Easy Summer Menu: Colorful Tomato Salad

I like tomatoes. They are so colorful, plump, and cheerful. When I was little, mom used to make a refreshing treat out of tomatoes. She’d cut them up, mixed with crushed ice, and sprinkled sugar on top of them. Delicious!

I have two tomato plants growing and I can’t wait until they start bearing fruits! Since I can’t have my own home-grown tomatoes yet, I got these wonderful and colorful ones from the market the other day and turned them into a delicious summer salad!

I just sliced the tomatoes in big wedges, sprinkled them with a little salt and black pepper, drizzled an equal amount of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (you could also use red wine vinegar instead of balsamic if you want), and added basil leaves I picked from my container garden. I covered the plate and chilled it for a bit before serving. Easy and yummy!

I served this salad with the steak that my guy grilled for us and the sweet and spicy corn salad (next entry) that he also made. Mmm…another fabulous dinner!

Harini Riana4 Comments

Easy Summer Menu: Baked Martabak (Martabak Panggang)

Summer is almost here! Time to slow down and enjoy the gorgeous days. As we ease into the warmest season of the year, I plan to stay cool and light in both what I wear and what I cook/eat.  So for food, I am compiling recipes that might go well with my idea of summer menu: simple, light, and delicious. One dish that I thought about immediately was martabak, one of my favorite street food in Indonesia.

Baked Martabak

Recently, inspired by a recipe I found online, I baked martabak instead of following the street vendor’s traditional way: frying (less oil mess, less stress). They came out crispy and delicious.

Here’s my version:

(Make 8-10 martabak)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 pound of sirloin ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
  • 3 bunches of scallions (chopped)
  • 1 egg for eggwash
  • ½ cup of vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon of curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper powder
  • Salt

STEPS

Making the mixture:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a medium pan (over medium heat)
  • Add garlic and let it sizzle for two minutes.
  • Add curry powder, cayenne pepper powder, and salt. Mix together with the garlic.
  • Add ground beef and mix it with the spices.
  • Dump the juice from the meat and let the beef continue to brown.
  • Taste and add spices if necessary.
  • Add the chopped scallions, mix them up with the beef, and set the pan aside.

Folding the martabak:

  • Pick up 3 fillo dough sheets for each piece of martabak, brush with the rest of vegetable oil, scoop the beef mixture, and add to the middle of the sheets. Repeat.
  • Place the folded martabak on a greased oven tray, brush the top with eggwash, and place into the oven for 20 minutes until they are golden brown.
  • Let them rest for a couple of minutes, cut in the middle, and serve. (I made mine a bit bigger and then I cut them before serving).
  • Serve with Thai peppers (optional).

    Hot out of the oven

More to come later!

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Container Gardening and My Nemesis

Like many people, I get excited over the arrival of spring. I relish the longer and warmer days and I plan to be outside as much as I can. Also like many others, I plant in the spring time. Due to space limitation I stick with container gardening, which I have been doing for a few years now. I started with growing flowers and chili peppers in containers outside of my apartment windows in Chicago. Now that we live in an apartment with a patio that opens up to a grassy area, I have a little bit of space for more plants.  This year I focus on herbs and vegetables that I use a lot in my cooking. So far I have:

parsley and rosemary,

tomato,

Cayenne peppers, sweet basil, Thai and Serano peppers, and another tomato.

I also have jasmine, impatiens, lavender, citronella mosquito plant, mums, and a couple of other flowers.

The nemesis eating my tomato

Of course like many of those who garden, I also have a nemesis. I caught him eating my tomato one day. A few days later, my sweet upstairs neighbor confessed that she’s been feeding my nemesis recently. She thinks that feeding the chipmunk will make it full and stop eating my young tomatoes.  But I am thinking that it might invite more chipmunks to party on her patio.

Meanwhile, I am sprinkling cayenne pepper powder around my tomato plants. A tip I found online somewhere. Let’s see if it works. So far so good though.

PS: If you a name suggestion for my nemesis, I am all ears.

Harini RianaLeave a comment