Asia Sticky Chicken Wings

Besides zucchini fritters that I made today, I also made chicken wings. Here is the recipe :

Asia Sticky Chicken Wings

Ingredients :

• 600 gr chicken wings halves
• 1 shallot thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 tsp Hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp Asia barbecue sauce 
• 100 ml warm water
• 1/2 tsp 5 spices 
• 1 tbsp of cooking oil
• a pinch of pepper
• 1 green chilli
• 1 red chilli sliced for decoration
• a pinch of sesame seeds for deco

Directions :

1. Mix Hoisin sauce, asia barbecue sauce, 5 spices, pepper and warm water in a bowl. Stir it and let it dissolve evenly. 
2. In a pan on a medium heat, put cooking oil and stir fry shallot, garlic until it smell good. Add in chicken wings, stir fry for few minutes and add in the sauce mixture.
3. Let it cook in medium heat for 5-10 minutes, add in green chilli, and turn down the heat to minimum.
4. Let it cook until no more liquid, stir the chicken wings once in a while during low heat cooking.
5. Put the chicken on plate and decorate it with sesame seeds and red chilli.

Zucchini Fritters

My son doesn't like zucchini at all, nevertheless I bought zucchini in my last shopping. If I cook it like I usually do, he will eat like he is eating medicine….So, I try something new today. Turned out my son like it, even though it was a bit spicy :)

Zucchini Fritters (for 3 personne as side dish)

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini cut thinly like matches (I use carrot grater for salad)
• 1/2 onion cut thinly
• 1/2 red chili cut thinly
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp fall purpose flour
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 block chicken stock
• 1/3 tsp salt
• a pinch of pepper
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Oil for frying (about 1 cm deep)

Directions :

1. Mix egg, flour, rice flour, corn flour, baking powder, chicken stock, salt, pepper and cooking oil in a bowl, until it become smooth thick paste.
2. Heat up cooking oil on medium heat.
3. Add in zucchini, onion, chill into the mixture.
4. Take 1 table spoon for 1 fritters and fried it until golden brown.

Sewing sewing sewing

It is funny that my mom was a seamstress and my uncle is a tailor until now, I never even want to learn sewing while I was near them. Now I'm far far away and at my age that nearly half century, I started to learn sewing.

It began last summer when I wanted to have a batik dress, and thought how comfortable it will be in cotton fabric.....and a friend told me that I could join a sewing class which actually meant as additional to my french class to improve my french. So...there I went. I order some batik fabric which didn't reach me after 1.5 month. So I bought fabric here in Geneva. It is thick cotton in lilac colour. I choose the pattern which is available at course and simple (at least has 2 dots mark for difficulty). I adjusted the length of the dress longer, thinking so I could wear it during autumn and winter....and yes I did wear it.

By mistake, I bought too much of fabric, left about 1 meter. My teacher suggest to make a bolero (small jacket) to go with the dress. From available pattern that they have, we have chosen a jacket which the original design is using light fabric. At first we thought, can go without the ruffle, then I changed my mind, I use the ruffle and also lining. For the lining I chose synthetic fabric with similar colour. I have also made the sleeve full length instead of 3/4 sleeve. At the end, I'm short of the fabric again, took me 3 weeks to finally found exactly the same fabric.....thanks to my hubby. And voilà......I love this jacket. It looks gorgeous and I'm glad that I made those changes.

Last finished project is Batik dress that I want at the first place. I found free pattern at Bernina site. By the way, I'm using old Bernina. Even it is older than me hahaha, but it works just fine and some of the feature I haven't really use them, I also bought adaptor with some more feet (I needed foot to sew invisible zipper), tried with ironing method but it was not really neat. This Batik fabric is hand chopped, so it's not like you could buy in meters. I bought it 1 piece with size approx. 1.05 x 2 m. The original pattern actually has wider bottom, I had to slim it down to fit the fabric.... and I need to plan to cut it. Fabric already come in 2 colours, green and yellow. Now this spring and summer........I can wear this.....yippyyyy.

Working on a skirt now....will share once it is finished.....

Pig Stomach Soup (Sup Tito)

My mom used to cook pig stomach soup every Chinese New Year, since I moved to Switzerland, it's  hard to find pig stomach. Last year, I managed to get from local butcher shop. This year, I went to the same shop and they are not able to order it unless I buy 6 kilos of pig stomach....ai ai ai....

So, I decided to cook crispy roasted pork belly instead for chinese new year (sorry I didn't take photo, even I made it twice).

About 3 weeks ago, while we were passing a butcher shop near Manor (local deparment store), guess what.....just in front of the window, they put stacks of pork belly and...........pig stomachs. I was so happy to see that (hahaha like found 100 fr bill on the road). So, last friday I bought 2 pcs of stomachs which is about 1 kg.

Here is Switzerland, the pork stomach is already cleaned and cooked. Young generation might not know how to clean fresh pig stomach, guess my brother or sister in law also don't know. This is the way that my mom taught me :

Cleaning :

To clean a pig stomach, you will need 1 tbsp of salt and 3-4 tbsp of tapioca flour. Cut open the pig stomach and rub both salt and tapioca on it evenly on all surface. Use knife to clean by scraping the slimy inside part of stomach and yellowish part near intestine. Pour fresh water to clean the salt and tapioca. In a pot, put in some water enough to cover the pig stomach ; let it boil, add 1 tbsp of white peppercorn (I normally use bandage / small cloth to wrap the pepper)

wrap corn pepper with bandage so it is easy to remove later

corn pepper in pot

, add 1 tsp of salt and add in the stomach. Boil it for 15 minutes. Drain the water, now if there is still yellowish part near intestine, it will be much easier to clean, using knife to scrap off. Clean it again with water.

Cooking :
Cut the stomach into approx. 1.5 cm x 5 cm. Add new fresh water in the pot, put back the pepper and cut stomach.

cleaned and cooked stomach

cut to approx. 1.5 x 5 cm size

If you cook on stove, after boil, let it cook for at least 2.5 - 3 hour on the lowest heat. If use pressure cooker, cook it for 25 minutes. And if you use slow cooker, cook for 3 hours. After the stomach is cooked, drain the water and remove the corn pepper. Tips : good to cook more stomach, you can freeze it and and cook it different way in other occasion.

cooked stomach with pressure cooker for 25 minutes

Now the soup, in Indonesia we have "ayam kampung" or free range chicken/organic chicken http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayam_kampung. This kind of chicken is very good to make soup especially the smell if you boil it with ginger. hmmmmm. This chicken is not good direct bake or fry, it is a bit hard, unlike meat chicken. If you make soup from meat chicken, it taste different and it has different smell that I don't like.

So if you can find ayam kampung, you cut it into pieces and boil it with lowest heat for 2-3 hours. Why you have to use lowest heat, it's because if you use high heat, the soup will turn out like milk. So, if you want a clear soup, you will have to use lowest heat and let it cook long. Don't forget to add 3 slice of ginger. Add in salt, pepper and a little sugar to taste. Clean the soup surface using spoon occasionally while boiling the chicken. If you have slow cooker, it's the best, you'll have very clear soup.

If you don't have ayam kampung, then just use chicken stock, boil with 3 slice of ginger, add a little salt, pepper and very little of sugar. Now pour in the stomach and garnish with coriander leafs or chives (since I don't have coriander leafs available at home). Serve with mix of soy sauce, cut chili and sesame oil.

To eat it, use chopstick to get a piece of stomach, deep it in the sauce and wammmmm....

Spring is coming.... :)

Last saturday and sunday, it was good weather here in Geneva. We had a walk a round the lake....and had some sun....feel warm.

I used to hate sun while I was in Jakarta, it was really hot (most of time, the temperature is between 29 - 31 C) all year long. If we were outside building or outdoor, we always look for trees and hide in its shadow...

After 2 years living here, now I am starting to appreciate sun :)

Dim Sum : Lo Bak Gou (Turnip Cake) & Har Gao

Hmmm, It's been a while since my last post. Made few photos of my cooking but somehow stayed in the card for sometime.

I tried make Lo Bak Gou  (Dim Sum Turnip cake) since I missed it for 2 years now. I used to be able to just called and buy from street vendor who pass by my home. Now have to make hahaha :P no choice.

I followed the recipes of a Hong Kong lady who live in Germany and here is the link to her video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9U5YgmfQQA

She speak cantonese which I also don't understand, but she put english subtitle. One suggestion that I think is not clear to me was when we stir-fry the turnip, has to be until no liquid before adding the batter. Mine is a little too soft.

Another dim sum dish that I tried was Har Gao (dim sum shrimp dumpling), same source and here is the link :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mBD2i7cZdM&feature=g-list&list=PLkZ5qB8tW1_aJFwwLdB4TVDsnetZtMKvZ

My advise for this recipe, have to watch out for chicken stock, if you use block chicken stock, you might only need 1/3 what stated in the recipes.

Soto Mie

At last, today I managed to make Soto Mie after  almost 1.5 years didn't have it. This noodle soup, usually one can find at the roadside seller in Jakarta. Found the recipes online in (Indonesian language though), and the link is : http://www.eresep.com/4116/4/resep-masakan-Soto-Mie/

Ingredients ( for 6 people) :
300 gram beef
250 gram tongue ( I replaced with beef)
5 bay leafs
2 lemon grass
6 lime leafs
4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 block of beef stock
2 spring onion / green onion, cut 1 cm
3.000 ml water
2 tablespoon of cooking oil for stir-fry

Put in to processor (fine spices) :
12 small red onion / 4 shallots
6 garlic
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 cm fresh ginger
3 cm fresh turmeric
3 pcs big chili (take out the heart)

Serve together with :
1 pcs potato steamed / boiled with skin (200 gram), then fried until golden, then cut into slices
2 pcs tomato sliced
2 pcs celery, cut to 1 cm
120 cabbage finely sliced
300 gram chinese noodle (boiled as per direction on package)
180 gram vermicelli (boiled as per direction on package)
12 pcs vermicelli roll (**) slice each to 4 pcs
4 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
2 pcs lime cut into wedges
fried / grilled onion (I bought ready made grilled onion)


Directions of making the soup:
1. Cook beef until tender (I use pressure cooker about 20 minutes). Take out the beef, tongue and cut into pieces. Put them back into the soup
2. Heat the cooking oil in a pan, stir-fry fine spices, bay leafs, lemon grass, lime leafs until it become golden red, pour all into the soup.
3. Add salt, sugar, beef stock and mix it well. 
4. Just before serving, add in spring onion / green onion.
5. To serve it : put the chinese noodle, vermicelli, cabbage in  bowl. Pour the soup on top it and garnish with potato, tomato, vermicelli roll, celery and fried onion. Serve with Lime wedges and sweet soy sauce.

** To make Vermicelli roll :
100 gram of vermicelli soak in warm water for about 10 minutes.
1 pcs of shallot, thinly sliced
2 table spoon of cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
12 pcs of  spring roll skin (I bought in asian store, ready made).
Heat cooking oil in pan, fry shallot until it become golden brown, add in vermicelli. Stir-fry for 5 minutes and add in salt. Set aside. 
Wrap the vermicelli into spring roll wrapper and fry until golden brown.