Welcoming our new family member!

No, we don`t have a baby (yet). And we don`t have pets (yet, maybe) either.

I know I should be writing about the other 2 recipes from my previous post, but we have a  happy news from our house and I`d really like to introduce it to you in this non-cooking random post.

About two years ago, my husband, who is totally crazy about motorbikes and whose dream is to be a racer (no, no, noooo!), finally bought himself a sport bike, Suzuki GSX-R1100. Not exactly the model/type he`s always wanted, but that was what he could afford back then. Even so, he loved it. Very much. We even named it. Boomboom (Bumbum in Indonesian spelling) as that`s how we interpreted the engine sound when it run. So yes, Boomboom was sort of the third member in our family.

You might think that I enjoyed riding with him on the passenger seat. But truth is, NO. I only rode with him several times and I was scared to death every time he made a right or left turn and tilted the bike so low making my knee almost touching the road (let alone his own knee as his seat is lower than mine!). When I complained about it, he said there`s no other way to do the turning. He simply couldn`t understand why I didn`t enjoy the riding.

Oh well, I`m so much more a bicycle person after all. Or a walking person. So I was  more than happy to let him ride it without me. Everyone`s happy.

Then, half a year ago, for some reasons, he had to sell it away. And this was Boomboom when it was picked up by the buyer. What a gloomy night it was! He was so sad. Even I felt sad too. We (I) used to see it everyday at the parking lot of our apartment and  then it`s gone. 

Goodbye, Boomboom...

But after the goodbye, finally came the welcome. It`s his other dream motorbike, which isn`t just a dream anymore. And luckily, a much more rideable one for me.  Of course, by ride I mean sitting on the back. Bicycle is the only vehicle I can handle, if you must know.  Go mock away as you like.

Anyway, let me introduce you to...our new family member...(drumroll)....

BOOBOO! (or Bubu, my version)

Or... still, Boomboom! (his version)

It`s Honda Super Cub 110! The picture is from Honda`s website as I still haven`t taken picture of his own bike, which has a basket at the front. Wooohoooo...can`t wait for our shopping days! The backseat for me won`t be placed until the end of this month, so I haven`t actually ridden it. But I`m so excited! Love you already, Booboo!

A plate of celebration (continued): Spiced rice

Hello again! It turned out that I`m not that busy (even when I pretend to) nor lazy because I`m sitting here ready to share one of the recipes I told you about yesterday.

So, I`d like to start with the rice, but before I continue with the recipe, I think I`d like you to know that I seemed to mistakenly name the dish as "Herbed rice" where herb was actually not used (none at all!). It was all spice I used instead, thus calling it "Spiced rice" sounds right.

But now I came to think of it, maybe next time I really need to make that Herbed rice as it sounds very appealing to me (and my taste buds). 

Now, get your apron and follow me to the kitchen. No apron? Oh never mind, I never wear one anyway. Well, three times in a year, maybe.

Here where we live, a rice cooker is a common thing to have in every household and I think the same way goes to most of rice-eater countries. But, if you don`t have it, then just use a pan/pot and follow the cooking instruction on the rice package. However, to be honest, I never cook rice in a pot, so I really can`t give you any advice on this.

First, after washing the rice and draining it, add some turmeric, ginger, and cloves. For turmeric and cloves, I used the powdered ones (that`s all I have) and for the ginger, I used fresh one (julienned). You can grate the ginger instead if you want. I just love to have the crunchy ginger in the rice and with the steaming, the heat is much more bearable than the fresh one.

And by the way, add a pinch of salt too.

The original nasi kuning recipe usually calls for coconut milk, but I wanted a lighter version so I omitted it. Also, this is my first time making nasi kuning so I was clueless on how much turmeric powder I should use to turn the rice to be completely yellow. So I just gave a try and add like 1 tsp of turmeric powder to 4 cup of rice. 

Did it work? Not exactly. The rice didn`t turn yellow at all, except a light shade of tea color. So I recommend you to add more of turmeric powder if you want the rice to be vibrantly yellow. After all, it`s yellow rice anyway, so there should be no such thing as too yellow.

After the spices, put in dried shiitake mushroom and stir lightly until combined. Oh I just love this mushroom!

Now, add water (or coconut milk) according to the marks in your rice cooker or cooking instruction on the package.The mushroom will float on top, but that`s alright.

Close the lid, turn on the switch, and done! Leave it to the cooker and you can do whatever you want while waiting it cooks.  

1 hour later...

Rice is done! Quite simple, right?

So this is how it looked like when I opened the lid. The rice has swollen up and the top was covered with softened mushroom. 

And this is where I realized that I`ve been using the wrong white balance setting from the start. D`oh!

Quickly stir up the rice with a spatula to make it fluffier.
Now here is the real color of the rice. Not so yellow anymore, isn`t it.

Clearly this is not nasi kuning at all for its barely-yellow color and the different ingredients I used. The warmth (if not heat) from the ginger beautifully blended with the aromatic cloves. The mushrooms? Oh, they are just perfectly soft and meaty.

So you too can experiment with the rice using your favorite choices of spices (and herbs too!). Let me know if you make one! And have fun!

p.s. I`ll be back with next two posts on the chicken and fish sambal! When? Err..I don`t know, but soon I hope ;)

Ingredients:
Rice
Water or coconut milk
Turmeric
Cloves

Ginger
Salt (a pinch)
Dried shiitake mushroom

Upcoming post(s): A plate of celebration

I`m back! After what...6 months? Oh well, 3 weeks maybe..but it sure did feel like ages.
This is my first time having an "upcoming post" and the reason is, it`s almost 1:30 AM here and I don`t want to be late for work (again). So, for now, I hope you don`t mind me giving this spoiler post and I promise I`ll share the step-by-step recipes later. If you don`t hear me again within this week, please, feel free to scream at remind me.

So here`s the story. We actually have been delaying to celebrate our (err...his) big achievements due to a pile reasons involving the quake and the forgetfulness (I know!). This year (technically, this March) he finally finished his undergrad study, started his Master, and...this is probably the most relieving news for us, he got the full scholarship. Phewww!

And today I somehow remembered about us still not having the celebration. By celebration, I mean cook a lot and EAT a lot, and by a lot, I mean 3 kinds of dishes. When I got home at 7 pm and with one  (one!) stove in my mini kitchen, I should be realistic and yes, 3 dishes was what I could do best.

So, here they are:

1. Herbed rice

I`ve planned to cook whatsocalled nasi kuning, or literally means yellow rice. The rice is cooked with coconut milk and turmeric, hence resulting the vivid yellowness. But I ended up making some tweaks with it and you`ll see later why I call it herbed rice instead of its original name. Or you probably can guess already from the picture.

2.  Spiced chicken stew

Believe it or not (especially for those of you who know him in person), this recipe  basically came from him. I`m serious. So, one day I got back from a 3-day trip for a conference and he already made me Indonesian style (aka. spiced) fried chicken at home. What a lovely surprise! Despite my fear of looking closely how he has used our (nope, my!) kitchen and the equipments, I was incredibly impressed with the chicken (and him, of course!). After getting the recipe from him, I added this and that and the chicken turned out to be a non-fried version as I didn`t have time for frying.

3. Stir fried fish and potato with sambal

I just feel somehow the rice and the chicken wouldn`t be right without sambal on their sides. Or, should I say, I think my life will go wrong without sambal on my plate.

The final spoiler, here`s how the celebration came!

See you soon!