Talking Tex-Mex

Driven by my cooking passion and my habit of trying out new recipes, one day I bought one more cooking book from the Periplus Mini Cookbooks. I was intrigue by its title ‘Tex-Mex’.

The book says that the phrase ‘Tex-Mex’ is not a trendy term coined by some food writer or a funny name of a Mexican restaurant – it is a geographical fact. Tex-Mex is the border between Mexico and Texas which separates two different countries but where food is concerned, the line blurs. Tex-Mex relies heavily on traditional Mexican, therefore often Spanish ingredients and recipes but there is also a strong American influence.

Pasta Experimenta

As the famous saying goes Many roads lead to Rome – this is true for cooking. My mom had a natural gift in the kitchen and she never used recipes from books. She memorized some recipes inherited from her mom and invented some of her own while I learned cooking by following recipes from books or other sources.

When I started cooking, I did not dare to improvise. I simply followed a recipe to the letter, no substitutions no improvements. I started with my mom’s old recipe of chicken barbeque coz it was familiar, has simple list of ingredients and easy cooking method. And it worked! This first success story encouraged me to be more experimental.

Cooking With Love

When my children were still very young, I did not do regular cooking. For everyday meal, it was either our helper cooked or we ordered food from catering company. But from time to time I cooked them simple dishes like fried noodle or omelet for a change. 

Whenever I cooked, my children ate the meal enthusiastically and they seemed to enjoy the food so much. One day, my oldest daughter while enjoying the meal I cooked, asked: ‘Mom, why the meal you cook taste much better than the meal cooked by the helper or caterer? Not prepared by such question, I answered her lightly: ‘because mine is cooked with love’. As a young kid she truly believed whatever I said. She then told her friends proudly that her mom’s cooking is cooked with love (bless her!)

Back to my cooking, my study expanded to watching cooking programs on TV by famous Chefs such as Anthony Bourdain, Kylie Kwong, Jamie Oliver, Bob Blumer (Surreal Gourmet), Nigela Lawson, Bobby Chinn, Curtis Stone (Surfing the Menu, Take Home Chef), Iain Hewitson (Never Trust a Skinny Cook) etc.

Indonesian Cuisine, More Than a Meal

I re-post this article to commemorate the Indonesian Heroes’ Day on 10th November 2009

Indonesian cuisine is famous for its variety and taste.  Every region in Indonesia has its own special food and custom. In West Java – where Sundanese live most – they like to eat fresh vegetables and sambal. As such, there is a ridiculous joke that says you can leave them in the garden and they will be fine. And they like to drink tea without sugar. On the other hand, Javanese (Central and East Java) prefer something sweet. So, tea should be sweet while in Padang (West Sumatra), they like spicy food.

Everybody Loves Pumpkin

To most North Americans pumpkin is a symbol of Halloween which is celebrated on October 31. Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The term Halloween comes from an Old English phrase ealtra halgena aefen, meaning All Hallow’s Evening, which is the eve of All Hallow Day. It was shortened to All Hallow’s Eve before being spell Halloween.

To me, October 31 has always been an important date not because it is Halloween – but simply because it is my birthday. Yeah, I have a Halloween Birthday and everybody loves Pumpkin = Me

My Dark and Sweet Journey with Risotto

After ’successful’ with some recipes, I want to develop further my cooking skill by trying to cook Risotto. Why risotto? Coz it’s a rice dish and as Indonesian, I simply love rice. Indonesia has so many different rice dishes: nasi goreng, nasi uduk, nasi ulam, nasi liwet, nasi kuning, nasi kebuli and many others (note: nasi = rice).

Again, recipes from Periplus Mini Cookbooks become my guide. This time I found the recipe of Mushroom Risotto in Classic and Essential Vegetables. Carefully, I studied the recipe and it looked easy.

 

 

The ingredients were: 750 ml vegetable stock, 250 ml white wine, 60 gram butter, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 leek, 250 gram button mushroom, 250 gram Arborio rice, 50 gram grated parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped thyme.

Hit the Road Jackfruit

Does  anybody  know  the song  ‘Hit the Road Jack’ ?  It is an old  song written by rhythm and blues artist Percy Mayfield and recorded by singer, pianist  Ray Charles. It hit number one for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning on Monday, October 9, 1961.By the way, I am not in the process of changing from “cooking to singing career”.  I just borrow the name of the song for the title of my cooking story today.In cooking, I am more of  ’cooking-make-easy’ type of a person. I don’t like  cooking a dish which takes a long time and complicated method.  But one day, out of the blue,  I had the gut  to try cooking  ’Gudeg’,  the signature dish of  the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, or DIY), Central Java.

Much A Do About Tofu

I ‘borrow’ the title of this post from an article which I read sometimes ago somewhere in a magazine or newspaper but unfortunately I forgot where exactly I read it. I use this title because firstly, it reminds me of the title of one of Shakespeare’s plays ‘Much A Do About Nothing’. Secondly, I agree with this title, yes there is much a do about tofu.

One of famous Indonesian dishes made of tofu is ‘Tahu Gejrot’. It is known as one of the native dishes from Cirebon pronounced “Cheerebon”. The city is in the North Coast of Java Island, close to the border of West Java and Central Java. Because of this, Cirebonese have their own dialects, bearing elements of Sundanese and Javanese.

A few months ago, I and my colleagues got the opportunity to visit Cirebon for a business trip. One of the good things about business trip to other cities and other countries is the opportunity to taste the famous local foods. Cirebon is well known for its local foods, such as nasi lengko (rice mixed with bean sprouts, fried tofu and fermented soybean cake or tempeh), nasi jamblang (rice of various side dishes), empal gentong (a kind of curry), tahu gejrot (fried tofu with sweet sour topping), tahu tek-tek (fried tofu topped with peanut sauce and mixed with vegetables) and many more. So we made plan that we had to find the time in between our busy works to taste different Cirebon dishes.

Love-Hate Relationship

Most of my life, I live in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Home to over 10 million people, Jakarta is always bustling, from the sound of the wheel of government turning to the sight of the economy churning. Skyscrapers, single story residential houses, modern apartment complexes, survivalists shanties – all coexist in this city.

Daniel Ziv, the author of ‘Jakarta Inside Out’ described the city from the point of view of a foreigner who proudly called Jakarta as his home:  Jakarta is not what you’d call a beautiful place, it’s chaotic maze of low-lying slums, gleaming skyscrapers and imposing toll roads, enveloped in a gigantic cloud of pollution and trapped in hopeless gridlock. It often seems a miracle the place keeps ticking at all. But it ticks. Like crazy. If it’s sometimes a city in crisis, it’s also one of great opportunity. If it’s a city of despair, it is at turns one of hope. A constant assault on the senses, it oozes wacky character.

So, why should I live in Jakarta?

To me Jakarta has its own quirky vibe which I love but at the same time I hate. The love and hate are tightly woven into a special feeling too hard to explain.

It’s Getting Hot in Here

The word Sambal is of Indonesian origin. It is a condiment, an ingredient or a dish which always contains a large amount of chilies. Sambal is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as in the Netherlands and in Suriname through Indonesian influence.

It is typically made from a variety of chilies. Sambal is served as a condiment and as an ingredient for a variety of dishes. It is sometimes a substitute for fresh chilies. It can be extremely spicy for the uninitiated. It is common to find bowls of different sambals on the dining table in Indonesian homes.