Saturday Cooking And The Perks

#nowplaying Sugar Ray - Every Morning ~~

It's absolutely been a long, adventurous ride since I last written on this blog. So many things happened and are going on right now, including my one semester experience in Amsterdam. I am now enrolled as an exchange student in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, continuing my studies in Management. Up until now, so far everything has been really good to me, including this new city I'm now living in. I am currently writing in my compact little flat in Amstelveen -- an area south of Amsterdam. So many dishes cooked, and many more dishes learned -- especially since I have to cook more to save up in this expensive little city. 

I've been crazy about going back to my roots and going through Asian flavor profiles lately, and so far I've been loving how (surprisingly) easy it is to cook Asian. Over the years I've been avoiding learning Asian, mostly because the idea of how hard it is to cook Indonesian food and Asian food has been so long instilled in my mind that I just decided to walk away even before I start. I really need to give my boyfriend a special thank you (although I'm pretty sure he's not aware he's subtly doing this) for giving me a slap in the face..... Well not literally.. on the fact that as an Indonesian, I should be able to cook great cuisines of my roots. 

However today, I felt a little bit of Western cooking. But I decided to punch in a little bit of Asian to this dish. Here it is: Wholewheat pasta, cinnamon cumin infused tomato sauce, and cheesy meatballs. 

Ingredients:

Meatballs
Minced beef, about 250g
Salt pepper
Shredded goat's mozzarella, about 5 tbsp
Few heaps tablespoon of flour

Pasta
Wholewheat pasta, as much as you like
Salt to boil

Sauce
Celery, 2 large sticks, cut in small cubes
Red onion, 1 and a half medium ones, cut into cubes
Carrots, 4 small ones, cut into small chunks
Half of a big red chili
1 garlic, crushed then chopped
Tomatoes, 1 and half, chopped into squares
Tomato paste, 1 tsp
Dried basil, 1 tbsp
1 cinnamon stick
Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
Olive oil
Plain flour, 2 tbsp
Water, about a whole glass
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
For the meatballs, simply mix one tbsp of plain flour with the rest of the ingredients until they are all incorporated. Make meatballs using the palm of your hands. Then coat the balls again with a light layer of plain flour. This will make your meatballs crunchy and stays in shape. Let be.

Meanwhile, boil your pasta... You know the drill.

The sauce will be a little tricky. First, heat in your olive oil in a big saucepan. When the oil is hot, put in your red onions, celery, chili, garlic and carrot. After 3 minutes when these veg are translucent and fragrant, put in your cumin seeds. Then season with salt and pepper. Stir in constantly for 3-4 mintues.

Put in a tbsp of plain flour, this will suck in all the excess olive oil in the pan. Put your cinnamon stick in and stir constantly for about 1-2 minutes.

Put in tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, and the dried basil. Pour in cold water as well. Put in the lid of the pan for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, don't forget your meatballs. Fry them on a low layer of oil until crunchy. Then leave it on kitchen paper to keep them crunchy and not oily.

After 5 minutes, you will notice that the sauce has thickened as well. This is time for you to put in another tablespoon of plain flour. Add salt and pepper to taste as well. Be a bit generous with the salt, as you have put in big flavors to the sauce. Salt helps to bring out the flavors as well.

Leave the pan for another 5-7 minutes until the sauce is thick. When done, blitz the sauce with a hand blender for a while -- just roughly, as I like to keep some of the vegetables whole as well.

When done, serve your pasta with sauce and meatballs on the side. Happy eating!

Butternut Squash, Spinach Apple Salad and Almond Crumble

It came to a surprise when my house received a surprise package of farm goodies from a good friend of my mom's. We received butternut squash, plump aubergines, and sweet potatoes. I was really happy and excited to receive them, I couldn't wait to cook with these local produce (and turns out they're from Subang!).

The butternut squash was the ingredient that I experimented with last. I have cooked the aubergines into a juicy tomatoey ricotta and aubergine involtini, and I simply steamed the sweet potatoes already for my midnight snack -- perfect while I have my Game of Thrones marathon. The rest of the ingredients were more familiar to me, and so I put the squash idle till I finally had the time to research on what to do with it. I never tasted it, let alone cook it. So when we received the squash, I had to research on the ingredients that go with it, and how to cook it right.

Still going with the local produce theme, I decided to pair the squash with local spinach for salad. I still can't get over the fact that the spinach and apples really go well with the lemon balsamic dressing. There's this balance of sweet, acidic and a bit of bitterness from the spinach that just go really well together. I think I've found a new favorite salad combo.

I also love the combination of the squash and the light lemony ricotta. I think the starchy and sweet squash is such a pleasure to eat, and I just love eating it on its own without much addition of any herbs or spices. Plus, the squash family is proven to have great nutritional value, and are low in calories. Think I've found my new favorite carb!

Recipe for two

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves, rinsed

1 red delicious apple, diced into cubes

Yellow onions to your liking, sliced

Quarter of a lemon

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Dried basil

Butternut squash, 

3 cloves of garlic

1 shallot, grated

1 tomato, diced

2 tbsp ricotta

A handful of whole almonds or silvered almonds

Garlic powder

Granulated (powdered) ginger

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Cut about 3 inches of your butternut squash from the larger side. Scrape out the seeds and drizzle your butternut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake your butternut squash at 180C for about 30 minutes until fully cooked.

Mix your spinach, diced apples, and onion and put it aside. While they sit, mix three tablespoons of olive oil, half of the quarter lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar. Also add in your grated shallot and 1 grated garlic. Mix the mixture until all are incorporated, and add in salt pepper to your liking. This will be your salad dressing. Don't dress your salad until the moment you want to serve, or your leaves would wilt. Although, you can always drizzle your salad with a tiny bit of lemon so that your apples won't turn brown. 

In a small bowl, mix in ricotta, lemon zest, juice of the rest of the lemon, and bit of dried basil. Mix well and set aside.

Cut your whole almonds into small crumbles, or if you're using silvered almonds you don't need to do any slicing. In a pan of medium heat, toast the almonds with a teaspoon of garlic powder and half a teaspoon of powdered ginger. Cut the heat and set them aside when they're nice, golden and crisp. 

In the same pan, heat a bit of olive oil and then put in the rest of your sliced garlic. Then, put in your tomaotes and cook them until soft and fragrant. 

Time to assemble! First, mix your salad with your dressing and put them on a plate to serve as the bed for the squash. Then, put in your tomatoes. Cut your squash in half and put each squash for each plate in the middle of the salad bed. Spoon in your ricotta mixture on top of the squash. Then for the final touch, sprinkle your dish with your garlic-y almond crumble goodness!

Eid: The Day of Victory

The Muslim New Year or Eid Mubarak is a day where we as Indonesian muslims commemorate the end of Ramadhan by indulging in a lot of ketupat, lontong sayur, rendang and opor ayam. For some, it's a long awaited day for they receive a lot of bonus cash from their elders -- or bosses (like the angpao in Chinese New Year). However, my mother always tells my brothers and I that the true meaning of Eid Mubarak does not lie in the food or the money; Eid Mubarak signifies the day of victory. 

I never really understood the meaning of it until this year's Ramadhan. To be fair, I think it's also partly because I never took my previous Ramadhans seriously. I've always treated Ramadhans as the time to finally reunite with my old friends and relatives in break-fasting gatherings (acara buka bersama) -- which basically is just dinner out -- thus occupying my schedule to spend time with lots of friends and relatives instead of devoting my time for ibadah. 

Of course, meeting old friends and relatives is never a bad thing! In fact, it's something my religion and culture recommend as part of silaturrahmi. However, only if I perceived my previous Ramadhans differently, I know I'd dedicate my time wisely to spend more time with my family. But most importantly, time would be well spent for ibadah -- the essence of Ramadhan. 

So what really is the 'better' perception of Ramadhan that I missed out all these years? I guess it's pretty fundamental, but most of us forgot that the holy month is the month of forgiveness, and is the only time of the year where the count of good deeds have a multiplier effect. I believe that when you go to the mosque to take your prayers, even your every footstep to the mosque is counted as a good deed. When you wake your brother up to eat sahoor, or when you wake your mom up to practice itikaf -- every single action you make to wake them up is considered as a good deed. Bearing in mind all the generosity God gives in the holy month, won't it be such a waste to spend most of our time for other agenda other than spending it to do our religious duties? 

This year, I made time to reflect.  I'm grateful that I have also committed and devoted my time to perform better religiously in Ramadhan as a result. This Ramadhan, I'm actually glad that I went to less acara buka bersama, spending more time with my family -- and God. I guess after a whole month of fasting, sleep deprivation, and even messed up sleeping hours... I can finally understand and appreciate the day of victory. 

...And above all, thanks mum. For all the religious lessons you shared. 

Selamat Hari Kemenangan, Iedul Fitri 1437 H.

Dan selamat naik berat badan!

-Syadz

Kembali Bernafas

Ada alasan mengapa ia selalu gagal tidur cepat: ia amat menikmati damainya sunyi. Baginya, hidup dimulai saat malam berganti pagi, saat ketiga jarum jam bersetubuh di angka 12. Ada unsur adiktif yang selalu membuatnya rindu akan sendu, walau ia tahu bahayanya bertahan dalam kebiasaan buruknya untuk bergadang tiap malam. "Tapi apa boleh buat?", ujarnya dalam benak. Hanya pada waktu itu di dalam hari yang mampu membuat batinnya tenang, dan yang paling penting -- kembali bernafas. 


25Mar2016;

03:26;

selamat jum'at agung.

Welcoming Back

Dalam rangka menghidupkan kembali bombealaska yang sudah usang dan tidak terurus, hari ini saya ingin memasak dan berbagi sesuatu yang mengingatkan saya ke rumah. Post ini saya dedikasikan untuk roommate saya, Marchelita Dewi, yang senantiasa rela dijadikan korban eksperimen masakan saya tiap malam. 

I have just recently moved to a newer (and better) apartment unit with my roommate. It's a one-bedroom apartment, with a living room and a bath room. Although it's just been three days of life here, I can already feel the sense of attachment to the apartment. May be you'd ask, how could -- it's only three days! The answer is simple: I now have a kitchen in my apartment! 

It's just really heartwarming to finally have a kitchen in my own apartment now, as this means I can keep doing the one activity I cherish the most -- cooking! Since cooking becomes convenient now, and that I have full control of the ingredients I wish to buy -- not like at home where mom has full authority -- I can be more adventurous with my ingredients and food! I can and I will share what I cook (dan supaya tidak lupa haha) to this blog. I am glad that I can finally relive this blog -- with food content :)

Today, I cooked something that reminds me of what I usually cook at home. I told my roommate that I wanted to cook mushroom and spinach pasta, and it just happened that she wanted something similar for dinner. We then headed to the groceries to buy the required ingredients, and continued with the cooking as soon as we arrived home. 

Herby pasta with mushroom, smoked beef, and spinach 

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

half an onion, finely chopped

2 large champagne mushrooms, chopped

2 strips of smoked beef, diced - 1cm cubes

handful of spinach

olive oil

milk - full cream, about a cup

dried oregano

dried basil

mozarella cheese

150g wholewheat spaghetti

Instructions:

1. Get your ingredients ready -- chop everything, measure everything.

2. Boil your spaghetti until al dente.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, put in your garlic and onion. Sauteé until they are translucent and fragrant. Then, put in your smoked beef and cook for 4-5 minutes. At this point, you can add olive oil if the pan gets a bit dry. Add in your mushrooms and cook until they lost their colour.

4. Pour in your milk to the pan, and cook for 3 minutes until they change their colour a bit. Add your herbs, and be generous! It won't hurt! Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Grate your mozarella cheese to taste for flavour and to thicken the sauce. Cook for 3-4 more minutes. 

5. Put in your pasta and spinach to the pan. Mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes until everything incorporates.

6. Serve your pasta. Then enjoy! 

I have come to understand that my definition of being happy is to simply cook for my own and for my loved ones every single day. I am delighted to say that, for (already) three days in a row, I have done just that. 

A Book Review: What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20

Over the years, my go-to book would never be far off from fiction... However, this book really transformed my perspective!

This book offers a fresh, interesting perspective on pathways towards success. You can tell when you're reading this book that the author, besides her outstanding educational background, is a very smart, driven and creative person. Although 75% of the content discusses the experiences of the people she knows, the book serves way beyond that. This book in a way shares experiences on basic entrepreneurial skills in an exciting manner with details people do not really pay attention to before, such as "the essence of failure in success", or "getting out of traditional routines and rules to be fabulous" and many more! To me, this book offers valuable life lessons in a very approachable, relatable manner.

Definitely worth the read!

Recently

Recently my school schedule has loosen a bit due to the A Levels, which led to myself being nocturnal and productive at the same time. By being productive in here means to prepare myself for my upcoming tests. One of my habit during studying is to have music to company me, which helps me to concentrate better. Yesterday I've found some tracks I'm in love with (and companied me to study), and I just can't help not to share it.