Yellow Fried Rice with shrimp (Nasi Goreng)

This is the first time I have participated in Ayin's event “Masak Bareng Yuk... (Let's cook together)”. Check on HER blog she has plenty of yummy Indonesian recipes. This month the subject is “fried rice”. Many Indonesian cook their fried rice in different ways, but basically it doesn't taste much different. This time I am making yellow fried rice with shrimp and veggies.

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That day was a beautiful day so I was feeling very happy. The sun finally came out and the temperature was getting warmer even though it was still quite breezy. My lil N and I went out to clean up the yard. Left over leaves from last year which we didn't have a chance to get all cleaned up, as the winter came so early last year.

My son was pretty helpful boy not much he could do but just to see him enjoy the outdoor fun it brought me joy. At least that day we weren't stuck at home. Nathaniel saw the nice leaf piles I had made and couldn't resist but to jump in them and make a huge mess AGAIN!

Yellow Fried Rice
1 ½ cups medium grain rice
2 eggs
salt and pepper
tomatoes
frozen veggies (green beans, carrots, corns)
shrimps
3 garlic clove, crushed
2 shallot, crushed
green onion, chopped
turmeric
½ tsp chinese five-spice powder

Cook the rice in boiling water or cook it on rice cooker.

Beat each egg separately with 2 teaspoons of cold water and salt and pepper. Fry separately like scrambled eggs.

Heat the oil in a preheated wok or large skillet. Add the garlic, shallot, chinese five-spices and turmeric. Stir-fry for 30 seconds.

And vegetables and shrimps. Stir-fry ingredients in the wok for 2 minutes.

Stir rice and scramble eggs into the mixture in the wok for one more minute. And transfer to serving dishes.

Yes it is officially spring here, and I am hoping we will have more and more nice day. So I can play outside with my dear son.

Happy Spring!

Macaroni Cheese Casserole

Casserole comes to my rescue at the time I have no clue about what to cook. It is especially for my son who is a picky eater. According to Wikipedia, a casserole is a word from the French, meaning "saucepan” which is a large, deep pot or dish used both in the oven and as a serving dish. In America, many family serve casserole during many festive celebrations. There are many kinds of casserole; green beans and cream of chicken casserole, broccoli and tuna casserole, lasagna and of course, macaroni cheese casserole.

Even though I don't fancy casserole as much as any Indonesian dishes, I love making casserole because my husband and son like it. For my picky eater's son, casserole is a perfect dish as he will swallow everything in it, the meat, the cheese and the vegetables. It is also convenient to make casserole since it will not smell my kitchen though I don't mind the smell...:)

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Macaroni Cheese Casserole
Ingredient
1 pound of ground beef
1 box (6 oz) chicken stuffing mix
1 box 6 oz macaroni and cheese

1 can of spaghetti sauce
1 onion (chopped)
celery (chopped)
mix frozen vegetables
salt
pepper
Shredded cheese

Direction

Cook macaroni and cheese as the direction on the box. Do the same to the chicken stuffing. Put it aside.

In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat until cooked.

In a baking dish, layered cooked macaroni, cheese, ground beef, frozen vegetables, onion, celery and stuffing. Pour one can of spaghetti sauce over then sprinkle shredded cheese on the top.

Bake, uncovered, at 375F for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked.

Cheese
Is one of my son's favorite. In every food he wants cheese in it:)

Smell that Fried Rice!

One of my favorite dishes for breakfast is Fried Rice. It is uncommon having fried rice for breakfast in America. Most people like to have quick breakfasts like bagels, cereals, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or even doughnuts. Sometimes, I eat those quick breakfasts if I don’t have enough time to make my fried rice.

This time the kind of fried rice I am making is different then the usual. Looking at the food pictures from Lydia of MY KITCHEN makes me drooled. Why? Because she cooked it with PETAI! My favorite stinky beans ! Love love Petai. I haven’t eaten petai for a long time.

Then, a good friend of mine, Roossy brought me Petai from Cleveland. Yay….! I am so happy that I can finally smell and eat the good smell that I am familiar with. Cooking fried rice with anchovies and petai makes my morning bright and my mouth salivating!

The recipe is adopted from MY KITCHEN, just in case you are interested on how to make this fried rice. One thing though, when you decided to make this kind of food don’t forget to flash the toilet couples time! Good luck

Stir – Fried Noodles with SHRIMP and Vegetables.

Chinese Food! Never get bored about that food and one think that I like cooking Chinese food is my hubby always eats it as long as it is not spicy. Also to participate for food photography event this is hosted by Jai and Bee. This month theme is noodle. So here is also my entry for CLICK.

Ingredients:
mushrooms
3 cups fine noodles (6 ounces)
½ pound shrimp
1/3 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup red pepper and green pepper
1 cup bean sprouts
½ cup coarsely shredded carrot
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated gingerroot

Cook noodle according to package directions. Rinse in cold water. Drain well. Blend chicken broth and soy sauce into cornstarch; set aside

Preheat wok or large skillet over high heat; add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Add half of the doodles; stir fry for 5 – 7 minutes or till just beginning to brown. Remove to warm plate. Repeat with another tablespoons oil and remaining noodles; removed.

Add remaining oil to hot wok or skillet. Add garlic; stir fry for 1 minute then add mushrooms, green and red pepper, bean sprouts, shrimp and gingerroot to wok or skillet. Stir fry 1 minute. Stir chicken broth mixture and stir into vegetable mixture. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Stir in noodles; cover and heat through. Serve warm the desired main dish.

Very simple recipe and easy to cook – ENJOY!

Tumpeng

I tell a little bit story of what is "TUMPENG". Tumpeng is yellow rice formed in shape of cone. There are many shapes of tumpeng now day but the cone shape is an old fashion way and popular. Most Indonesian specially people who come from Java island like to celebrate life with tumpeng. It could be a celebration of happiness such as birthday, anniversary and wedding.

Generally tumpeng is served along with some of Indonesian food and add some of food craving as a decoration. Side dishes come along with this tumpeng is;

1. curly fried eggs
2. spicy taste of anchovy, peanut and shredded potatoes

3. perkedel (Indonesian) is like mash potatoes mix with ground beef and some spices. Formed them around shape and fry

4. fried chicken

5. urap is like salad with coconut flakes

6. serundeng is mix of coconut flakes with Tempe and some spices

7. stir fry green beans and shrimp

8. fried tofu

9. kerupuk is indonesian crackers

This is a FRIENDSHIP CELEBRATION. Our friend Sinar and her son Christopher came from Washington and stay for a couples of day. So I though this will be a good day to celebrate our friendship that has been tied in for over some years.

Only few of Indonesian people live in this township. They are all came and bring some comfort food then we decorate those food on the side of tumpeng.

Not forget to give thank to Roossy, Sinar, Mia, Eri and Fonny.

Thank you very much for participating to make this tumpeng.

Chicken Porridge

Get bored sometimes eating breakfast with peanut butter and jelly or cereal every morning. Gotta think something else or I will end up skipping breakfast which is not really good. Looking at Sedap magazine (Indonesian recipe magazine) it gives me an idea what to have for breakfast this morning. It has been long enough I don't eat chicken porridge.

INSTRUCTION:

1. Porridge: Boil rice in the water, salt and bay leaves. Keep stirring until it is thick enough.
2. Broth: Finely pounded all the spices and mix them together. Stir frying them about 2 minutes or until you can smell the aroma or spices then put chicken and fry them together until the chicken half cooked.
3. Add water, cubes of chicken broth and little bit of salt. And boil them. When it is done, keep the broth in the separate bowl.
4. Fry the chicken until slightly brown and finely slices.
5. Served porridge with chicken broth, slices chicken, and garnish.

Padi Oat cracker is suitable to accompany this yummy porridge!

I shall smile............. and happy as my tummy is full. Nothing is compare eating comfort food. And I don't fell like wasting time in the kitchen for preparing breakfast as I see my son eat porridge like nuts!

MIE AYAM

This dish is well known as MIE AYAM in Indonesian. I don’t know how to translate it into English. The closest name I could think of is CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP. Anyway this name “Chicken noodle soup” is just to give a picture of what kind of food is “Mie ayam”.

One thing I realize is that it feels good to be back home here in the State. Here in my house, I can do whatever I want in my kitchen without worry of being messy after cooking and most importantly, I know everything in my kitchen. However, the sad part of being backed home is I miss so much of Indonesian food.

Most of Indonesian foods that I want to make are very hard to cook. Mainly because it is hard to find the ingredients. But this afternoon I made MIE AYAM (Mie = noodle, Ayam = chicken). The ingredient was very easy to find. I bought them from Wegmans, a local groceries store, here. Mie ayam is very easy to cook and my son loves it very much!

What you need:

Boneless chicken
Any kind of mushrooms (finely chopped)
Dried noodle
Bean sprout
Bok Choy
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
Pinch of salt
1 green onion (finely chopped)
3 garlics (finely chopped)

Direction:

Boil boneless chicken in a medium pot until it is cooked. Take the chicken out and cut or shred it finely but leave the broth in the pot for the soup. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and pint of salt to bring a nice flavour for the broth.

In the other pan put a little bit of cooking oil then fry garlic until it is slightly brown. Add shredded chicken and chopped mushrooms. Put 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and a little bit of water and salt. Bring them to boil. Set aside.

Boil water in the other pan and add dried noodles then cook for about 5 minutes or until noodle are cooked. Add Bok choy and bean sprouts and cook them again for 2 minutes. When all is done, pour out the water.

Serving suggestion:

Put cooked noodles and vegetables in a bowl, top it with mushrooms and shredded chicken and chopped green onions. Pour with chicken broth and it is ready to be served.