Barley Drink

Holllaaa..

Since winter is coming and melbourne is famous for it’s sudden weather changes, i need to keep warm. Sure, i have my cute hot water bottle almost every where i go. It’s too cute to keep at it home.

I needed drink ideas that will keep me warm and it has to be something else other than coffee, tea or hot chocolate. First, because i can’t sleep if i drink caffeinated drinks (well, to be honest i become super energetic and started to clean the entire house if i do drink coffee). Secondly, i always put condensed milk to go with the coffee or hot chocolate (KAMU GENDUT!!!!)

So, you get the idea. Thus, the barley drink. I love love love barley drink, i only discovered them when i went to singapore recently, i know..it’s way too late…plus, we have plenty in indo eniwai..

I don’t know how to make ‘em so i googled it and found this recipe from Curious Foodie. Since hubby is not interested with the barley drink, i am only doing a single serve, a little bit modified from Curious Foodie’s recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked barley

3 tablespoon rock sugar (rock sugar is very mild, at least in my opinion… do adjust accordingly)

5 cups of water

Method

wash barley in a couple of change of water, I soaked them for 5 minutes because i like my drinks to be a bit cloudy and starchy. Bring the water and barley to boil in medium heat then i spoon out the bubbles. Lower the heat, add the rock sugar and bring to boil. Remove from heat, let it cool and serve.

Note: to check whether the barley is done or not, it should be slightly translucent and chubby looking barleys!

=]

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Caesar Salad Dressing

Quick post about the dressing.

It is apparently very very easy to make caesar salad dressing, so don’t buy the bottled ones.

Dressing (enough for two hungry giants)

1/2 can anchovies
1/2 whole lemon squeezed (or teeennyyy tiny lime juice)
1 clove garlic finely minced
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
Method
chop then crush garlic and achovies together until they are fine paste, whisk other ingredients rapidly.
How easy is that? I found the recipe online and tweak it a little bit. I haven’t tried it with honey yet, but hubby suggested it, and i think it would actually help balance the tangy and fresh taste with a bit of sweet hint for the dressing. It’s all about balance eh…
Tips:
1. might want to wash and dry the baby cos lettuce way ahead, then chill in the fridge for approximately 1/2 hour or more (do not even try to do a shortcut by placing it in the freezer… it will not work ..trust me.. it is from my own experience…). When i say dry the lettuce, i mean really really dry, not kinda dry, not moist, not sprinkled with water… DRY. Also, baby cos lettuce taste better than the full grown ones.
2. bacon… the more the merrier.. chop em in chunky sizes, place in a hot tefal, stir occasionally.
3. croutons… toast them in bacon’s fat + olive oil. YUMMY.
4. since the dressing use raw eggs, try to finish em in one go.
5. boil some eggs then place on top of the salad, apparently egg yolk with salad goes really well.
6. if you are trying to get rid some of the love handles on the side, this salad will fill you up. trust me you won’t be hungry till the next meal.
lemme know if u try it…
=]

Pasar Muara Karang

I’m pleased to blog about Muara Karang market, located in north Jakarta and home to endless amazing food corners. It is essentially a normal market but what makes it so “abnormal” is the amount of hawker centres they have. Probably more than the number of meat vendors themselves. Crowded by uncles and aunties after their morning jog to have a bowl of noodles with a glass of kopi susu.

here are some of my favourites:

if i’m not mistaken, the kopi is also called Kopi Medan, I’m assuming they use beans from Medan. There are lots of people from Medan in Muara Karang neighbourhood.

My dad’s favourite meal, he can eat Kwetiau for every single day of the week and not get bored.

After a decent breakfast, we usually have a look at the market and see some interesting things.

These funny looking meat is one of life’s simple pleasure, pork intestines. Though not everyone’s favourite, but it is very popular in some chinese background cultures. Cooked with sweet soya sauce and spices, these are best eaten with a warm porridge for breakfast.

One of my childhood favourite savoury snack, Cha Kue. Crispy hollow bread usually eaten with mild chili sauce over the top. Comes in a pair and it is very fun to watch them fry the bread.

This somay is definitely a must for takeaways!

Even though it can be quite hot and packed in the weekends, we always love to go to our local market, even if we are not buying groceries. Now, you know why.

=]

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#bestof09 my top eateries

Ending 2009 with a bit of reflection, it has been one of the best times in my life. Life changing decisions were made and i’m very grateful for each one of them.

Biggest decision was a lifetime promise i made to stick around during good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, i even sealed it with a ring.

Followed by numerous trips here and there, sampling food and was rewarded with taste that i have never tried before and it was so good that it knocks my socks off and lasted in my memory as one of the best food i’ve ever tasted, EVER!

So, here it is, an impossible attempt to list the great food i’ve tasted. Trying to limit to only lucky 8.

8. Carl’s Jr, singapore. I know this is patethic to include junk food but this ain’t junk at all. Chargrilled burger made to order, with chunky chipsssss…how can you say it is junk…

7. Bebek Goreng Suryo, senopati jakarta has to share a spot with Bebek Bengil, Ubud Bali. It ain’t fair to compare one minus the scenary.

6. Bakmi Tan and Bakmi Khek in Muara Karang are best Saturday breakfast menu in 2009

5. Warung Bu Kris, ayam penyet at Pluit. Never tasted the original location at Surabaya yet, but it would be very promising i think.

4. Soto Lombok, Malang. Lots of koya and lime juice. Yum!

3. During our Singapore trip, we are fortunate to sample a couple of Hainan chicken rice and my personal favourite is surprisingly Lucky Plaza’s food court cos they have tastier chilli garlic sauce. And yes, i’ve been to Boo Tong Kee’s.

2. Apollo’s banana leaf restaurant in Little India, singapore. Their fish head curry was as good as people said. Recommended by Bourdain himself.

Drum rolls please….

1. This spot has to be Huen Phen, Chiang Mai. Nothern Thai food and the single best dish is fried somtam (papaya salad) fresh, crispy and citrus-ie at the same time.

So there, if i don’t remember it by now, it won’t make it to the list. I hope everyone has a safe new year. Don’t eat too much –> that’s for me (i’m posting this while waiting for my roast pork, roast duck and salted chicken for family dinner tonite) hehe.

Happy New Year folks, i will see you next year!

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Chiang Mai Sunday Market

This is our second honeymoon and it will consist mainly about culinary trips, we weren’t interested to see any temples or ladyboys for that matter. No touristy spots!

So, here we go. We managed to arrive in Chiang Mai on sunday afternoon, just in time to see the famous Sunday Market held in old city of Chiang Mai. It also helps to stay in a hotel that is smack bang right in the middle of the sunday market.

We love our hotel, 3sis bed and breakfast, a family run b&b, mostly by the girls. Clean, spacious, strategic, very very gentle people, soft linen, do i need to say more? and oh, not expensive at all. Photos of the hotel can be viewed from my flickr on my thailand set.

Chiang Mai is a very nice town with great food. It is generally a quiet town but during the festivals like Loy Kratong, it can be a tourist destination from all over the world. This is the sunday just before the Loy Kratong week, so i’m assuming it is busier than normal sunday market.

Temples and streets are decorated with colourful lantern. Stalls are preparing for hopefully a busier and profitable sunday from the people who are coming to see the festivals.

Unfortunately there’s only so much room to taste the food. We had a hard time deciding which few ones we are going to try. One bad thing with culinary trip is that I almost feel guilty if you are eating the same food more than once on a trip, because, what if the other dish is the dish that you will love for the rest of your life?

This Khai Pham is omelette with three different fillings and you can choose, mushroom, seafood or crab. On the left of the image you can see the eggs are still being cooked. Taste wise is mediocre.

Next, we have the Thai fish cake, small pieces dipped in Thai sweet chili sauce.

Hubby loves this thai salad/fried rice kinda thing, it’s called Nem Kuk and it is with young papaya salad, mixed with balls of fried rice like this. It is so fresh and yummy. Hubby asked the lady to make it spicy, he said he can eat spicy food, but it was so hot that i got angry eating it (i know, i’m weird, i got angry if i eat food that is beyond hot… hehehe).

So far, we had good luck with the dishes we tried and we love the mini portions, that means more sampling with less food. I had my eyes fixed on the thai desserts, oh yeah, i don’t mind not trying the savoury ones as long as i have my sugar fix.

This is called Thai Kheb, it’s crepes with soft meringue filling and choice between carrot shavings or coconut shavings. 10 baht for 4 pieces.

Most of these street vendors have motorcycles attached to the cooking area, that way, they can set it up almost anywhere. Plus, they have a place to sit while waiting to sell their food.

Some of you probably have seen this in indonesia. It is called Look Chop in Thai, they are made with mashed green bean paste mixed with sugar and have gelatin coating with some colouring. It is then shaped to mini versions of vegetables and fruits, most often is the chilli, carrot, tomatoes, capsicum and others. I didn’t try this because i already know what it tasted like. My grandma made this few times years ago.

As you have guessed it, we are not there for the shopping, even tho they have some unique stuff that is NOT made in china, for a change.

They also have few entertainers singing and dancing. This group that we saw was all performed by the visually impaired. Their music is modern, fresh, good rhythm and they use the simplest music instruments. Watch out, they might be the next big thing, just wait till some producer discovered them.

You would’ve taught that having all that music is going to be really loud and you can hear it from a kilometer away, but Thais are so polite, they have enough sound just to be heard by their surroundings, so they are not fighting for attention with other singers nearby. How considerate.

We stayed for few days in chiang mai, taking our time to actually rest, it is a holiday after all. Where is the resting if everyday is a full day tour and sight seeing (or eating) annnnddd… we found out that chiang mai morning is absolutely to die for. Their gentle breeze and cool mornings (like the one when u wake up at 5.30 in the morning) lasted till about 10.30. It was so fresh i felt i woke up at 5.30 every day. When you say chiang mai, it would be the mornings that i would remember.

Next post should be very interesting, about my cooking lesson in chiang mai. Watch this space!