012 - Mung Bean Porridge (That's 'Bubur Kacang Ijo' for you Indonesians)

This recipe here is what I call a real comfort food. Come on, don’t tell me you never had this for munchies before? Mung Bean Porridge (which goes by the ever so awesome Indonesian name: bubur kacang ijo) goes well at (almost) anytime of the day.

Just woke up and feeling hungry? Mung Bean Porridge

Stayed up all night and got the munchies? Mung Bean Porridge

Got sick and needed some proper food? Mung Bean Porridge.

See? This shit is proper awesome. And it’s dead easy to make too! Here’s everything you need:

200 grams of raw Mung beans

150-200 grams of Palm Sugar cube. It’s okay to substitute with brown sugar if you can’t find Palm Sugar.

4-5 Cups of water. The amount will depends on the cooking state. Read on!

1-2 inch of ginger

1-2 pandan leaves.

Optional: 

Splash of coconut milk. If you can’t stomach coconut milk, it’s okay to substitute with fresh milk.

This recipe will probably cost you 20-30 thousand rupiah max, and it should feed 4-6 people!

Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Soak the beans in warm water for at least 1-2 hour. This will help the beans to softened up, shortening the cooking time later on. But…..since I’m impatient, half an hour do good for me. This proven to be a BAD decision. Read on. Oh, and if you see any beans floating on the water, throw it away, those are no good.

If it floats, no no.

Step 2 – Smash your ginger. Bash it. Yes. Pour all of your emotion to it.

Step 3 – Pour your water, mung bean, ginger, and Pandan leaves to a pot, set the heat on high. This process will take around 30 minutes – 1 hour depending on the heat source. Mine took around 45 minutes BECAUSE i only gave the beans half an hour to soak. It’s too long? Fret not, IT’S WORTH IT

Step 4 – You can check back every now and then. The cue here is when you see much of the beans started to crack. When that happens, put in your salt and brown sugar and. Just make sure you cut the sugar into small pieces beforehand, so it can blend in easily. Nobody likes lump in their porridge right?

THE CUE

 

Step 5 – When it smells like little piece of heaven, it’s time to serve!

And i present to you....

The glorious bubur kacang ijo. Hell yes. This one is topped with coconut milk and pandan infused whipped cream. It. Tasted. GOOD.

Give it a try folks!

Peace

xx

011 - The Fast Garlic and The Furious Shrimp (a.k.a a tribute to Paul Walker)

Anybody out there watch movies? You might saw the news recently regarding the passing of the renown star of the 'The Fast and The Furious' franchise, Paul Walker. 

It was a sad day for Hollywood. He was a good actor, and a real life good guy Greg too. He is known for his love for the environment. No wonder that the dude spent some good time in Indonesia, helping to promote reef conservation.

In the light of the sad event, I'm paying a tribute to him with a dish that is not only look tasty, but also cook real fast and tasted real furious. Recipe is a humble recreation from FoodWishes.  So here's everything you'll need:

4-6 large shrimps. Feel free to substitute with smaller variety!

3-4 cloves of large garlic.

1-1,5 tbsp of Butter. Feel free to substitute with margarine.

1 tsp of dried chili flakes.

1 tsp of parsley. Doesn't matter whether it's fresh or dried, both are awesome.

2-3 tbsp of Lemon Juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Ready? Here we go!

First of all, always remember to get the freshest shrimp around! Fresh shrimp smells like the ocean, not fishy at all. Oh, and the head section is also attached firmly to the torso!

Step 1 - Feel free to choose your way in enjoying the shrimp. I like my shrimp for this dish to have everything except the little feet and whiskers attached. Reason? Great appearance and it help contains the flavor inside. But if you wanna strip the shells done, do as you wish.

Step 2 – Prep every ingredient. Chop your Parsley beforehand into a very fine consistency. If you’re using dried ones, skip this one.

Before: In stalk and everything

COMMENCE THE CHOPPING

YEAH, GO ON

Step 3 – Mince your garlic into fine consistency. Since I have this fancy Garlic Press, I’m gonna utilize it!

Squishy, Squishy

Scrape that baby up!

Step 4 – Heat your pan with the highest heat you can crank, and add enough oil to coat the bottom, but not much that it drowns the shrimp. Remember: oily shrimp is a sucky shrimp.

Step 5 – Please, please, please, please ensure that your shrimp are thoroughly dried before hitting the pan. There is nothing worse than oil splashing because they are so sick of the water crashing their party. After you do, put the shrimp in.

Step 6 – The bastards should cook fast. I cooked mine at around 1 minute or so. When you see the bottom side starting to change color, flip it. To ensure even cooking, i cover the shrimp right after the flip

Step 7 – Now it’s time to go nuts on the flavoring. I put my ingredient in this order:

Garlic

Chili Flakes, Salt, Pepper

Butter

Parsley

Step 8 – Finish with a squeeze of Lemon juice, and..

Step 9 – PLATE!

This dish is awesome. It's buttery, savory, tangy, all at the same time!

Hey Paul, if you’re out there, I’m dedicating this dish to you. Rest In Peace man.

Peace

xx

010 - Hash Browns!

Hey You. Yeah, YOU. How was your Saturday night? Did you score with a chick? Or you got beer goggles? I betcha some of you drank way too much alcohol and now having the worst hangover ever. Haha, GOOD LUCK with that!

Since, alcohol plus party equals Hangover. And hangover plus morning after equals munchies. I’m sure the best way to cure that is to eat a hearty homemade breakfast. Tell you what, I’m gonna fix you up with some good ol’ Hash Browns. This thing will feed your crispy-salty-savory cravings after a night out in town, or a night full of sad movies for all of you singles out there HAHA. (JK, I’m recently single too)

You will need a very minimal amount of ingredient. Here’s everything you need:

1 Large Potatoes. Most recipes recalls for Idaho potatoes. Since it’s hard to find it here, I always go with large Granola potato, which, also known here locally as ‘Tess’ Potato. It’s a bit pricey, but  totally worth it.

1 egg whites.

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Good amount of Cooking Oil. No preference, but I usually use regular olive oil.

Oh yeah, one more thing, you will need a grater with large hole in it. You’ll see why soon ;)

Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Peel and grate your potato. ALL OF IT.

Step 2 – Soak your potato on cold water. You will see pretty soon that the water turns cloudy and murky. Kinda like a day then your loved ones let you down ain’t it? HAHA. Anyway, rinse it off, and repeat the process 3-4 more times until the water is crystal clear.

 Murky as fuck

 It's getting sunnier any minute now

 CRYSTAL CLEAR!!

Prep for Draining!

Step 3 – Completely drain your potato from moisture. Potato ricer would be a perfect tool to squeeze out every last bit of moisture out of it. But I’m pretty sure not all of you have, or worse yet, even know what a potato ricer is. Am I right? LOL. So here’s what I do; I got 2 identical bowls, line the bottom bowl with kitchen towel, spread the potato, cover it with yet another kitchen towel, and finally use the second bowl to squeeze the potato between.  Remember: dry potato equals crispy hash.

Line it up

Cover it

PRESS LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW

Step 4 – Mix in the egg whites, salt, and pepper. I always put the salt last, since salt will draw out more moisture from your mix.

Step 5 – Oil your pan and prep your stove with medium heat. We’re going to cook this on 2 stages: Medium heat to cook the potato, and High heat to crisp it.

Step 6 – Put your potato mixture in, any shape you like. Press it down to compact everything up, to ensure a dense finished product. Cook on medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side depending on the size. Don't worry if the hash seems too fluffy now, simply press it down with a spatula to compact it.

Step 7 – After the ‘cooking’ process, it is time to crisp it all up! Turn the stove to the highest setting available! Now pay attention, these hash patties are like a baby; it needs constant care and attention. You turn your eye for a second, you’re gonna end up with a burnt hash! All you need to do now is constant flip-sizzle motion. This will take around 3 minutes, or until you see it’s nice and golden brown.

Step 8 – Plate and Eat!!

Ah, the glory of crispy potatoes in the morning, accompanied by sautéed mushroom and sunny side up. Enough to fix your hangover ain’t it?? ;)

Hope you enjoy reading this, and please give it a try!

Peace

xx