Twice Cooked Pork Belly with Apple Slaw,Sweet ginger caramelised dressing and Steamed Fragrant Rice

I loveeee this food so much! My friend said it's a "heart attack in a bowl" since the main ingredient is pork belly. Anyway, I won't eat it everyday :D

Pork belly:
1 kg piece pork belly
2 litres water
5 slices ginger
5 star anise
¼ cup black vinegar
3 cloves garlic
5 tablespoons light soy
3-4 tablespoons kecap manis
½ cup castor sugar
1 cup corn flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 litres vegetable oil
1/3 cup sea salt

Apple slaw:

2 granny smith apples, cored removed
1 tablespoon sugar
Juice of ½ lemon

Pan grilled rice cakes:

1 cup rice
reserved pork fat

Sweet ginger caramelised dressing
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cups reserved braising liquid
1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 Preheat oven to 200'C.

2 Cut skin from pork belly in one piece and set to one side. Pat flesh dry with paper towel .

3 Pour water into a large stock pot and bring to the boil. Add pork, ginger, star anise, vinegar and garlic and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes over a high heat and skim to remove any impurities.

4 Add light soy, kecap manis and sugar, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours or until meat becomes tender. Remove and allow to drain for 5-10 minutes. Reserve braising liquid. Sandwich pork between two chopping boards and weight it down with heavy objects. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill and allow to rest for 2 hours. Remove and cut pork into 3cm cubes.

5 Combine flour and salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Place egg in a separate bowl. Dust each cube of pork in flour, then beaten egg and redust in flour. 

6 Heat oil in a saucepan, deep fry pork in batches until golden and drain well on a paper towel-lined plate. 

7 Score reserved pork skin, lay flat on a baking tray and rub with oil. Pack the top side of the skin with sea salt. Bake for 20 minutes to render out fat. Remove from the oven, pour fat into a heat proof bowl and reserve.

8 Increase oven to 250⁰C. Brush salt from skin and return pork to oven. Bake for 30 minutes, checking every ten minutes until skin is blistered and crunchy. Allow to cool and cut into pieces.

9 For apple slaw, julienne apples and place in a bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice and toss to combine. Allow to stand for 30 minutes to pickle. Squeeze out excess juices and set to one side.

10 Place rice in a saucepan half filled with water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Remove and drain well. Spread rice over a baking tray and allow to cool.

11 Take spoonfuls of rice and shape into cylinders. Heat reserved pork fat in a frying pan, add 3-4 rice cakes and panfry, rolling cakes in the pan, until crisp and golden. Remove and set on a paper towellined
plate to drain.

12 For dressing, place sugar and soy in a small saucepan over a low heat and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer until mixture begins to caramelise. Add reserved stock, increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid has reduced to half.

13 Remove from heat, add grated ginger and stir well to combine.

14 To serve, arrange a handful of apple slaw on a serving plate and top with cubes of pork and pieces of crackling. On a second plate arrange rice cakes and spoon sauce into a serving dish.

source: Masterchef Australia

Simple Cheesecake

I made this when my cheesecake addiction is kickin' and I don't have time to do the au bain marie kind of cheesecake. This recipe is totally simple and didn't take a lot of time to cook.

2 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 can condensed milk (i use 3/4 of it as i don't have sweet tooth)
3 eggs
2 tsp lemon juice

Pre heat oven at 180 degrees.
Beat the cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk,add eggs and lemon juice. Mix well.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool it and chill at fridge before serve.

modified from Lori's cheesecake

Pastel Tutup

We have so many left over potatoes and this food is very simple. You can make this as a way to clean your freezer/fridge as you can make a lot of variation for the filling. This food is like shepherd's pie or schotel. People said this Indonesian food has chinese and dutch influences. For me, it's a food to enjoy for the whole family :D

Ingredients:

Mashed Potatoes:

1 kg Potatoes

½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Filling :
25 gr vermicelli, soaked in hot water and slice it.

1 handful of peas

1 big carrot sliced in small pieces
2 spring onion

2 boiled egg,cut in half

1 big chicken fillet
2 tbsp butter

1 big Onion

250 cc chicken stock

250 cc milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp sugar

4tbsp flour

1 yolk

1 tbsp butter


Directions:

1. Grease the baking pan with butter.

2. Boiled the potatoes on the salted water, drain, mashed it with the mix of nutmeg, pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

3. Create a layer on the base of your baking pan by using half of the mashed potatoes. Make sure all the side is covered.
4. For the filling: Heat the butter and saute the onion and nutmeg until fragrant, add the chicken,stir frequently,add chicken stock,bean, spring onion,vermicelli,and carrots, stir frequently, add milk, salt, pepper and sugar.
5. When everything is cooked, add the flour, stir until it become a solid mixture.

6. Put the filling on top of mashed potatoes layer, add the sliced eggs, top with the mash, glaze it with the yolk and ruffle with a fork.

7. Bake in 30 minutes or until it's golden brown.

modified from: mbak Ine

Bala Bala aka. Bakwan (Vegetable Fritters)

This food is a famous food from the vendor street in Indonesia. It's a must to eat food when I was in college. Mostly because I have not much money left to buy Bakso or Mie Ayam for lunch so I bought this as it's cheaper food.

Ingredients::
150 g flour.

4tbsp rice flour (you can skip this)
1 egg
100 ml water
1 spring onion, sliced
ready to use mixed stir fry vegetable (carrots,cabbage,bean sprout,onion sliced)

2 candle nuts (optional)

2 garlic
1 shallot (small one)
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions:

- Grind candle nuts, garlic, shallot,pepper and salt until smooth

- Transfer the mixture to a bowl of mixed flour,eggs and water.

- Add the vegetables.

- Heat the oil on the shallow pan. Drop about 2 tablespoons of mixture into the pan. Fry the batters until golden brown.

You can enjoy this with fresh bird eyes chillies, peanut sauce, sambel kecap or sambal abc.

modify from vania recipe

Nasi Hainan (Hainanese Rice)

Since it's so snowy lately, I'm craving for this kind of food.

When I was in Bandung, Indonesia, I always bought this food from the street vendor in Gardujati area, close to my church... The gingery taste on the chicken and the stock really warm my winter.

The recipe and the step by step in english will be added later.

Ingredients:
1 Ekor ayam ukuran sedang (kurang lebih 1 kg)
2 lbr daun bawang, potong 5 cm
sebaskom air es.

Bumbu oles:
3 sdm minyak wijen
2 sdm kecap asin
1 sdm angciu
1/2 sdt garam
3 siung bawang putih
1 cm jahe

Bumbu bawang:
4 sdm minyak wijen
5 siung bawang putih, geprek, cincang halus.
1/4 sdt garam
*** goreng bawang putih dengan minyak wijen hingga kuning dan harum, tambahkan garam, aduk rata.

Nasi:
500 gr beras
2 bawang putih di geprek, cincang halus
1 ptg jahe
1 sdt garam
2 sdm minyak goreng
800 cc kaldu bekas merebus ayam

Telur coklat:
4 butir telur rebus
3 sdm kecap manis
1 sdm kecap asin
200 cc air
1 sdm bawang putih goreng
1. pek-kak.
1/4 sdt merica
*** masak jadi satu, hingga telur kecoklatan (ga pake...)

Directions:
1. Dididihkan sepanci air bersama daun bawang
2. Buat bumbu Oles:
haluskan bawang dan jahe, campur semua bahan bumbu oles.
3. Ayam di lumuri bumbu oles, diamkan selama 15 menit.
4. Rebus ayam selama 5 menit.
5. tiriskan ayam, langsung masukkan di baskom air es selama 5 menit.
6. tiriskan ayam, olesi dengan bumbu oles, diamkan selama 15 menit.
7. Rebus ayam selama 10 menit
8. angkat ayam, masukkan dalam baskom air es selama 5 menit.
9 Angkat ayam, tiriskan
10. Potong2 ayam, tuangkan bumbu bawang putih.
11. Sajikan bersama telur kecap dan nasi hainan dan kuah ayam.

Nasi:
tumis bawang putih dan jahe dengan sedikit minyak hingga harum
tambahkan kaldu, garam, masukkan beras, masak hingga nasi matang.

Kaldu:
sisa kaldu rebusan ayam, di tambah garam.

Note:
kalau pakai ayam kampung, tambahkan waktu merebusnya.

Babi Panggang Merah (Pork Char Siu)

- 1 kg babi, potong memanjang.

Marinated Sauce

- 8 siung bawang putih

- 1 sdm Angkak, dihaluskan.

- 1 sdm Garam (± 8 - 10 gr).

- 1 sdt Go Hiong

- 1 sdm Arak Merah.

- 1 sdm Charsiu Sauce.

- ½ sdt Lada.

- 4 sdm madu.

Cara membuat:
• Aduk daging dengan semua bumbu. Simpan semalam di kulkas biar meresap.
• Panggang Daging sampai matang dengan menggunakan grill sambil sesekali diolesi dengan bumbu.
• Setelah matang, angkat dan potong-potong memanjang.

original recipe from Mbak Ine and Dhonatneth

Banana Cake

It's sunday morning and snowy, so i just bake this cake and enjoy it with a cup of coffee, cuddle with Kirana in the sofa and watch "Cars" the movie..

What a lazy sunday!

BANANA CAKE

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs, beaten
80 ml buttermilk
120 ml vegetable oil
225 g mashed bananas
250 g white sugar
220 g all-purpose flour
5 g baking soda
1 g salt
60 g chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Spray one 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray coating.
2. Blend together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and bananas.
3. Sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture and stir in pecans. Mix well.
4. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

original recipe from Anita

Bolognese

Didn't try these recipe yet....

The perfect bolognese

Serves 4

Generous knob of butter
100g smoked streaky bacon, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
250g coarsely minced beef, at room temperature
40g chicken liver, finely chopped
150ml whole milk
Nutmeg, to grate
150ml dry white wine
400ml tin plum tomatoes

1. Melt the butter in a large flameproof casserole set over a gentle heat, and then add the bacon. Once the bacon fat has started to melt, add the onion, and cook gently until softened, then tip in the carrot, and cook for 5 minutes before adding the celery and cooking for a further 2 minutes.

2. Crumble the beef into the pan and brown, stirring occasionally to break up any lumps. Season, then stir in the liver, and let it cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 125C. Pour in the milk, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. Simmer gently until almost all the milk has evaporated, which should take about half an hour.

4. Pour in the wine and the tomatoes and stir well. Put the casserole into the oven, with the lid slightly ajar, and cook for at least 3 hours (4 is even better) until the meat is very tender. Check on it occasionally, and top up with a little water if it seems too dry, although this probably won't be necessary. Serve with pasta or gnocchi, and grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese.

Traditional Italian Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 lb beef steak mince
Half pint of beef stock
Passata Sauce
1 tin cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon red wine
1 teaspoon chopped basil
1 teaspoon oregano
freshly ground black pepper
Spaghetti approx 3oz per person
Parmesan Cheese shavings

Heat 2 spoons of oil in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic. Mix in the beef mince and cook until browned.

Stir in the tomatoes and stock. Pour the passata into the empty tomatos can about half way, as it is very concentrated, add to the pan. Rinse the can with a little water and add also.

Place the red wine, basil, oregano and black pepper into the pan and heat until it starts to bubble.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for around 20 minutes.

Whilst this is simmering cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water for approximately 10 minutes. Taste a little to make sure it is cooked, but not too soft.

Check the sauce is not too dry and add a little of the water from the pasta . Drain the pasta.

Just before serving, add the drained pasta to the sauce and mix carefully.

Serve and add the parmesan shavings.

from here