Gary's Seafood Laksa Curry

We have a glorious summer for couple weeks already in Cork. Because of the very hot weather, mostly I only eat some simple food like salad or bread.  Then I watched Masterchef Australia (oh yeah, I am a devoted fan for this program) with this recipe on their Masterclass, it just hit me... all the memories that I have when I was in Indonesia, sunny days... spicy tasty food. So I just give a try this recipe.

The main ingredient is seafood, but you can just use chicken or beef if you like.

Gary Mehigan cook this recipe in a beautiful way to make sure everything is cooked perfectly, but hey... I am a Mom with a baby and toddler, did not have much time to spend in kitchen, so I made a lot of shortcut to cook this food. 

Ingredients

Laksa paste

• 5cm galangal, peeled, chopped
• 1 stalklemongrass, tougher outer stems removed, white part only, chopped
• 6 bird eye chillies, roughly chopped
• 4 shallots, sliced
• 3 clovesgarlic, chopped
• 1 heaped tsp toasted ground coriander seeds
• 5 cm piece fresh turmeric
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Gravy

• 1/3 cup (80ml)vegetable oil
• 4heads and shells of prawns
• 1 tbsp belachan
• 800mlcoconut cream
• 2 Tbspalm sugar
• 800 mlchicken stock (I use 1 chicken stock pot with 800ml water)
• 1 Lime
• 5 Tbsp Fish sauce
• 1 tbsp dried curry leaves

Seafood

• 500gr mixed seafood or prawn (frozen or fresh, anything that i have on the fridge/freezer)

Garnish

• Fried shallot
• Coriander sprigs
• Bean sprouts
• Sliced fresh chillies
• Lime

Method

1. For the laksa paste, process all the ingredients with hand blender, set a side.
2. For the gravy, heat oil in a wide, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add prawn heads and shells and cook for 1 minute or until they have turned red. Add belachan and break down with the back of a spoon.  
3. Add laksa paste and cook for about 1 minute or until fragrant, then add coconut cream. Continue to cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, then add palm sugar, curry leaves and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer (add the chicken now if you use chicken instead) and cook for 30 minutes to allow flavours to infuse. Add the lime juice and fish sauce. Remove shellfish heads and shells, and discard if desired. 
4. Add the mixed seafood, cook until just cooked (about 5 minutes). 
5. To serve, garnish laksa with garlic, shallot, coriander sprigs, bean sprouts, lime and chillies if using. Serve with roti bread, noodles or rice.

Modified from: Masterchef Australia

Copyright © 2013 Ovie Ober_Marbun

Ramsay's Pannacotta with Pomegranate Glaze

I watched  Gordon Ramsay's program on telly (channel 4?) last christmas, since then i really want to make it because pannacotta is so simple and easy to make. But at that time I was heavy pregnant and too lazy to cook.

So last sunday I get the recipe from here, maybe you can find it on one of Ramsay's book. 

I love the flavor of this dessert, the bitter taste of the chocolate, the freshness of pomegranate and the smoothness of pannacotta are a perfect match for today's sunny spring.

Ingredients:
2 medium sheets leaf gelatine
250ml double cream
50g caster sugar
50ml milk
15ml dark rum, or to taste

Pomegranate glaze:
20g caster sugar
275ml pomegranate juice

Chocolate shavings:
Block of good-quality dark chocolate, for grating

1. Soak the gelatine in a shallow dish of cold water for a few minutes. Meanwhile, put the cream, sugar, milk and rum into a saucepan and slowly bring to a simmer. Heat gently for 30 seconds, then remove the pan from the heat. Taste for flavour, adding a little more rum if you wish.

2. Squeeze the gelatine leaves to remove excess water, then add them to the cream mixture and stir until fully dissolved. Tip the mixture into a jug.

3. Now pour into four individual glass dishes, leaving enough room for the glaze. Leave to cool, then place the glasses in the fridge to set for at least two hours, or overnight if preparing ahead.

4. To make the pomegranate glaze, heat a dry frying pan.Tip the sugar into the hot pan followed by the pomegranate juice. Bring to the boil and allow to bubble for 10–15 minutes, until thickened to a sticky, syrupy glaze. Pour into a small jug and leave to cool completely.

5. Pop the chocolate in the freezer for 10–15 minutes before serving. Pour the cooled pomegranate glaze on top of the chilled pannacottas. Take the chocolate from the freezer and draw a small straight-edged knife along the flat side of the bar to make curled shavings. Top each pannacotta with chocolate shavings to serve.

Copyright © 2013 Ovie Ober_Marbun

Squid Stuffed with Tofu Curry

It's been a long time since i updated this blog. 

Yes, I am still cooking, and yes I tried some new recipes but so much thing's going on so i forgot to update this blog.

I've been craving for Gulai Tambusu since i read this recipe. It's a Minangese Curry with the main ingredient is Beef intestine (don't say yikes yet! It's delicious!!!). So instead of using the intestine of beef, I used the Squid.

Here is the recipe 

Ingredients:

Basic Curry:

5 birds eye chillies (you can adjust this if you can't stand hot)

5 Asian shallots (or 2 shallots)

4 garlic

4 candlenuts (you can replace this with 1 spoon of walnuts)

2 cm gelangal

2 cm ginger

2 cm turmeric

1 tsp tamarind

2 lemongrass,bruised

4 kaffir lime leaves

2 bay leaves

1 lt coconut milk ( i made from 2 can of 400ml coconut milk and add 200ml water)

salt

pepper

Squid filling:

2 whole squids

500gr tofu, mashed

1 egg

salt 

pepper

Directions:

1. Mashed the tofu, add salt,pepper and egg. Blend it well.
2. Take a squid,fill in the tofu mixture and close the hole with the toothpicks. Don't fill it too much or it will "explode".
3. Boiled the squid in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
4. Blend the chillies,shallots, garlic,candlenuts,gelangal, ginger and turmeric.
5. In the hot wok with 2 tbsp of oil, fry the blended spices until fragrant then add kaffir lime leaves,bay leaves and lemongrass.Stir fry about 2 minutes
6. Add the coconut milk, boil it with a low heat until the coconut milk is thickened.
7. Add the squid, cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Bahasa Indonesia:
Resep asli adalah resep Gulai Tambusu
Bahan:
1 kg usus sapi
5 butir telur ayam
5 butir telur bebek (agar adonan agak keras)
2 butir kelapa (buat santan kental sekitar 1 liter)
Bumbu:
untuk bahan pengisi usus:
2 butir bawang merah
2 siung bawang putih
1 sdt cabe merah giling
1 sdm kemiri giling
Garam secukupnya
Kuah (gulai):
10 buah cabe merah
6 butir bawang merah
6 siung bawang putih
4 butir kemiri
1 kelingking (2 cm) lengkuas
1 kelingking (2 cm) jahe
1 kelingking (2 cm) kunyit
2 sdt air asam jawa
3 lembar daun jeruk nipis
3 lembar daun salam
1 lembar daun kunyit
Garam secukupnya
Lada secukupnya
Cara membuat:

• Cuci usus sapi (luar dan dalam) sampai bersih, usahakan jangan sampai robek. Buang bagian lemaknya. Ikat salah satu ujungnya.

• Kocok telur ayam (putih dan kuning), campur dengan bumbu dan santan secukupnya (sekitar 1 cangkir).

• Isikan adonan telur+santan ke dalam usus sapi. Jangan terlalu penuh karena telur akan mengembang dan usus akan pecah bila terlalu padat diisi. Ikat ujung yang lain.

• Rebus air hingga mendidih, masukkan usus sapi yang telah berisi adonan telur. Rebus sampai matang. Aduk-aduk selama memasak agar kematangan rata. Bila tidak diaduk, besar kemungkinan usus akan besar sebelah ketika matang.

• Masak santan sampai berminyak.

• Kecuali daun salam, daun jeruk, dan daun kunyit, uleg semua bumbu sampai halus.

• Di panci lain, tumis bumbu halus.

• Masukkan daun jeruk dan daun kunyit, kemudian masukkan ke dalam santan kental.

• Dengan api kecil, masak sampai santannya mengental. Bila terlalu kental, dapat ditambah air mendidih.

• Tambusu yang sudah matang dipotong sekitar 8 sentimeter, kemudian masukkan ke dalam kuah kental ini dan dimasak selama 5 menit.

sumber: Detikfood
Copyright © 2012 Ovie Ober_Marbun

Poached Pear in Reduced Vanilla and White Wine Sauce

I always fancy this dessert from any food program on telly; wondering why it is one of the fave dessert from the contestants. I guess it because it's easy to make and you can make a lot of variation with the sauce.  I want to try this recipe from BBC webpage; but I don't have orange and lemon :P

So i modified a little bit (errr.. actually a lot, i didn't use honey, lemon, orange, clove,and cinnamon); I found the sauce is too sweet for me. Well, I don't have sweet tooth so next time I will reduce the sugar on the recipe (I just wonder if it also depend on wine that i use?).  So this recipe is simplify of the recipe in the link above:

Ingredients:

4  ripe Conference pears

400 ml white wine 

200 ml water

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp vanilla extract

Preparation method

1. Using a small, sharp knife, score a zigzag pattern in the skin around the top of each pear, working downwards from the stalk. Leaving the zigzag skin at the top in place, peel the rest of each pear very thinly so as to preserve their shape.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan big enough to hold everything, including the pears. Set over a medium heat until the liquid comes to the boil, then reduce the heat so that it is barely simmering. The cooking time will vary according to the ripeness of the pears. Very ripe pears will only take 5 minutes, much less ripe fruit will need up to 15 minutes. As soon as they are ready, turn off the heat.
3. Transfer the pears with their poaching syrup to a bowl and leave at room temperature until needed. Serve one or two pears on each plate with a little orange zest and some of the syrup.

Copyright © 2012 Ovie Ober - Marbun

Siomay Bandung

Siomay (or shu may) is a popular snack in my hometown, Bandung. I think this food originally from China or so. It's a steamed dumpling with the fish or mixed of chicken/pork and shrimp filling. 

I think you can find Siomay in most of the cities in Indonesia, but I still feel that Siomay in Bandung is the best you can get :P

When I was in Bandung, my favorite siomay is sold in Jalan Gardujati and Cibadak, i guess it's because I went to a church in the same area. 

Siomay also became my favorite food when I visit Evy,my high school friend. She always order about 50's everytime we have a reunion at her home. Yeah, we hardly cook in Indonesia, mostly we buy food :D

Ingredients:

Siomay:
300 gr shrimps, shell intact, deveined, cleaned, chopped
300 gr chicken/pork fillet, chopped
150 gr tapioca flour
1 eggs, slightly beaten
5 garlics
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Salt to taste

tofu, divided into small triangle forms
1 pack wonton skins

Method:

Siomay:
1. Mix shrimps and chicken meat in the food processor. Blend until smooth. 
2. Add tapioca flour,oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Process until incorporated. Add beaten egg, process it for about 2 minutes.
3. Spoon two teaspoon of mixture and place in the middle of wonton skin. 
4. Scratch the bottom part of tofu. Fill in with the siomay mixture.
5. Place both siomay and tofu in steamer pan. Steam it for about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat.

6. Serve with hard boiled egg, peanuts sauce and kecap. 

7. You can fry the siomay and tofu as alternative; we called it batagor for fried tofu dumpling.

Source: Keluarga Nugraha

Copyright © 2012 Ovie Ober_Marbun

Chocolate Delice with Salted Caramel

I always want to make this dessert since I saw The immunity test challenge on Masterchef Australia 3 between Dani and Eamon Sullivan;the winner of  Celebrity Masterchef Australia. Not just he's good looking sporty guy but he can cook, bless all good looking guy!    The dessert is so delicate,delicious and pretty. It's not like a  circusy over the top  Zumbo's dessert but still not an everyday dessert.

Last wednesday is hubby birthday, so I make this instead of the common birthday cake like sponge cake or black forest cake. Special cake for extraordinary person in my life :D

I made half of the portion from the original recipe. The recipe using g measurement instead of ml, if you use as much as you have in the recipe, you'll need about 1500ml cream.

Ingredients:

Creme Brulee:

375g Thickened Cream  (I used double cream)

135g Milk

1 Vanilla Pod  (Can't find it in the store, used 2 Tbsp Vanilla extract)

7 Egg Yolks

1 Whole egg

60g Caster sugar

Biscuit Base

250g Plain Flour

150g Unsalted butter

100g Caster sugar

1g Salt

1 Egg

Choco Cream

190g Thickened cream

190g water

150g Caster sugar

60g Dark cocoa powder ( I used Cadbury)

125g Dark Chocolate (64% - 70%)(I used Lindt Dark Chocolate 81%)

15f Leaf Gelatine (I used 5 leafs Dr Oetker Gelatine)

Base Delice

400g Choco Cream (Made as above)

350g Whipped thickened cream

Chocolate Glaze

340g Dark Chocolate (64% - 70%) chopped

230g Thickened cream

165g Light corn syrup (I used Golden Syrup)

Toasted Almond Flakes

75g Almond flakes

White chocolate stripes

150g White chocolate buttons (I used 100 gr Tesco White Chocolate)

Salted Caramel Sauce

250g Caster sugar

25g water

150ml Thickened cream

150g Unsalted butter

Salt to taste

Method: 

Crème brulee
1. Pre heat oven to 140°C.

2. For crème brulee, combine cream, milk and vanilla beans in a saucepan over a medium heat, bring to the boil and remove from heat. Remove vanilla beans from cream mixture and discard. (I mixed the vanilla extract with the cream)

3. Mix egg yolks, whole egg and sugar together, without incorporating too much air.

4. Slowly whisk in hot cream and strain. Pour approximately half the mixture into a baking paperlined slice tin to a depth of 6-8mm. Place in a bain marie and bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm and set in the centre.

5. Chill immediately and freeze.Once frozen, cut out 4 discs with cookie cutters that match the size of the cake rings and put back in the freezer until ready to use.

Choco cream
6. For choco cream, pour cream, cocoa, water and sugar into a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring regularly. Add chocolate and stir until melted.

7. Squeeze water from the gelatine leaves, add to warm chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Sieve and chill over ice, refrigerate until cool.

8. Whip cream to soft peaks and gently fold through 400g of choco cream until combined taking care not to knock out too much air. Refrigerate until assembly.

Biscuit Base
9. For biscuit base, increase oven temperature to 180°C.

10. Place flour, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor and process to a fine breadcrumb. Add egg and process until mixture starts to come together. Tip mixture onto a clean chopping board and press into a smooth dough, wrap in cling film and rest for 10 minutes in the fridge.

11. Place pastry between two sheets of baking paper and roll out to 2-3mm thick. Cut out 9cm circles and place on a baking paper lined baking tray. Blast chill for 1 minute. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden and allow to cool.

Chocolate glaze
12. For chocolate glaze, pour cream, corn syrup (i used golden syrup) and water into a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Pour over chocolate and stir until melted and mixture is smooth.

Salted caramel
13 For salted caramel, make a caramel with sugar and water. Whisk in cream until incorporated. Add butter a few pieces at a time, whisking between each addition and stir in salt. Continue to whisk to a thick glossy sauce.

White chocolate stripes
14 Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag. Keep warm or reheat in a bowl of warm water when ready to use.

To assemble
15. Place 2 x 10cm cake rings on a baking paper-lined tray. Place cooked biscuit bases in the centre of each cutter and top each with a circle of frozen crème brulee. Pour chocolate cream mixture over each cutter and spread over each stack so that it fills the gaps down the sides and the tops are level. Chill until it's frozen in the freezer.

To prepare the delice
16. Place frozen rounds on a cooling rack set over a baking tray and gently remove the moulds using a blowtorch. Pour chocolate glaze generously over each frozen round so that it covers the sides and drizzle with white chocolate in stripes. Arrange toasted almonds around the edges.

To serve: 
Spoon salted caramel sauce onto a serving plate, sprinkle with salt and top with a delice.

A tiny modified from Masterchef Australia and if you want the detail you can find it at Eamon Sullivan page




Copyright © 2012 Ovie Ober_Marbun

Crème Brulee

I love to have this for my dessert when i was in Paris or when I dine in at any place in France.It's so creamy and really perfect with my coffee :)

I always push myself to try to cook some of International food, so when i found this recipe from Masterchef Australia website, i just give a try. From the comments on the website, it seems some people has a lot of difficulties in making this dessert. But i found this recipe is just perfect!

Ingredients

600ml thickened cream ( I use 2 pack  250ml double cream)
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped ( I use 2 tbsp vanilla extract)
6 egg yolks (i  use 5 egg yolk)
¼ cup caster sugar
120g demerara sugar

Method

1.Preheat oven to 120°C.

2.Place the cream, vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to scalding point, then remove from heat. Remove vanilla bean and discard. (I mix vanilla extract to the cream)

3.Whisk together egg yolks and caster sugar in a bowl for 2-3 minutes or until pale.

4.Pour hot cream over egg yolk mixture, continuing to whisk until well combined. Strain mixture into a jug, evenly divide between 4 x 200ml ramekins.

5.Carefully place ramekins in a deep roasting pan lined with a folded tea towel. Pour boiling water into pan to come halfway up the sides of ramekins. Cover pan loosely with foil.

6.Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the custard has just set. Remove ramekins from the water bath, and set aside to cool.

7.Sprinkle demerara sugar evenly over the surface of the baked custards. Run a kitchen blowtorch over the custards, or place under a preheated grill until the sugar bubbles and caramelises. Serve.

from: Masterchef Australia