Citra's Home Diary

Bolu Kukus Mekar jeruk sunkist (Indonesian Orange steamed cupcake)

Resep dalam bahasa Indonesia ada dibagian bawah

Selam everybody.... Merhaba from Turkey.

We call it "Bolu Kukus Mekar" in Indonesian language. Bolu means cake, Kukus= Steamed, and Mekar is blooming (like a flower). This is also one of the Indonesian traditional snacks that exists for a long time ago.

I remember my late grandmother made this so often for us, me and my siblings and aunties (we lived together at same house at that time). We love bolu kukus so much.
Then after my grandmother past away, my aunties usually made it for special occasion or just for tea time.

Old recipes mostly required local (Indonesian) soda drinks in the ingredients. But when I tried to make it here with local soda water/ drink, I never make it correctly. The "blooming" couldn't appear nicely like my grandmother/ aunties made. So I start to find a way how to make that "blooming" effect appear. One time I browsed the internet and find another Asian dessert similar with this cake called "huat kuih". That cake has a blooming appearance like our bolu, steamed also, but a totally different recipe, no emulsifier require. So I made that Huat kuih once ( I will post them later).. the texture and taste are different from our bolu kukus mekar which I'm looking for. But I wonder how that Huat Kuih can have a "blooming effect".. Maybe it uses self-raising flour plus baking powder in it.

So I dare my self to make this Bolu Kukus Mekar without soda water/drink. And since I have still some Oranges I want to make new variant also for this Bolu Kukus Mekar. This bolu taste is very nice, light and fluffy with strong orange and taste and flavor, so it's not just having orange color in it. And with chocolate strip adding more delish twist for this beautiful snack/ dessert. Try it..and tell me what you think.

Check category Indonesian Snack (jajan pasar/ kue) for more Indonesian Kueh or snack.

For you who want to try this traditional Indonesian Bolu Kukus Mekar..below I write my recipe for you...

Wingko Babat recipe / Indonesian Coconut base small pancake

Resep dalam bhs Indonesia ada dibagian bawah

This snack reminds me back at once upon a time in Jawa Island... a long time ago... Ooohh..where should I start... I have many memories blues my mind with this snack... Really... even when I start writing this post, my eyes already tears...I don't exaggerate it...maybe I just miss my homeland and my late father.

Back loongg time ago when I was a kid, my late father brought me,my smaller sister and big brother to his homeland, Tuban town. It's a small town in border of East Java and middle Java.
A small town with very big fishes from the sea--at least that was on my mind when I was a kid.
Because once my father took me to town's harbor to saw some fisherman with their bamboo fishing rod. They pulled one giant fish--bigger than me at that time from the sea! and I was so scary that time.

Then my father took me home again and bought me Wingko Babat from wingko seller at province's roadside, that seller was a boy, older than me I thought.
Can you believe how strong our childhood memory is? Even I remember every detail that time. Since that bite, I was instantly love that snack.

And when I was living in Jakarta, far away from my family in Surabaya and anytime I miss my mom and families I should take 12 to 15 hours train from Jakarta to Surabaya. And every time the train stopped at each town's station, there were always many Wingko Babat seller came into our train wagon together with many other sellers offered what they sold.
And usually, I bought Wingko Babat for my family at home. This "ritual" unexpectedly now became a valuable thing to remember.

One time I really want to take my husband and kid to travel by train as I did a long time ago before I marry him, and feel what I lived before.

Wingko Babat is one of Indonesian old traditional snack (jajan Pasar) which may already exist decades ago together with other some traditional snacks/ food. Made from grated coconut and glutinous rice flour as main ingredient. Wingko is very famous on the northern coast of the island of Java. This cake is often sold at train stations, bus stations or also in pastry/ snack shops. In Java, Wingko also often become "snack souvenirs" for the family, which makes this snack famous for a nostalgic snack.

Smoked Paprika Roasted Chicken and potato

Hello world..! Merhaba Turkey.. Welcome April..!
Blackout in Turkey yesterday, Tuesday, 31 March 2015, because electric cut out for almost one day in almost all Turkey provinces (79 from 81 provinces). I'm living in Bursa, the electric cut about 8 AM until 5 PM... then again at 7.30 PM to around 8.30 PM.
My husband called from his office that whole Turkey has blackout so he couldn't work and would go home early.

At first, Some rumors said about cyberattack at TEİAŞ (Turkish Electricity Production Company). But according to news on local televisions, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said all possible causes of the outage were being investigated and sabotage was not being ruled out, but said trouble with transmission lines was the most likely reason for the problem

Imagine a country without an electric... chaos everywhere... traffic light off, all metro , tramway and high speed train service stop and cancel. Police officers were deployed to manage traffic at major junctions where traffic signals were disrupted. Firefighters were also called to rescue people stuck in elevators.

Those chaos were outside of my house... meanwhile me, husband and kid stayed did nothing but played ball inside house with our kid. No baking activity for me (^,^).. We just made simple dinner until electric brought a big smile again in our face....
I never imagine in older time before electricity being invested by Thomas Alva Edison.... What people did to their live? (^,^)

Well...that was yesterday chaos in Turkey..

Today everything back to normal again... Alhamdulillah... and I can notice that my kid didn't affected by unavailable of TV or youtube kids video from our computer at home... So I happily I can say she doesn't addicted by TV or video or any gadget.

And for today's dinner I made this smoke paprika roasted chicken, I complete it also with roasted potato. You can use sweet potato too if you like.

Orange Swiss Roll Cake from egg white / Bolu gulung dari putih telur

Roll Cake agaaiinnn..! and yes...it's about orange still. After I made Orange Curd a day before I still have some orange left in my fridge. And also I have some left over egg white. Usually I made macarons with my left over egg white.. but I run out almond flour and I hesitate to grind my almond to make my own almond flour.

It's rainy and cold week end. Spring's rain getting more often these weeks, and sun more often out off the shadow of the clouds... I just love this transition time...And after this I can see many flower blooming everywhere...and what I love here in Turkey... Tulips everywhere..!!! Colorful and just beautiful ^,^

I just can't wait to welcoming summer already...

Even start from this Sunday,29 March, time changing to summer time. It means we turn clock one hour forward. It's about Daylight saving time (DST). For you who live in country which never use this DST-Just like me before- you can read more about it here.
Now I am 4 hour different only to my homeland Indonesia (^,^) It's making us easier to arrange time if we want to make video conference between us here in Turkey and my family in Indonesia.

Orange Curd Recipe and seasonal Table list for fruits, vegetables and fish

Today I went to traditional market (turkish=pazar). In my neighborhood traditional market open every Wednesday. I had no idea what to buy because you know in Turkey (maybe in other 4 seasons country) people sell and buy what's in season. Me as tropical person still hardly to adapt my mind on it-even I'm living here for 6 years!
But for few things I already kept on my mind when it's really season so I can stock them as much as I can..what is that? Chilliiieees..!! Yes, I can not eat without chilly (^,^)
So I knew when chilly season start and when it's becoming very cheap.

Below my post I have a roughly estimate list what is in season. That table list actually for my self to reminder if I need to make/ cook/ baking something.

And today in pazar I saw many cheap orange. Orange, as grapefruits and quince has peak season on January or February... I don't know if it's good orange or not since it's actually end of it's season..but I bought them anyway one kilo only for 1 TL. Still didn't know to do with those oranges until I saw my lemon curd on fridge. I made lemon curd often cause I love lemon so much and I can find fresh lemon almost everyday.

Dark Chocolate macarons with Chocolate coffee filling

Selam Everybody.....Merhaba from Turkey....

If it's about chocolate.. I will not convince you anymore how delish and yum anything made of it.

How about to pair it with macarons? and then fill it with coffee cream filling....should I tell you more how they twist and complete each other and make double yum for your family dessert or coffee/ tea time with dear friends?

Okay... no more words about this dark chocolate macarons..just try this for your weekend baking.. ^,^

Make about 20 pairs (40 macarons) depending how big you pipe your macarons.

Ingredients For macarons shells:

80 gr egg white ( I use aged leftover egg whites)
pinch of salt
60 gr caster sugar
130 gr icing sugar
80 gr almond flour
30 gr dark cocoa powder

How to make Macarons shells:

Good thing if you join in a foodie group is sometimes they make cooking challenge with certain theme.. so if you do not have any idea for cooking/ baking you will just happily cooking/ baking with that defined theme.
Or if you never cooking/ baking on that certain theme because many reasons...you will just be challenged to do it... Just like me...

And this month #YKMK (your kitchen my kitchen) one of Indonesian base foodie group gathering another baking challenge with theme: Rainbow Cake in Jar. This baking challenge asking you who joining to make and present rainbow cake (any cake base) in a jar.

I never bake rainbow cake before. Many reasons... one biggest reasons is I didn't have many baking pan which required for making rainbow cake. For making rainbow cake layer you at least need 3 or 4 baking pan/ baking tray for bake each layer/ color.

Chocolate Coffee Macarons recipe

Happy Welcoming spring to you! (^,^)
Yes..middle March people in Turkey call it "Bahar karlı" means half spring half winter , from language Bahar=spring. karlı=snowy. But winter is kış mevsim in turkish language (^,^) I miss summer already tough..

I miss warm and long day light..sun shine.. clear sky with many stars at night... yes...I am tropical person in nature, who find my self here like a bear (^,^) ..hide and sleep during winter..hahahahaha...

And yep! ... my post is macarons again..!! (^,^) Who will boring with this tiny adorable things.... in fact I think it's the beginning time for my macarons adventure.

Yesterday I made this Chocolate Coffee macarons with chocolate coffee filling. The coffee flavor was so strong-which I like- together with sweet bitterness of chocolate...it was just great! .Yum..and believe me..you gonna love it too..

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