Citra's Home Diary: August 2011

Cooking OKRA

I like vegetable, any kind of vegetables. Mostly I eat them raw and as salad.

Talking about favorite vegetable, Okra is in season now days. We can find them everywhere in cheap price.

If you like this Okra too just follow my tips: find fresh okra with firm (not soft) pod, it's good one.

Then try my okra recipe for good menu on your dinner table (^,^).

Ingredients:
 ± 300 g okra pods
 ± 100 g beef, sliced lengthwise (can be skipped if you want vegetarian version)
 1 medium onion, finely chopped
 2 ~ 3 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
 1 medium tomato, peeled and finely chopped
 1 teaspoon ground red pepper / chilli powder
 2 ~ 3 tablespoons lemon juice of ½ medium lemon
 ½ tsp sugar
 2 tsp salt or to taste
 ¾~1 cup hot water (or broth)
 Enough Corn/ canola oil for sauteing

method:
1) Leave the okra whole without cut. If you cut them the mucilage will be out from them and make it slime. Wash the okra with salt water and rinse with clean water. Drain.
2) Heat enough cooking oil in a pan, saute the meat until cooked and tender. Stir in onion and garlic, saute until fragrant and transparent. Combine tomatoes and paprika powder, mix well. Mix in okra, sugar and salt, stir well.
3) Pour with ¾~1 cup water (broth) and lemon juice, stir and continue cooking over medium heat about 20 minutes or until okra is rather soft.

Serve warm.

Damatesli Pilavı (Tomato rice)

I love eating pilaf. As Asian, it's main dish for me every time, everywhere. I feel "not full" whatever I eat without eating rice. ^,^

In Turkey, people cook pilaf different way from I usually do(which is always steamed and plain-Cause we usually eat our meal over that steamed plain rice)

Damatesli Pilavı means Rice cooked with tomato. The final taste is "almost" like our Indonesian Fried rice... "Almost" ^,^ .....I like it though.

Here I share how to make this Damatesli Pilavı

Materials and how to make it:
 1 ½ cups long grain rice, wash and soak ± 30 minutes, drained
 2 ½ tablespoons margarine
 ½ medium size onion, finely chopped
 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
 2 tsp salt or to taste
 1 ½ ~ 1 ¾ cup chicken broth / beef (or hot water)

Heat margarine in medium pan, saute onion until fragrant and wilted, put in rice and stir well. Combine tomatoes and stir for few minutes. Pour in chicken broth /beef (or hot water), salt then stir well. Cover pan with lid and reduce heat (at lowest heat). Cook up to± 20 minutes until broth is absorbed in rice. Turn off heat and let stand for several minutes without opening the lid.

Serve warm with some other dish you like or just as it and salad.

Afiyet Olsun.

Sweet and Sour Roasted Chicken

I was surprisingly love this one. Simple but great meal for dinner or lunch. You must try it and tell me if you are agree with me ^,^

Serve it with simple warm steamed rice or you can see some of my pilaf recipe here to get a long with this sweet and sour roasted chicken.

Served 4.
Ingredients and how to make
 1 kg chicken or 4 pcs of chicken thighs, wash and stab some places with fork

Ingredients for chicken marinade:
 5 cloves garlic, finely grated
 1 medium lemon, take the zest and juiced
 5 tablespoons molasses (I use grape molasses)
 3 tablespoons hot chili sauce ( ABC chili sauce/ shriraca)

 3 tablespoons canola/ corn/ coconut oil
 2 tsp salt or to taste
 2 tsp brown sugar

Mix well all marinade ingredients. Soak chicken with it and let stand at least 3 hours (or overnight) in refrigerator.
Roasted over coals or in oven 200 ⁰C until cooked

Serve warm with salad and rice/ pilaf or potatoes.

Yogurt Panna Cotta with Cherry Compote

This is my perfect dessert for my family iftar. Light but really entertained us after all heavy meal on previous fast breaking.

served 2

Red Cabbage Mix salad

Another Salad mix with Pomegranate sour sauce as dressing. Great side dish that will go along with any meal/dishes you have.

What you need are:

- 1 cup shredded red cabbage

- 1 medium red onion, sliced half ring

- 1 medium cucumber, core, and slice lengthwise about 5 cm

- 1 medium tomato, thinly slice, crescent shape

Dressing:

- 2 tbsp pomegranate sour sauce

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 5~7 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tsp sugar

- salt to taste

*Mix well all dressing ingredients.

Making it:
Mix red cabbage and onion, toss with some salt and knead before rinse. Drain them well. Mix with other vegetable and salad dressing. keep in refrigerator before serving.

Served cold.

Gözleme

Gözleme is a savoury traditional Turkish hand made and hand rolled pastry. Fresh pastry is rolled out, filled and sealed, then cooked over a griddle. The name derives from the Turkish word göz meaning eye. Traditionally, this is done on a sac.

Gözleme varieties include:

Spinach and Feta Cheese

Spinach and Feta and Minced meat

Spinach and Feta and Egg

Seafood

Egg

Minced Meat

Cheese

Potatoes

Mushroom

Lavaş cheese

The unique of this meal can be eaten anytime, anywhere. Sometimes some people like it as a snack or just a brunch with hot tea. Among those variety, today I made combination of feta cheese and parsley. You might try other filling variation to get different taste of this gözleme

Repeatable menu... Karnıyarık (Turkish stuffed eggplant)

One from many traditional Turkish meal. Served in almost every family dinner table and also one of repeatable menu. Eggplant with minced meat stuffing, spice with some seasoning topping with green banana pepper then wet roasted in oven.

Some variation, we can roasted them in tomato sauce gravy to get rich flavor. Serve them warm sprinkle with some parsley or coriander.

Ingredients:

4 pcs medium size eggplant, peeled in stripes lengthwise
200 gr ground meat
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
2 onions, small cubed
1/2 bunch (about 25 stalks) parsley, finely chopped the leaves
1 big tomato, small diced
salt to taste
2 tbs olive oil
Enough frying oil for deep fry
olive oil for sauteing
about 1 cup hot water (or you can add tomato pasta in it)

For topping:

1 tomato, slice crescent shape
green banana peppers, as many as eggplants
parsley or coriander leaves for serving

Cara Membuat Tahu sendiri/ Homemade tofu

Have you eat tofu?- it's healthy.

Have you ever think to make your own tofu?- beside it's easy, it's also healthy because anything we make by our self, we can control what and how the ingredients we use.

Tofu was my daily food back when I was in Indonesia. I ate it almost everyday on my menu. You can eat it as a snack or as side dish. So, when I'm living here I can not find ready tofu here in Turkey.. maybe nobody eat tofu here :))

Then I feel something missing from my menu... so here I am.. making my own tofu... Try it once and you will like it too.. ^,^

Things to Prepare:
1) a large pot at least 6 liters capacity
2) Sieve/ strainer
3) Cheese cloth to filter or can use a clean cloth thin cotton.
4) Blender/ food processor
5) Tofu mould-anything you have with holes.
6) Weight or press tools

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of soybean
• Warm water
• ± 200 ml lemon / lime juice

How to make:

A) Rinse soybeans. Soak in plenty of water (see Figure 1). Soak overnight untill double its volume because absorbed water (Fig. 2). Rinse and drain (Fig. 3).

B) Blend soy bean with warm water, the ratio 1: 4 in volume = 1 for soybeans: 4 for water (Figure 4). Prepare a strainer and cheese cloth. Strain and wring out the blender yield (figure 5). You may keep the dregs and used to make tempeh gembus.

C) Put all soy milk in big pan, heat until almost boiling (Fig. 6). You can cover with lid, but let it open a bit so it won't boil overt. After almost boiling, let stand briefly until lukewarm. Then slowly add lemon juice while stirring very slow until the soy agglomerate such as figure 7, Leave it up to room temperature and precipitation settled.

D) Prepare tofu mold like a figure 8, Cover with cheese cloth (cotton filtre). Slowly, pour the soy precipitation/ sediment into the mold (Figure 9) and cover with the rest of the filter cloth (Fig. 10). Give ballast like the picture 11. As you can see at Fig. 12, residu fluid drop down from the mold. This process for about 3 ~ 5 hours.

E) If you want more dense tofu, Steamed after being pressed.
The process of making yellow tofu, add a little salt, turmeric powder and garlic powder in the cooking process No. 6.

Have a try.

Beef Saute in Pita Bread

I made Pita bread yesterday. And for filling I make beef saute with cumin for our iftar (breaking fast) menu today. Hubby said, why don't you try to make meatball for the filling next time?

Eh, why not.. ^,^ But I make this beef saute because inspired by döner kebab that he like so much. I slice the meat in very thin and wide, so it's döner look like (*_*), with strong cumin flavor which I like.. I'll bet You will get great menu for your lunch or dinner with this pita bread...

served 4~6

Ingredients for beef saute and how to make:
• ± 350 g beef, thinly widely sliced .
• 2 medium onions, finely sliced half-ring shape
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed & finely chopped
• 1 medium size tomato, cut into small squares
• 2 carliston pepper, seeded, sliced lengthwise
• ½ teaspoon pepper powder
• ½ tsp all spice powder
• 1 ½teaspoon ground cumin
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp salt or to taste
• Small amount of sugar
• Enough cooking oil for sauteing

Making beef saute:
Heat oil in a skillet, cook beef until tender--If necessary add small amount of water and cook until water dried again. Stir in onion and garlic, saute until fragrant and wilted. Combine tomatoes and carliston biber, continue stir frying until wilted. Put all other spices, check the taste. Remove from fire.

Other ingredients:
• 4 pieces of Pita bread (you can see recipe here), halved each
• Sliced onions
• Sliced tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Chili flakes for sprinkle on top

How to serve:
Arrange the salad inside slice of pita bread, give beef saute and sprinkle with chili powder/ flake if you like.

Serve warm immediately.

Pita Bread

Pita bread is a round pocket bread widely consumed in many Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Balkan cuisines. It is prevalent from the Balkans through Turkey, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. The "pocket" in pita bread is created by steam, which puffs up the dough. As the bread cools and flattens, a pocket is left in the middle.

Originated in the Middle East and were traditionally cooked in tandoor ovens.

Yield 8 ~ 10 breads.

Membuat susu kental manis sendiri I / Homemade Sweet Condensed Milk I

Selam everybody....Merhaba from Turkey.

Have you ever think to make your own sweet condensed milk? Maybe for you who can find it easily around corner in your place, making it at home will consuming a lot of effort and not practical at all. But for those who's just like me, finding this product is like finding a water in desert :))

Maybe because in Turkey not many people know and use this sweet condensed milk. And indeed, provide need demand, right? ^,^

In my homeland, mostly people using this, we call it "susu kental manis". Even you can find in economic packet for you to bring anywhere ^,^

Well, anyway... If you like to make everything by homamade, or you can't find it in your place, or you just want to try to make it.. here it is my recipe for homemade sweet condensed Milk

Yield ± 250 ml

What you need and how to make it:
 50 gr unsalted butter
 ¾ cup granulated sugar
 ¾ cup water
 1 cup powdered milk

Pandan and Coconut Steamed Cake

Pandan or Pandanus amaryllifolius one kind of tropical plant. The plant is rare in the wild but is widely cultivated. It is an upright green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, blade like leaves and woody aerial roots. The plant is sterile, flowers only very rarely, and is propagated by cuttings.

used widely in Southeast Asian cooking as a flavoring-wikipedia

Beside can give such a nice flavoring in foods, some kind of pandan can give beautiful natural green color, I just love it.

This pandan we can plant it either on garden yard or inside pot. Too bad I don't have it in my home here. I have no idea even if I can bring this plant here, whether it can survive in 4 season country like Turkey. I remember my mom plants this pandan in pot at our house in Indonesia.

Last time my friend brought me pandan paste from Indonesia and give me 1 small bottle. I was so happy cause I miss it's fragance and I miss some Indonesian food (mostly dessert and cake) using this pandan falvor...

So here it is my 1st Pandan cake in Turkey @(^,^)@

You can try to find this pandan paste in Asian grocery store in your country/ city, maybe you'll get lucky to have one...

Ingredients A:
• ¾ cup grated coconut (fresh or dried)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar

Ingredients B:
• 3 medium eggs
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of fine salt
• 1 ½ tsp pandan paste
• 100 gr unsalted butter, melted and mixed with ½ cup olive oil

Friendly Tag... I'm in

I've been tag by My dear foodie friend Ping. Hai Ping..! thanks for tagged me and be part of this friendly event. Here I just copy paste the rule to enliven this event from her page.

This tag is all about your own stuff. I think it's a great idea to highlight some long forgotten posts or some lonely, neglected, uncommented recipe ... especially during one's early days of blogging. I'm happy to be tagged by Ping, from Ping's picking to take part in this 7 - Link Challenge. That's 7 of your own posts in relation to the categories and then to nominate 5 victims bloggers to join in. No extra cooking or baking required.

2 simple rules:

A) publish links for the categories below (1 link per category)

I'm not sure exactly when the post should be published, so I just choose my posts only publishes in 2011

Here are my links:
1. The most beautiful post:
Steamed Chocolate brownies with Sun Flower decoration

I consider this one to be most beautiful post in this 2011 until I felt pity to cut this cake ^,^

2. The most popular post:
Popular post based on google search this year, goes to:
Pırasa Böreğı

3. The most controversial post:
Frankly speakıng I don't really understand what ıs most controversial post is. 1st in my thought, controversial means, I post something, then suddenly somebody else claim it as his/ her post ..hehehehehe...anyway, then I decide my LAHMACUN to be controversial post. Why? I read on my tweeter some people claim this food came from their country, not Turkey. I know, some countries in same area (middle easter and mediteranean) have similarity in food and culture. Just like in south east asia, we have some similarity in food and culture, between, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore. Every country has differential and it's own characteristics :)

4. The most helpful post:
I think it will go to: Ayran-Cold yogurt drink

5. The post that was surprisingly successful:
Goes to: Cheddar cheesecake with fruits topping

6. The post that did not get the attention it deserved:

I know, most of you probably unfamiliar with this food, but once you try it.. you will like it. it's healthy vegetable snack during your empty hour :))

Meet: Ote-Ote/ koheci/ Weci/ fried vegetable snack

7. The post that I'm most proud of:
Tiramisu Cheesecake is the most I proud of. It's new for me also and I'm surprisingly amazed how great when Cheesecake mix with tiramisu flavor ^,^

B) nominate up to 5 bloggers to take part

And my next 5 nominees are.....

1. Erin - Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

2. Kelly - Eat your self skinny

3. Madeja - Cranberry Jam

4. Akheela - Torview

5. Sizuka - The Cat, The Rabbit & The Hedgehog

Chicken Cardamom with Bulgur Pilaf

Selam everybody.....Merhaba from Turkey.

Who doesn't like cardamom? If you don't like it, you better try it.

If you are looking for dinner or lunch menu idea, I recommend this one. Quick and easy to make but the result isn't as simple as how it's prepared. I guarantee it will be repeatable menu for your family.

I made this bulgur pilaf deliberately simple so it can go with your other favorite meal.

Served 4 .

Cardamom Chicken Ingredients:
 4 pieces of chicken thighs, stab at some places with a fork
 1 medium onion, grated
 3 cloves garlic, grated
 2 tsp cardamom powder
 1 teaspoon ground cumin
 ½ tsp pepper powder
 ½ tsp powdered ginger
 ½ tsp chili powder
 4 tablespoons canola oil or other vegetable oil
 1 tablespoon molasses (can be replaced with honey)
 1 ½ tsp salt or to taste

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe

Selam Everybody....Merhaba from Turkey

This chocolate chip cookies is really really become favorite treat during our tea time at home since 1st time I made them. I made them many few batches already start from last week and all of them could not survive more than 1 day ! this is the latest batch I made and survive for the picture and post in my blog d(^,^)b.

Mom, let's try it also at home.. and let's the family

Yield: about 60 cookies.

Ote-Ote / Koheci/ Weci/ Bakwan sayur / Indonesian Vegetable fritter

It's one of traditional Indonesian snack-favorite one. In some places people also eat them as side dish accompanying their main dish. Some areas have different name for it, some call it "Ote-ote" while other area call it "koheci" or "weci" or mostly people call it Bakwan sayur.
Content of mostly vegetables with flour to make thickened, some area put shrimp in it. But generally it's fried vegetables. Serve it warm is always better way to enjoy it, with sambal petis (dark shrimp paste sauce) and birdeye chilly

Ingredients:
• 1 cup fresh shrimp, discard tail and head
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 cup julienn cut cabbage
• 1 cup roughly shaved carrot / cut into matchsticks
• 1 cup celery leaves chopped
• 1 ½ cup flour
• 1 small egg, beaten
• Enough water
• Enough Cooking oil for frying

Puree/ ground these spices:
• ½ medium onion (or 4 small red onions)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 ½ tsp peppercorn
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (or to taste)
• Salt and sugar to taste

How to make:
1) mashed/ puree: onion, garlic, pepper, salt and sugar. Puree also shrimp heads and tails into it.
2) In a large bowl, combine all vegetables, flour, baking powder, ground spices, shrimps and eggs. Give enough water slowly~just enough for wet the flour and all ingredients (not too watery). Stir it all until blended, sample a taste, give the broth flavoring if desired.
3) Heat oil over medium heat, fry the dough a spoonful after spoonful. Fry until pink and cooked through.

Note: if you want to have round shape like mine, heat serving soup spoon into hot oil, make sure the ladle is really hot (if not, the dough will be sticky on it). Then put the dough onto hot ladle, place shrimp on top and dip into the hot oil until the dough is separated by it self from the ladle.

Serve warm with chili sauce or birdeye chillies.

Plum #Cobbler, Friend's recipe

I got this recipe from one of my foodie friend, Ping from Ping's pickings. Ping has nice page with many great recipes and pictures, in fact I bookmarked some of them ^,^

and this is one of her recipe I've been tried in my kitchen, Plum Cobbler, check on her nice page so you can find some great recipes also, who knows you might try some

Well, here what you need for making plum cobbler:

Yield 4 individual ramekins

Cheesy Rosemary Bread

I was looking for something quick to eat and great for fulfilling our 'sahur' menu this Ramadhan. In our family, bread is a must at breakfast time. But you know, sometimes I'm bored with plain white bread...

hmm..what to do? Cheesy bread.. Why not?

So, if you need something cheesy for breakfast or brunch? Try this one.. With rosemary herb flavor in this soft bread, I'm sure you will get same experience with me... Have a try! @(^,^)@

Ingredients I:
• 4 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cup warm milk
• 1 cup flour
Mix and stir all ingredients I until blended, cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until fluffy & bubbly approximately 30 minutes
Ingredients II:
• 4 ½ cups flour
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 150 g cold butter, cut into small squares
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

Other Ingredients:
• About 300 grams of cheddar cheese for filling, cut into small cubes
• Fresh rosemary for toppings, roughly chopped
• Butter to spread toppings, soften at room temperature

Method:
 Once the ingredients I fluffy, mix in all ingredients II and knead until smooth and elastic. The process can use a machine or manually by hand (like I did).

 After the dough is smooth and elastic (no problem if it's a bit sticky in your fingers,and you can lightly dust your finger with flour if you want), cover with kitchen towel or plastic wrap and rest at room temperature for ± 60 minutes until fluffy and double in volume.

 Punch to remove air from the dough. Divide the dough into some small-same size-balls. You can weigh them up to perform same large circle.
Either you can use my way: Shape the dough lengthwise like a long pipe, then cut into 10 ~ 15 pieces and shape into a ball.

Flatten each ball and fill with cheese to taste, cover and form a ball again. Do the same thing until dough finished.

 Grease your round pan with vegetable oil, place balls on it and make space among them-like the picture. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest again for about 30 minutes.

 If it is near to baking time (about 20 minutes after you put the balls into the pan), pre heat oven at 160 ⁰C. Brush the bread with olive oil or canola oil (or other vegetable oil) and sprinkle with chopped fresh rosemary-like in the picture. Bake until cooked and browned on surface. Once out of the oven,while it's hot, basting them with soften margarine/ butter.

Happy Baking and Happy fasting (^,^)

Rosmarinus officinalis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chocolate Almond Steamed Brownies

First, I'd like to say: Happy Ramazan and have a fasting for all Muslims around the world.

I love steamed method to cook my cake. I feel "safe and secure" with it :)) Risk free..

In Indonesia, steamed brownie is very popular (compare to bake brownies) and it's everybody's favorite. Many kind of steamed Brownies we usually vary, start from Pandan flavor to Cheese brownies (-- I know, it's really rare you find those Brownies)

This time I made Chocolate Almond Steamed brownies, the ingredients and method are very much simple so I believe you can make it at your home and present different taste of brownies.

Ingredients:
 3 medium eggs
 ¾ cup caster sugar (if you want more sweet, add 2 tablespoons sugar)
 1 cup flour, sifted
 2 tablespoons almond flour
 3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder, sifted
 Pinch of fine salt
 50 gr dark cooking chocolate (DCC)
 ¾ cup olive oil (or vegetable oil)
 Butter for grease the loaf pan (or cooking spray)
 Almonds for garnish (optional)

AYRAN - Turkish Yogurt drink

Ayran: the perfect beverage

Ayran is a mixture of yoghurt, water and salt. The thickness may vary across Turkey with those down south preferring something a little firmer. Most commercial manufacturers add approximately 1 percent salt -- about 1 gram for every 100 milliliters of liquid. Unsalted versions are available and can be easily prepared at home. Ayran is the perfect accompaniment to kebabs, döner, lahmacun (very thin, flat-style pizza), gözleme (savory flat, phyllo-style pastry) and some pide (thicker-crust-style pizzas) and börek (savory pastry).
The potential health benefits attributed to the bacteria of yoghurt are related to the traditional, spontaneously fermented milks, not those soured with standard bacteria used in industrial production. Ayran purchased in sealed plastic and foil cups are unlikely to provide the sought-after gastrointestinal assistance; any bacteria present will not survive the harsh internal environment of the human body.
Ayran is that the process of fermentation sees milk's natural sugar, lactose, broken down, used as food by the bacteria. This makes digestion of both drinks easier than their predecessor, milk. Their other nutritional benefits come from their abundant minerals; calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and vitamins riboflavin, B12, A, K and D.

What you need and how to prepare it:

CHERRY CLAFOUTIS

Happy Ramadhan to all Moslems in world. Have a 'barokah' fasting time and may God accepted our deeds

My simply Cherry Clafoutis, I think it's perfect dessert for our first day of Ramadhan, which is also festive my summer time here in Turkey. Simple, easy, and quick to make....