Chicken Teriyaki Rice Burger

Teriyaki sauce is one of my favorite sauce. Actually, teriyaki itself is  a cooking technique in Japanese cuisine. The word teriyaki is a combination from 2 Japanese words : tare (means luster) and yaki (means grilled or broilled) (Wikipedia.org). So, basically, the meat will be brushed or dipped with the sauce before grilling or broiling process. Teriyaki sauce is traditionally made by mixing and boiling soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin until they are thickened. It taste delicious and very famous all around the world.

This time, I want to make teriyaki burger. To be honest, i was inspired by runnyrunny999's rice burger recipe. He's using rice instead of bread for this kind of burger. It seems that this burger is quite popular in Japan. I still have some Japanese rice. So, why not try to make this rice burger. I bet they are delicious.

During the process, I found out that this burger is easy to make but quite time consuming because I had to really to pay attention on in to prevent it from burning. Beside, I still had to make the rice burger as well after making the chicken patty. And it was difficult to make the rice burger. I had to try few times before I could make it into a nice firm flat round shape like a burger. When I finally made it, the shape was still not perfectly round and some of rice will crumble all around. But it was worth it. All my hard work was paid off. The burger was so yummy. I love it.

Tip : The burger also can be served with crusty bread such as kaiser roll or Italian bread (ciabatta) instead of rice burger.

First, lets make the chicken patty.
Ingredients : (serving 4-5 burgers)

• 250 grams boneless skinless chicken, ground or minced well
• 1/2 medium onion, minced
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 3 tbs breadcrumbs
• 4 tbs flour
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder (or 2 cm fresh ginger, grated)
• 1 clove of garlic, minced 
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• salt and ground black pepper
• 6 tbs water
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs mirin
• 2 tbs white sugar
• 4-5 tbs vegetable oil

Preparation :

1. In a bowl, mix together ground/minced chicken, minced onion, soy sauce, breadcrumbs, flour, ginger powder, minced garlic, egg, sesame oil, salt and pepper.
2. In another small bowl, prepare the sauce by mixing together water, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar until most of the sugar are dissolved.
3. Preheat a non stick pan
4. Add some oil into the pan
5. Divide the chicken mixture into 4-5 part. 
6. Make a ball from each part of it. Press down the ball to make a flat burger. 
7. Put the burger into preheated pan and fry it for about 3 minutes for each side or until it become golden brown.
8. Pour the sauce mixture on the top of the chicken burger, reduce the heat, and cover the pan.
9. Let it cook for about 1-2 minute until the sauce is thickened.
10. Turn off the heat and remove the burger and the sauce from the pan. 

Now, lets make the rice burger.
Ingredients :

• About 3 cups room temperature cooked Japanese rice.
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped.
• salt
• sesame oil
• soy sauce

Preparation :

1. In a bowl, mix together rice, chopped spring onions, and salt
2. Wet your hand, take some rice mixture and make a firm ball out of it.
3. With both hand palms, press it gently until it become flat (about 2 cm thickness)
4. Repeat the process until you have 8 rice burger
5. Preheat about 2 tbs sesame oil in a pan.
6. Place the rice burger gently in those preheated pan.
7. Fry until golden brown on both sides. (Tip : do not flip the rice burger too much otherwise it will be broken)
8. Brush some sesame oil and soy sauce on both side for taste.
9. Remove the burger from the pan and assembly it with the chicken burger. 
10. Serve it hot with fresh salad.

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Ayam Goreng Jawa (Javanese Fried Chicken)

My another favorite dish!! Javanese Fried Chicken or my family usually call it Ayam goreng Jawa. It is a very popular dish in Indonesia (especially in Java) and very common to be served together with hot steamed rice, sambal, and some raw vegetables (lalap) such as sliced cucumber, tomato, and lettuce. It is very delicious with its sweet and savory taste.

Actually, there are a lot of name for this fried chicken. Some people name it Ayam goreng ungkep (Fried slow cooked chicken) or Ayam goreng bumbu kuning (Fried chicken with yellowish spices). Well, actually those name are not wrong because of how we cook the chicken. The chicken will be cooked in mixed yellowish spices for about 30 minutes - 1 hour before deep frying until golden brown. I really like it. And the best part is I can cook the chicken days before and keep it in my refrigerator for days (even for weeks in freezer). When I want to eat it, I just need to take it out from my refrigerator, let it sit on room temperature for a while, and deep fry the chicken. 

Ingredients :

• 1 kg chicken, cut into pieces
• 4 medium shallots (about 10 Indonesian shallots)
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 4 candlenuts
• 4 cm fresh galangal (about 1/2 tsp galangal powder)
• 2 cm fresh ginger (about 1/4 tsp ginger powder)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 lemongrass, bruised and knotted
• 1 bay leave
• 1 tbs palm sugar
• 400 ml canned coconut milk (medium thickness)
• 400-500 ml water
• a lot of vegetable oil

Preparation :

1. Ground together shallots, garlic, candlenuts, galangal, ginger, turmeric powder, ground coriander and salt until you get a paste form. 
   
   
   
   
2. In a big and deep pan (or a pot), preheat about 5 tbs vegetable oil.
3. Add spices paste into the pan and saute the paste for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
4. Add the chicken into the pan together with lemongrass and bay leave. Stir them together for a while until most of the chicken are covered with the spices.
   
5. Add coconut milk, water, bay leave,  and palm sugar into the pan and stir once again.
   
6. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 hour until the chicken is well cooked. Stir it once in a while during the process.
7. Turn off the heat, drain, and remove the chicken from the pan. (Tip: at this step, you can put the chicken in an airtight container and store it in refrigerator to serve it for another time. Tip : Do not throw away the leftover liquid from simmering the chicken. It can be used to make a delicious condiment later)
8. In another big pan, preheat vegetable oil to deep fry the chicken.
9. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the chicken until they become golden brown.
10. Remove the chicken from the oil, drain well, and remove the excess oil using kitchen towel if needed.
11. Serve the chicken hot with hot steamed rice, sambal, and some raw vegetables.

During the process of cooking the chicken, I got a lot of leftover spiced liquid mixture. From that spiced mixture I could make some crispy spiced flakes (or kremesan. Kremes means to be crushed easily just with bare hand). It is a very perfect and tasty condiments for this fried chicken.  I'm going to share the recipe next time. 

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Roasted Chicken Soup

Everybody is sick!!! It seems like there is a flu epidemic in my house. Red noses and red eyes everywhere including mine. But, who could blame them for being sick. The weather is not friendly either. Cold, windy, and wet. It is annoying and not nice.

Well, it was few weeks ago. Now everybody is getting better again even the weather is still cold and not really friendly. During that horrible time, I made roasted chicken soup for my family. Chicken soup is a perfect dish for that time. Many people, including my grandmother said that chicken soup is healthy dish and can be used to treat flu symptoms. Even from what I've read in The New York Times, there was a scientific research that chicken soup contains amino acic cysteine which can help to clear the respiratory system. Chicken soup can also inhibit the movement of neutrophils, the most common white blood cells that defends against infection. Hmm.. whatever it is, chicken soup is good for treating flu people. It is served hot, contains fat, proteins from the chicken itself, and vitamins and minerals from the vegetables. Besides, it tastes good with all those spices inside.

My chicken soup is made from roasted chicken. I was using roasted chicken because it makes the taste even better and make the chicken meat more tender than using boiled non-roasted chicken. Look at my sup merah recipe as well. I always use roasted chicken for my soup. It really makes a big difference at the taste of my soup

First, lets make the roasted chicken (or you can see how to make roasted chicken from my sup merah recipe)
Ingredients :

• 2 Chicken thighs
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup mixed diced carrots, celery, and onion
• 1 stick of rosemary
• 4-5 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparations :

1. Preheat the oven for 210 C (410 F)
2. Prepare an ovenproof dish.
3. Scatter half cup of diced vegetables on the dish.
4. Put the chicken on the top of it.
5. Scatter the rest of the vegetables, garlic, and rosemary around the chicken.
6. Pour some olive oil on the top of the chicken.
7. Sprinkle generous amount of salt and ground black pepper.
8. Put the chicken into preheated oven and roast it for about 45 minutes.

After done making the roasted chicken, lest make the soup. 

Ingredients :

• 1 medium onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 medium shallot, minced (about 4 Indonesian shallots)
• 120 grams carrots, diced or sliced
• 120 grams green beans, sliced about 2 cm each
• 50 grams frozen peas
• 150 grams celery, diced
• 2 roasted chicken thighs
• 1 bayleave
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 1/4 cup (about 28 grams) elbow macaroni
• 1 leek (white part only), thinly sliced
• 2 liter water
• 5 sticks canned sausages (hot dogs), sliced
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation :

1. In a big pot preheat the vegetable oil.
2. Add minced shallot, onion, and garlic into the pot and saute until the onion and shallot become translucent.
3. Add celery and carrots into the pot and saute again until those vegetables become a bit tender.
   
4. Add roasted chicken into the pot
   
5. Pour water into the pot until the chicken is submerged.
6. Add ground nutmeg, ginger powder, bay leave into the pot and stir it lightly.
   
7. Reduce the heat and simmer it for about 30-40 minutes.
8. Remove the foam that appear on the surface.
9. Remove the chicken from the pot, separate the bones from the meat, and . 
10. Add sliced sausages, frozen peas, elbow macaroni, and sliced leek into the pot.
11. Add back the boneless chicken into the pot.
12. Stir and simmer again for about 10 minutes until the macaroni become tender.
13. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
14. Turn off the heat and serve it hot with toasted bread, or hot steamed rice, or with crouton.

Tip : You can always use any other kind of vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, sugar snaps, or baby corn. 

Tip : Fried shallot is a good condiment for chicken soup as well. Sprinkle it on the top of the soup or steamed rice right before serving it. 

It is always possible to freeze the leftover of chicken soup. Put it in an airtight container or thick plastic bag, and put it in a freezer. When you want to eat it again, just let it sit in a room temperature for about 1-2 hour and put the frozen soup into a pot. Turn on the heat and simmer it on low heat until all the liquid is melted. 

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Arem-Arem (Stuffed Rice Rolls)

Long time ago, when I was just a little girl, my aunt often came to my house. She usually brought some unique traditional food with her every time she pays a visit. One time, she brought one bag full of lontong (cylinder compressed rice cake wrapped in banana leaves). Or that was I thought. I didn't really pay attention to it because well, it's only lontong. It's very common in my own city. I was wrong. It was not lontong but she brought arem-arem.

Arem-arem is a steamed rice filled in with spiced meat and wrapped  in banana leaves. It's shaped cylinder likes lontong but it has filling like lemper. That's why sometimes people will get confused between arem-arem and lontong. There are a lot of variation for the filling such as spiced chicken, beef, fish, or it is even possible to add some vegetables. Just use your imagination and create your own filling. Those filling will make the rice taste even better as well. Yum!!

I love arem-arem since the first time I tried it. I always want to make it and eat it again. But too bad, not long time after that my aunt got sick and it was getting difficult for her to pay a visit. It has been years since my last time eating arem-arem. Until few weeks ago. My friend gave me few of her leftover banana leaves. What a happy coincidence because I was thinking the possibility of participating Indonesian Foodblogger Comunity Challenge #14:Olahan Beras (Rice dish). Anyone who want to participate should make any kind of Indonesian rice dish using an organic PureGreen rice. I'm a bit nervous actually trying to compete with other great food blogger. But no harm no foul. Well, while starring at my banana leaves, I was thinking why not trying to make arem-arem for this challenge? I like it, I always want to try to make, I have the ingredients (especially I have banana leaves), and now I have a good reason to make it.

Ingredients :
For filling :

• 2 medium shallots (or 4 Indonesian shallots)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 candlenuts (kemiri)
• 1 chili pepper, remove the seeds 
• 200 grams boneless chicken, cut into big chunk
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 2 1/2 tbs soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 40 grams grated carrot
• 30 grams green peas
• salt and pepper 
• vegetable oil
• about 500 ml water for boiling the chicken.

For the rice :

• 250 grams PureGreen Fragrance Rice
• 700 ml coconut milk
• pinch of salt.
• banana leaves for wrapping 

Preparation :

Let's make the filling 

1. In a pot, boil a water together with boneless chicken.
2. Once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken and shred it. Do not throw away the leftover chicken broth. Save about 300 ml chicken broth and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, blend together shallots, garlic, candlenuts, and chili pepper until you get a paste.
4. In a pan, heat about 3 tbs vegetable oil and saute the spices paste until it become aromatic.
5. Add shredded chicken into the pan and stir it together with the spices.
6. Add chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger powder, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir again.
7. Let it simmer for a while until almost all the liquid are evaporated.
8. Add grated carrot and green peas and stir. 
9. Turn off the heat and let it cooled for a bit.
   

Tip : You can always make the filling one day before making arem-arem. Just let it cool until the hot steam are gone, put it in a airtight container box and keep it in refrigerator. 

Now, let's make arem-arem :

1. With a strainer, rinse the rice with running water and drain it well.
2. In a big pot, mix together the rice, coconut milk ,and salt.
3. Turn on the heat and cook them together 
4. Stir it once in a while until about half of the liquid are absorbed by the rice.
5. Turn off the heat and let it cool for a while.
   
6. Prepare the steamer and let the water on the steamer boiled.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the banana leaves. Cut it into rectangle (about 15x25 cm) and clean it with damp kitchen towel.
8. Place about 2-3 tbs cooked rice in the middle of the leaves and press it until flattened. 
   
9. Place about 1/2- 1 tbs filling in the middle of the rice. 
   
10. Using the leaves, roll and fold the rice to cover the filling carefully. Be careful not to break the leaves.
    
11. Roll the leaves to wrap the rice and shape it like a cylinder. 
12. Close both of the end of the cylinder by tucking and folding it nicely to prevent the rice leaking during the steaming process.
13. Secure it with staples or with tooth pick or with small wood or bamboo stick.
14. Repeat this process with the rest of the rice and the filling.
15. Put all those nicely wrapped rice into the preheated steamer.
16. Steam it for about 1 hour.
    
17. Turn off the heat serve it hot. 

Tip : If you are living in a place where it is difficult to get banana leaves or in a place where banana leaves is quite pricey like in my place, you can always combine banana leaves with baking paper for wrapping the rice. Cut baking paper big enough to wrap and roll the rice. Place smaller banana leaves on the top of the baking paper. Put the rice and the filling on the top of it and start to roll the rice like as usual. 

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Perline Pasta With Creamy Lemon Chicken Mushroom Sauce

Sometimes it could be a little bit frustrating becoming a stay at home mom. Don't get me wrong. Being a mom and wife is great. But all those daily and repeatable quests from day to day sometimes could make me get bored and having a very bad mood. Yeah I'm a moody person. So, to entertain myself, I usually go to the grocery store and thinking, imagining what I could make for dinner, or snack, or lunch. I love to wander around just to check what item that has a big sale, comparing one store to another store and so on. That what I did last week. And when my eyes stumble on the big sale board on my favorite pasta shelf, I was so happy. That means I will be able to make some delicious pasta dish. Yaaaay!!! My brain started to work fast and thinking and combining all the ingredients that possible. I hope no one noticed my big grin while I was standing near that shelf. Look what I've bought! (I bought 7 actually and already used 2 of them)

I managed to serve a pretty good pasta for dinner few days ago. I made perline pasta with creamy lemon chicken mushroom sauce. Perline pasta is one of few types of filled pasta. Basically, it is same with tortellini or ravioli, but it is shaped like money bag. There are a lot of thing that can be used for their filling, such as cheese, prosciutto, spinach, mushroom, and many thing else.

Ingredients (for serving 3 person) :

• 250 grams perline pasta 
• 300 grams boneless skinless chicken, cut into cubes
• 150 grams champignon mushroom, thinly slices
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 70 ml white wine
• 150 ml milk
• 3 1/2 tbs flour 
• 3/4 tbs lemon juice
• lemon zest
• olive oil
• salt and black pepper
• some parsley

Tip : I was using cheese perline pasta. You can always use perline with any kind of filling that you want. 

Preparation :

1. Fill in a big pot with water (until 2/3 of the way) and bring it to boil.
2. Once it's boiled, add some salt and the paste into the water.
3. Boil the pasta and pay attention to the cooking direction on the package to make sure the pasta is cooked well.
4. Meanwhile, in a big pan, preheat about 5 tbs olive oil.
5. Put minced garlic into preheated oil and saute until fragrance.
6. Add mushroom and chicken cubes into the pan and saute it until the chicken is cooked.
7. Add white wine and keep stirring until all the alcohol is evaporated.
8. Add flour into the pan and stir again for awhile. Be careful not to burn the flour.
9. Pour some milk, lemon juice and lemon zest into the chicken mixture and keep stirring.
10. Adjust the taste with salt and ground black pepper
11. At this point the pasta should be done. Drain it well.
12. Serve the pasta on the plate and pour the chicken sauce on the top.
13. Garnish with some chopped parsley and olive oil. 

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Fried Chicken with Sesame Sauce

Like as usual, today I really had no idea what I should cook for dinner. It seems it's becoming my habit to think about dinner menu. Everyday, when I woke up, the first thing that come to my mind is what will I cook today. Well.... practically because I have to start defrosting the frozen meat in the morning before use it in the evening. Or buy some ingredients. My mother always said, that's the challenge of being a housewife. For example, this morning, I took out my chicken breast and start to defrosting it but really I totally had no idea what should I do with this thing.

Well.. I found 1/2 bottle of sesame seeds on my kitchen.When was the last time I used this ingredients? I suddenly wanted to make chicken with sesame sauce like the one that I used to eat in a restaurant in Indonesia few years ago. Hmmm maybe not exactly the same but I think I could make a pretty decent dish.

First I need to fry the chicken. I do not want just plain fried chicken. It has to be crispy, spiced, and coated with something to increase the taste and the texture of the chicken itself. So, i spiced them with garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper. On my recipe, I use some white wine. It's totally optional and can be substitute with the same amount of lemon juice. After coating and frying process, make the sauce. Basically just mix all the ingredients together and let it simmer until it's boiled. Thickened it with tapioca starch, mix the chicken and the sauce, and it's ready to serve. It's easy, isn't it? And it is good as well. That's the most important thing. 

Ingredients :

• 400 boneless chicken breast 
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated or minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tbs white wine (optional)
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbs flour
• 4 tbs cornstarch
• vegetable oil for frying
• sliced spring onion (optional)

Tip : you can always substitute white wine with same amount of lemon juice and ginger powder with grated fresh ginger. Cut about 3 cm fresh ginger, remove the skin and grate it. 

• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs white granulated sugar
• 3 tbs mirin (Japanese rice wine vinegar)
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 6-7 tbs water
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 1 cloves garlic, grated or minced
• 1 tbs sesame seeds
• pinch of salt and white pepper
• mixture of 1 tsp tapioca starch and 2 tbs water

Tip : If you're using raw sesame seeds, it is better if you roast it in a pan without oil before mix them in the sauce. Just to increase the taste. I'm using ready to use roasted sesame seeds that I bought from Asian grocery store.

Preparation :

1. Cut the chicken into medium-big (about 3 cm or 1 inch) cubes. Transfer the chicken into a bowl.
2. Add grated garlic, ginger powder, salt, pepper, white wine and soy sauce. 
3. Mix them together.
4. Add flour into the mixture and mix again until the chicken is well coated.
5. Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, you can start to make the sauce.
7. In a pan, preheat about 1-1 1/2 cup vegetables oil for frying.
8. When the oil is ready, add corn starch into the chicken, and mix it once more.
9. Put the chicken into preheated oil and fry until they're cooked trough and become golden brown.
10. Remove the chicken from the oil and drain the excess oil
11. Transfer the fried chicken into a bowl or a plate, pour the sauce on the chicken, and mix them together until they're well coated.
12. Serve it with hot steamed rice and garnish with sliced spring onion if you like.

For the sauce :

1. In a small pot or sauce pan, mix together soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sesame oil, water, ginger powder, grated garlic, salt and pepper. 
2. Turn on the heat and let the sauce mixture boiled.
3. When it start to boil (or until the bubbles start to appear), reduce the heat, add sesame seeds, and let it simmer for about 3 minutes.
4. Stir the mixture and add tapioca starch mixture slowly while keep stirring until the sauce is thickened. (No need to use all the tapioca mixture if it's thick enough)
5. Turn off the heat and let it cool and thickened for a little bit.

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Homemade Crispy Chicken Steak

Finally! I'm able to finish this chicken steak recipe. I've been pretty busy lately with a lot of thing. About 2 weeks ago, I made crispy chicken steak for dinner. Actually, my first plan was to make chicken katsu. But i saw that i still have some buttermilk and a lot of potatoes that needed to be used as soon as possible. One of the potato started to grow a sprout. So I was thinking maybe i should change the menu. Maybe western menu is not a bad idea. I think chicken steak served with potatoes and vegetables would be good. Hmm... I still had few packs of salty crackers as well. It could be used to make crispy steak. So, crispy chicken steak it is. 

It is easy to make. The buttermilk increased the taste of the chicken and make the color of the chicken more brown that fried chicken without buttermilk. Even soaking the chicken overnight in spiced buttermilk can help to tenderize the meat (hmm... this can be a good topic for my writing). I'm using crackers crumb for the final coating instead of bread crumbs or flavored flour. Crackers crumbs can increase the crispiness and the taste of the chicken steak and make it so good. Just get 1 pack of salty crackers (not chips or cookies or biscuit), put it in a sealed plastic wrap, and smash it with rolling pin or pestle until it become into coarse crumbs.

This crispy chicken is good to be served with black pepper sauce, or onion sauce, or barbecue sauce. But now, i choose onion sauce for the gravy. Just simply because i like saute onion.

Ingredients :

• 500 grams boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 tsp paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder 
• Salt and black pepper
• 125 grams (1 cup) flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 240 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
• 1 tbs tabasco
• 1 cup vegetable oil (or enough to fry about 1/2 of the height of chicken slices.)
• 1 pack (40 grams) salty crackers, such as graham crackers, put it in plastic bag and crush it until you get the crumbs.
  
• parchment paper or plastic wrap

Tip : If you do not have or can not find buttermilk, you can always make your own buttermilk. Well... actually this is a substitution of buttermilk. But it will work well. Mix 1 cup (240 ml) milk with 1 tbs lemon juice or lime juice. Stir it lightly and let sit in a room temperature for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, you can see that the milk is become thickened and a bit curdled.

For the gravy :

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cube chicken bouillon
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp soysauce
• salt and pepper

Preparation :

First, let's make the steak :

1. Cut the chicken into 4 wide slices with about 1.5 - 2 cm thickness for each slice.
   
   
   
   
2. Put the chicken slices on the parchment paper/plastic wrap.
3. Rub the surface of the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder generously.
4. Cover it with another parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound them gently using a rolling pin or meat mallet. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside
6. In another bowl, mix buttermilk and tabasco. Set aside.
7. In another shallow bowl, pour crumbs from the crackers. Take about 3 tbs flour mixture and mix it with crackers crumbs. 
8. In a pan/skillet, heat the vegetable oil.
9. Take 1 slice of chicken, dip it into flour mixture and make sure to cover all the surface with the flour.
10. Dip the same chicken slice in buttermilk mixture.
11. Dip it again into crackers crumbs mixture and coat it well. 
12. Put the chicken into the preheated oil, and fry it until the bottom side become golden brown. Be careful not to burn the chicken during the process. Buttermilk make the outer surface of the chicken become brown faster than fried chicken without buttermilk. So make sure the chicken is cooked well and evenly.
13. Flip it over and fry the other side. 
14. Drain the chicken from the oil, and remove the excess oil using kitchen paper.
15. Serve it with the sauce.

While frying the chicken,  let's make the onion sauce :

1. In the sauce pan, add 2 tbs butter.
2. Add sliced onion. Saute the onion until brown and translucent.
3. Add flour. Stir them well.
4. Add water and bouillon cube. Stir well until the sauce start to boiled.
5. Add sugar, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
6. Continue to stir on medium-low heat until the sauce is thickened. 
7. Turn off the heat and ready to serve

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Noodle with Crispy Chicken and Teriyaki Sauce

It's noodle time!! Yay! I LOVE noodle. I love any kind of noodle. With any kind of shape, taste, sauce, condiment. As long as it is eatable, i will love it. Egg noodle, rice noodle, mung bean noodle, you name it (including instant noodle. Oh.... It is my guilty pleasure).

This morning, i saw a picture of my friend in Facebook. A noodle. One of my favorite noodle that is sold in one restaurant my hometown. The picture is so appealing. And suddenly i really want to cook noodle for our dinner. I think i still have 2 packs of egg noodle. Let's get creative. I'm going to cook it and serve it with crispy chicken and teriyaki sauce.

Ingredients (Serving for 4 portion) :

For noodle :

• 300 grams egg noodle. I'm using 1,5 pack of egg noodle  "Kuda Menjangan".
  
  This is what i have in hand at the moment. You can use any brand of egg noodle or Chinese noodle. Some brand even already divide the noodle into 1 portion package. 
• 4 tbs vegetable oil
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper

For crispy chicken :

• 250 grams boneless chicken, cut into slices.
• 2 tbs flour + 4 tbs four
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs corn starch (maizena)
• 2 cups vegetable oil

For teriyaki sauce :

• 100 grams champignon mushroom, cut into slices
• 1 medium onion, cut into stripes
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 6 tbs water
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 5 tsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp ginger powder
• mixture of 1 tbs water + 1 tsp corn starch

Additional vegetable : 

• 300 grams bok choy/ pak choy
  
  or any kind of Chinese cabbage 

Preparation :

First let's make the crispy chicken :

1. In a bowl, season the sliced chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Set it aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate plate or bowl, mix well 4 tbs flour and 1 tbs corn starch. Set aside
3. After about 10 minutes, dust all the surface of the sliced chicken with flour. It will need about 2 tbs flour. 
4. In a pan, heat the oil to fry the chicken. 
5. Dip 1 slice of floured chicken into beaten egg. 
6. Dip it again into mixture of flour and corn starch. Make sure it is coated well with the flour.
7. Fry the chicken in the pan until golden brown. 
8. Remove the chicken from the pan and drain the oil.
9. Remove the excess oil using kitchen towel if needed.

Let's prepare the sauce : 

1. In a sauce pan, heat the oil
2. Add sliced onion and mushroom into the pan. Saute it well until the onion become translucent and the mushroom is tender.
3. Add water, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, garlic, and ginger powder into the pan
4. Stir them well on the medium heat until the sugar dissolved and the sauce start to boil
5. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 2 minutes
6. Add corn starch mixture a little bit a time until the sauce is thickened.
7. Turn off the heat.

Let's make the noodle :

1. In a big pot, boil about 1,5 liter water
2. Wash the bok choi and put it in the boiling water. Boil the vegetable until tender.
3. Remove the vegetable using a small strainer or chop stick or fork, put it on a plate, and set aside.
4. Boil the noodle on the same boiling water. See the package for the cooking time direction. 
5. Drain off the water from the noodle using a strainer.
6. Put the noodle back on the pot.
7. Add vegetable oil, soy sauce, and ground pepper. Mix them well. 

Finally. Let's serve them together. 

1. In a bowl, put 1 portion of noodle.
2. Put crispy chicken on the top of noodle.
3. Put the vegetable on the side of the chicken.
4. Pour the sauce on the top of the chicken. 
5. Add shu mai or wan tan or fish ball if you want. I'm using shu mai. 
6. Enjoy. 

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Ayam Panggang Bumbu Rujak (Grilled Chicken with Spicy Sauce)

This is another popular dishes in my hometown, Malang, Indonesia. Ayam Panggang Bumbu Rujak. I'm not really sure the translation in English. I think "Grilled chicken with spicy sauce" is proper enough. This dish is originally from East Java. The chicken will be cooked together with the spices until aromatic and grilled using a charcoal grill. This dish can be easily served together with any kind of vegetable (raw or stir fried) and any kind of carbohydrate. Well.. I usually eat it with hot steamed rice. It goes well too with nasi gurih. Yum! Heel erg lekker ^^

Ingredients :

• 1 kg chicken (about 4 chicken thighs)
• 2 1/2 medium shallots (or 6 Indonesian shallot), peel
• 5 cloves of garlic, peel
• 5 chili peppers, removes the seeds
• 5 candlenuts
• 1/2 tsp galangal (laos) powder (or 2 cm fresh galangal)
• 1/4 cup tamarind water (or 1/4 tsp tamarind paste)
• 2 tbs palm sugar
• 2 bayleaves
• 1 lemongrass
• 2 tbs sweet soy sauce
• 75 ml (1/4 cup) water
• 4 tbs vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Tip :  To make tamarind water : 1 tsp seedless tamarind + 1/4 cup warm water (stir and squeeze the tamarind until the water becomes dark brown and remove the tamarind) = 1/4 cup tamarind water. If you're using tamarind paste, adjust the amount of water. Add about 125 ml (1/2 cup) of water instead of 75 ml.

Tip : Add 1 or 2 cabai rawit (bird's eye chili) if you want to increase the spiciness. Blend it together with shallots, garlic, candlenuts, and chili pepper. Cabai rawit or bird's eye chili is a small chili pepper that usually found in Southeast Asia. Some people call it Thai chili. This chili is much more spicy than chili pepper.

Preparation :

1. Clean and cut the chicken into pieces. Set aside.
2. Blend together shallots, garlic, chili pepper, candlenuts, and galangal. 
3. In a big pan, heat vegetable oil.
4. Add the blended spices into the pan and saute until fragrant. 
5. Put the chicken pieces into the pan and stir until all all of it are covered with the spices
6. Add tamarind, palm sugar, bayleaves, lemongrass, sweet soy sauce, and water into the pan
7. Stir them well.
8. Cook until the spices are absorbed and almost all the water are evaporated. 
9. Prepare the grill.
10. Separate the chicken from the spices and remove it from the pan.
11. Transfer all the spices into a bowl and set aside.
12. Grill the chicken pieces until their color become dark brown. Brush them occasionally with the spices using pastry brush.
13. When its done, cover again the chicken with the spices, and serve it in a big plate. 

For the grilling process, I was using my indoor electric grill. Let me show you mine.

You can use charcoal grill if you want. If there are no grill available in your house, you can use oven. Set your oven temperature into 200 C (390 F). If you have broiler feature in your oven use it. Transfer the chicken in a ovenproof dish. Put it on the 2nd top rack of your  preheated oven/broiler and bake the chicken for about 8-10 minutes or until they become dark brown. Turn it over and bake again until browned on both side. 

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Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings

It's time to cook for dinner. After staring at my fridge for a while, I decided to make a chicken wings dish. I want to eat something sweet and spicy today. So I try to create my own chicken wings recipe. The result turns out not so bad. Well, not spicy enough for me. But still good. This recipe goes very well with hot steamed rice. Yum!

Ingredients :

• 10 Chicken wings
• 1/2 medium onion, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tbs tomato sauce
• 1 tbs sweet soy sauce
• 1 tbs worcester sauce
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 3 tbs sweet chili sauce (or more)
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tbs honey + 2 tbs sweet chili sauce, mixed 

Preparation :

1. In a pan, heat 3 tbs vegetable oil
2. Add minced onion and garlic into preheated oil, saute until the onion become translucent.
3. Add water, tomato sauce, soy sauce, worcester sauce, paprika powder, ginger powder, and sweet chili sauce into the pan. Stir them together.
4. Add chicken wings into the pan. Stir them together until they are coated with the sauce.
5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven 200 C  (400 F) and prepare an ovenproof dish.
6. Let them cooked at low-medium heat for about 10 min. Turn them over. 
    
   
   
7. Continue to cook them until almost all of the water are evaporated. (it will take about 10 more minutes)
8. Turn off the heat and place the chicken wings into an ovenproof dish. 
9. Coat all of them with mixed honey and sweet chili sauce using a pastry brush.
10. Put them into preheated oven for about 10 minutes
11. Take the chicken wings out, and coat them again with honey mixture.
12. Put them back into the oven for about 10 minutes.
13. Serve them hot with sliced cucumber and tomato.

I didn't only serve the chicken wings with sliced cucumber and tomato, but with leftover onion from the pan. When i transfer the wings into the oven, i left all the onion and all the spices in the pan. I continue to cook them for 1-2 minutes, and transfer them into a small bowl.

When i eat my dinner, i took a little bit of this onion and mix them up with my hot steamed rice. It tasted great. It was sweet, a little bit spicy, and made my chicken wing tasted even better. I'm definitely going to make this dish again next time. 

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Sup Merah (Indonesian Tomato Soup)

What should i cook for today? Let see. I have 2 chicken thighs, some carrot, some celery, some champignon, 1/2 can of canned sausages, and 1 can diced tomatoes. I think i can make 1 big pot of Sup Merah out of them. What is  sup merah ?

Sup Merah (Red soup) or Indonesian Tomato soup is one of popular soup dish from Indonesia, especially onEast Java. It is an Indonesian dish with a little bit of Western touch. We call it red soup (merah = red) because the soup has a reddish color. My mother and my grandmother used to make this soup especially for special occasion such as birthday or new year. I'm glad they gave me the recipe and taught me how to make it. The original recipe is complicated and takes a lot of time. I need to fry a lot of shallot, pre-boil all the tomatoes, crush them and remove all the seeds and peel the skin. I still remember sometimes my grandmother grated the tomatoes to get its juice for a big pot of soup. This time i'm going to make sup merah using my family recipe but with some small modification just to simplify the process.

Ingredients :

• 150 grams fried shallot
• 2 Roasted chicken thighs 
• 200 grams carrots, diced
• 100 grams celery, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 125 grams champignon mushroom, sliced
• 1 can (400 grams) diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 100 grams frozen peas
• 6 sticks canned sausages, sliced
• 3-4 tbs tomato sauce
• 2 bouillon blocks
• 2 ltr water
• 1 bay leaves
• 2 tsp sugar

Preparation : 

1. In a big pot, preheat 2-3 tbs oil.
2. Saute diced onion, celery, carrots until a bit tender.
3. Add sliced champignon mushrooms, saute again until the mushrooms are cooked.
4. Add roasted chicken into the pot.
5. Add water, ground nutmeg, bouillon block, bay leave, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, sugar, and fried shallot into the pot.
6. Let it boiled. 
7. Reduce the heat, and simmer on low-medium heat for about 20 min.
8. Remove the chicken from the pot, let it cool for a bit.
9. Separate bones from the meat, and put the chicken meat back into the pot.
10. Add sliced sausages and frozen peas into the pot.
11. Add salt and pepper.
12. Simmer again on low- medium heat for another 15 min
13. Adjust the taste if needed.

Tip : Fried shallot will add sweetness of the soup. I explain how to make it on other post. If you want to avoid this process or too lazy to make fried shallot, just saute the shallot in the pot until translucent before adding onion and the other vegetables into the pot. Do not use fried shallot that you can buy in Asian store unless you're sure they are not coated with flour. The flour will make the soup taste and look bad.

 One big pot of sup merah  is ready. 

I usually eat the soup with hot steamed rice and fried shallot or fried onion as condiments. Toasted bread or crouton is a perfect companion for this soup as well. The most important thing is serve this soup hot. :)

After one day, i still have some leftover soup on my pot. I decided to make a pot pie. 

I put the soup into a small ramekin dish, cover it up with puff pastry, make a hole in the middle of puff pastry, and brush the pastry with egg wash. Put it into preheated oven (190 C) for about 20 min. After the pastry become crispy and golden brown, remove the dish from the oven, let it cool for about 10 min.

Let's start digging. :)

Why did I use roasted chicken? 

Thanks to Chef John. I found his video on youtube about roasted chicken broth. I tried it once for making chicken soup, and it really changed the taste of the soup. It became much more tasty and savory. Since then I always use roasted chicken broth for my soup. I didn't exactly follow the original recipe, but it still great.

I highly recommend to roast the chicken if you want a fatty and a little bit heavy soup. But if you prefer a light soup, just directly boil the chicken. No need to roast the chicken before.

Ingredients :

• 2 Chicken thighs
• 1 clove of garlic, peel and pressed.
• 1 cup mix of diced carrot, celery, and onion.
• 4 tbs Olive oil
• Salt, and black pepper

Preparation : 

1. Preheat the oven 210 C (410 F).
2. Put the chicken into an oven proof dish. 
3. Put mixed vegetables and garlic all around the chicken.
4. Add some olive oil on the top of the chicken.
5. Sprinkle generous amount of salt and black pepper
   
6. Put the chicken into the oven and roast it for about 40-45 min.
   

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