Indonesian Mee Soto Ayam

 

When i was working with a Government Board in Malaysia, I have many friends who were of Javanese descent and they have introduced me to their favorite Mee Soto Ayam. Although they called it Mee, it was actually Chicken soup with glass noodles(suon) and i have been served the alternative to glass noodle(suon) which was with rice cake(nasi impit).

The soup is very fragrant from the spices used and tumeric is responsible for the beautiful yellow hue of the chicken soup. Besides remembering the fragrant chicken soup, the begedil served together was to die for, my friends will always repeat this like a broken record - no begedil, no mee soto ayam.

Fruit Rojak

It is not so much fun eating this fruit rojak without the CRISPY.  I have been searching for this CRISPY recipe for a long long time but no one is sharing.  So have to put on my thinking cap and try to cook some CRISPIES that go so well with this fruit rojak, they are a perfect match.  

This is one of the favorite snack of all snacks, especially to Sandra and if it is so to you too  please 'like' it on my facebook page, if not, do tell me what is your favorite snack?

Assembling this snack is easy if every ingredient has been prepared ahead.  The Rojak Sauce can be prepared way way ahead and be left in the fridge until needed or if you are lucky enough, your asian store might carry - The Rojak Sauce.(pic of the can is in the pic above).  For the peanuts and sesame seeds topping are no fuss too, just pound or chop some ready to eat roasted peanuts and even sesame seeds come roasted.  None of the above in hand, then sweat it out - roast raw peanuts without skin, in the oven until fragrant, cool, then pound or chop.  Raw sesame seeds are better done over the stovetop as it has to be watched cos it burned fast - no answering the phone or doorbell.  You think these preparations are tedious, you still have not made the CRISPIES yet !!!!!

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Do not fret, the easy part is on the way - the fruits only need to be washed, peeled and cut.  I say CUT cos cutting the fruits in an angle allows more surface area for the sauce to coat and this is good eats.

Sambal Belacan

What type of sambal do you like best? But before you can answer, you would have to know what Sambal is.  Sambal is a chili based sauce which is popular in South East Asia and normally used as a condiment.  

 What do you think is the key ingredient for this fiery-kick tasty sambal?  There will be no sambal belacan without belacan aka shrimp paste  and it will not work with no fresh red chillies, they are both partners in crime. 

A Malay style sambal is what i am about to share with you.   Fresh red chilies are pounded together with toasted belacan(shrimp paste) in a stone mortar to which sugar and lime juice are added. Originally, limau kesturi or calamansi lime is used but since this is scarce outside of Southeast Asia,  green lime is used as a substitute.  My greatest find in the asian stores here in Denver is this calamansi juice in their freezer and now my homemade Sambal Belacan is no more adulterated with lime juice.  To make it more authentic, my wish fairy, Peng, bought me a stone mortar enabling me to pound away in rhythm and perfume the house with so much comfort(my comfort) but it can unpleasant and stinky to those who are not familiar.  Another good find is that roasted belacan is available and if i have a choice, i would prefer this to raw belacan. 

Thank you Peng for striking off this stone mortar from my wish list.  Before, the appearance of the stone mortar, i have been using the chopper or food processor and they made good acceptable sambal belacan but for textured sambal belacan, the stone mortar is the way to go.

Spiku/Kue Lapis Surabaya

This is a three layers cake and to obtain perfect flat surface cake is sometimes quite an impossible task. Most of the time, i will end up with domed cake. You could level the dome by slicing it off which is quite a chore but i have learned that if you use a clean kitchen towel and press lightly on the hot cake when it comes out of the oven, you will let some of the uneven air out and the cake will be perfectly level. Trust me, it works everytime.