I usually dislike tomato (and raw tomato? eek…don’t try that to me!) but for tomato soup, that’s an exception! Especially when it’s home made!

Ingredients:
- 1 kg Sicilian tomatoes – Cut into quarters
- 3 pcs shallots – chopped
- 1 clove garlic – chopped
- 100ml vegetable stock
- 1 small carrot – chopped
- 1 celery stick – chopped
- Basil leaves
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 tbs olive oil

Direction:

1. Heat olive oil in a pot and saute  shallots and garlic until fragrant
2. Add vegetable stock and carefully add the tomatoes
3. Add 3 basil leaves, carrot and celery on it and cook for 30 minutes, stir them two or three times
4. Don’t forget to put  salt and pepper
5. After 30 mins strain the tomato puree using a fine sieve, press gently with rubber spatula or spoon
6. Serve it while it’s hot. Add cream if you like and basil leaves as garnish

Now is the main menu of  this dinner post . Rendang is Indonesian internationally famous food. This meat based curry is originally  from Minangkabau West Sumatra- Indonesia but here I cook with a simple recipe from my mum. The taste of course not as same as the original but close! I like my rendang dry like on the picture here. On previous photo, the Rendang is not that dry. You can decide what you want.

Ingredients:
- 1 kg beef
- 20 big red chilies
- 250 g shallot
- 10 cloves garlic
- 3 cm long galangal
- 3 cm long ginger
- 1 stick lemongrass, crushed
- 1 turmeric leaf, chopped
- 1 L pure coconut milk
- Salt, pepper
- 1 tea spoon sugar
- 3 lime leaves

Direction:

1. Grind together chilies, shallots, garlic, salt, peppers, sugar, galangal, ginger in food processor in to paste consistency
2. Cut beef as you want, mix with the paste above and heat it in a pot
3. Add coconut milk in it
4. Add lemongrass, lime leaves and turmeric leaf
5. Cook it in medium heat for around 15 minutes until fragrant
6. Reduce the heat and keep cook it for around 1 hour. Keep stir it until the beef tender, dry and darken.

As promised I will put the recipe of the foods in this post separately. We start with the sambal (chili based condiment). It’s called Sambal Padang because this sambal originally from Padang, a city in West Sumatra, Indonesia

Ingredients:
- 5 pcs shallots
- 15 big green chilies
- 3 tbs veg. oil
- 2 tomatoes (green tomatoes would be better), roughly chopped
- 3 tbs fried tiny anchovy (go google! )
- Juice of a half lemon

Direction:

1. Steam green chilies until wilted
2. When chilies are ready, chop garlic, chilies and 2 tbs of anchovy in food processor
3. Heat oil, add mixture of chili, the rest of anchovy, tomatoes, lemon juice and salt
4. Leave it until the tomatoes cooked.

I know! I know it’s a calorie bomber! But…:D

Ingredients:
- 400gr scramble meat
- 2 tbs oil
- ½ tea spoon caraway powder
- salt
- pepper
- 1 big onion, sliced
- 2 tbs mayonnaise
- Instant croissant dough for 6 pieces
- sliced chilies if you like
- 1 clove garlic

Direction:

1. Sauté garlic and chilies with oil until fragrant
2. Add the meat and stir it until the color is changed. Please be careful, don’t wait till the meat dry.
3. Open croissant dough, you don’t need to cut it as direction on the can. Just spread the dough on square pizza pan
4. Spread the meat on the dough
5. Add sliced onion on the top and spread it with mayonnaise (to avoid the garlic is getting dry during oven time)
6. Leave it on oven for 20 minutes in 190°

Looks good?  Yes, it tasted bloody good too! It consists of rice, vegetable, rendang, sambal ijo and krupuk. I will post the recipes later  in separate posts.

Update: Sambal Padang Ijo (on small wood plate-bottom)

Update: Rendang a la Mama (right side, beside krupuk-on big wood plate)

This is my favorite food ever! If it too spicy for you just add more sweet soya sauce!

Ingredients:
- 6 boiled eggs
- 4 big red chilies
- 2 pcs shallots
- 1 cloves garlic
- 1 tomato
- 2cm ginger, crushed
- 1 lemongrass, crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ glass of water
- Sweet soya sauce
- Salt
- Oil for sautéing

Direction:

1. Put together chilies, shallot, garlic, and tomato in food processor, mix it in to paste consistency
2. Heat the oil and sauté the ingredients above in a pan or pot. Add ginger. Lemongrass and bay leaf. Wait till fragrant
3. Add salt and soya sauce. Taste it. Add more salt and soya sauce as you like
4. Add eggs and water if it necessary
5. Cook until the water evaporated and ready to eat

Hello holla! I’m back again! Wow, didn’t realize that my last post was on May! And now is November already. Tell you what, the cold winter is just around the corner! Brrr…and grilled lamb ribs would be good for dinner. Perhaps even for Christmas menu? Lets check!

Ingredients:
- 500gr lamb ribs
- 50ml lime juice
- 1 stick lemongrass, grounded
- 3 lime leaves
- 1 tomato, diced
- 50gr margarine
- 2 tbs oil
- water

Spice paste:
- 5 pcs shallot
- 2 cloves garlic
- 5 big red chilies
- 5 bird chilies
- ½ tea spoon pepper powder
- salt
- sugar

Direction:

1.      Marinade the ribs with lime juice for around 30 mins and then clean it up

2.      heat oil, sauté spice paste, tomato, lemongrass and lime leaves until fragrant

3.      Add the ribs inside

4.      Add water cook it until the water evaporated. Take ribs from the spice out

5.      Grill ribs until dry, repeatedly, use brush to spread margarine and the rest of the spice while grilling

6.      When it’s done, serve it with the rest of the spice and eat it with warm rice.

Still part of menus menu from last Saturday barbecue party. One of my guests is Thai and he said my Thai satay is just 99% perfect. No bad for a non Thai! Unfortunately I just bought the peanut sauce cos I didn’t have time to make it. It’s not bad, just not so original – according my Thai friend. So here we go the recipe for the satay without the sauce.

Ingredients:
- 500gr chicken breast
- Bamboo skewers

Marinade:
- 200ml coconut milk
- 2 tbs curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 2 teaspoon oil

Direction:

1. Slice chicken breast into thin stripe
2. Put it on marinade and leave it for at least one hour
3. Thread the chicken onto the bamboo skewers and grill it. For me without peanut sauce is also awesome

Was in Spain for 9 days and I looove the food there! This salad is one of them! Serve this simple salad for bbq party last saturday and I got many compliments from my guests

Ingredients:
- 6 boiled potatoes
- 10 sliced green olives
- 1 can neutral tuna
- Pickled cucumber, sliced
- 1 boiled carrot, julienne
- Raw onion, sliced (optional)
- Juice from half orange
- 2 boiled egg, cubed
- Mayonnaise
- Salt and peppers

Direction:

Just mix all of them together. You can add any ingredient whatever you like. Keep it on fridge before serving it.