Great Friends, Great Pizza, Great Cooks..

After half day of adventure in Gamplong village, in the task of searching wedding favors for Widya, seemed that we still had a lot of energy. We had to channel our energy to keep our neighborhood safe and sound.. :)) So we made pizza.. Kneading the dough is vigorous activity! :p

Me and Widya persuaded Chacha to take part in our mission. Being hungry, what else she could do but to agree? ;)

Here's the recipe for our pizza..

Dough ingredients:
175 gr flour
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of hot water
olive oil or margarine (Just so the dough won't stick.)
1 tsp oregano (I love to add herbs into the dough as well. It enhances the aroma.)

Mix the dry ingredients altogether. Add water while kneading throughly. Add a little oil and proof the dough to rise.

Tomato concasse:
3 tomatoes, chopped or mashed
1 onion
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil or margarine

Chop onion, saute in olive oil/margarine. Add tomatoes and tomato ketchup, cook until thick. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano.

Toppings:
chicken frank, sliced
mushroom, sliced and browned
green paprika, diced
cheese (We use Kraft Quick Melt, since we couldn't get mozzarella.)


Roll the dough into 1-2 cm thickness. Spread concasse on top of the dough. Arrange the toppings and cheese. (Not too thick, otherwise the dough won't cooked fully.) Bake in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes in 200'C.


Buon appetito!

Breaded Chicken a la Kerotia

Beautiful Borscht

If you love Creamy Corn Soup, you might love this..


Two days ago, I went home at 16.30, greeted by my sister who’s constantly complaining of hunger.. :p She was not feeling well, having a cold and flu, plus preparing her presentation for yesterday’s exam. I decided to make something warm and light for dinner, so my sis would not be falling asleep instead of studying. High intake of carbohydrates causes drowsiness. Therefore, eating pasta or nasi goreng before study time may not be a wise decision.

I remembered having some beetroot in the fridge. I love their intense purplish-red color. Do you know that beetroot is rich in betalain pigments? This is unlike other red vegetables, which contain anthocyanin pigments. Some of the betalains in beets are betanin, isobetanin, probetanin, and neobetanin. Betanin is used as food colouring in confectionery , frozen products, tomato soup, powdered beverages, and also meat products, e.g. bacon and sausages. Betanin acts as an antioxidant.

So I made Borscht, a deep red soup of Ukranian origin, made from beetroot as the main ingredient, and very popular in Eastern and Central Europe. I reckon, this may have something to do with the story of Dracula of Transylvania.. heheh.. It seems everyone want to be vampires these day, thanks to Edward Cullen.. :D

This is my own version of Borscht..
(recipe for two)
Ingredients:
1 beetroot
1 onion
1 potato (I add potato to thicken the soup and make it more satisfying)
400 ml chicken or beef stock (You can make this from scratch or simply use stock cube/powder, e.g. Maggi or Royco)
cream/milk
salt and pepper to taste

Dice potato, beetroot and onion. Put the diced ingredients into simmering stock and cook until tender. Strain the vegetables (keeping the liquid on the pot), process them in the blender, then return the vegetable puree into the liquid on the pot. Add cream/milk, and season with salt and pepper

Actually, it can be served once the vegetables become tender, with the veggies cube intact. But I prefer it to be creamy and smooth. The taste is savoury-sweet, with pretty pink colour.. ^^

Serve with garlic bread/toast.

Bon appetit!

And I Shall Blog Again..

Okay.. So how long has it been since my last post?

I watched Julie & Julia a few months ago. I love it!! I found the movie very inspiring, although I didn't immediately logged on to the internet and started blogging again. But I truly had this strong will to write, I swear. It’s just that I feel exhausted after work (and play, of course.. ;p).

The movie is about two life stories -of Julia Child and Julie Powell, intertwined into one by a book: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julia Child wrote the book with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. Julie Powell, inspired by Julia Child, wrote a blog about her own challenge to cook 536 recipes in the book in 365 days. And I, inspired by the movie, will try to write again.. ;)

Julie Powell and I had a lot in common. Julie Powell was a government employee. And I still am. I understand perfectly how cooking could be such a wonderful escape from our daily grind. (Julia Child also worked for the government, but she quitted, followed her husband to France, and infatuated with food and cooking there.) Obviously, Julia Child and Julie Powell put their passion in food. And my passion for food? I spent years studying food science, through all the joy and suffering.. Should you question that? :p Cooking is one sure way of showing my affection.. (no matter how the food tastes) ;)

But unlike Julie Powell who started her blog during her employment, I stopped blogging around the time I started working for the government. Suspending one post and another.. Suddenly it’s been one and a half year since the last posting.. Oh, the years indeed run like rabbits..

So here I am.. Attempting to write again. Wish me luck!