057 - INTERNET

I bet you a good 100.000 rupiah that you’ve eaten this dish at least once during your whole lifetime. This is a dish a lot of mother would probably lock inside a closet so their children wouldn't even land their tongue near this dish. 

It’s savory, full of fat and calories, but most important of all, TASTY.

Let’s give a round of applause to INTERNET.

No, don’t worry, we’re not literally eating it. INTERNET stands for INDOMIE-TELOR-KORNET (Noodle-Eggs-Corned Beef). 

If you never heard of it yet, ‘Indomie’ is the market leader for instant ramen in Indonesia. With that being said, it’s the top of mind of customer for instant ramen product. Over the time, people got accustomed to it by referring any (and I mean, ANY) kind of instant ramen product from various maker as ‘Indomie’. Well, good for them!

So, I haven’t been able to figure out who came up with this recipe in the first place. But I suspect a drunk college student was the one to found out about this delicious abomination.

My twist on this recipe is simple and easy to follow. Rather leaving the Corned Beef plain as-is, I’d rather give it a nice spice kick to it by adding some Paprika and Curry powder. This will help cut the saltiness and give it a nice contrast to the overall dish. Not forgetting the greens, you can add any greens you want.

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For 1 Servings, you will need;

1 Packet of Instant Noodles. Any flavor would be fine

80 grams of Corned Beef. Get the plain ones without Mushroom or other funky stuff.

½  Tsp of Black Pepper

1 Tsp of Curry Powder

1 Tsp of Paprika powsder

2 Tsp of Corn Starch

1 Egg.

Green Onions

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Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Mix the Corned Beef with Curry Powder, Paprika Powder, and Cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.

Ah, all the glory in a bowl

Curry powder

Paprika Powder

Black pepper

Corn Starch

Mix it up!

Ready to go

Step  2 – Get a non-stick pan, heat it on medium-high. Add some cooking oil and put the Corned Beef mix in. Cook it in a flash; around 2 minutes to heat through and let the seasoning woke the flavor up. Once done, transfer to a plate and set it aside.

Oil

Step 3 – Boil your eggs PRECISELY for 5 minutes and 15 seconds. This will create that distinct melting yolk. Once the egg is done, transfer to a bowl filled with ice water to cool.

Step 4 – Cook your noodles to your own personal liking. Here’s a tip to get a clear broth; discard the water used to boil the noodles, and boil a new one. That way, you will get a nice clear broth, not a murky one.

Step 5 – Assemble! Broth-Noodle-Corned Beef-Egg.

Seasoning Mix

Chili powder

Boiling water

Noodles

Beef

EGGS!

Step 6 – Serve!

This right here is every child’s dream. It’s a trip to nirvana with all the sodiums and fats. Healthy? F*ck no. There’s no way we can make this dish a healthy one.

Corned Beef has long bad reputation of being overly salty. No wonder, the salt is there to help preserve it in the first place. So my seasoning mix is a great way to change the way it taste. Feel free to experiment with yours!

Cheers.

xx

056 - EGG IN A BASKET!

Here’s a quick, less than 5 minute to cook recipe to impress people!

It’s EGG IN A BASKET!

If you follow my instruction, you might just pulled off your very first gourmet looking dish!

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For 1 Servings, you will need:

1 Piece of White Bread. Or you know, go health with Wheat, cause whatever

1 Eggs. I’m currently in love with organic eggs since it has a brighter looking yolk, and it tasted better too!

Oil For frying

Butter For frying

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Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Make sure the bread is in room temperature (lazy ass people, trust me, it pays to do so!). Grab a circular cookie cutter (or a glass if you don’t have one), press it gently towards the center of the bread to make a hole. Keep both the Hole and the rest of the bread, set it aside.

Here we have a Circular Cookie Cutter in it's natural behavior: Making Holes (LOL)

Look Ma! A Hole!

Step 2 – Get a non-stick pan, set the heat to medium, and put a dash of Oil and Butter in there. After the pan gets hot, put the bread in (NOT the Hole people, not just yet.) Afterwards, crack your egg in the middle, and let it cook for about 2 minutes, or until it hardens to your liking.

Olive Oil and Butter

A nice mixing action

Bread goes in

Egg goes in!

NOOOO! The Yolk Broke :'((

Step 3 – After the egg gets a little bit runny, give it a flip to cook the other side for another 1 minute. Once done, set aside, and cook the hole part of the bread until it gets toasty on both sides.

Step 4 – Serve!

See? I promised you an easy recipe didn’t i? If that wasn’t easy enough, go try it on yourself! You’ll be amazed how much you can do with just 2 ingredients!

Serve this with a touch of Salt and Pepper, or maybe a Hot Sauce too, and enjoy with a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Cheers

xx

055 - A Small Step Towards Greatness

'Kay, as i was typing this post, i just finished exercising outside (my first in a veeeeeeeeeeery long time!), and it got me thinking.


"Wow, it feels good to savor the clean air, sunlight, and everything in between"


What does that have to do with this cooking blog? Inspiration.

You might not realized it, but My Big Fat Cooking Blog is now 1 years old! *YAYYYYY*



Can't believe i finally took my step on inspiration and passion on cooking last year. The journey wasn't easy, but it was worth it.


So here's to the first year, and more to come.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BIG FAT COOKING BLOG!

054 - OKONOMIYAKI

Cooking your own food and eat it straight away is pure bliss. Don’t believe me? Try one of my recipes, preferably the easier ones, like the Aglio e Olio spaghetti or Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Grab a bite, and tell me if you don’t love it.

See what I’m talking about? That’s the great thing about comfort food. Done right and it will always hit the spot. Guaranteed.

This time around, it’s still Japanese, it’s still comfort food, and it’s still amazing.

It’s OKONOMIYAKI

To those with lazy fingers, let me help you with the googling. Okonomiyaki is basically a Japanese pancake. Well, not authentically theirs, but it’s their own take on the recipe. Instead of Butter and Maple, Okonomiyaki is served with Okonomi sauce and mayonnaise. 

Yes, it is Savory.

Okonomiyaki basically means ‘grill it as you like’. So each region throughout Japan has their version of it. Osaka people loved to add Squid or Shrimp to the mix, because their region specializes in Seafood. Hiroshima people loved to keep it heavy by adding yakisoba noodles and fried eggs into their already humongous Okonomiyaki.

Me? This is my take based on the Osaka version of the recipe. The recipe was adopted from several recipes I stumbled upon, and I tried to adjust it to Indonesian ingredients availability.

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For 2 Servings, you will need:

The star of the show!

100 grams of Cake Flour. Cake flour is basically a low-protein flour.

140 ml of Dashi stock. You can substitute this with Chicken Stock

¼ tsp of Baking Powder

(optional) 1 tbsp of Nagaimo. Nagaimo is Japanese mountain Yam. It can be bought at Japanese supermarket. The sticky texture doesn’t come cheap, it costs IDR 350.000 per kilogram.

Salt to taste

200 grams of Cabbage

75 grams of Green Onion

2 Eggs

100 grams of Squid/Shrimp. You can substitute this with Chicken. Keep in mind, Chicken cook longer, so it need to be par-cooked before being added to the batter.

For Toppings

Okonomiyaki/Japanese Worcestershire sauce. Mostly known as the ‘Bulldog’ brand.

Dried Seaweed

Katsuobushi (Dried, Smoked, Skipjack Tuna). Readily available at most major supermarkets today.

Japanese Mayonnaise. Kewpie should be your choice. Japs added MSG in their Mayo and it makes a whole world of difference.

Chives

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Ready? Here We Go!

Step 1 – Get a bowl and put the Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt in. Slowly add the Dashi while stirring constantly to avoid lumps. If you’re using Nagaimo, peel the skin, and grate it. Add the gooey stuff to the mix. This will make the final product chewy in a very good way.

Flour

Baking powder

Salt

Dashi stock

Nagaimo

It's sticky, YEW!

Step 2 – Add the Cabbage, Green Onion, Squid, and Eggs. Give it a nice stir. Not too much, just until combined. We don’t want gluten to form don’t we?

Cabbage and Green Onion

Squid

Eggs

Stir to combine

Step 3 – Get a large non-stick pan, add some oil to it. Heat it up on medium. Once the pan is hot, put the mixture in. Quickly cover the pan, and let cook for about 5 minutes on medium. After that, give it a flip, and cook on Medium-Low heat for another 6-7 minutes to crisp up.

Oil

Cooking on medium

The cover will help the insides cook

Ready to flip?

BAM!

Cover, yet again

Step 4 – Once crispy, take it off the heat and decorate! I usually go with Okonomiyaki Sauce, Katsuobushi, Chives, Seaweed, and Mayonnaise.

Okonomi sauce

Spread that sh*t, yeah

Katsuobushi

Chives

Seaweed

Kewpie Mayonnaise

Step 5 – SERVE!

You know, this might not be as authentic as it is in Japan, but it tasted pretty damn good!

You can literally put anything you want in here. For example, if you're not a fan of squid, you can add fish or shrimp. Or maybe shredded chicken? Yes, that can work too!

The thing is, Okonomiyaki is best enjoyed with family and friends. Cause it's just so damn good!

Give this thing a go!

Cheers

xx