Culinary

Foods !!!

Yumm yumm!!

 

Deliciously made !

Scent of Meat n’ burn here…

 

Or some tradisional dishes ??

 

One of the best !

 

 Foods! Foods! More foods! More ! More!

That’s an expression of hunger, isn’t it?

So now is the time for me to tell you some about culinary, friends.

Well, you already saw some foods up there. Interested to try some? Or maybe hungry? That’s what we’re going to talk about! Foods!

Basically, we are human. We cannot ignore our natural condition to starve, our feeling to hunger , our need to eat, our love on food. We need to eat! Eat food!

So basically, there are like million kinds of dishes all around the world. There are dishes from China, America, India, or Netherlands, etc. And even in every country, the food have a lot of variation, ranging from A to Z, and also lot of taste as well.

Personally, I don’t really like seafood, especially those with tentacles. I don’t really like a very peculiar food, a strange food. Maybe it’s because I’m Indonesian. I’m used to eat usual foods (Usual for us, maybe not for others) like Tempes, Fishes, Chickens, Meats, and any other usual foods. I’ve seen foods that people usually like, which are healthy, expensive, nutritious, unharming, delicious (for them), and other good things. I can say that it’s very unsimilar here in Indonesia. Why? First, because Indonesian likes cheap food (Healthy for their pocket), and secondly, very delicious. I rarely see anyone here likes healthy food. Let’s say vegetables. In other country, people like salads, vegetables, anything that came out from plants. But here in Indonesia, there are more meats or foods from animals than compared with foods from plants. Example, if people outside Indonesia have vegetables as 50% or more of their foods, here in Indonesia the percentage is like 10 % or less. That’s why we are so not healthy, everyday eating oils, fats, unhealthy stuff. Luckily I don’t really like what we call Gorengan here. It’s basically very unhealthy, especially because the oil used to fry Gorengan is so bad, sometimes used frequently without changed. There’s a rumor in Indonesia that usually Gorengan makers put plastic in the oil so it will mix, and when Gorengans fried there done, it will be much more delicious. What a bad thing….

But now, let’s get straight to the point, shall we?

I’m going to tell you guys my favourite food. A food I really really like. Something that warms my heart in the cold of night. Something that fulfill my stomach J. So here it is, guys!

What I really really like is.....

Noodles!!

Yea! Noodles!

But I was thinking, I don’t really like noodles L……

I am bored of it. Everyday I continuesly eat it….

Maybe another one will do…..

Okay then, this will be the real one I like!

Are you ready?

 

 

 Siomay !!! Delicious siomay !!!

Hmm!

Siomay (also Somay), is an Indonesian steamed fish dumpling with vegetables served in peanut sauce. It is derived from Chinese Shumai. It is considered a light meal that is similar to the Chinese Dim Sum, but is cone shaped. It is traditionally made from tenggiri fish meat. Sometimes other types of seafood such as tuna, mackerel, and prawn also can be used to make siomay. Other complements to siomay are steamed cabbage, potatoes, bitter gourd, boiled egg and tofu. Siomay is cut into bite size pieces and topped with peanut sauce, sweet soy sauce, chili sauce and a dash of lime juice.

 

 Siomay is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities. It can be found in street-side food stalls, travelling carts, bicycle vendors, and restaurants. Just like bakso, lumpia, and pempek, siomay was influenced by Chinese Indonesian cuisine. However Chinese Indonesian siomay usually served not with peanut sauce, but in sweet-sour and spicy chili sauce instead, or with no sauce at all which resembles authentic Chinese shumai. Siomay has been incorporated into Indonesian cuisine for a long time, and the most famous variety is Siomay Bandung. It has been adapted into local Sundanese cuisine. Today, most of Siomay sellers are Sundanese. Another variety of siomay is called Batagor, also originated from Bandung. It is an abbreviation that stands for Bakso Tahu Goreng. Batagor is very similar to siomay, except that it is fried instead of steamed. Siomay is one of the favourite school meal for Indonesian students.

 

Siomay served in foodstall near Bandung train station.

Here’s the ingredients needed and steps

Ingredients:
Siomay:
600 gr shrimps, shell intact, deveined, cleaned, chopped
600 gr chicken breast fillet, chopped
200 gr tapioca flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 stalks of scallion, finely sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper as needed
6 block of fresh tofu, divided into 24 triangle forms
50 pcs wonton skins

Peanut Sauce:
10 tbsp peanut butter
4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
4 shallots, finely sliced
4 red chillies, finely sliced
6 lime kaffir leaver, shredded
Salt and granulated sugar to taste
Hot water as needed
Lime/Lemon juice as needed (can be substituted by white cooking vinegar)
2 candlenuts, fried and bruised (optional)
Indonesian sweet soy sauce as needed
Vegetable oil for sautéing

Condiments:
Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
Indonesian chilli sauce (saus sambal)
Lime kaffir juice

Method:
Siomay:
1. Mix shrimps and chicken meat in the food processor. Blend until soft. Place in a big container. (You may add small amount of water to help the mixture to be soften)
2. Add flour, scallions, beaten eggs, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Mix well using wooden spoon or your hand until incorporated.
3. Spoon two teaspoon of mixture and place in the middle of wonton skin. Form as any shaped you are desired. Repeat the step until all wonton skin are used up.
4. Scratch the bottom part of tofu. Fill in with the shrimps and chicken mixture.
5. Place both siomay and tofu in steamer containers. Steam until done (around 1 hour). Remove from the heat.

Peanut Sauce:
1. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Sauté garlic, shallots, chillies and candlenuts until frangrant.
2. Add peanut butter and water. Mix well. (You can add water according to your desired thickness).
3. Add lime leaves, and lime juice (vinegar). Season with salt, sugar and sweet soy sauce. Mix thoroughly until set. Remove from the heat.

Serving suggestion:
Place siomay and tofu on a plate. Ladle peanut sauce on top and add kecap manis and saus sambal if desired. Drizzle with lime kaffir juice.

And we are done! Not just done about siomay, but also done with this post. I love siomay, and I also love you guys. Thank you guys for reading this! Hope you also make some foods for me because free foods will be very helpful J. See you!

My Holiday

My Holiday !

Hello people, I’m here to tell you my last holiday between 26^th of December until 12^th of January

That was the end of semester one. We were all having semester one exams from 8^th to 15^th of December if I’m not mistaken. After finishing the exams, there were remedial tests on the week before holiday started.

Fortunately, I didn’t got any remedial test, I was okay and fine J. So, on the remedial days, I didn’t go to school, I was resting in home because I didn’t need to go there. On the 23^rd of December, we were all receive our report except the acceleration classes. So I’ve got a fine score, not disappointing, but not satisfying either. Then I went home.

My parents planned the vacation to Yogyakarta. They planned to go after I picked up my report, because we were going to travel by car and we didn’t want to go later. So we went in the afternoon. I bought some snack for us in the journey because I though it will be long. We though about destinations in Yogyakarta. But first, we need to book Hotel on the go by booking it online. So we managed to book it, and luckily the hotel is good. Fortunately, we managed to book it because they who booked later didn’t manage it, so our room is like one of the last empty room.

Shortly, we arrived in Yogyakarta. We went to the room and put our stuffs there. My mom called my aunt. I was wondering what’s she was calling about. But I was pretty sure she asked her to come together. Well, my aunt is already a grandma, which means there are lots of children near her house. So, I believed my aunt will ask the children as well. It’s true, the next day, we got companies. My cousin , my aunt, my uncle, and two (let’s say nephews). And we planned to go somewhere interesting together. Unfortunately, my aunt and others are (maybe tired or else) unable to go so they stayed in the hotel. Meanwhile, me , my sister and my parents are ready to go. We were going to a cave which I found very interesting just by hearing it. So we were planning to go to cave pindul. There are several lakes nearby the cave and I though it would be great to go there as well. Fortunately, my nephews were able to go together so we went there together by car.

 That's the view from my Hotel Ibis room to the Yogyakarta

It was far, maybe about 40 kilos from Yogyakarta if I’m not mistaken. So, few kilos before we arrived to the cave area, there’s a guy with his friend standing near the Cave’s advertisement. He said he’s the marketing guy of the cave’s tour. He also said that if we were willing to go there, it’s better for us to be led by him on the journey so we won’t get lost and he will take care of the tour process when we got there. I though he was a pretty good marketing guy. By the time we arrived there, we saw people preparing life jackets. We went to the counter to buy tickets for the cave. But the guy said there is a lake (Actually more like river) we can go near there. We can travel the river by using tires ( I found it interesting and funny). So, we bought two tickets, for the cave, and for the river. We then also wore the life jackets. Then, our marketing guy went off maybe to search another target. There’s a guy named Untung. He was our guiding guy on the journey. He then lead us to the cave. After few minutes, we arrived not far from the parking area. Then all of us dropped ourselves down to the tires and started entering the cave. The cave was actually half drowned in waters so that’s why we used tires so we will float. It was very dark, and sometimes the water was deep. We saw some stalagnites, bat’s home, and near the end of the cave, there is a location where the upside of the cave was a big hole so sunshine shone through the hole to inside the cave.

It was like that

So then we got out of the cave. Actually, we were allowed to swim without the tires since we wore the life jacket. Then we went to the river. We went there by car but then we walked through there because the roads are small. It was dirty, though. So, we floated and carried away by the stream. In the middle of the journey on the river, there was a huge stone for jumping. So Mr. Untung took me and my sister there, while my parents and nephew was staying near the right side of the river to wait us. So I went up to the stone, and I jumped from it right to the river. Wow, that was very scary but also fun. My sister also tried to jump. My nephews are actually went to the top side of the rock but then they got scared. So they went down and they sat on the tires again. I went to the top again and jumped again. Shortly, I went down and we arrived to the end of the journey in the river. We went off the river and went back to the parking zone by car. Then we had a shower. We were ready to leave, so we ate first, then we went to our next destination, beach. We then went to the beach which I forgot the name. We only had little time there, so we shortly went back to Yogyakarta. Then, my nephews and aunt and the rest wanted to go back home. So, we said goodbye.

That's the stone where I jumped from the top. It looks small and low, but you must try it before judging it :)

The next day, we bought some bakpia, a famous snack from Yogyakarta. We bought some for my teachers, my sister’s friends and others. Then, if I’m not mistaken we went back to Bandung in the afternoon. So we went back tired. That’s a good vacation.

So, after journey to Yogyakarta, I didn’t go anywhere else. I went only for lesson, or accompanying my mother to go somewhere. I asked my friends to come to my house. They agreed to come on 9^th January, so I waited. I only bought some fireworks for the new years. Well, this one was a silent new year for me. Then, the plan my friends agreed failed. Some of my friends can come if it’s extended to two weeks more. So, I agreed. I was bored in this holiday. I only played games, that’s one of the most dominating activity now. So, I’ll go back school at 12^th of January, Monday. I am waiting now…