Chicken Rice Soup Ala Manila

Have you ever read or watched twilight saga? If you ever watched it, you must be familiar with Forks, the place where Bella lives with her dad Charlie. Its always raining there and i love rainy season. Because its so peacefull and cool :D

Well in the season like that, the perfect dish that we can eat is like something with the soup. Chicken soup, cream soup or whatsoever. Here i will share about chicken rice soup ala Manila. My bro was the one who cook it and he got the recipe from TLC cooking program: The World Cafe Asia with Bobby Chinn.

Here I give you the recipe!

- white rice 250 g
- half of chicken (500 g)
- 1 spoonfull of margarine
- 3 garlics
- 1 ginger (finger size)
- 2 teaspoons of fish sauce
- salt and peppers.
- water 1 litre
- 3 spring onions.

How to make?

- Crush the garlics and ginger. Heat the margarine on the pan and saute the crushed garlic and ginger.
- Put the chicken (slice it as you want it) and add the rice. Stir evenly and pour the water.
- Add some salt and papper.
- Cook over medium heat.
- If you want more soup, you can add more water.
- Cook about 30 minutes.
- DONE!

Its a yummy dish with a lil taste of ginger. I recommend you to cook it when you get cold coz it will make u warm. Trust me its delicious :D

We serve the dish with spring onion and a bit of chili powder made by mom. Well the chili powder maybe a bit different with the one that you can find in store because my mom's made is so HOT!! It made from the chilies that has been dried under the sun then we oven it. FYI, we sell this homemade product. The brand is same as my name, "abon cabe NADIA" (NADIA Chili Powder) :D haha.

Okay, a bit of promotion in my own page. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) 

It's realy good dish i like it so much! You should try it coz its easy and Yoom Meeh! Happy Cooking! :D

Choco Pancakes :D

Every Saturday, me and my beloved cozin have a habit to dine out. Well not a lux fine dining but we only have a dinner in night market near our house. A bowl of Mie Ayam (Chicken Noodles) and a glass of cheap soda and cheap ice cream as the dessert always be our favorite meal! Haha. Well this saturday, before we went out for dinner, me and my cozin, Amanda, got an idea to make a pancake. She got the recipe from the magz but please note it that DO NOT TRUST MAGAZINE TOO MUCH! especially a teenage magazine. They put a good looking food pictures with a so-so recipe. Yeah i know i am not en expert too, but please help us to make a good dish, with a real ingredients not the instant one! Huff, i will trust my mom and cook book forever rather than magz. 

So, here is the simple recipe, I got it from mom's cookbook, so much better than magazine (Kuyper, Ben J, 50 Pancake Recipes, 1966 London: Lutterworth Press)

- 300 g flour

- 15 g yeast (u may use baking powder but for me yeast is better)

- 150 ml warm milk

- 3 eggs

- 100 g sugar

- pinch of salt

- 45 g butter

- Cocoa Powder

- extra butter for frying.

- additional stuffs for garnish like icing sugar, strawberry jam, choco chips, maple syrup etc.

How to make?

- Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk.

- Sift the flour into a big bowl and make a hole in the center. Then put the milk mixture in the hollow.

- Knead together until u have a smooth, elastic dough. Cover it with a cloth and put in a warm place to rise.

- Whisk the eggs and sugar together. Then add the salt, melted butter and kokoa powder ( i add kokoa coz i wanna make a choco pancake). Mix the dough with this and knead thoroughly.

-  Roll out on a floured board, and cut out round cakes with the rim of a drinking glass. After you cut it then leave it to rise again for a short time.
- Fry the dough in a pan with a plenty of butter or margarine.
- Finishing touch: sprinkle it with icing sugar or add choco sauce or strawberry jam or fruit sauce or vanilla ice cream or choco chips etc :D

Yoom meeh! Its easy right! As easy as cooking instant noodle haha :P Well, maybe in USA or other countries, they eat pancake for breakfast. But here, in my beloved country pancake can be enjoy anytime we want. Like last saturday, me and my cozin ate it in the afternoon with a cup of hot black tea :D Oh yeah, here's the pic that we took, but please remember the pancake on the pic used the recipe from magazine, so it will a bit different with the one that i make from my book, but still its delicioso!

We used Nestle chocochips so its easy to melt with sauce made by Collata white chocolate. Perfect snack in the afternoon :D hhaha, oh yea, we made another shape inspired by Amanda's new cute pig spatula from Ace Hardware!

Look like a pig isn't it? hehe. Maybe i will make another shape later. Well thanks for reading and have a great Sunday!

Another Abstract Food : Orange Pulpy Duck!

Have you ever feel like wanna be a great chef after watch some cooking program in TLC or Star World? I ever feel it, even i always wanna be one of my favorite celebrity chef like Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver :D Well, my limitation in cooking skill sometimes makes me want to make a spectacular meal. As usual, with the ingredients that i can only find in my fridge or pantry, i make something. Realy something! haha.

For example, last Eid Mubaraq or last September, i created a new dish. I mean a new dish for me. Coz i never eat it before but i ever saw some recipes or watched some tv programs that use similar ingridients with me. yea! This food is contain with orange pulpy and duck meat! I got the duck meat from my mom's opor ayam or Coconut Chicken Curry in english :D  (Traditional dish that commonly eaten during the Big day like Eid Mubaraq).

Its like a recycle food because i use the material from the food that already cooked and my 'creative' brain wanted me to create a new dish with it :D Well, i washed two pieces of meat with a boiling water to take out the taste of opor (but still the taste of the opor still exist). Then i chopped chopped the other ingredients such as:

- 2 garlics

- Half of onions.

- Some chillies.

- Orange Juice 

- Orange pulpy (i got the oranges from my fridge, i donno whats the type)

- salt, peppers, sugar and OREGANO (yeah! i love oregano for the rest of my life)

How to make?

- Heat the pan and add 2 spoons of cooking oil or margarine. Saute the garlics, onion, and chillies.

- Add the pulpy into the pan, saute briefly. Then add the duck!

- Add some salt, sugar, pappers, and oregano according to your taste.

- Then add the orange juice! ( maybe 3 spoon or more ) Wait until the juice seep into the meat.

- DONE!

Okay, I am so sorry for this abstract techniques or somethin, you know its no-rules-cooking so i just do whatever i want ( Maybe i should take a culinary school to improve my skill later :P)

I eat this dish with rice, scramble egg, fresh apple slices and fried onions. i also add mayonaise, chilli sauce and ketchup. Hahaha i laughed so hard when i saw my new creation! Coz its look so weird and I am sure noone in my house who will taste it but me :P But for me, this Orange pulpy duck taste awesome! At least i didn't burn anythin here! Well just sharing! I dont recommend you to  cook it but if u wanna make sumthin abstrack, tis one is a good one to be try :D chopped chopped! 

Evening Snack :D

Well, its not about a real snack like oreo or sumethin, but its more like a food that i eat everytime i get hungry in the evening. Especially when i have to stay up late to write some assignments or papers or even just to watch my favorite movie in the late night. I choose noodle for it! and Indomie is my favorite one :)

Instant noodles for me is a lifesaver for hungry people who need food. Instant noodles are also commonly given to the refugees of natural disasters as a practical food aid. There was no denying the food is indeed very useful, although it is not good if consumed too often. So, eat instant noodles at the most appropriate because it is not advisable to eat instant noodles every day!

There are a few tips that make you less guilty when you eat instant noodles. First, you have to add lots of vegetables. Usually I mix different kinds of vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, kale, onions, leeks, mustard greens, cabbage and others. Do not forget the chili. This will give few vitamins. In addition, we can also add some spices to give flavor variations and of course egg as a protein :)

This is the instant noodles with vegetables, and also sprinkled a little bit oregano. I've said before, i don't know why I love the oregano: D haha. Delicious evening snack, isn't it? :)

Besides Indomie, i also love Ramyun from Nong Shim. This is an instant noodle in Korean style. So, the texture and the taste is different from Indomie, our local product. Nongshim has a varieties of flavor. My favorite one is Kimchi Ramyun :D yoom yoom, its perfect for the evening snack or a good food for rainy season or even winter? haha. Well I WOVE instant noodles so much.

Unfortunately this is not healthy foods, so it can not be eaten as often as I want. Meeeh :'(

English High Tea Reception

December is the last month of the year and I always love it because december is identical with winter :) Yes! Winter is a pretty cute season. I wish i could touch the snow and feel the winter breeze someday in London. Coz London is a beautiful place for me :) Well talking about London, Last weekend i got an invitation from British Council to attend some events. One of them is English High Tea Reception. 

Long ago, in 1700's, Lady Bedford was bored waiting for dinner time that very late. That's why, amid the emptiness awaiting the dinner hour, Lady Bedford held afternoon tea to cope with boredom. Afternoon tea is usually held at 5 pm in the presence of friends or colleagues. Some foods such as sandwiches, pies and toast and jam is served. The difference with the high tea is the food. Such as eggs, meat, cheese, bread and butter, cake and of course tea. Usually high tea served by working-class family as the dinner.

In this event, they present a nice tea with some sort of British dessert. Those are Oatmeal Raisin Scone (Served with jam & cream), Traditional English Fruit Cake, Shortbread Cookies, and Onion & Leeks Quiche.

For tea, they serve from Twinings Lady Grey Tea. This tea is a blend of black tea with bergamot oil and orange peel. I do not add sugar because I feel this good tea requires no additional sugar or milk in order to feel the pleasure.

Tea sets th used is also not an ordinary tea set. They wear Royal Doulton tea ware, which is also used by the royal family. Made from a mixture of materials such as porcelain, animal bone, and also 22 carat gold. The material is made ​​all the beautiful tea ware. Motifs used are Royal Albert Old Country Roses which is the world's best selling pattern.

A very pleasant experience for me to attend this event. Considering I've never been to England and did not know much of their unique traditions. An honor for me to be invited to the event is very beautiful, with a very elegant tea set. By the way, the price of Royal Doulton Tea set can reach 250 pounds per set. So it's very fun to wear expensive cup for ordinary people like me.

I got a plate from Royal Doulton and I can paint anything I want. Well, I'm not a reliable painter, so I just painted flowers like a child. haha:) Besides, I also got a small box of Twinnings tea as souvenirs. Aww I am very happy! I hope I can follow other events on the British. Thank you very much for the British Council, Royal Doulton, and Twinings: D