Rica Roa

This is definitely one of my favorite food from my home town. It is smoked fish and it's called Garfish. You can only find this smoked fish in Manado. When I went back this summer, I was able to bring some here in the states. I couldn't leave without it.... here's how I make my rica roa....

3/4 cup of crushed roa
1 big onion
2 clove garlic
6 bird's eye chili
1/2 inch ginger
1 medium tomato (you can knife chop it)
blend everything together on your food processor.

Fry the roa for about 5 mins. Take it out.
On another pan, fry all the ingredients with vegetable oil until they are caramelized and browned. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Then add 1 tablespoon of Kecap Manis ABC (Sweet soy sauce). Stir for 30mins and add the roa. Let it all cook for another 1mins. Then take it out and ready to serve.

Enjoy! 

Acar Timun ( Carrot and cucumber pickle)

I always have this in my refrigerator because I found this to be a good companion with my noodle dishes and others. When I was living in Manado, Indonesia, there was one restaurant called Mie Medan, they had the best fried noodle around the city. Every time I go back to Manado, I have to go there and eat their noodle...delicious!! They also have the best Acar Timun and it's for free... ohh mann...I'm salivating just writing about it. When I went back to Indonesia this year, we ate outside a lot; we tried different kinds of fried rice, noodles and etc. They always serve with Acar timun, so when I came back here, I decided to make my own. Here is my recipe:

3 carrots
1 cucumber (seedless)
3 pcs of Shallot
10 pcs of bird's eye chili (they are small chili)
2 cups of white vinegar
1 cup of water
3 tablespoon of sugar
salt to taste

Cut the carrot and unpeeled & seedless cucumber into small dices
Thinly slice shallots
On a cup mix 1/2 cup of Hot water with sugar (so it will dissolve easily)
On a container add vinegar and dissolve water with sugar and the remaining cold water. Then add salt, stir for a bit. Then add carrot, cucumber, shallot and chili.

Put the container inside the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.
You should always keep this inside the fridge. They can last for a long time.

Enjoy!

Babi Kecap from my mom's recipe (Pork sweet soy sauce)

This is my old time favorite dish while I was growing up in Indonesia. A feast without Babi Kecap (Sweet soy sauce Pork) would be unimaginable. My families love to eat this dish with dabu-dabu (Manadonese spicy sour tomato and onion salsa) As you can see, Manadonese people love spicy foods due to pork being so sweet, you need to eat this with dabu-dabu. Both makes a really good compliment with each other. It's really simple and quick to prepare and the taste is unbelievable. Here is my recipe I got it from my mom. Oh man... my mom makes a killer Babi kecap...yumm!!

2lbs of Pork
you want you the belly and neck's pork, you'll have a combination of the fat and meat from the belly and the bone from the neck brings out the flavor. Marinate with salt + pepper for 30 mins. Then fry for 7mins each sides.

Sauce:
1 1/2 teaspoon of Garlic
5 tablespoon of cup of Kecap manis ABC (Sweet soy sauce) If you like your really sweet than add more
3 tablespoon of Kecap Asin ABC (soy sauce)
2 tablespoon of Sauce Inggeris (Worcestershire sauce)
1/4 of water
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
few cloves + a pinch of ground cloves
1 pork cube bouillon
a pinch of ajinomoto

Using the same oil you had fried the pork, fry the garlic let it brown. Then add kecap manis + kecap asin + sauce inggeris + water + add the rest of the ingredients. Add the pork and cover with a lid. Check the pork once awhile. Cook until it's ready.

Pretty simple right??

I used the left over sauce to make the rice

Enjoy!!

Sambal Udang + Ayam + Kentang +Pete goreng ( Spicy shrimp + Chicken + Potato + Sator)

I love spicy foods but I don't cook them too often because my husband doesn't really like them. One of my favorite spicy is  Sambel ayam goreng Pete. Pete in english is Sator or Stink Bean. I believe it is use commonly in South East Asia. I know Thailand and Indonesia use this bean in many of their dishes.The original recipe was given to me by an old friend's mother. It was actually a very simple dish but yet the taste is great. She called it ayam pedes (spicy chicken). You only need 3 main ingredients which are chicken breast + sambal olek + butter. Over the years, I decided to play around and add more flavor to it. It became sambel ayam goreng pete it gives a different twist in its taste. Today I decided to add shrimp + potato to this dish. Well... I had some left over shrimp from last week when I made udang goreng mentega. I didn't want to throw the shrimp away so why not give it a try...right? Here is the recipe I develop from ayam pedes to sambel ayam goreng pete + udang and potato.

1 chicken breast cut into bit size (marinate chicken w/ salt + pepper for 30mins)
2 medium size potatoes
1/2 lb of shrimp

Cut potatoes into bit sizes and fry them until golden brown. Put it aside

2 tablespoon of butter
3 tablespoon of sambal olek (depending on your taste, you can add more/less
1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of shrimp paste
1/2 tablespoon of garlic paste
1 tomato into wedges
1 bag of sator (stink beans)
Cook the chicken with butter and add all the ingredients. Let the chicken cook.
Add the shrimp + fried potatoes and 3 teaspoon of fish sauce
(do not over cook the shrimp) If the shrimps are red, then you know they are cook.

If you like it spicy, then you don't have to add tomato. I like to eat this with krupuk (Indonesian Crackers)

add shrimps + potatoes

Happy Cooking

Homemade Bakso (meat ball)

I love my homemade bakso because they are so yummie, easy and cheap to make. Imagine, 1lb of pork cost me around $2 something and I have all the ingredients at home. With a pound of pork I could produce 12 meatballs. In contrary, 1lb of these meatballs at a supermarket cost around $4 less than 12 meatballs. Seriously...this is really awesome! In addition, they are useful for quick meal to make on my lazy days. I love Indonesian instant noodles, they are like my comfort food. They are so easy to prepare and delicious. When I was a kid, my sister & I used to go a box of instant noodle in like 2 weeks. My folks were so upset because we don't eat anything else except instant noodles...boy, they can be very addictive. Each time I make these instant noodles, I always added bakso. I also used them when I make fried rice...Gosh they really boost up the taste. Well I wanna share my recipe with you, here check it out:

1 lb of ground pork
1/2 - 3/4 cup of tapioca flour (eyeball it)
white pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon powder celery salt
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of fried onion (you can find them in Asian supermarket)
1 egg

Outer layer mix
1 tablespoon of tapioca
a pinch of salt
a pinch of garlic powder

4 Cups of water
2 sticks of celery
1 carrot
beef broth
4 cloves of Garlic
1 medium size of Onion
salt + pepper to taste
a dash of ajinomoto

Mix all the ingredients together. Form them into a small ball. Dip them in a small plate where you made the outer layer mix. Make sure they are smoothly covered with the outer layer mix.  Enhance the bakso shape using your palms.

Cook the bakso in the boiling water that you have prepared with all ingredients.
To tell how they are cook, the bakso we'll start floating. This mean that they are ready to go.

To store these bakso, put them on ziploc and freeze them.

Enjoy!