A Story Book for Tori

Sauteed Green Beans with Peppers and Anchovies

I must love green beans a whole lot that they keep showing up on my blog. Here they are again—this time sautéed with peppers and anchovies. Yes, anchovies! I am one of those people who enjoy them. A lot of Indonesians use the fish in different dishes as flavor booster. These little babies make my sautéed vegetable dishes salty, savory, and smelling fantastic. And a little goes a long way, really. No need to go crazy.

Here’s what we’ll need to make this dish:

Two handful of green beans
3 yellow sweet peppers
5 cayenne or Thai or finger hot peppers (I like these skinny spicy peppers)
3 shallots (chopped)
4 garlic (chopped)
6 anchovies (In a can with olive oil—I rinsed mine before cooking to lessen the salt and oil content)
Black pepper
Ginger powder

Steps:

Fill up medium pot with water, bring to boil
Add string beans and let them cook for a while until the water bubble for the second time
Remove them from the hot boiling water and place under cold running water (or a bowl of ice cold water) to stop the cooking process (I am learning from various cooking sources that this process is also called blanching)
Heat up a tablespoon of canola oil in a large pan (medium heat)
Saute anchovies, garlic, shallots, and peppers for about two to three minutes (until the anchovies melt)
Add green beans, a dash of black pepper, and a pinch of ginger powder
Mix them really well, reduce the heat, and cover the pan for a minute or two
Serve with baked tempeh and rice

My favorite simple peasant plate

Thanks for reading. I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend, wherever you are.

Peace

September 21, 2013

Harini Riana3 Comments

Quinoa Salad with Smoked Salmon, Avocado, and Peppers

A wholesome salad makes a great power-booster lunch. The other day, I was in the mood for quinoa. So, I combined it with a mix of sliced avocado, smoked salmon, red bell pepper, and cayenne pepper that I dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, dijon mustard, and a little bit of honey. The taste of smoked salmon mixed with creamy avocado, crunchy peppers, and nutty quinoa blended well with the tangy and sweet vinaigrette. What a party in a salad bowl!

Here’s my ingredient list:

1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of chicken stock (or water)
1 avocado (sliced)
1 red bell pepper (chopped)
2 slices of smoked salmon (sliced)
1 cayenne pepper (chopped)
Lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon of honey

Steps:

I followed the quinoa cooking instruction on its package: bring it to a boil with two cups of chicken stock and lower the heat to let it simmer for 15 minutes in a covered pot
In a medium bowl, I whisked lemon juice, olive oil, dijon mustard, and honey together to make the dressing
Mixed the avocado, salmon, and peppers with the dressing. Cover and chill in the fridge
Let the quinoa cool down for a bit, place in a salad bowl, and topped with the avocado, salmon, and peppers

Serve two

Great for bring-lunch-to-work menu (keep it chilled) or as a meal after an exercise.

Have a great weekend, all!

Peace

September 13, 2013

Harini Riana1 Comment

Grilled Plum on Warm Bread with Cheese

When people find out that I cook, some would ask, “Wow, you don’t mind the effort that cooking involves?” or say, “Good for you. I am way too lazy to cook.” or “Oh, you’re such a good wife.” (I usually roll my eyes, in my mind, for the latter comment :D.) Feels like there’s this impression that a person who cooks is industrious, taking on such an onerous task, or domestic. Well, contrary to that assumption, I cook because I get bored with food a lot. I seek wonderful colors, a burst of great flavors, and pleasing tastes in food. They bring me joy, while bland food just makes me feel sad.

My curiosity of tastes and appreciation for creativity takes me on an ongoing search for things to try. Just like this recipe I adapted and simplified from a genius food blogger at Dash and Bella: Grilled Plum and Lemon Ricotta Toast. Grilled sweet plum over warm bread with mild cheese spread. Delicious. I’d like to try using apples, nectarine, or peach next time. What a great way to enjoy more fruits! Thanks, Dash and Bella.

In my version, I used:

4 black plums (each sliced into four cuts)
Bread
Ricotta cheese

Steps:

I grilled the slices of plums and bread for about 1-2 minutes each side over medium heat (I didn’t mix the plums with olive oil, balsamic, and herbs as the original recipe suggested and still they tasted wonderful).
Spread ricotta cheese on the warm bread and place the juicy plum on top (I used the ricotta plain without the lemon juice)
Enjoy! Great for breakfast and snack

Have a great day!

September 5, 2013

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Red Hot Cooked Salsa

The other day, I had tons of cherry and beef steak tomatoes. Using a technique that a friend taught me, I turned them into a fantastic red-hot cooked salsa. Easy and delicious!

My friend G, whose family came from Oaxaca, Mexico, shared her homemade cooked salsa verde (green salsa) with me a while back. It was so garlicky, spicy, fresh, and good, I could just drink it. I slightly modified her recipe in a blog entry titled: Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Tomatillo Mango Salsa. Cooking the tomatoes (or tomatillos for the green salsa) definitely made this condiment so great.

Here’s what we’ll need for the red hot salsa:

Two cups of cherry tomatoes (halved)
2 beef steak tomatoes (cut into four pieces)
A handful of cilantro (just use the leaves and chop in a food processor along with the garlic and jalapeno peppers)
2-3 garlic
5 jalapeno peppers
Salt
Lime juice from 1/2 of lime

Steps:

Heat up a cooking pot over medium heat
Add the tomatoes into the pot, cover with a lid, and let them cook for 5–10 minutes until they fall apart and become juicy. Turn of the heat.
Add the chopped jalapeno, garlic, cilantro, salt, and lime juice into the pot. Stir well to mix with the tomato. Let it cool down for a few minutes before serving.
Serve with corn chips

Thanks for reading!

To my friend G and our book club

September 4, 2013

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Versatile Vegetable Stew

(My version of gulai sayur. Origin: Indonesia)

Here is my version of gulai, which refers to the flavorful yellow broth made of turmeric, chili peppers, garlic, shallot, and coconut milk. It makes such a wonderful vegetable stew. In fact, I have written a couple of versions of this recipe before, titled Chayote Squash in Spicy Broth and Spicy Kale. Today, I’d like to adjust it a bit to show how easy and versatile it could be.

When summer comes to an end, it usually yield tons of produce. Like many of you, I love going to farmers market to get those goodies. Maybe like some of you, I tend to get too many things. Just like the other day, I got a variety of peppers and tons of shallots and garlic—the three key ingredients in Indonesian cooking and in this vegetable stew recipe. I also had a couple of Chayote squash and two handful of shiitake mushroom in the fridge. So, here’s what I did with them:

Prepared the vegetables:

Peeled, cored, and sliced the Chayote squash into long and thin cuts. Then I soaked the cuts in a bowl of water mixed with salt for about 30 minutes to get rid of the sap. Could be substituted with summer squash/zucchini/ bell pepper (see more vegetable options on the bottom of the page)
Remove the shiitake stems and roughly chopped the mushroom

Prepared the gulai broth:

List of ingredients:

4 shallots
4 garlic
3 hot peppers (red/orange color)
3 sweet peppers (red/orange color)
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2-3 cups of water
1/2 can of light coconut milk
1/2 inch of sliced galangal root (or 1 lemongrass) to add lemony aroma to the stew. Could be substituted with lemon zest (from one lemon).

Steps:

Chopped shallots, garlic, hot peppers, and sweet peppers in a food processor (or blender)
Added turmeric powder and a little bit of salt to the mixture
Sweat it in a heated pot with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, to release the moisture
Added water and galangal root, let it simmer
Added coconut milk, stirred
Once the broth simmered for the second time, I added the squash and mushroom
Let them stew for about five minutes or until the broth simmered for the third time
Removed galangal root before serving

At dinner time, my guy had a good point. He said that the stew’s contents could vary. We could have different types of vegetables with (or without) mushroom or even with tofu/tempeh/some seafood in it. Aha! That comment gave me an idea. I listed several produce that would taste great in this vegetable stew recipe:

Choose one vegetable or do a pairing of a vegetable with either mushroom/one of the seafood selections/tofu/tempeh from the following list: (I’d combine up to two things to avoid stew overcrowd)

Vegetable:

Summer squash
Zucchini
Chayote
Eggplant
Bell peppers
String beans

For these greens, I prefer to have it just by itself in the stew, not in a combination.

Kale
Swiss Chard
Collard Green

Mushroom:

(I like using) Shiitake mushroom

Seafood:

Smoked salmon (I’d cut it into small square and add into the stew closer to the end of cooking, since it is already cooked)
Shrimp (cook together with the vegetable of choice in the simmering broth until shrimp is fully cooked, about 5 minutes)

Soy-based protein goodies:

Tofu (extra firm and cut into small square. Cook together with the vegetable of choice in the simmering broth for about 5 minutes)
Tempeh (cut into small square and cook together with the vegetable of choice in the simmering broth for about 5-10 minutes)

What do you think? Anything else we could try? I’ll add to the list if I could think of more.

Thanks for stopping by!

August 30, 2013

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Parsley and Feta on Pita Bread

I love the scent of parsley, especially right after picking. One of the things I like to do with the herb is to mix it with feta cheese, fold it in filo dough sheets, and bake them—just like in the Turkish baked borek. This time, I wanted to try something different with the mixture. So, I spread it on a few pita bread, topped the bread with cherry tomatoes, and baked them. Oh, what a fantastic aroma they created as they cooked in the oven! They tasted delicious too. The fresh herb and tomato definitely added more complexity to the salty white cheese melted on the warm bread.

Here’s how I did mine:

(serve 2)

I used:

A handful of parsley (just the leaves)
About 4 oz. of feta cheese (I bought one of those 8 oz. plain regular chunk)
Olive oil
3 pita bread
Cherry tomatoes

Then I heated the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, mixed/chopped the parsley and feta in a food processor, brushed the pita bread with olive oil, spread the cheese mixture on it, topped with cherry tomatoes, and baked for 6-7 minutes.

Thank you for visiting!

August 28, 2013

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Summer Party on a Plate: Grilled Sea Scallops, Guacamole, Mango Salsa, and Beets Orange Salad

There are days when I get highly motivated. When they come, something like this materializes:

Moved by a warm summer day with the perfect breeze, I went a little overboard with Wednesday’s dinner menu. I wanted something light and colorful. Grilled scallops, mango salsa, and guacamole immediately came to mind. But as I walked around the farmers market, I also got some beets (and a lot of other things!). I had never cooked beets before but I was curious about it.

When I got home, I realized that I forgot to get cilantro for my mango salsa and guacamole. So, I substituted with green onions, which worked out quite well for both dishes—though I still prefer using cilantro. For this version of my mango salsa, I chopped 10 cherry tomatoes, two garlic, four cayenne peppers, and three green onions in a food processor. I added a little bit of lime juice and salt to the salsa before I mixed it with the mango slices. I also cut more cherry tomatoes, each into four pieces, and added them to the mango salsa.

For the guacamole, I followed the recipe I wrote last year. The combination of creamy avocado with cumin, lime juice, salt, garlic, and onion made such a wonderful treat (cilantro would add a fantastic taste and aroma to it too). And it wasn’t hard to make at all! I like to have guacamole and mango salsa as side dishes for grilled fish as well.

For the sea scallops, I marinated them with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice from one lemon, salt, and pepper. After 15 minutes, I threaded the scallops onto the skewers (which I have soaked in water for about 15 minutes prior to using). It’s much easier to grill scallops this way. Then, I grilled them for about three minutes on each side.

I saw a recipe called Perfect Roasted Beets with Orange Slices in a magazine and was intrigued by it. I basically followed the recipe but did not have sherry vinegar so I went without. The result? The orange slices and juice gave sweet taste to the dish. But the beets’ earthy flavor was definitely something for me to get used to. Let’s see, maybe I could find a different beet recipe to try. Do you have one to recommend?

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

August 23, 2013

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Chicken Satay with Walnut Sauce

Grilling on skewers seems like a universal way to cook meat, don’t you think? Most citizens of the world probably have their own versions and names for it. Still, it’s the same delicious idea :). Indonesians (and some of our South East Asian neighbors) call this method as sate or satay. As a popular street food in the country, satay comes in different variation depending on the region. In my hometown, chicken satay with peanut sauce seems to be consistently in demand. One common scene close to dinner hours would be seeing a satay vendor push his cart on residential streets while calling out, “Teee…Sate.” Someone would usually shout back from their porch, “Satay man, come.” The vendor would stop in front of that house and start grilling. With a traditional bamboo fan on one hand, he’d fan the charcoal grill on his cart and turn and adjust the satay, to make sure they’re cooked properly, with the other hand. A wonderful aroma would fill the air. Once the satay is done, he’d start mixing the peanut sauce, shallots, sweet soy sauce, and chili paste and place the satay on top of it. I loved watching this “performance” when I was little.

I think what makes chicken satay so special would be the sauce. That nutty, sweet, savory, and tangy flavors…all in perfect harmony. Inspired by a recent cookout at a friend’s house, I decided to make my version of chicken satay this week. I’ve made peanut sauce before but this time I used the raw walnuts that I had at home. So here it goes:

For the chicken satay, we’ll need:

5-10 skewers (soaked in water for 15 minutes)
2-3 boneless and skinless chicken breasts (get the smaller size). You could also use boneless and skinless chicken thighs. Cut into strips (same size) to make them skewer-friendly.
2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Coriander powder
Ginger powder
Lime juice from ½ lime

Walnut sauce:

1 cup of raw walnuts
3 shallots
4 garlic
3 cayenne peppers
Lime zest from 1 lime
Lime juice from ½ lime
Salt
2 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce (substitute with: a mix of 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of honey)

Steps:

Marinade the chicken strips with olive oil, lime juice, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a dash of coriander and ginger powder. Set them aside for 10-15 minutes.
In a food processor, mix: walnuts, shallots, garlic, peppers, salt, lime zest, and lime juice.
Heat up a non-stick pan and cook the walnut mixture for two or three minutes until it starts to brown.
In a bowl, mix the cooked walnut blend with the sweet soy sauce. Taste and adjust accordingly. I like to add thinly sliced shallots to the sauce at the end.
Thread the chicken meat onto the skewers.
Fire up the grill and cook them thoroughly (mine went for about 5 minutes on each side).
On a serving plate, set the chicken satay and drizzle with the walnut sauce.

Great to serve with rice or grilled corn or just by itself. I served mine with mango sambal and rice. A nice dinner-for-two out on our little patio 🙂

Have a great day and thanks for coming!

August 22, 2013

Harini Riana2 Comments

A Favorite Summer Salad

Hi all! I hope you are having a wonderful summer wherever you are. Doesn’t it seem like the season is evaporating so quickly?

This summer, I found a favorite salad combination: arugula, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, walnut, peaches/apples/nectarines (pick one or use all of them), with fresh squeezed orange and lemon juice- based dressing mixed with olive oil, honey, dijon mustard, green onions, and cayenne peppers.

Arugula has this wonderful peppery taste that I like so much. The selection of bountiful summer fruits add natural sweetness to the bite. Salty feta cheese, crunchy walnut, chopped green onions, and cayenne peppers liven things up with their distinct flavors. Oh, and the dressing! It enhances the peppery, tangy, sweet, and refreshing taste of this salad. Such a great companion for grilled fish/shrimp/sea scallops, turkey sandwiches, or even steak.

Here’s the list for the salad (serve 2):

3-4 cups of arugula (you could also add radicchio or other greens that you prefer)
½ cup of crumbled feta cheese
½ cup of walnut (chopped or not, you decide 🙂 )
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
1-2 peaches/apples/nectarines (sliced)

For the dressing, mix the following in a bowl:

½ cup of olive oil
Juice from 1 orange
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon of honey
½ tablespoon of dijon mustard
2 green onions (chopped)
2 cayenne peppers (chopped)
Salt and pepper

Optional: you could also add a little bit of dill to the dressing

Combine the arugula, walnut, cheese, and fruits in a big bowl and mix with the dressing. Serve immediately. My mouth is watering as I type up this recipe 😀

What’s your favorite summer salad? Do share.

Thanks for reading!

Recipe inspiration came from: Arugula, Watermelon, Feta Salad by Ina Garten

August 20, 2013

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Heavenly Buttery Soft Broccoli

Salty and aromatic, garlicky, and buttery soft broccoli! The dish has earned a spot on my favorite list. Thanks, Food52. The trick? Immerse the vegetable in boiling water (also known as blanching) for five minutes and then cook it with olive oil, garlic, chili peppers, and anchovies. Yes, anchovies! The result? Incredibly tender, savory, but yet sweet broccoli that would melt in your mouth.

I do mine slightly different from Food52‘s recipe. Here’s my adapted version:

(Serve 2)

1 bunch of broccoli (a bunch that would be enough for two people). I remove the florets by hands and make sure that they’re not too chunky.
8 anchovies (chopped). I use marinated ones. The original recipe asks for 4 anchovies but I think 8 make my dish much more flavorful. I believe anchovy is the key ingredient here 😀
3 garlic (chopped)
3—4 tablespoon of olive oil
4 hot finger peppers or 2 Thai peppers (chopped)
Black pepper

Steps:

Fill 1/3 of a medium pot with water and bring to boil over medium heat
Add broccoli florets into the water, cover the pot, and let simmer for five minutes
Meanwhile, heat a medium pan (over medium heat) and add olive oil, garlic, anchovies, and chili peppers. Stir frequently and let them cook for one minute or until the anchovies start to melt in the oil. Reduce the heat.
Once the five minutes of hot bath is done, drain the broccoli, and add into the pan
Stir and mix the broccoli with the olive oil-anchovies concoction. Add black pepper. Cover the pan, lower the heat, cook for another three minutes (until the broccoli become soft), and then turn off the heat. Let the broccoli stay in the covered pan to soak the olive oil, anchovies, garlic, and peppers for at least half hour before serving. (The original recipe calls for 2 hours of cooking over low heat, but I find that my broccoli gets soft enough after the blanching, then the three-minute cooking with anchovies, and the half hour of resting in the covered pan. I think the heat gets trapped and continues to cook the vegetable for a while.)

Great to serve by itself, over rice, on top of egg noodle or pasta, or as a side dish to Yakiniku-style Beef and Sauteed Onion.

Inspired by a similar recipe using the same method of cooking, I tried my recipe above with carrots! I found that shredded or thin-sliced carrots work better for this method. I skip the blanching part and just cook the carrots directly in the anchovies-garlic-chili pepper infused olive oil. Stir and mix them well, cover the pan, lower the heat a bit, and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the carrots rest in the covered pan for half hour before serving. The mixture of anchovies, garlic, and chili peppers magically brings out the natural sweetness of the carrot. So good!

Hope you like it. Thanks for visiting!

Peace

April 24, 2013

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