Guacamole

A recent weekend trip to the dunes by Lake Michigan sent me home with plenty of food inspiration. One night at the cottage we rented, I saw my newly-wed-couple friends mashing avocados into guacamole on the kitchen’s island. They worked together like couple of scientists in a lab, immersed in the task at hand. I, on the other hand, stood nearby, watching, and waiting impatiently, like a little kid, eager to taste that avocado sauce. Ro added some salt to the cut up avocados, mashed them up, and tasted it. Then he added some onion, garlic, and lime juice. Zulma tasted it and she said it needed a bit more of something something. I was so hungry I couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. It seemed like the mashing, adding things, and tasting continued on for a while before I could get my arms around the bowl of goodness. The couple’s hard work paid off though. They produced a fantastic guacamole.

After Jeff and I got home from the cottage, I couldn’t wait to try my friends’ guacamole recipe. Actually, I’ve made it twice in the past two weeks. The vibrant flavors of garlic, cilantro, onion, and jalapeno peppers mix so well together with the sweetness of the avocados. I am addicted to this sauce.

Chunky Guacamole
Or make it: Smooth and Creamy Guacamole. Either way is good for me 🙂

Here’s how I made mine:

(Serve 2-3 people)

  • 3 avocados
  • 1 handful of cilantro (finely chopped)
  • 3 garlic (finely chopped)
  • ½ sweet onion (finely chopped)
  • 3 jalapeno peppers (finely chopped)
  • Salt to taste
  • A pinch of Cumin
  • Lime juice from 1 lime

Steps:

  • Peel, cut up, and mash the avocados
  • Mix everything together in a bowl and then drizzle with lime juice
  • Serve with tortilla chips

Special thanks to Roneil and Zulma for the guacamole and the recipe

Harini Riana1 Comment

Easy Summer Recipe: Grilled Squid in Spicy Salsa

I’ve gone grill crazy this summer. I seriously have :). Here’s another result from my obsession with cooking over an open fire: grilled squid. Yes, squid! Oh… the aroma and taste of it after being grilled, just divine! Growing up in one of the world’s largest (and most populated) archipelagos surrounded by seas and oceans, I got introduced to all sorts of fresh seafood early in life. Hence my love for it.  For this recipe, I put a little bit of Mexican twist to the dish by adding one of my favorite flavors: spicy salsa. Intense!

We will need:

  • 1 pound of frozen squid (usually they are already cleaned)
  • Lemon juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 serving cup of store-bought refrigerated fresh spicy salsa (usually are placed next to hummus and tabbouleh salad). OR we could also prepare a bowl of our own homemade salsa by chopping two or three tomatoes, a half of sweet onion, a handful of cilantro, three garlic, five jalapeno peppers, and adding salt and lime juice.
  • Olive oil

Steps:

  • Cut the thawed squid tubes into rings and the tentacles into smaller pieces
  • Drizzle the cut squid with olive oil and lemon juice
  • Let them marinate for 10-15
  • Meanwhile, heat up a small pot on the stove (over low heat), add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and add the fresh salsa. Let it cook for 5-10 minutes to let most of the water out (and to sharpen the flavor of the salsa). Set aside on a serving plate.
  • Brush the grill rack with oil
  • Fire up the grill
  • Grill the squid for 2-3 minutes total, turning only once. They cook very fast, so please be careful not to overcook.
  • Mix the cooked squid with the salsa.
  • Combo suggestion: serve with my Bitter melon with Shiitake Mushroom stir-fry and jasmine rice

Hope you like it!

Have a great weekend, everyone…

Harini Riana4 Comments

For the serious veggie lovers: Bitter melon with Shiitake mushroom stir-fry

Is it possible to be bitter and good at the same time? In the case of bitter melon, it is. Just as the name implies, bitter melon…is… bitter. But with the right seasonings/spices this vegetable can make a delicious dish.

Growing up, stir-fry bitter melon would often show up as a side dish on my family’s dinning table. My mom would cook the vegetable with garlic, shallots, and chili peppers. Whenever the dish appeared, I would have a bite and convince myself that it would be less bitter from the last time I tried it. Of course, it was never the case. Each time it showed up on the table, I would always have a bite. I guess after years of “having a bite” of it, I grew to like this dish.

It had been years since the last time I had stir-fry bitter melon. At a recent trip to the market, I saw one bitter melon left on its section on the vegetable rack. I took it home and followed my mom’s recipe. But I also added my own twist to the dish: I added two cups of Shiitake mushrooms and a little bit of light soy sauce.  The mushrooms definitely offered a sweet flavor and meaty texture to stir-fry. Both bitter melon and mushrooms absorbed the mix of garlic, shallots, chili peppers, and light soy sauce really well.  Here’s how I did the stir-fry:

To prepare:

  • Halve one bitter melon. Remove the core with a small knife (the most bitter part)
  • Slice them up into thin cuts
  • Fill up a medium bowl with ¼ of water and two tablespoons of salt
  • Soak the bitter melon cuts for an hour or so. The salt water helps get rid of the bitterness of the melon.

After an hour/two:

  • Rinse the bitter melon from the salt water, set aside. (Please rinse them really well. Otherwise they’d be too salty.
  • Chop three garlic, two shallots, and two Thai peppers
  • Heat up a medium pan on the stove
  • Add one tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil
  • Add the garlic, shallots, and peppers and let them cook in the pan for two minutes
  • Add one teaspoon of light soy sauce
  • Add the rinsed bitter melon to the pan
  • Add the stemmed and chopped Shiitake mushroom
  • Cover the pan with a lid and let everything cooks for 5-8 minutes (until the bitter melon cuts and mushrooms are soft)
  • Set aside and let it sit in the pan for a few minutes (10-15) to give some time for the dish to absorb all of the seasonings and flavors
  • Serve with jasmine rice

A great side dish to accompany my spicy squid (next blog entry).

Harini Riana1 Comment

Summer on a Plate

On one beautiful summer weekend, Jeff and I along with four of our friends (with one couple’s two young children) rented a vacation house on a sand dune by Lake Michigan. Oh what a fun weekend we had!

We probably spent the whole weekend being outside. We swam in the lake, strolled around a cute beach town, grilled and cooked delicious food with international flavors, and chilled by the fire at night making smores while sipping wine and beer. Did I mention the delicious food we made and had? 🙂 It was no wonder at all. When you put six people who love to eat, cook, and appreciate good food, you could easily end up with some fantastic dishes.  I got too busy enjoying the food that I forgot to take pictures! So, I’ll just tell you what we had: Indonesian fried rice with shrimp, tuna steak with corn salad, turkey burger with red peppers and onions, a FANTASTIC guacamole, chili pepper marinade/dip, and an eggplant/tomato dish served with pita bread.

Now, for this blog entry, let me share with you the eggplant/tomato dish recipe—since I just made it too last night. So that weekend, we decided to take turns in making dinner. A couple of our friends brought fresh tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers from their garden. When it was their turn to cook, they prepared a one-pot meal of eggplants cooked with tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and a little bit of salt and pepper. Super easy and yummy. The dish reminded me of me of this Indonesian eggplant dish, only milder. Our friends served the dish with pita bread and gave the rest of the fresh vegetables they didn’t cook to me to take home.

Yesterday, I gazed at the abundance of fresh produce our friends gave us. I also noticed that my basil plants were in full force. A dinner idea came to mind: that eggplant/tomato dish and my basil pesto pasta  with pan-seared sea bass and sea scallops. What a great flavor and color combination they made! The green basil pesto coated the pasta with that fantastic basil fragrance, the savory taste from the cheese, and nuttiness of pine nuts. The eggplant/tomato dish gave out sweet, tangy, and fresh flavors that wonderfully complemented the pesto pasta taste. So delightful!

Here’s how I made the eggplant dish (just like how my friend made it at the beach house):

  • I used four smaller and skinnier eggplants
  • Halved the eggplants and cut into four long pieces
  • Chopped them up into shorter cuts
  • I diced up five medium size tomatoes
  • Minced four garlic
  • Chopped three sweet peppers
  • Chopped seven hot finger peppers (optional)
  • Heated up a medium pot with a tablespoon of olive oil
  • Let the garlic sizzled for a minute, add all of the above, and a little salt and pepper  into the pot
  • Closed with a lid and cooked until the eggplants turned soft and translucent

Click here to see: Basil Pesto Pasta with Seared Scallops recipe (I used spaghetti instead of penne for this one)

I’ll post more delicious recipes that came out of our beach house adventure soon 🙂

Have a great weekend, everyone!

(Original recipe by and a special thanks to Leena Hamdi, and to Spas)

Harini Riana6 Comments

Beef Chorizo Mini Burger

Whoa! Is it really the end of August already? What a fleeting summer it has been! It sure has been great one too though, thank goodness! Jeff and I have been hanging out and catching up with friends, staying outside, hiking, cycling, camping, swimming, and of course…grilling! I think I may have gone grill crazy this summer. I have done: lobster tail, shrimp, steak, lamb chops, chicken satay, burgers, eggplant, peppers, asparagus, and the list can go on. Yet, I still can’t get enough of grilling :).

Speaking of grilling, here’s another recipe I’d like to share: Beef Chorizo Mini Burger (I’ve also done the Beef Chorizo Sloppy Joe). Yes, I LOVE chorizo‘s seasonings, which definitely adds a little zing to the meat. It’s got smokiness, fantastic aroma, and spiciness. Yumm! Normally, chorizo comes in a form of a sausage. But since I wanted to make a beef burger with chorizo seasonings, I tweaked this recipe I found online and made it fit my plan.

I followed the original recipe (click here: Mexican Chorizo Sausage Recipe) with minor adjustments such as:

  • I substituted pork with ground beef. I think ground turkey would be great too.
  • I did not have ground cloves at the time so I went without.

As directed, I:

  • Mixed the ground beef with smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic, salt, ground pepper, oregano, coriander, cumin, distilled white vinegar, and water.
  • Sealed it in a ziplock bag and refrigerated it for a few hours
  • Made it into mini burger patties, grilled, and served them with sweet dinner roll

Note: If you prefer to have the chorizo burger to be on the milder side, do three tablespoon of paprika and one tablespoon of chili powder (instead of two for each).

Thanks for reading and I hope you’re having a great day wherever you are!

Harini Riana2 Comments

Eggplant with Chili Peppers, A Great Condiment

Aha! Another eggplant inspiration. After I told my mom about the grilled eggplant I recently made, she gave me another dish idea to try: eggplant and chili peppers or sambal terong. Sambal is a blend of chopped fresh chili peppers and it is used as a condiment. (Think salsa, only more intense.) Like my mom, I usually add garlic, shallots, and a half slice of small tomato in it too. Sambal alone has so many varieties in Indonesia. This dish is just one variant of it. Terong is eggplant in Bahasa Indonesia. So sambal terong is basically eggplant mashed in a mixture of chili peppers.

At my parents’, a type of sambal is served daily, typically on this traditional stone mortar, to accompany the main dishes. Man, now that I think about it, that’s a lot of chili peppers! And that’s only one household. Hmm…I wonder how much the total consumption of chili peppers would be in a country of 240 something million people. But I digress 😀

Anyway, here’s how I did my version of eggplant with chili peppers. I served it as a side to my fried red snapper fillets.

(Warning: This eggplant dish could be very spicy for those who are not used to chili peppers. Please see the milder version.)

In a food processor, chop:

  • 7-9 Thai peppers (For a milder version, use 2-3 Thai peppers or 2-3 Hot Finger peppers. I notice that, with chili peppers, the smaller the peppers the more intense. So if Thai peppers are not for you, choose bigger but skinny chili peppers. In my humble opinion, Hot Finger peppers have similar aroma and taste as Thai peppers but way milder.)
  • 1 small tomato (For a milder version, use 1 small tomatoes)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 shallots
  • (Optional: 1/2 teaspoon of shrimp paste—find it at Asian grocery store)
  • Salt

Steps:

  • Cut up the 1 long eggplant (or the big one we normally see in many grocery stores) into ½ inch thick slices. Drizzle with a tablespoon of vegetable/canola oil.
  • Heat up a nonstick pan/grill griddle over medium heat and add a table spoon of vegetable/canola oil.
  • Reduce the heat and place the cut up eggplants on the nonstick cookware. Let them cook and brown for 5 minutes on each side. (The eggplant should be soft when they are done.)
  • In a medium bowl, combine eggplant with the chopped chili pepper mixture. Using a spoon, gently mash the eggplant, just a little bit, to blend it with the chili.

Serve with fried/crispy baked fish (red snapper, grouper, tilapia would work well here)/ roast chicken and rice.

Harini Riana2 Comments

For Eggplant Lovers

Many people I’ve talked to about food seemed to have strong opinions about eggplants. Most of them either love it or hate it. It’s quite interesting how a fruit/vegetable could arouse such strong feelings.

I happen to like eggplant very much. One of my favorite recipes is Spicy Eggplant. I love the soft and meaty texture of eggplant once it is cooked. The mild flavor makes it ideal to be a blank canvas in cooking too. So combining it with spices, chilies and either shrimp, beef, tempeh, or even tofu, could easily transform this purple beauty to be a fantastic meal. I must admit, though, that in the past I have tasted badly cooked eggplant, but I forgave, moved on, and said, “Maybe it wasn’t the eggplant, but the way it was cooked.” I’ve learned that with certain vegetables, many times, they could be even more appetizing and desirable when they get cooked and seasoned the right way.

Anyway, the other day I happened to be talking to a friend who is a vegetarian. She mentioned that she loved grilled veggies. For some reason I immediately thought about grilled eggplants (and mushrooms). By chance, minutes after the conversation, I saw  12 Recipes for Grilled Eggplant from the NYTimes. Check out the different countries’ styles!

I tried the Chinese Style with a little tweak of my own:

In a bowl, I mixed a tablespoon of sesame oil, one tablespoons of soy sauce, one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (I didn’t have the rice vinegar that the recipe called for), four tablespoons of oyster sauce (the recipe called for Hoisin sauce that I didn’t have), a dash of cayenne pepper powder, a dash of ginger powder, and two chopped garlic. Then I cut up one long eggplant (I am sure the big eggplant we normally see in many grocery stores work well too for this recipe) and marinated them in the sauce for 5-10 minutes.

Then I placed an aluminum foil that I have greased lightly with olive oil on the grill, fired the grill up, and cook the eggplants for 5 minutes on each side. (I could also grill them on the stove top using a nonstick cookware coated with a tiny bit of oil.) The result? Mmm…super tasty and meaty eggplant dish! It’s got a lot of wonderful flavors going on: savory, spicy, and a bit of smokiness too. Jeff and I liked it very much. I served them along with fried tofu and rice. Another yummy meatless menu!

Here are the pictures. They came out blurry, sorry! I think I was too excited to try this recipe.

Harini Riana1 Comment

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.

Harini RianaLeave a comment

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