Soto Ayam

Musim dingin begini, enaknya makan yang berkuah dan hangat eeuuuy! Jadi kepikiran membuat soto ayam. Resepnya memerlukan kemiri atau noci di candela, dan karena tidak berhasil menemukannya, jadinya aku ganti dengan santan kelapa kalengan.

Ini resepnya bagi yang ingin mencoba :

Tumis Buncis Daging Giling

Masakan ini tergolong sederhana dan mudah cara membuatnya. Meskipun sederhana, ternyata hidangan yang satu ini dijual dan digemari di restoran-restoran di Indonesia. Mungkin karena daging giling menjadikan hidangan sederhana ini lezat dan mewah rasanya.

Bahan-bahan/bumbu-bumbu:
300 gram buncis (fagiolo), dipotong 2 cm atau jika kecil-kecil biarkan utuh
100 gram daging giling
5 butir bawang merah, dicincang halus
3 siung bawang putih, dicincang halus
1 buah cabai merah keriting, dicincang halus
1/2 sendok teh garam
1/2 sendok teh gula pasir
1 sendok teh minyak wijen
2 sendok makan minyak untuk menumis

Teri Kacang Pedas

Beberapa waktu lalu saya sempat mencicipi kacang teri buatan teman. Enak dan cukup mengobati rasa kangen saya akan meriahnya rasa makanan Indonesia. Meskipun saya bukan penggemar kacang dan bukan penghobi ngemil, ternyata bangga juga jika dapat membuat cemilan ini di dapur sendiri.

Bahan:

minyak goreng secukupnya
200 g ikan teri (bisa dibeli di toko Asia)
100 g kacang tanah
1 sdt gula pasir
1 sdt cuka masak
 
Segenggam daun jeruk (karena tidak ada yang segar, bisa beli daun jeruk kering yang tersedia di toko Asia).
Rendam daun jeruk kering ini dengan air bersih selama 5-10 menit, buang airnya dan tiriskan.

Sardine Soup ala Thai

Tomato soup is a traditional favorite, but transform it into a Thai fish soup and it tastes like nothing you’ve ever tasted before. In a good way, of course! Get a simply sensational soup by combining oriental style ingredients and a dash of Eastern culinary know-how with little flavor-packed sardines.

Ingredients

• ½ litre chicken stock (make this from chicken bouillon and water)
• 3 large shallots, minced
• 3 lime leaves (dried lime leaves are available in packages at Asian store)
• ½ teaspoon chilli flakes or peperoncino powder
• 2 stalks of lemongrass, crushed (available in Asian store)
• 2 limes, juice only
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (available in Asian store)
• 1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 cans sardines in tomato sauce (cut the sardines into bite size pieces)
• Handful of mint leaves, shredded 
• Peperoncino powder or freshly cut red chillies (picante) - optional 

Onion Mustard Soup

Creamy soup is a typical Dutch dish in winter. One of the delicious soup I tasted this winter was onion mustard soup. It's tasty, creamy and quite filling for my little Asian tummy. Here is the recipe for you to try :

 
Ingredients :
3 small (or 1 big) onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 oz butter (25gr)
3 tbsp flour
3 cups water
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 tablespoon coarse mustard
2 tablespoon cream
balsamic vinegar
pepper
salt
1 tablespoon fresh spring onion, thinly sliced for garnish

Optional: white wine vinegar

Pumpkin Soup

This delicious and easy to prepare pumpkin soup recipe is a dieter's dream. Pumpkins are a vegetable that are very low in calories, contain no saturated fats or cholesterol, are a rich source of dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, minerals and vitamins. 

This recipe serves: 12 

Ingredients :

• 2kg pumpkin (use the dark green skin pumpkin, easy to cut)
• 2 large onions sliced or diced
• 4 slices short cut bacon, fat removed, chopped (bacon is optional, you may remove it from the list)
• 2 potatoes peeled and cubed.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (cumino)
• 1 litre beef stock or 4 cubes powdered with 1 litre water

Sardines Greek Salad

Sardines are also known as pilchards. They're really good, inexpensive, sustainable and full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Sardines sometimes get overlooked because of all their little bones, but when you cook them whole, you can strip out all the bones in one piece.  

Look for sardines that are clean-smelling and whole. Try to avoid bruised fish, and definitely avoid any fish with "belly burn," a condition where the belly is broken and the guts are starting to come out. This is a sign of an old fish, suitable only for salting down. Another thing, sardines do not freeze well. The oils in them turn rancid even in a freezer, and the flesh becomes a mushy mess when thawed. My advice: Never freeze fresh sardines.

For this Greek Salad, use sardines with skin and bones (which are edible) as they have more than four times the amount of calcium as skinless, boneless sardines.  

Ingredients :

Salad :

3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 medium tomatoes, cut into large chunks
1 large cucumber, cut into large chunks
125ml can chickpeas, rinsed
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tablespoons sliced olives
 

Pairing Pasta with Perfect Sauce

You may not think about it every time you open a box of pasta, but the shape you choose plays an important role in the outcome of the dish. The right shape can make a good sauce great; the wrong shape can dampen the appeal of even the best sauce.

Long or short, smooth or ridged, thick or thin, with or without curves and crevices, different shapes of pasta capture and absorb sauce differently. Matched correctly—rigatoni with a hearty sausage sauce—and you have a hit, a pleasing interplay between the texture of the pasta and the components of the sauce. In this case, the pieces of sausage are captured in the hollow of the pasta. Matched less well—the same meat sauce paired with capellini (angel hair pasta)—and you get the vague sense that something is wrong. I say vague, because this kind of mistake is not always apparent; the food may look good and smell good, but it just doesn't come together well. In the case of the capellini, the delicate noodles can't support the meat sauce, which gets left behind in the bowl as the pasta gets eaten.