, add the Dashi powder & sugar and cook through. After that, add the miso. Use a small strainer and a spoon to infuse the Miso to the broth. Let it boil for 1 minute, and it’s done!!


There's just something awesome about instant Dashi powder. It's tasty, almost magical.
Sugar and spice and everything nice
Miso!
So Done!

Step 4 – Serve!



Ah, A warm, Miso-broth Udon on a lonely night. Ain’t that just a lovely thing to have? I’m giving you freedom of choice for the toppings. 

Seriously, go crazy. 

If you love protein, you can add beef or chicken to it. Vegetarian? Add mushrooms and spinach. Me? I’m adding soy-mirin marinated Enoki mushrooms, 5:30 Boiled Eggs, Katsuobushi, Bean Sprouts and Spring Onions.

Oh, did I tell you that you can actually make the broth in advance and freeze it to be used later on?

Give this recipe a go!

Cheers

xx


Saturday, July 19, 2014

041 - Chocolate Dipped Banana! #EasyCooking

Ied Al Fitr is around the corner my dear readers! You know what that means right? Fatty-cholesterol-laden-yet-oh-my-god-so-good-food around the corner!

As kids, I’m not exactly fond of the main course (but now I do!), I was more of the dessert lover kinda kid. Let it be crackers, sweets, anything! It hits the spot!

But today, let me introduce you to the awesome 2 ingredient dessert you can make with your nephew and kids; CHOCOLATE DIPPED BANANA!

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For bananasicle (yes, that’s a word), you will need:

A TRIFORCE???
medium sized Bananas. Make sure it’s Ripe!
110 grams of Dark Chocolate. Always use the ones with a lot of Cocoa Butter in it!
(optional) Rainbow sprinkles
(optional) Crushed peanuts.
3 popsicle sticks

You will also need a tool to coat the Bananas with chocolate. I'm using a silicone baster i usually use for BBQ. But spoon will work fine too!

======================

Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Peel your already-ripened Bananas. Be careful, don’t damage it.

Peely peely peely
2 and a half Banana

Step 2 – Grab the Popsicle sticks; stick it deep inside the Banana, GENTLY. (LOL, this sounded so wrong). Freeze the Banana for at least an hour or two inside the freezer.

Banana: The Stick of (almost) truth
SHOVE IT IN


Step 3 – Grab a microwave proof bowl, and pour the chocolate chip in. Melt the chocolate in 30 seconds burst. It took me 3 bursts of 30 to melt the chocolate completely.



Before
After 30 seconds
After 60 seconds
After 90 seconds. DONE!

Step 4 – Pour the melted chocolate over the freezing Banana. Ensure to coat it completely, after that, you can sprinkle your toppings. I’m going for the rainbow sprinkles!. After this, freeze it for another 4-5 hours to harden completely.






Step 5 – Serve!



A perfect treat for the summer holiday is here! If I were to describe the taste, it actually resembles a banana ice cream with hard chocolate coating on top. Kinda like eating one of those famous ice cream Bar here (*cough* M**n**m), but definitely healthier (Hello, no dairy?)

This will surely be a hit among the youngsters in the family. And those with sweet tooth, too!

Give this a try, and let me know how it turns out!

Peace
xx


040 - Green Beans with Gochujang #EasyCooking

Okay people, this week, we’re cooking some vegetables! Now now, don’t run. This vegetarian-suitable dish is very tasty and fulfilling. And guess what? If you add the right ingredient, it can even taste like MEAT!

This time, I’ll be utilizing my favorite; Green Beans. Green Beans are rich in Fiber, Vitamin K, and very versatile in cooking. Green beans is also very crunchy and satisfying! All and all, this dish is very good and beneficial for your body!

To top it off, we’ll sauce the beans with Gochujang! This ingredient is quick on becoming my favorite in the kitchen. It is very versatile. You can eat it raw, you can cook it too. You can put it in Vegetables, Chicken, Beef, even Fish! How’s that for awesome? Gochujang is now widely available in large supermarket, retailing at about IDR 40.000 (USD 3.5) for a box.

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For 2 servings, you will need:



200 grams of Green Beans. Washed, keep it whole
3 Cloves of Garlic. You can either chop it very finely, or grate it. Both will do fine.
1/2 of Onion. Chopped finely
2 tbsp of Gochujang
1 tbsp of Vinegar. Rice Wine Vinegar would be best for this dish. But if you don’t have some, White Vinegar will work too.
1 tbsp of Sugar
50 ml of Water
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
1 tbsp of Sesame Seed Oil

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Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – First off, the green beans. It’s best to steam it rather than boiling it for 2 reasons; (1) it’ll keep the crunchy texture better, and (2) it keeps all the nutrients inside. Come on, what’s the point of eating vegetables if all the goodies are gone already? The steaming should take around 1,5 – 2 minutes. Just adjust to your preferred crunchiness. I like mine halfway through. Once done, drop it in ice water to retain its color.

Step 2 – Get a non-stick pan, pour about 2 tbsp of cooking oil in, heat on medium high heat. First off, in goes the onion. Stir constantly to avoid burning for about 1 minute.

Olive oil
Onions!


Step 3 – Put the garlic in, and turn the heat down to medium. Give it constant stir. 30 seconds.

Garlic goes in


Step 4 – Put the Gochujang in, stir to combine with the onion and garlic mixture. After that, add the vinegar.

Gochujang. They're fragrant!
Mix
Vinegar!

Step 5 – Add salt and pepper, and the sugar. Give it a good mix.

Salt and Pepper
Sugar


Step 6 – Add the water, and let the sauce turn into a soup like mix. Don’t worry, the sauce will thicken up as it cooks. At this stage, you can add the sesame seed oil.

Water
Sesame Seed oil


Step 7 – Once the sauce has thicken up, you’re done!

Step 8 – Serve!



See? That wasn’t so hard right? This dish is best eaten with piping hot steamed rice!

Here’s for more creative idea;
  • You can add more protein to this dish. Boil a tofu, and serve it alongside with the sauce on top!
  • Feeling adventurous? Add some more heat by adding Dried Chili Flakes after you add the garlic, and also add some Ground Paprika Powder.
  • Wanna make this a one dish meal? After the sauce is ready, add the beans in WITH an additional 200 Grams of Rice right before finish, while giving it a good stir. This way, you’ll end up with a nice, smooth and spicy rice and beans. Satisfying!


People, I know Vegetables is not something that I cook often, but I seriously recommend you to eat more vegetables daily. I too, will try to come up with more vegetable based recipe! Afterall, nature already serves us a loot goodies, so why not eat it? :)

Peace

xx

Sunday, July 13, 2014

039 - Cheesy Smashed Potatoes #EasyCooking

Time for another cheesy goodness!

Who doesn’t love cheese right? I’m salivating just by thinking of it. Imagine, melting hot Mozzarella inside your mouth right now. Wash it off with a glass of cold Coke. OH MY GOD.

But this time around, it’s not Mozzarella we’re about to use. Nu uh, it’s way too expensive to be put into my kind of cheap cooking. I’ll stick to everyone’s favorite cheese (well, in Indonesia at least), CHEDDAR.

And the co-star of today’s dish is none other than….POTATOES!!!

This is CHEESY SMASHED POTATOES

This Carb and Fat laden sinful dish always gets me every friggin time. There’s nothing this baby can’t do (well, it has yet to cure someone’s heartbreak, but who knows?)

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For 1 Servings, you will need:



200 grams of baby potatoes. Baby potatoes are the lil’ brother. It is small, cooks fast, and most of all, looked awesome on this dish. But it you’re kinda lazy to get it, you can substitute with regular potatoes, just make sure you cut it into bite size pieces!
30 grams of Cheddar cheese. The cheese we need to use on this have to be able to melt. IT MUST. Feeling rich? Substitute with Mozzarella, Emmental, even Brie for that awesome flavor
½ tsp of Salt
1 tsp of Black Pepper
1 tbsp of Butter
4-5 tbsp of Cooking Oil. The exact measurement can be more, can be less. We’ll see once we start cooking, so just keep some extra in reach.
·
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Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Get a pot filled with water, and let it boil. Meanwhile, give the baby potatoes a wash and cut it in half. Once the water is boiling, put your potatoes in. This stage is called Par-boiling. This is where we’re pre-cooking the potatoes so it will take shorter time to cook in the pan later on. The par-boiling should take around 6-7 minutes. How to know when it’s done? You stick a knife in the middle and the potatoes slides of easily.

No need for salt, just h2o and Poh-tay-toh
Legend has it, this speeds up the cooking process
Pierce-able!

Step 2 – Once all the potatoes are done, drain it (DON’T SKIP THIS) and quickly get a heavy object, and SMASH THE F*** OUT OF IT. Meanwhile, grate your cheese. And no, don’t cheat on me, don’t sneak a taste!

"No Sir, i'm begging you, please, i have a family..."
"...GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Scenes from upcoming zombie movie "DAY OF THE SPUD"

Step 3 – Get a pan, and coat it with the oil. Set the heat to medium. Once the pan is smoking hot, put your potatoes in. Please ensure the potatoes have dried completely before throwing it into the pan. Remember kids, Water and Oil doesn’t mix. Season the potatoes with salt and cook it for around 6-7 minutes without moving!

Just in case you didn't know already, this is olive oil
The Spud's get the treatment they deserve!
Salt the wound!

Step 4 – After 6-7 minutes, give the potatoes a flip. You can see that the bottom is now golden brown and crunchy (and definitely tasty too!). Now, put the butter in. Ensure all the potatoes got the butter treatment they deserve. Here’s a confession; I use way too much butter during this photoshoot, 1,5 tbsp to be exact. I ended up scooping the excess butter out so the potatoes don’t get soggy.

LOOK AT THAT
PEPPER THAT B***H UP!
BUTTER THAT UP
Step 5 – Round up the potatoes on the center of the pan, and spread the cheese evenly on top. Cover it, and let it melt


CHHEEEEESSSEEEEE


Step 6 – Serve!



Top the cheesy potatoes with parsley, some hot sauce, and boom. Heaven.

Why don’t you whip this up for the weekend? It’s not hard, it’s easy to do, and it costs less than what the restaurant will charge you.


Peace

xx