Baked Potato Patties

Inspired by the Indonesian perkedel daging (potato ground beef patties) and Puerto Rican pastelón, I created these baked potato patties with ground turkey, bell pepper, chili pepper, cilantro and onion. Ha! Yes, I got a little creative 🙂 The result? Savory little goodness that made a wonderful appetizer!

Hope you like it!

Fresh out of the oven

We need:

  • 3 Russet potatoes (peeled and diced)
  • 1/2 pound of ground turkey meat
  • 1 bell pepper (chopped)
  • 3-4 garlic
  • 3 hot finger peppers
  • 1/2 of sweet onion
  • 1/2 cup of cilantro (chopped). If you’re not a fan of cilantro, you could substitute with either parsley or green onions.
  • One tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • One egg
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Steps:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
  • In a medium pot, cover the potatoes with water, add a little salt, and boil until fork tender (for me it took about 30-40 minutes)
  • Mix and chop the bell pepper, garlic, hot fingers, and sweet onion in a food processor
  • Heat up a medium pan and add one tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • Cook the peppers-garlic-onion mixture for a little bit until the moisture evaporates
  • Add the ground turkey and cook until it is well done. Set aside.
  • After the potatoes are done cooking, remove from water, and mash them well
  • Add the egg into the mashed potatoes and mix them together
  • Mix the mashed potatoes with the meat, chopped cilantro, and using both hands create 15-18 patties
  • Spray a baking tray with either olive oil or vegetable oil
  • Place the patties on the tray, brush the top of the patties with a little bit of vegetable or olive oil, and bake for 15-20 minutes until they turn golden light brown in color

Baked Potato Patties Baked Potato Patties 2

Harini Riana2 Comments

Easy Pasta for Dinner: Mushroom Bourguignon

Feeling like pasta for dinner tonight? Something with mushroom and vegetables in red wine and tomato sauce?

Try this easy and delicious Mushroom Bourguignon recipe. Yes, I did put the word “easy” and “bourguignon” on the same sentence. This recipe offers a much shorter cook time than Ina Garten’s version I had tried a while back. I haven’t worked out the courage to attempt to do Julia Child’s. Maybe someday. But for now, I am happy to have found another good recipe suitable for everyday dinner. Hope you like it too!

Note: I did a couple of minor adjustments to the Mushroom Bourguignon’s recipe:

  • I used Shiitake mushroom instead of the Portobello or Cremini called by the recipe
  • I also added some meatballs to the pasta dish (optional)

Mushroom Bourguignon

Original recipe by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen

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Going Puerto Rican with Pastelón: Plantain, Ground Turkey, and Cheese

Pastelón
Pastelón
Plantain topped with ground turkey and mozzarella
Plantain topped with ground turkey and mozzarella

One of the perks of having friends from different cultures is the exposure to many delicious dishes. Zulma, a dear friend of mine, has successfully introduced me to Puerto Rican’s mofongo, tostones, and pastelón. (Mofongo and tostones are my must-eat whenever I visit the island.) A few days ago, over the phone, Zulma told me that she was making pastelón for dinner. Feeling intrigued, I used her recipe as guidance in making one myself. Usually described as “plantain lasagna”, the dish offers a good combination of sweet and savory. The plantain gives out a sweet taste while the ground turkey, cooked with onion, garlic, peppers, and cilantro, makes a fantastic meaty topping. And of course, the melted mozzarella sealed everything nicely. Buen Provecho!

Here’s my version, with a little twist 😉
We’ll need:

  • 4 ripe plantains (Per Zulma’s recommendation, I got the yellow ones with black patches all over the skin and with sweet aroma.)
  • ½ pound of ground turkey (Usually made with ground pork or beef)
  • ½ of sweet onions (chopped)
  • 3 garlic (chopped)
  • ½ cup of chopped cilantro (Zulma’s recipe calls for long coriander leaves but I couldn’t find them so I went with cilantro)
  • 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
  • 3-4 hot finger peppers (chopped). This is totally optional. (I made mine spicy, of course :))
  • 1 or 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Pastelon

Steps:

  • Fill a medium pot with water and bring to boil
  • Cut the peeled plantains in the middle
  • Boil the plantains for 15-20 minutes
  • Once cooked, remove, and let them cool down before slicing them lengthwise
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  • Place the sliced plantains on a baking dish that has been sprayed with vegetable or olive oil
  • On the stove top, heat a medium pan with a tablespoon with vegetable oil. Cook the onion, garlic, and bell and hot peppers for two minutes. Add ground turkey, salt, and black pepper. Combine and cook well.
  • Cover the sliced plantain with the meat, top with shredded cheese, and place it in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the cheese is melted.
  • Remove from the oven and let it cool down for a bit before serving

My special thanks to Zulma

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Sweet Corn, Green Beans, and Cabbage in Tamarind Soup

(My version of sayur asem)

Sweet Corn, Green Beans, and Cabbage in Tamarind Soup
Sweet Corn, Green Beans, and Cabbage in Tamarind Soup

Here’s another favorite, Indonesia-origin, vegetable dish in our home. Though its main ingredient is tamarind, a sour fruit typically used in many Southeast Asian cuisines, this soup has a lot more to offer than just a tangy flavor. It has a good balance of sweet, sour, and spicy. The vegetable selections of corn, green beans, and cabbage give crunchy texture to the dish, while a little bit of hot peppers adds a nice punch.

Here’s my take on this East Java version of sayur asem or the vegetables sour soup:

List of things we need:

  • 1 small bag of frozen sweet corn
  • 1 cup of green beans cut into shorter lengths (traditionally Indonesians use Yardlong Beans instead of green beans).
  • 1 small cabbage (remove wilted outer leaves, halve, remove the stem, and slice). If you can’t find a smaller cabbage, use ½ of the regular size.
  • 1 inch cube cut of seedless wet tamarind/ tamarind block
  • 4 shallots
  • 3 garlic
  • 4 Candlenuts
  • A pinch of shrimp paste
  • 2-3 Thai peppers
  • Salt
  • ½ inch cut of Galangal root for the aroma

Cooking steps:

  • Fill 1/3 of a large pot with water over medium heat
  • Chop and mix shallots, garlic, Candlenuts, shrimp paste, Thai peppers in a food processor
  • Add the mixture into the pot along with tamarind, Galangal root and a little bit of salt. Bring to boil, reduce the heat a little bit, and let the broth cooks for another 20-30 minutes or until the tamarind dissolves.
  • Remove galangal root and tamarind pulp, before adding the vegetables into the broth, using a food colander or strainer and a big bowl. (Strain the broth using a colander or a food strainer into the big bowl and then return the broth back to the pot.)
  • Add the vegetables into the pot and bring to boil.
  • Turn of the heat and cover the pot with a lid. I let the vegetable soup rest for half hour to an hour before serving. That way the vegetables have some time to absorb all of the wonderful flavors. It taste even better the next day too!

Serve 4-6.

Harini Riana4 Comments

Savory Pastry with Turkey and Vegetables

Inspired by Indonesian’s pastel goreng, a savory treat similar to empanadas, I made this easy pastry recently. The wonderful smell of ground turkey, peas, carrots, garlic, and onions baking inside of a pie crust in the oven filled the apartment. Hmm…delicious!  This flaky and savory pastry makes a great appetizer.

Here’s a list of things we’ll need:

  • 2 sheets of pie crust
  • 1 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 pound of ground turkey (or beef)
  • 1 bag of thawed frozen (mix) peas and carrots
  • 4 garlic (chopped)
  • 1 sweet onion (chopped)
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • A dash of curry powder

Steps:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Heat up a medium pan and add the oil.
  • Add garlic and onion. Cook for two minutes.
  • Add ground beef and let it brown.
  • Mix in the peas and carrots, salt, pepper, and curry powder.
  • Following Paula Dean’s direction on her empanada recipe: I cut out rounds from the pie crust using a small cookie cutter (3-inch), place a bit of cooked turkey and veggies in the middle of the crust, brush the edges with water, fold, and repeat. Place the pastries on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until they turn golden brown.

Harini Riana2 Comments

Easy Apple Tart

I love fruit pastry. In fact, a lot of the baking recipes I’ve blogged involve fruits. Jeff and I would have these baked goods for breakfast with our coffee or as a snack with hot tea at night. So when I saw this recipe from Ina Garten, I couldn’t wait to try it. It’s unbelievably easy and delicious. All you need are apples, puff pastry sheets, a little bit of sugar, and unsalted butter.

As usual, I do a little tweak to the original recipe:

  • Instead of Granny Smith apples, I use Honey Crisp apples (since these tend to be sweeter than Granny Smith)
  • I put the pastries in the oven for about 30 minutes instead of 40. I think my oven gets super hot and I try to avoid charring the bottom parts of the apple tart.
  • I also prefer to go without using the apricot jelly and Calvados. I think the apple tart taste great as it is.

The warm, buttery, flaky, light, sweet and tart, and refreshing qualities make these apple tarts so inviting. What a nice fall treat!

Have a great weekend!

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Spicy Kale

This entry was originally titled Kale Braised in Coconut Milk and was published back on January 26, 2012. Since then I have tweaked the recipe and arrived at a point where I could say, “This is even better!” So here it is, dear readers. Let’s turn the hardy green leaves into a tender and flavorful dish. 

Almost a decade ago, a good friend introduced me to kale. Originally, we wanted to cook braised cassava leaves in spices and coconut milk (gulai daun singkong), a native dish to the West Sumatrans, but could not find the vegetable in Michigan. My friend believed Kale’s texture and taste would work for the dish we wanted to make. And OH WOW, did it work great!  Since then on this super vegetable has been one of my regular side dish menus. 

Both Jeff and I love this dish. It is spicy but yet there’s also a little sweetness that comes from the mixture of red bell pepper, shallots, and coconut milk. 

Here’s a list of things we will need:

  • 2 bundle of kale (remove the stem, wash, and chop the leaves)
  • 4 shallots (finely chopped)
  • 4 garlic (chopped)
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 10 hot finger peppers (finely chopped)
  • Light coconut milk (one can)
  • One cup of water Chicken stock (use half a cup) 
  • One inch cut of galangal root (for aroma)
  • A pinch of turmeric powder
  • 1 tablespoon of canola oil
  • Salt

Steps:

  • Heat up the canola oil in a medium pot
  • In a food processor, chop and mix garlic, shallots, and all peppers. Add shallots and garlic into the pot and let them turn to light brown
  • Sweat the garlic, shallots, and peppers mix in the medium pot for 2 minutes
  • Add salt and turmeric powder
  • Add water and bring to boil Mix the leaves with shallots and garlic
  • Add coconut milk, stir, and bring to boil one more time chicken stock and peppers. Cover the pot with its lid and let the dish boil
  • Add kale, bring to boil, and then remove pot from the heat immediately (to avoid overcooking the vegetable) Add coconut milk, stir and mix well, and let it cook for another 20 minutes until the vegetable becomes tender
  • Uncover the pot to reduce the liquid for no more than 2 minutes
  • Add salt to taste

Great with rice and a grilled chicken or a beef dish.

Hope you like it!

(Serves 4)


Harini Riana2 Comments

Parsley and Feta Cheese Pastry

My Turkish neighbor had made this pastry a while back. Both Jeff and I thought they tasted fantastic. But it wasn’t until I read a novel (that was also) filled with dreamy descriptions of Turkish cuisine did I get the strong urge to try making this amazing baked goods. One sentence from the book did it for me: “The delectable smell of newly baked börek  wafted from the kitchen: white cheese, spinach, butter, and parsley melting into one another amid thin layers of phyllo pastry.” (Shafak, Elif. The Bastard of Istanbul. Viking/Penguin, 2007. Pg. 126.)

I asked my good friend Farah, who’s also Turkish, about the pastry. She explained that in Turkey, börek could also be stuffed with other delicious things such as meat, potato, vegetables, etc. Yum! So I found an excellent recipe for the pastry. The successful first trial encouraged me to do a repeat. So far I have made this fantastic crispy, salty, and fragrant snack twice this month! Another addition to my favorite-food list and…one excellent way to use up my parsley plant.

Here’s what I came up with:

Parsley and Feta Pastry

A few things that I did differently from the original recipe:

  • I chopped and mixed my parsley leaves and egg in a food processor.
  • I folded the phyllo dough (with the cheese and parsley mixture in it) into a rectangle instead of rolling it.
  • For an extra kick, I brushed the wrapped cheese and parsley with a little bit of herb olive oil (marinade: olive oil, vinegar, thyme, garlic, chili peppers, and chives) before they go to the oven (350 degrees F for 15 minutes).

Thanks for reading!

Original Recipe: Filo Pastry Stuffed with Feta Cheese and Parsley by Kathryn at London Bakes

My flat parsley plant. Hopefully it overwinters and returns to life in the springtime.

Harini Riana3 Comments

Potato with Shiitake Mushroom, Sweet Corn, and Brussels Sprouts

In the mood for something easy but tasty? Here’s a one-pot meal that combines great colors, textures, and flavors.

We’ll need:

  • 2 shallots (thinly sliced)
  • 6 Brussels sprouts (halved)
  • 6 Red baby potato (halved)
  • 2 cups of Shiitake mushrooms (stems removed and cap chopped)
  • 2 ears of corn (peeled) or substitute with one cup of frozen corn
  • Salt
  • 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Steps:

  • In a small pot, boil the potato for 15-20 minutes and set aside
  • Heat up a medium pan and then add oil (over medium heat)
  • Cook the shallots for a minute or two
  • Add Brussel sprouts and cook until they turn a little yellowish/brownish
  • Add ¼ cup of water and bring to boil
  • Add salt
  • Add chopped mushrooms and peeled corn while the pan is bubbling. Bring back to boil. (You could also grill the corn first and then cut the corn kernels out of the cobs)
  • Turn of the heat and add the boiled potato into the mix
  • Serve on a plate

Great to serve by itself or as a side to my oven roast chicken.

Crispy oven roasted chicken

Harini Riana3 Comments

Goat Satay

Goat satay (sate kambing) is one of my favorite street food in Surabaya.

Illustration: Satay Vendor

Recently, I attempted to create the satay in my kitchen. Though I deviated a bit from how the satay vendors normally prepared theirs in the motherland, my version was nothing short of delicious. The meat-on-skewers came out with the three qualities I had in mind: tender, aromatic, and a little sweet. I served it with rice and  chili sauce on the side.

Here’s my version:

Serve 2

  • 1 pound of roast cut goat meat (cubed)
  • 3 garlic
  • 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon of apple vinegar
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce (if you don’t have it, create your own by mixing 1 ½ teaspoon of light soy sauce and 1 ½ teaspoon of honey)

I mixed all of the above in a container, covered with the lid, and let it marinate overnight or at least for six hours. Afterward, using 10-15 skewers that I have soaked in water for 30 minutes prior, I pushed the skewers gently through the meat. Then I fired up the grill and let the satay cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.

If you’re into spicy food like I am, serve the satay with this special chili pepper sauce:

Warning: Very Spicy!

  • 5 Thai peppers (substitute with hot finger peppers for medium heat)
  • 2 shallots
  • 2 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce

Chop the chili peppers and shallots and mix them with the sweet soy sauce. Serve as condiment or drizzle it on the satay.

Hope you like it!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

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