VeryAsia Blog

How to Make Futomaki Sushi & California Roll

Wow! Another good video from “Cooking With The Dog”. I just can’t resist not to post this video. Great Job, Cooking with the dog crew! Click here to view all their videos.

Add comment November 13th, 2009

How to Make Oyakodon (Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl)

I ran into another “Cooking With The Dog” japanese cooking video on youtube this morning. This time is about how to make Oyakodon, which is Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl. I used to have this for lunch every saturday at Mitsuwa West Los Angeles branch food court. If you have never try this, I highly recommend this bowl. Give it a try!

Add comment November 13th, 2009

Black Pepper Potato Salad

• 10 minutes preparation
• 10 minutes cooking
• 4-5 persons/serves

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Singapore Black Pepper Stir Fry Spice Paste
• 4 medium-sized boiled potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 cucumber, cut into 1cm (1/2”) cubes
• 3 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
• 3 tbs mayonnaise
• 3 tbs sour cream

Garnish:

• 4 tbsp bacon bits
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped

Cooking Directions

1. Mix Spice Paste, mayonnaise and sour cream in a big bowl
2. Add potatoes, eggs and cucumber, mix thoroughly
3. Chill and garnish before serving

1 comment October 18th, 2009

Beef Roulade

• 20 minutes/preparation
• 5 minutes cooking
• 4 persons/served

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Asian Home Gourmet Szechuan Dan Dan Noodle Spice Paste
• 350 gr (3/4 lbs) beef, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 100 gr (3 1/2 oz) Enoki mushrooms, discard the roots and cut into 5cm (2”) lengths
• 60 gr (2 oz) cucumber, cut into strips of 5 cm (2”)
• 60 gr (2 oz) carrot, peeled and cut into strips of 5 cm (2”)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 110 ml (1/2 cup) water
• 1 tbsp cornstarch (mix with 1 t bsp water)
• spring onions, blanced

Cooking Directions:

1. Place carrot, cucumber and mushrooms at one side of the sliced beef. Fold in one end and roll up firmly to enclose the filling. Tie rolls with blanched spring onions.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan on medium heat. Add onion and spice paste. Stir-fry for 1 minute
3. Stir in water and cornstarch solution; bring to boil. Add beef rolls and cook at high heat for 2 minutes.
4. Serve hot with rice or this dish may blend well with any Asian inspired meal plan or any general meal plan.

Add comment October 18th, 2009

Ayam Bakar Bumbu Rujak – Bbq Chicken with Chili Coconut Sauce

The last time, I had this barbecued chicken when I still lived at my parent’s house. I never made this before and decided making it for the food photo’s purpose of Indonesian Food Festival 2009 which is hosted by Indonesian Student Group of Winnipeg (ISGWPG). This event will take a place at BellTower Cafe, St. Paul’s College, the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.

After browsing the recipe, I got the one that would be perfect. The recipe was adapted from Herti’s Kitchen Gallery, by reducing and adding some ingredients as my desired. It’s not that hard to make if you have all the ingredients in a place. The taste? It does the same taste as I recalled from my family’s. Serving suggestion, an accompaniment of Nasi Uduk, sambal and lalapan (raw vegetables).

Ayam Bakar Bumbu Rujak
recipe by Herti, modified and translated by me

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (700 g), cut into 6 pieces
• 2 Indonesian bay leaves
• 5 kaffir lime leaves, teared
• 2 lemongrasses, bruised
• 400-500 ml thick coconut milk
• 2 limes for drizzling the chicken *I used calamansis, the only citrus I have in the fridge oil for stir fry

Spices grind into a paste:

• 100 g red chili pepper (about 1/4 cup ground red chili or sambal ulek)
• 10 shallots (5 larger sized shallots)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 candlenuts
• 4 cm long galangal
• 2 cm long ginger
• 1 1/2 cm long turmeric
• 1/2 tsp roasted terasi (English: dried shrimp paste, Malay: belachan)
• salt as desired
• 2 tsp coconut sugar (can be substituted for palm sugar)
• 2 tsp tamarind, dissolved in a small amount of water

Cooking Directions:

1. Wash and pat dry chicken. Drizzle fresh lime juice over chicken, let it for the next 20 minutes.
2. Rinse off with cold water and pat dry.
3. Preheat the oven at 350C. Meanwhile, in a skillet, at medium hight heat, add oil and stir fry spices paste, Indonesian bay leaves, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves until fragrant.
4. Add chicken and stir until change colour.
5. Add coconut milk, bring to aboil and stir once a while.
6. Reduce the heat to low-medium and let cook until thicken and oily.
7. Bake chicken for 15 – 20 minutes and turn the oven knob into hi-broil. Broil until the chicken surface turn a bit darker or dry.

Content and Photography by: Pepy Nasution

Add comment October 6th, 2009

Rendang – Beef in Chilli and Coconut Milk

Rendang is a famous dish which originated from the Minangkabau people, an ethnic group who live in the West Sumatra, province of Indonesia. According to wikipedia, rendang is also one of characteristic foods of the Minangkabau culture, and it is served at ceremonial occasions and to honor guests.

Being also popular in Malaysia and Singapore, rendang is traditionally prepared by the Malay community during festive occasions. Though rendang is sometimes described as being like a curry, and the name is sometimes applied to curried meat dishes in Malaysia, authentic rendang is nothing like a curry.

Rendang is usually made from beef (or sometimes chicken, mutton, water buffalo, clam, duck or vegetables such as jackfruit or cassava) that is slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the meat will be coated in spicy condiments. The spices may include turmeric leaves, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, asam kandis, shallot, lemon grass, ginger, chilies. The purpose of slow cooking method is to allow meat absord all the spices and tender.

There are two kinds of rendang, dried and wet rendang. Dried rendang can be stored for 3-4 months and it is for ceremonial occasions or to honor guests. Wet rendang is also known as Kalio, it’s easy to find at any Minangkabau (or more popular called for Padang) restaurants in Indonesia and it should be sonsumed within a month without refrigerating.

I missed rendang, but too lazy to prepare and cook. Good thing, I can find Indonesian instant seasoning Munik for rendang which is tasted just like in Indonesia.

I used brisket which is called sandung lamur in bahasa Indonesia. Easy to make, just cut the brisket into cubes. Mix beef with rendang instant seasoning, water and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and cook until tender and thicken.

Blog & Photo by: Pepy Nasution

Add comment October 4th, 2009

Nasi Uduk (Betawinese Scented Coconut Rice)

After spending countless days and nights searching for an excellent Asian Fusion Chef to be featured on our site, we found a few of candidates that we really like. But when we stumbled upon Pepy Nasution’s blog, we were blown away by her collection of recipes, traditional and fusion.

We contacted her right away and tell her how thrilled we are to found her blog and our idea about featuring her recipe at our site. And we are lucky enough to get her on broad. Not that she’s an excellent chef, she’s also an excellent photographer. Her pictures are well composed and just delicious!

Today, we are going to feature one of her Traditional Indonesian Recipe, Nasi Uduk (Coconut Rice).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups jasmine rice, washed and drained
• 1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
• 1 tsp coriander seed powder
• 2 pandan leaves, knotted
• 3 Indonesian bay leaves
• 1 cup thick coconut milk
• 2 cup broth/water
• salt as desired

Cooking Directions:

1. In a rice cooker, add all ingredients except rice and bring to a boil. <== you can use a pot and bring a boil on stove.
2. Add rice and cook in a rice cooker until done.

Easy to make, right? Only 2 steps. Wow!

Food Photography & Recipe by Pepy Nasution.

5 comments October 2nd, 2009

Miso Soup Recipe

These are the steps to make your own miso soup from scratch.

Miso soup ingredients:

• 3 ½ Table spoon Miso Paste Red or White
• 4 cups Dashi or soup stock
• 2 tablespoon of Wakame seaweed
• ½ block of Tofu firm or medium
• Chopped Green onion as needed

Method

1. Cut the tofu into 1 ½ inches cubes and the wakame into 1 ½ cm square.
2. Prepare a pot to boil the soup stock or dashi. Add the miso paste and stir.
3. Turn the heat to high and when the stock is about to boil, lower the heat.
4. Drop the wakame and the tofu slowly to prevent the tofu to crushed.
5. Gently stir and wait until the soup is about to boil then turn the heat off.
6. Pour the soup into 4 bowls and top if off with fresh chopped of green onion.

Tips:

• Do not boil the miso soup because want to preserve the nutrients in the miso soup.
• Soften the miso paste in a cup with a few tablespoon of the stock before you drop it into the soup. This will help you to dissolve the miso paste better.

If this is still not simple enough for you, you might want to try Instant miso soups. This time when it says ‘instant’, it really mean it. Just open package and add hot water and voila … your miso soup is ready. It even comes with diced tofu and seaweed and the taste, hmm .. you won’t believe it’s instant.

Enjoy!

1 comment September 30th, 2009

Singapore Coconut Rice Mix (Nasi Lemak)

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Asian Home Gourmet Singapore Coconut Rice Mix Spice Paste
• 500g (2¼ cups) uncooked rice
• 670ml (3 cups) water
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (optional)
• Sliced cucumber and sambal chilli as garnish (optional)

Methods:

1. Mix rice, Spice Mix, water and oil in saucepan.
2. Bring to the boil and stir once.
3. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 20 minutes or until cooked.
4. Leave to stand for 5 minutes. Stir to mix.
5. Garnish and serve hot with cooked eggs, fish or chicken.

Cooking Tips:
Using Rice Cooker

• Put rice, water, Spice Mix and oil in rice cooker and mix well. Set for cooking. Stir to mix the cooked rice before garnish.

Add comment September 28th, 2009

Singapore Chicken Curry

Cooking Instruction:

1. Heat oil in saucepan on medium-low heat.
2. Add Spice Paste and stir fry for ½ minute.
3. Add chicken and potatoes. Stir fry for 3 minutes.
4. Lower heat, add coconut milk and bring to the boil.
5. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until cooked.
6. Serve hot with rice or bread.

Add comment September 28th, 2009