Egg Noodle with Shiitake Mushrooms and Collard Greens

(My version of Mi Goreng Jawa)

Similar to the universality of beef stew dish, noodle seems to exist in many different cultures’ cuisines. For many Indonesians, especially who live in the island of Java, the Javanese pan-fried egg noodles or Mi Goreng Jawa is most likely a favorite dish (among many).

I simply love the flavor of this noodle dish. It gets cooked with nutmeg, candlenuts, soy sauce, garlic, and shallots. Traditionally, the dish is mixed with some greens, pulled chicken, and scrambled eggs. In my version, I mix in a bunch of flavorful and meaty shiitake mushrooms and hardy collard greens and I get myself a delicious one-pot meal. The combination of the spices coats the noodle, mushroom, and greens so well it is almost addictive. I try to make a huge pan of it whenever I cook this dish, invite friends over for a meal, and eat the leftover for a couple of days :).

My version will require:

  • 1 bag of fresh egg noodle. (They come in 3-4 bundle per bag. Find them in the refrigerated section of your Asian grocery store.)
  • 2-3 cups of fresh shiitake mushrooms. (Remove and discard all of the stems and then chop the top of the mushrooms.)
  • 1 large bundle of collard greens. (Strip the leaves off the stem, discard the stems, stack and roll up the leaves, and slice them into 1 inch slices or thinner.)
  • 4-5 shallots (chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 4 candlenuts (finely chopped)
  • ½ teaspoon of nutmeg powder
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of canola/vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 4 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce. (If you don’t have sweet soy sauce, mix 4 tablespoon of regular soy sauce with 4 tablespoon of honey.)
  • ½ cup of water or chicken (or vegetable) stock
  • 3 eggs (scrambled)

Here’s how I do it:

  • Fill a medium pot with water (halfway) and bring to boil.
  • Once boiled, using a food stainless steel strainer, dip the noodles in the water for a minute.
  • Place the noodle in a large bowl and set aside.
  • In a large pot, heat up the canola/vegetable oil (medium heat), and add all of the spices: shallots, garlic, chopped candlenuts, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Let them sizzle for two minutes.
  • Add the noodle.
  • Use two forks and your arm muscles to mix all of the ingredients well with the noodle.
  • Add the soy sauce and sweet soy sauce. Continue mixing.
  • Add the collard greens and mushrooms.
  • Add half a cup of water or chicken stock. Lower the heat, continue mixing, cover the pot with a lid, and let it cook for 5 more minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
  • Serve with the scrambled eggs on top and Thai peppers on the side (optional)

Serve 6+ people generously.

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Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Tomatillo Mango Salsa

A good conversation with a friend could lift up the spirit. A good FOOD conversation with a friend could inspire and create a fantastic dish. Spicy grilled shrimp and mint chutney, along with other types of food, came up during the talk. Then for a couple of days, not sure how, my mind played a food puzzle game by itself. It combined these images of grilled shrimp, some type of sauce, and the ingredients I’d like to use together. These pictures seemed so real I felt like I could almost taste them. The next day, I produced my grilled shrimp with tomatillo mango salsa dish 🙂

Here’s how I do it. For the grilled shrimp, we will need:

  • 24 jumbo shrimp (raw, deveined, and shelled)
  • Lemon juice from 1-2 lemon
  • A handful of mint leaves (chopped)
  • A handful of parsley (chopped)
  • A teaspoon of minced garlic
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cayenne pepper
  • 6-8 bamboo skewers (soaked in water for at least 30 minutes)

Steps:

  • Mix everything together in a zip lock bag and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
  • Thread 3-4 shrimp on each skewer
  • Fire up the grill to medium high and let the shrimp sizzle for 3-4 minutes on each side until they are pink and firm.

For the Tomatillo Mango Salsa:

  • 5-6 tomatillos (remove the husk and wash until the green tomatillos no longer feel sticky)
  • 5 Jalapenos peppers (please adjust the number to your preference)
  • A handful of cilantro leaves (chopped)
  • A tablespoon of minced garlic
  • Salt
  • 1 ripe mango

Steps to prepare the salsa:

  • Heat up a small skillet on the stove over medium heat.
  • Halve the tomatillos and chop the jalapenos
  • Add into the skillets and let them char a little
  • Add a tablespoon of water, cover with a lid, and let them cook for 5 minutes.
  • In a food processor, add the cut up mango, cilantro, garlic, a little salt, and the cooked tomatillos and jalapenos. Pulse until everything is mixed together.
  • Put the salsa in a bowl, let it cool down, cover with a plastic wrap, and place in the fridge before serving. I like the salsa to be served cold. I like it even better when I make it the night before serving. It gives all of the great flavors some time to chill and blend well with each other. There’s a little bit of everything in this salsa. It’s sweet, tangy, with a jalapeno kick, and fragrant with wonderful fresh aroma.
  • To serve, scoop the salsa into a serving plate and place the shrimp on top of it.

These two things could also be served separately. Next time, I’ll put the salsa on top of grilled (white meat) fish or on a nice skirt steak.

Have a great weekend!

Harini Riana4 Comments

Summer Fave: Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops

Grilled lamb shoulder chops with sweet and spicy corn and tomato salad.

I may have found a summer favorite. Inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe (minus the yogurt mint sauce), I decided to experiment with a couple of lamb shoulder chops a few weeks ago. The amazing result has made me repeat this recipe a couple of times already. The marinade’s combination of rosemary, oregano, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and red wine work so well together in creating such a succulent grilled lamb.

 

I followed the recipe’s ingredient list but adjusted a few things:

  • Instead of using rack of lamb, I used lamb shoulder chops
  • Lemon juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 3 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 3 tablespoon of red wine
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary (fresh from the garden, yay!)
  • A dash of dried oregano

Steps:

  • Mix all of the above in a big zip lock bag. Please make sure that all ingredients coat the lamb nicely. Leave the bag in the fridge and let the chops marinate for half a day or overnight.
  • Fire up the grill and, as Ina Garten’s recipe suggests, add salt and pepper on the lamb. Then let them sizzle on a medium-high heat grill for 5 minutes on each side.
  • Serve with my Sweet and Spicy Corn Salad and Tomato Salad. Hmm…insanely good!

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Easy Summer Menu: Sweet and Spicy Corn Salad

A few weeks ago, Jeff prepared a corn dish to serve alongside our steak and tomato salad. He basically just cooked thawed frozen corn kernels in a little bit of butter and cayenne pepper powder. I couldn’t believe how that simple process produced such a delicious dish. I was hooked and inspired to create a salad out of it.

This colorful salad just screams summer, don’t you think? 🙂 It’s a little sweet and spicy, lemony, crunchy, and mmm…it’s got that wonderful cilantro’s fragrance!

Here’s what we will need for my version:

  • A bag of thawed frozen corn or peeled fresh corn kernels from four to six ears
  • One tablespoon of unsalted butter
  • One red bell pepper (cored and chopped)
  • Cayenne pepper powder (I also added three fresh cayenne peppers. But PLEASE adjust to your piquant-tolerance level)
  • Salt
  • Black Pepper
  • A handful of chopped cilantro (if you’re not a cilantro fan, go with parsley).
  • Lemon juice from 1 lemon

Steps:

  • Heat up a medium pan
  • Melt the butter
  • Add the chopped bell pepper and corn kernels. Cover with a lid and let cook for 5 minutes (until the butter and water that comes out of the corn and bell pepper start to bubble).
  • Remove from the heat
  • Add salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne powder, cilantro, and drizzle with the lemon juice. Mix and serve. You could also chill it in the fridge and serve it cold.
This time I served the corn salad with grilled lamb shoulder and tomato salad. Delicious!

Harini Riana3 Comments

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

Crispy Baked Tilapia

(Author revised on April 12, 2013)

I like a variety of white fish like snapper, halibut, and tilapia. In my opinion, tilapia happens to have a very mild taste suitable for Indonesian cooking, which normally uses a lot of spices. For readers in Indonesia, I imagine dori, gurame, or red snapper fillets would work great for this recipe.

So here’s what we’re going to need (feel free to adjust the spices to fit your preference):

  • 4 Tilapia fillets (medium size)
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • ½ teaspoon of ginger powder
  • 1 teaspoon of black pepper powder
  • 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder (substitute with chili or paprika powder if you prefer it to be milder)
  • A pinch of dried oregano (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon of white vinegar (optional)
  • 1 lemon

Steps:

  • Spray or grease the oven tray with a little bit of olive oil or canola oil.
  • (Optional) Mix the white vinegar with a little bit of water in a small bowl and give the fillets a quick rinse. And then rinse with water. (I do it to lessen the fishy aroma a little bit.)
  • Place the fish on an oven tray.
  • In a separate bowl, mix the salt, ginger, black pepper, cayenne powder.
  • Heat the oven to 425 degree Fahrenheit.
  • Sprinkle and coat the fish with the mixed spices. Let the fillets sit for about 10 minutes.
  • Cook for 12-13 minutes.  Do a longer bake time if the fillets are bigger/thicker.
  • For more crisp, turn the oven broiler (after baking) for about 3-4  minutes. Leave the oven door slightly (like 2 inches) open to avoid charring.
  • When it’s done, the fish will have that light golden color and crispy texture on the outside but fluffy in the inside.
  • Serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Serve 2-3 people

Harini Riana7 Comments

Tempeh with Chillies and Vegetables – An Easy and Tasty No-Meat Dinner

Once in a while, Jeff and I do a no-meat dinner at home. Meatless menu isn’t really anything new to Indonesians. Many depend on either plant-based like tempeh or on a variety of seafood anyway as their sources of protein.

I think I’ve mentioned in my other recipe that tempeh is one of staple food in Indonesia. This soy-based patty shows up a lot at Indonesians’ dinning tables along with its partner: the fried white tofu (sadly, I can’t seem to find the same kind of tofu here in the US). Usually, tempeh is sliced, seasoned with a little bit of salt, fried until its light golden, and served with chillies, some vegetables, and rice. I also like it cooked with chillies. We call it sambal tempeh and it’s got both spiciness and sweetness to it. Yum!

Here’s my version. I like to serve this dish with my spinach and corn vegetable soup, crispy baked tilapia , and rice.

  • 2 tempeh patties (usually sold at the grocery’s organic section)
  • 1 bag of frozen peas and carrots (small bag)
  • 2 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 6 hot finger peppers (chopped)
  • 4 Thai peppers (chopped)
  • 3 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce (substitute: mix two tablespoon of soy sauce and one tablespoon of honey)
  • ½ onion (chopped)
  • Black pepper powder to taste
  • 2 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil

Steps:

  • With clean hands, break the tempeh patties into smaller parts.
  • Heat up the oil in a pan (medium heat)
  • Add the garlic and onion into the pan and let them sizzle for a minute until they turn yellow.
  • Add the tempeh and mix it up with the garlic and onions. Let it cook for a while until it turns light brown.
  • Add the peas, carrots, chopped peppers, both soy sauces, and black pepper.
  • Stir and mix it all up.
  • Cover with a lid and let them cook for another 10 minutes.
  • Serve with rice

Serve 4-6 people

Harini Riana2 Comments