In My Kitchen:

I am a hobby cook who cooks mostly following recipes found online, recommended by others, stumbled upon in books/magazine, or even overheard (or eavesdropping, all the same.). But whether I cook with a recipe I come across or using a recipe of my own, I always put my whole heart into it. Made in my kitchen, with love.

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Hello!

It has been a long while since I posted anything. Over a year. Well, a lot has happened this past year. I graduated and received my Master's degree in Communications, I got my first full-time job in NL(!), and hubby and I finally went to see his family in the US!

I have to admit though that since I started working I have less time to experiment in the kitchen. Although I still try every now and then to spend my Saturdays creating (learning!) something special. I have tried making new dishes, but unfortunately I do not have decent pictures (if I took any) for the blog. I know I have been somewhat lazy, but I do plan to take this whole blogging up and running again.

So, this weekend I had a craving for something soupy, and Asian-y. Both my husband and I love Laksa, so why not! I have made Laksa several times, all successful (yay!) so this was a safe bet. I always use this recipe I found on Youtube a long time ago. It's perfect! Although this time I could not find the brand of Laksa paste used in the recipe anywhere, so I had to make do with the one I managed to get at the store: it really made a world's difference in taste. The brand I used, unfortunately, was not that great. BUT, it did satisfy the craving.

So, hello again, good to back here. I will try to post more often!

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I had been craving Hainanese Chicken Rice for quite some time. I looked for recipes and found several good ones, but it somehow never felt like a good time to make it. But this week I finally made up my mind and decided to give it a go. So today I made my first HCR ever, using this awesome recipe from RasaMalaysia.com :) 

It was easy, although since there are a few other things I needed to prepare, like the chilli sauce, the brown sauce, and the broth, it did take quite a long time to make. But, it was totally worth the work and the wait! Yes, I love it when that happens!

The dish successfully took me back to Singapore. To Asia. To a familiar place. And best of all, hubby absolutely loved it.

Another one of my kind of ultimate comfort food.

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I have officially fallen in love with couscous. I remember the very first time I ever tasted it, back in 2004, and sadly it was one of the worst dishes I have ever come across. For the longest time I put the blame solely on the couscous, but now I realize that it was actually the preparation of the dish that just did not work.

So the other day I was feeling adventurous and decided to give couscous another chance. I bought a pre-made steamed dish at the supermarket. A couscous steamed meal. And it blew me away. Although it was store-made, but man it was delicious! So I started looking for recipes for a similar dish, I even studied the ingredients listed in the packaging so that I know what to get for my homecooking attempt. I found several recipes which look like how I want the dish to be. So I combined them and gave it my own twist.

And voíla! I give you, my version of Moroccan couscous with baked chicken. HEERLIJK!

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It’s been a while since I last posted a delightful creation up on the blog. Well, it has been pretty crazy these last few weeks, with school and all. I had two courses that I had to complete this semester- my last courses of the masters’ program! I have finished one course, and I am still waiting for the final grade of the other one. Although based on the assignment’s grade I received yesterday for the course, I think I will pass it as well. Everything is just going to be just fine.

So, at the moment, I am focusing on completing my thesis. After the crazy two months, finally I can dedicate all of my school hours to finishing this thesis. I am keeping the faith! 

Today, I prepared (one of) the ultimate comfort food: Meatballs spaghetti. It was a while ago that I last made the dish. Spaghetti Bolognese is a favorite at the house, so I cook that every now and then, each time with a different style. But the one with meatballs, I do not make so often. But I did that today. 

Simple yet satisfying. Delicious and comforting. It’s an easy dish, but it does require more time, because of course, we have to prepare the meatballs. But it’s always worth the effort, and the wait.

There’s this song my sisters and I liked to sing (more like making sounds with our mouths) when we were kids, it goes like:

"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese. I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed…" 

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I go accompanying my husband running his long-distances every Sunday. This Sunday morning, the target was 26 km. He had planned to participate in the Amsterdam marathon this year, but after today’s training, he decided that he is not quite ready for the full marathon and decides that he will just do the half marathon like he did last year. We were quite busy during the summer with the moving, the new apartment, and stuff, and he hasn't been in consistent training for the marathon. He’s kind of bummed about this, but I think he’s made the right decision, I don’t want him to do something he does not feel right about.

So anyway, today I made Indonesian style beef balls (dry) stew. Yes, dry stew. It’s still kind of soupy, well, sauce-y, and it’s so so so yummy! I found these three recipes which I really like and I mix-and-matched them to create my own version of Semur Bola-bola Daging. Hubby thought it was very tasty and he really enjoyed it. I’m glad I could at least help cheered him up a bit, through my food.

My first time, and I nailed it! Yay!

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This delightful looking (and tasted delicious too!) is another recipe from Jamie Oliver. I wanted to make something easy and quick, but still tasty and healthy(-ish) for us and I wanted to make something new, something I had never made before. And although I have made various versions of pasta dishes, I must say that I had never made it this way before. I thought the flavor combination of mint and pancetta was quite interesting. Another pasta dish to add to our weekly dish list!

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I had been wanting to have Indonesian Yellow Coconut Rice or Nasi Kuning for while now. The last time I made a traditional Indonesian rice dish was the Nasi Uduk which also uses coconut milk. This Nasi Kuning dish is usually associated with a celebration. Served with a variety of side dishes made of meat and/or vegetables, Nasi Kuning is always a favorite. I found several recipes for the rice which I like and in the end decided to combine the recipes, made adjustments and create a version of my own. To serve with the rice I made some sweet and spicy crispy tempe and peanuts- for which I also mixed a number of recipes and created mine own version of it. So, ending our seafood/vegetable diet month, ending the summer holiday, AND starting our new semester and academic year, they all called for a celebration in my book. And there we had it. Celebratious, delicious, delightful Nasi Kuning, my version.

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So I had some friends come over to the apartment last week. I had intended to ask them to come check out our new place since last month—now that it’s more guest-friendly, all important furnitures are in place :D, when a friend finally asked for a meet-up and it turned out that everyone else also had some free time, so it was a good opportunity to invite them over.

I have to say that I was a bit nervous though. I had not have anyone, apart from my husband’s dad and brother, come over and hang out at our house, and these were, MY guests! So I really wanted to make them feel comfortable and nice. Of course I had to prepare something, and so I decided to prepare them some Indonesian snacks, and I went for Tempe Mendoan (mentioned them a few posts ago) and Pandan Dadar Gulung (basically, pandan pancake rolls filled with caramelized coconut shreds).

I found this very nice recipe for the tempe, which is a lot better than the one I used for my first ones. I served them with Sambal Kecap (sweet and sour soya sauce) for dipping.

As for the pancake rolls, I found several recipes which I then combined and made adjustments according to ingredients I could get my hands on (not to worry, all the main ingredients necessary were there).

And my friends, and their kids, enjoyed them! Although I have to admit that the coconut filling was a bit of a failure, because instead of being JUST sweet, it was sweet AND a bit too salty. I guess I added too much salt. Whoops.

All in all, we had a very nice time. And they all loved the house.

Another meet-up has already been set up!

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As I have mentioned a few posts ago, we are in our vegetables/seafood month. But today I decided that we have had too much of fish and friends and went all vegetarian-ish. I wanted to make some gyoza, vegetarian gyoza, that is, and I found this recipe from Food52.com, and I was inspired. To accompany these gyozas (or is it the other way around?) I made my version of vegetarian Dan Dan noodles using tofu and white button mushrooms. 

And as I (and you dearest readers) can see here, I still need to work a lot on my picture-taking skills. Fortunately, hubby is a lot more talented that I am in taking pictures (it's his hobby too), so I do get tips and tricks from him. These pictures were taken by him, only one was by me, and by the looks of it, it's pretty obvious which one it is. 

Anyway, back to our meal of the day. So the potstickers were not really that popular with the hubby, but fortunately the noodles were. The potstickers need improvements (more like adjustments to our, more like hubby's, tastes) or maybe it's just because we enjoy more those gyozas filled with mixed chicken and shrimps like how we normally have them.   

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So my brother-in-law brought us a package from my mom-in-law when he came over to our place last weekend. She lives in the US and every now and then she likes to send us stuff, like rosquillas (my husband LOVES them) and this goodness that is HORCHATA. She had sent us a pack of horchata before, it was a while ago, and I was instantly hooked. I really really like it.

Especially on a hot day, a glass (or more) of nice, cold, horchata is just so so so delightful.

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For lunch today I tried Jamie Oliver’s recipe for Mac ‘n’ Cheese. My brother-in-law is staying over the weekend at our place and I thought it would be nice to make something that’s easy and can serve many portions.

The recipe itself is quite simple with great flavours, although more careful attention is needed especially in preparing the sauce. I served the dish with some greens, cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with a simple vinaigrette.

Everyone loved it. Nice, delightful lunch. Happy days!

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I was curious if I could try making anything other cupcakes with the cupcake maker so I thought why not try making these: omelette cups. Hubby and I normally have this craving in the evening for something light (on our crazy days that usually means having pizza delivered to the house, especially if it's the weekend) if we had our big meal of the day at lunch. And so I decided to make some tortillas de patatas, in mini size, of course, using the cupcake maker.

Whisk up grated pre-cooked potatoes, grated zucchini, eggs, a bit of flour, a bit of milk, nutmeg, pepper, and salt, poured into the cupcake maker cups, cooked until done, and you will have mini omelette cups!

Easy peasy!

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Chinese style fried rice with eggs and prawns FTW!

Simple, easy, and just so so so good. I used this lovely recipe with of course several adjustments here and there, et voila! A nice, hearty, yummy meal for our dinner yesterday :)

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I have always wanted to try baking a cake. Unfortunately, we still have not yet met that moment when it is really necessary to OWN an OVEN. I have, of course, been hinting, wait, TELLING, my husband to buy us an oven, but yeah, other more important (and perhaps better) things have always come up, so.. oven can wait. 

That being said, we finally own a cupcake maker! A mini one, got it for free, we sort of had a lot of points in something from somewhere and we got to choose a gift for being loyal customers, and so after careful considerations we decided we wanted this pink cupcake maker (actually, I did). The other stuff were, well, either we already have a better version of, or just, how should I put it... crap. 

So we went for this mini cupcake maker which can be used to make mini cupcakes, and which looks like a toy for mini versions of myself and hubby, a.k.a children, but OK, it's something we didn't already have, and I have that dream of baking. 

And after this first use, I have to say, I'm pretty delighted with it. The cupcakes were done in no time, although I had to do it in several batches, but each ensuing batch was even quicker than the one before, and with pleasant results! So no problemo there. 

Coincidentally, yesterday marked our fifth year as couple, and we normally celebrate the day by getting sugar high on stuff bought at the store, but yesterday, I BAKED. YAY. I baked vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. The cakes were excellent, fluffy and light and vanilla-y, but I was not really happy with the frosting. As can be seen, the frosting looks pretty crazy- still need to work on my piping skills (don't get any dirty ideas), plus, to get the texture and consistency right. 

I'm still looking for a good recipe for frosting without using butter, and also eggless cupcakes. I hope I can find some really good ones, and can try them soon. 

For these mini treats I used these recipes:

Vanilla cupcakes, it's a youtube video, really simple, really easy! Thanks, videomaker :)

Lemon Buttercream Icing.

I hope the looks of my cupcakes do not demotivate you, because trust me, the recipes are very good, it's just my execution that needs improvement ;) Hey, it's my first time! 

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Now, let me share a successful kitchexperience, oh yeah! And this time, it's a dessert. I give you, my version of no egg no alcohol Tiramisu! Or I should not call it that then? Because it doesn't use eggs or Marsala? Whatever, I'm calling it, TIRAMISU. 

Now, this one, was a YAY. So easy, so simple, and just so good. I looked up recipes for eggless and without alcohol Tiramisu, including recipe videos, and from those recipes I created my own version. And there it is, the sweet goodness, as you can see in the picture. 

Oh, it was a good day. 

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With a sincere intention of making the hot Nicaraguan I live with happy by taking him back down his delicious food memory lane, I decided to give Tostones a go in the kitchen. Tostones are basically (usually double) fried green plantains which are then sprinkled with salt at the end before serving, and eaten with rice and beans of course, Nicaraguan style! Now, I have eaten a lot of food, dishes, meals made with plantains, but never in this style. And I have to say, perhaps if I had done better with my tostones (and rice) it would have been SO DELICIOUS. 

Yes, I am using that tone because the dish was not quite as expected. It lacked, well, yummyness. For the tostones I used this really nice, easy, simple, with pretty pictures, recipe. They turned out to look and taste quite alright, if I may say, however hubby said that tostones he remembered are supposed to be thinner, crispier, and harder than the ones I produced that day. More like plantain chips but not really, I guess. And I will work on that next time. But OK, the dish is not really that complicated and I really am curious how it would taste like if done right. So I will definitely be making this dish again soon!

Oh, and for the rice and beans, as suggested in the tostones recipe, I followed this recipe, with several adjustments here and there (just a bit!) to match our personal tastes. 

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I made this, well, more like assembled, although I did make the potato dumplings and the broth from scratch, last week, because I was craving for something soupy specifically a Soto soup.

We are currently in our no red/white meat diet (so no beef and all its friends, and no chicken and all its mates, either) however, we allow ourselves to eat seafood. Don't judge, it's just something that we are trying to do at them moment. Anyway, back to this dish. It is actually Soto Ayam (that is Chicken soto soup- I put up a post on Soto Kudus a few kitchexperiences ago) but in this case, without the chicken which was replaced by a store-bought pre-made spicy tofu. I then realized, after one look of hubby after his first bite, that it was not a pleasant combination, the soto and the tofu. Don't be mistaken, the tofu is nice, when it is combined with other stuff, in another type of dish.  

And, with hard feelings I came to realize that I would need a lot more effort and practice and time before I can really nail making a soup dish, with clear broth such as this, to be precise. I still need to work on my seasoning skills. This one, like many ones before, lacked of it. So yeah, it was damn close to tasteless, despite the lively colour, I'm afraid. 

Will try again!