Sunday, May 6, 2012

Asparagus and Mushroom Rigatoni Recipe


Jive Kitchen is back with a simple and healthy pasta from Runner's World. We cooked this pasta, replacing several stuff to clear our kitchen, most notable one is Rigatoni with Spaghetti.

Realizing that Asparagus and Shitake mushroom is the key ingredients, we tried to keep both in the dishes. Lucky for us that Sogo Food Hall sell both stuff with a good quality.

Another ingredients that we replace is Parsley with Italian Herbs, and Parmigiano Reggiano with Parmesan. While Sogo sell a good quality of Parsley, we don't want to buy bunch of it and ended up with using 1-2 stalk for decoration. Besides, we love the taste of Italian herb in the final result.

Quoting the recipe author about this dishes: "You get all the carbs without the cream or butter." Get the full recipe and instruction from Runner's World

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Bakerzin Jakarta - It is More Than Dessert

Our first impression of Bakerzin is about dessert. Delicious cakes, being on sale at night, what would be better than that? We often stop by after dinner just for the cakes. But today, we think it is a good idea to dine in.

I found my favorite Caesar salad in Bakerzin. It is served with generous romaine lettuce and creamy Worcestershire sauce. Instead of crouton, Bakerzin served halved french baguette, grilled with olive oil. My wife argue that the proper Caesar salad shall be served with anchovy. But for me this one taste just fine.

My wife ordered Linguini Balsamico Bratwurst. The Linguini is cooked just nice, al dente. Somehow the Balsamico sauce is a bit sweet. It is fine with me, but not for my wife. Bakerzin add small cut chilli, which is guaranteed to make you hot.

For share, we ordered sausage pot. It is 2 pieces of Bratwurst and grilled baby potato, served on a hot plate with mustard. It is basically something that we prepared at home if we are not too lazy.

All of the food leave no room in our stomach for dessert, so wrap the cakes for take away. Can't wait to enjoy Bakerzin's dessert once we get home

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Cooking: Morrocoan Chicpeas Salad


I got bored with Thousand Island salad dressing, and when chatting with a friend about salad, he reccomend this salad. Turns out that this salad is very much worth the effort. For less than 1 hour, you get a spicy and refreshing salad.
The original recipe can be found in the link section below. Note that I can’t find the red onion, and I ommit the Foccacea. You can also find the picture of my salad in the link section below. For now, I would like to write about the exotic stuff, which contributes to the taste of the salad.
Cumin is popular in Mexican, North African, and Indian cuisine. The spice was formed from Cumin seed, which have a distinctive bitter flavor and strong, warm aroma due to their abundant essential oil content. Their smell can also be detected in the eater’s sweat even after consuming only small amounts. In Jakarta, you can find it in Diamond or Sogo Supermarket. Look at spice section. (Source: Wikipedia)
Feta Cheese is a classic curd cheese in brine whose tradition dates back to Greece thousands of years ago. It is made exclusively from goat’s and sheep’s milk. It give a tangy, salty flavor that can range from mild to sharp. It is one of the ingredients of Greek salad. In Jakarta, you can find it in Sogo Supermarket. Look at diary section. (Source: Wikipedia)
Lemon fruit, cultivated primarily for their juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, primarily in cooking or mixing. Lemon juice is about 5% citric acid, which gives lemons a sour taste. The fruit is available throughout many supermarket in Jakarta. (Source: Wikipedia)
Chilli gave the hot taste to the food. If you like the very hot one, put the chillies witht he seed, like what I did. For the purpose of food presentation, make sure you bought the big chillies in supermarket, not the small one sold in local market.
Garlic has a strong and characteristic odor and an acrid taste, and yields an offensively smelling oil, essence of garlic. (Source: Wikipedia)
Olive Oil is an oil extracted from the fruit of the European olive tree. It is regarded as a healthy dietary oil because of its high content of monounsaturated fat. (Source: Wikipedia)

Ingredients:
6 tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced
4 tsp cumin, lightly crushed
2 red chillies, seeded, thinly sliced
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed several times
3 tomatoes, halved, seeded and thinly sliced
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 foccacia (my favourite from Vineth Bakery), substitute with Turkish Bread or Indian Naan
½ pack Feta cheese
1 Cucumber, cut into thin batons (my Lurch Mandolin do it in no time)
½ Red Onion (NOTshallots aka brambang aka bawang merah), thinly sliced
1 cup shredded red cabbage


Directions:
- Put 5 tbs Olive oil in the pan, add garlic, chillies and cumin, temper (warm over medium heat for 10 minutes-don’t burn da thing , especially the garlic. Tempering is an Indian cooking method to release aroma from spices without cooking it.
- Add the chickpeas, warm through (5 mins)
- Add tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, set aside
- Brushed foccacia with remaining oil, grill or pan fried until crisp and golden, tear or cut with bread knife
- Toss remaining vegetable with chickpea mixture, topped with crumbled feta served with foccacia, enjoy with friend, in a porch with a glass of iced tea hmmm


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Tampoyak: Face Your Fear at Sari Sanjaya

For some people, the smell of Durian is enough to scare them away. But in Palembang's Dishes, Durian is not enough. It is being fermented, then served with spices as condiment. Are you feeling sick, or does it trigger your curiosity? If the later, go to Sari Sanjaya Palembang Restaurant.

Tempoyak, made from fermented Durian

Chances are, if you can stand Durian, you will get used to the pungent taste of Tempoyak.But for those who choose not to try it, there are other delicious Palembang Dishes. The fish is sure not to be missed. Just a simple grilled Patin (Kind of Catfish), served with sweet soy sauce would satiate your taste. Or Egg Martabak, served with Potato Curry. Unlike the Martabak sold in Jakarta, Palembang's Martabak is simply plain egg and flour wrap to be eaten with Potato Curry.

Egg Martabak with Potato Curry
After the the main course, don't forget to check the display of snacks right at the entrance of Sari Sanjaya. There are various local sweet cakes and snack just to finish of the whole dining experience

Sari Sanjaya Restaurant
Kompleks Flavor Bliss Alam Sutera, Serpong
For more photo of the food, please visit here

Monday, January 23, 2012

Weekly Meals 16 - 22 January 2012

Monday 16 January 2012
Breakfast: Lees Whole Wheat Bread with Skippy
Lunch: Buffet Lunch at Hanamasa Japanese Shabu and Yakiniku
Dinner: Nasi Bakar at RSPI

Nasi Bakar at RSPI


Tuesday 17 January 2012

Breakfast: Lees Whole Wheat Bread with Skippy
Lunch: Hotel Mulia Buffet: All the sweets, and Fried Rice with Salted Fish and Kacang Panjang with Chicken Saute. Desserts with almond pie and raisins pie
Dinner: Two piece of Cavendish Banana, as seen in the picture

Sweets at Hotel Mulia


Wednesday 18 January 2012
Breakfast: One piece of Cavendish Banana
Lunch: Doner Kebab Regular Chicken

Saturday 21 January 2012
Lunch: Umaku Alam Sutra
Dinner: Take away from Sari Sanjaya
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Monday, January 16, 2012

Weekly Meals 9 - 15 January 2011

Monday 9 January 2011
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bread from Apple Berry with Morin Chocolate Peanut Butter. Great breat, but the Morin is not so great
Lunch: The famous Bakmi GM
Dinner: Mie Tektek RSPI. Once is enough. Fried tofu with vegetables, this one is good

Fried Tofu with Vegetables fillings from RSPI. This one is good!

Tuesday 10 January 2011
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bread from Apple Berry with Morin Chocolate Peanut Butter
Lunch: Fish Fillet from Koi Teppanyaki.
Dinner: Salad of Iceberg, Carrots, Tofu and Chickpeas with Gomatare Dressing


Wednesday 11 January 2011
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bread from Apple Berry with Skippy Peanut Butter 
Lunch: Chicken Sandwich a RS Pondok Indah
Dinner: Pork Knuckle and Sausage Plater, plus 1.5 liter of Erdinger

It Only Takes 1 Hour to Finish


Thursday 12 January 2011

Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bread from Apple Berry with Crumpy
Lunch: Late Lunch at Starbucks Chocolate Scone
Dinner: Nasi Goreng Petai at Mie Factory, and Rujak Juhi from Glodok

Friday 13 January 2011
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Bread from Apple Berry with Skippy Peanut Butter
Lunch: Kanin Atlantica: Nasi Merah + Cassava Leaves + Corn + Fried Tofu
Dinner: Tahu Goreng, Kuo Tie and Grilled Bread

Saturday 14 January 2011
Breakfast: Lees Bread with Skippy Peanut Butter
Lunch: Various food: Fried Tofu & Tempe, Saute Buncis & Carrots and Siomay

Sunday 15 January 2011
Breakfast: Lees Bread with Skippy Peanut Butter
Dinner: Q Smokehouse's Beef Brisket, Fried Mushroom and Cesar Salad



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Monday, January 9, 2012

Weekly Meal 2 - 8 January 2012

Monday - 2 January 2012
Not really going in the office, but instead went some detour to visit dear customer
Breakfast: Finishing few days old of bread from the fridge, with peanut butter
Lunch: Kupat Tahu at Pasar Modern BSD. Not really special
Dinner: Vegetable salad with pineapple sauce. Add a lot of peanut to make it nicer
Peanut butter and grasshopper sandwich with a ...
Image via Wikipedia
Tuesday - 3 January 2012
Breakfast: Bread from Holland Bakery Cheese Loaf and Raisin Loaf
Lunch: Vegetarian lunch at Atlantica building, cassava leaves, buncis, tofu and tempe
Dinner: Sayur Lodeh, Empal (kind of minced meat) and some salad

Wednesday - 4 January 2012

Today I'm working from home, so it will be mostly food that we cook
Breakfast: Still finishing those raisin and cheese bread from Holland Bakery
Lunch: A delicious and refreshing chicken soup with sausages, and buncis (a kind of green beans)
Dinner: Still try to finish the soup, with martabak bought close to home


Thursday - 5 January 2012
Breakfast: Just another regular bread with peanut butter, brought from Lees at Sogo Food Hall. It is a damn big bread
Lunch: Went to canteen at Pondok Indah Mall 2 for a serving of Nasi Bakar. Great stuff for only Rp. 10.000
Dinner: Take Away from Glodok: Kuotie (Some kind of wonton), and take away from Kenanga: Tahu Baso, Pork Satay and Shu May

Pork Satay & Shu May from Kenanga

Friday - 6 January 2012

Breakfast: Lees Toast with Crumpy, nothing fancy
Lunch: Fish Ball and Tahu Baso Kenanga
Dinner: Tofu with Bean Sprouts, and Green Squash (Local Name: Oyong) with Egg


Tofu with Bean Sprout (left) and Oyong with Egg (Right)

Saturday - 7 January 2012

Breakfast: Again Lees Toast with Crumpy. It is Weekend, time for lazy breakfast
Lunch: Take Away Bakmi Vila Cinere
Dinner: Cassava leaves with coconut milk soup with fried tofu

Sunday - 8 January 2012
Breakfast: Fried Sukun
Lunch: Chicken Soup with Carrots
Dinner: Gado-gado Padang, kind of vegetables salad
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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Cassava Leaves and Coconut Milk White Soup Recipe

The dishes came from the origin of my mom, Padang in West Sumatra. So it is not surprising that she often cook it during my childhood.

There are some variety of this food. In most of Padang Restaurant, or maybe in some waroong on the street, the most common one is with yellowish soup from addition of Turmeric (Kunyit). But the one made by mom was simply without Turmeric.

Here is the ingredients:
  • Cassava Leaves. Try to find the young small one that is softer when cooked
  • Coconut Milk. You need a thin one, so if you have a first press, mix it with some water.
  • Shallots, thinly sliced
  • Sugar to taste
After washing the leaves, put in boiling water for 2-3 minutes to dilute some of the bitter taste. Strain and replace the water with the coconut milk, then bring to boil with the leaves in . Add some shallots and sugar to taste.

The 2nd boiling time will mostly depends on how soft the Cassava leaves are. If the coconut milk gets to thick, then add more water

The dishes can be served hot or cold. I can't wait to taste mine, freshly made for the sake of memory.


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Thursday, January 5, 2012

New in 2012: Daily Meals

Happy New Year. Wish that your new year party was great, and wish you a great 12 months ahead

Welcoming 2012, Jive Kitchen will create a new section, called the Daily Meals. You can find the special section to the right of our homepage

So, what is it all about? It is to document the food that we eat daily, might it be from our kitchen, or someone else kitchen (translation: eat out or take away). The purpose is that, this section will be our food log, from which we can refer to when we are really out of idea of what to cook, or where to eat.

So that it won't be cluttering our blog, we will publish the post every Monday morning, which will list our meals from the previous Monday until the Sunday before. We will try to include at least the name of the food, where to get it if we bought it, link to recipe if we have one, and some picture.

Of course, we would like to hear from you about our 1 week meals, so feel free to comment, or suggest some idea. Who knows, your suggestion will make it to our kitchen and get posted :D

See you all in 2012