Indonesian Native Fruits

but it's getting harder and harder to find !!!

I found this link to Indonesian native Fruits pics
http://biocassanova.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/buah-buahan-asli-indonesia-yang-langka-di-pasaran/

Menteng, Kemang, Gandaria, Kecapi, Bisbul, Kepel, Rukem, Sawo Durian, Terap, Jamblang, Buni.
I don't even know what most of them taste like :(

The ones I've tasted are
Ciremai, Sawo kecik, Lobi-lobi, Jambu Bol, Jambu Mawar.

I sure do hope we pay more attention to these Native fruits instead of focusing on imported fruits most of the time :)

How to Decorate a cake

Have you ever wanted to learn how to decorate a cake ?

Well....
Friends of SanggarSeni.com sent in their wonderful pics learning how to decorate a cake using butter cream with the lovely Mrs. Fatmah Bahalwan from NCC (Natural Cooking Club)
Mrs. Fatmah prepared everything from the pre-made butter cream and decorating utensils, including all the different spuits, scraper, spatula, bowl, flower nail, plastic decorating bags, piping bags etc.



The cake.... well it's actually made out of styrofoam.
So all they have to do is start learning how to decorate :)


Mrs. Fatmah cutting the tip of a piping bag



Side decorations.
We found out that there are so many different techniques to create a decoration.
and that we needed a flower nail to create flowers using a piping bag.



Almost done


ta daa..... It was definitely a fun class :)

Rose Apple - Jambu Mawar

Okay...
so I gave my mom a "look" when she bought this particular fruit.
Let's see, it's tiny, and pale in colour, it's a rose apple type of fruit, which I'm not really crazy about.
It's called Jambu Mawar,
well, Jambu is Rose apple, and Mawar is Rose,
so this makes it a Rosy Rose Apple.
Okay... there's no hint of Rose-y color anywhere, maybe a little orange-y.
And it looks unripe.

We got home, chuck everything in the fridge and had dinner.
So the next day, my sis hands me this piece of fruit and said,
"try this.... it's so fragrant."
And So I did, I'm the kind of person who must try everything and anything, well except for insects and their friends.
So I smelled it.
And it smelled like the fruit's been soaked in Rose perfume.
I thought to myself, I bet it's gonna taste so weird and synthetic.

So I took my first bite.
and I was like Whooooooa.......
it's sweet with an amazing hint of Rose, it's a perfect combination.
It's like when you smell a Rose flower, and wonder what the flower tastes like, except when you actually eat the flower, it's kinda bland, well, this is like what Rose should taste like.
The Rose fragrant is obviously there, but not overwhelming, just perfect.

In fact you can even distill them to make Rose Water and it would be equivalent to those made out of Rose petals, no wonder it tastes sooo good.
It's like having one of those Rose infused dessert or a Rose macaron, but this is so light and crisp.
It kinda made me think that this is what Royalty eats. Kings and Queens and the like. hoahahah
It's a perfect fruit.
(btw, some are kinda bland, but the sweet ones are perfect, so you never know what u're getting really hohoho)

So I rushed to the kitchen, cut one up, the seed inside was not even attached to the fruit.
You can shake the Jambu Mawar, and feel the seed bouncing around inside.
Yes, you can even just use barehands to open the fruit up.

I've never had Rose Apple like dat before.
I've had Jambu Air (Eugenia aquea / Syzygium samarangense (syn. Eugenia javanica)),
Jambu Bol (Syzgium malaccense) & Jambu klutuk ( Psidium guajava)
some are sweet, some are sour, some are both, some taste kinda like when you bite a grape skin, but they don't smell and taste like Rose.

So...
When you see a Rose Apple,
go ahead and give it a try, hopefully you find the perfect Rosy one :)
yummyyyy

Rose Apple / Jambu Mawar
(Syzyygium jambos Alston / Eugenia jambos L. / Jambosa jambos Millsp.)


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com

Cute Lovely Cupcakes

Okay... First of all, Imagine the wonderful smell of freshly baked cupcakes coming from the kitchen.
And you rush to the kitchen to see these lovely tiny lil cupcakes presented on a lovely two tier porcelain cake stand.

Oowww... right... :)
They're just the perfect size,
the perfect soft rosy pink colour and a touch of light green.

On the side, you have tea ready to be poured into this gorgeous little teacups.

What a perfect afternoon !! :)
This is the perks of sleeping over at your best friend's house, who loves to bake.
*hugz*

Here are more pics :)



Enjoy !!



*munch munch*
whoops...
*oh well... 5 second rule*
*nyom nyom nyom* :D


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com

Ginger Bread House for Christmas 2008

So my friend who promised me the Ginger Bread Cookies finally made me a Ginger Bread House as a Christmas presento.... yippieee.....

Here's a pic of the facade..... yummm.... So pretty rightt ?


She made everything from scratch and Guess how long it took her to made this snowy house of yummy treats ?
7 hourss.... yup dat's seven hours of baking and decorating.
Thank you dear :) *hugz*


Here's pics of the back and the side of the house.
I'm so loving the blue Snowflake :)


About the Ginger Bread Cookies, well, she only had little dough left, so she only made me 4 ginger bread cookies.... fourrrrrr..... just four yummy cookies and I had to share it with people at home. *sob*. And it wasn't actually a recipe for ginger bread cookies coz it was for the ginger bread house, but no diff for me hohohohoho they taste just as good. yumm...

Anyhow, she told me not to start eating-away parts of the Gingerbread House just yet, "not until Christmas", she said.

I said "whattt?? how is that even possible ? it's 20 days away till Xmas"

So we decided to at least wait a few days more, so the next time she comes visit me, She can still admire her work, hohohoho

But.... Do you notice any difference between these 2 photos below ?



Well ??

No ? ...

here's a big clue



and that was 20 minutes after my lovely Ginger Bread House arrived and my friend was in the bathroom.... She didn't even notice the difference. :D

We'll see what else might go missing in the days to come.
Buahahahahaha *evil laugh*

Once she sees this post, she's gonna definitely call me :)
in 3...2...1...
* winks *


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com

Toko Titan - Baking Tools and Supplies

I finally had the chance to go to Toko Titan at Fatmawati.
www.titanbaking.com

My friend was looking for Baking Tools and I was looking for a high quality Vanilla essence / extract to make cheesecake... yummm....

After quite the traffic, we got there, It was kinda hard getting a parking spot :( but luckily my friend's bf was willing to be driver of the day hohoho



Once we got inside the store.... my friend just lost it haeuihaheau
It was like a lil kid in candy land, she was busy looking for cookie cutters, chocolate molds, looking at canisters, and mostly she was calling my names every 5 seconds and saying "hey come take a look at this, so cute" or "I kinda don't really need this, but I so wanna have it"

It was slightly crowded inside the store, because it was approaching Idul Fitri 2008, so it was a bit hectic inside.
The store is not too spacious, but I'd say it caters to most of bakers' needs.

I just found out that there are many different types of butter to use for baking hohoho and they're sold by the kilo... there are different types of chocolate chips, icing sugar, brown sugar, flour, and at the back end of the store, is where you find all the cookie cutters, dough cutter, chocolate moulds, different shapes of baking pans, etc
And on the second floor is where they held the baking classes, in collaboration with Bogasari Baking Center.


I bought a small bottle of Mauritius Vanilla Extract, (white small bottle in photo above), The lady said the Mauritius Vanilla is more fragrant, if I'm not mistaken it cost around @Rp. 28.000,- (Sept 08).
So from one big glass bottle of Vanilla Extract (Which they also sell there) , they pour it to small plastic bottles and sell them for us who don't need a big bottle of vanilla extract.

I also bought small bags of Pistachio nuts, Almond flake, almond powder and Java almond / kacang kenari (cannarium indicum). which cost around Rp. 7000 - 12.000,- per bag.
They also sell them in bigger bags.


So my friend bought some cookie cutters in different shapes : angels, giraffe, gingerbread man, christmas tree, n other shapes, plus a thing to cut dought, what's it called ? a dough cutter ? hohoho (top right in the pic above)

They weren't too expensive, err.. I think, I can't really remember , this is what happens when I blog about this 2 months after going to the store (Sept 08) hhohohoho sowwy. But I think the dough cutter cost around Rp. 28.000,-... I think.... hoho

btw, here's a link of review on toko titan :)
from Dita Wistarini 's blog, an food blogger from Indonesia whose blog is fun to read and all those dessert photography... yummmm !!!!
http://last-bite.blogspot.com/2006/08/tour-de-toko-toko-titan.html

and....
someone promised to make me spiced gingerbread cookies ?
I wonder who that is ??
:)


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com & Toko Titan

How to eat a Dragon Fruit ?

Well, it's more how to cut open a Dragon Fruit actually :)
So you know how they taste like , right ?
Kinda bland :(
But waittt !!!
When you get the sweet one, ahh... it's heavenly.
It's got a different kinda texture, kinda like a kiwi fruit, but not as sour, but they also have those tiny crunchy little seed...mmmm :)

Now, the question remains, how do you open it ?
Some people would just cut it in half and scoop it with a spoon, like they would with a Kiwi Fruit. But hey, what if you wanna eat it while watching TV or when you wanna sit out in the terrace & read books ?

It'be kinda messy, right ?

So, here's how
what's that ? you can cut it like you would an apple ?
peel the skin with a knife ? naahh... dat's boring

Here we go...
you can peel it with your hands !!
huh ?? yup dat's right


first, cut both ends


then cut the side, just a little bit


then you peel


dat's right, as easy as that !!


see....


tadaaa.... kinda like magic huh ?

now you can start cutting the dragonfruit :)


you can decorate it as you wish
presentation man, presentation !! woohooo


but I'll just dig right in
hoiaehraeihr


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com

Quick Egg Rice

The rice is inside ! huh ?
So it's 2 am and you got so hungry, need food, but you don't really wanna cook, not to mention all the crazy dishes...
what's that ? you'd rather starve ?
Well, Now you can make Quick Egg Rice !! ,
instead of having rice and scrambled egg / fried egg / sunny side up.
d'uh.... boringgg.....

This one require minimum equipments, so if you didn't do the dishes right away, you won't get into trouble the next day.

Equipments :
1 tablespoon of tablespoon. huh ? I mean 1 spoon
1 non stick pan / teflon (diameter 4.72 inch / 12 cm or bigger)
1 plate (if you're planning to eat from the pan, eliminate plate)
yup.... dat's all u'll need

Ingredients :
Rice
Egg (for those of you who thinks the bigger the better, use Ostrich egg.)

Ready ?

hey... wat about the seasonings ? it's gonna taste bland
well... once it's done, just add salt n pepper, sweet soy sauce , chilli sauce , etc. easy right....

Tips : If you're not really hungry-hungry, you can use one of those tiny non-stick pan, 1 egg and 2 tablespoon of rice, but If you're really hungry, use a bigger non-stick pan, more eggs, more rice.

But if you're unsure how much you should add, just use the tiny non-stick pan and repeat process 10 times, same diff.

Let the adventure begins !!


1. Add a lil bit of oil to the pan.
Low heat. Add the egg
(I am using 4.72 " / 12 cm diameter pan)


2. Yes, you swirl and twirl the egg in the pan.


3. Add rice to your distinctive liking


4. Slightly flatten rice


5. Be patient.... if it's half done on top, you can flip it


6. *plop* ta daaaaaa, wait a while , and...


7. There you go.... decorate to your liking, dream high !
add salt n pepper, sweet soy sauce, chilli sauce,
blueberry sauce, maple syrup (oopss... not pancake)


8. Ta daaa.... sliced and you can see the rice
*it kinda looks like pacman* hohho

wat's dat ? you can't see the rice ?



There.... see rice now ?
*chomp chomp*


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com

Creative Baking

I love watching Food channel.......how they prepare the ingredients, how the chef quickly thinly-slice carrots, how the chef multitask cooking with 2 boiling pans, sauteeing, dealing with food processors and host the show at the sametime, and how they enjoy the meal at the end of the show..... mmmmmmm
Not to mention when they're making desserts...... Cheesecake, Mudcake, Ongol-ongol, Talam Ubi,.,.....ohhhhh........ how I wish I was having them right now *drool*

I also love reading food blogs, and looking at pictures of the ready-to-be-eaten-yummy-yum-yum final product.

So, I was having a conversation with my sis the other day, she just moved into a new house and she doesn't have an oven yet.
So she can't start baking for me..... yes for me & my incredibly amazing sweet tooth. :)

But hey..... what about steaming ? ........ there are a lot of desserts that doesn't require baking, right ?
Brownies doesn't have to be baked..... take a look at Brownies kukus, or Tiramisu doesn't need baking either.

What about the Local desserts,
they're mostly wrapped in leaves and steamed, right ? .... :)
*wink wink to sis*

Take a more creative approach, and experiment, like a Red Dragon Fruit Cheesecake..... how bout dat ? :) Wanna see the pic, go here

So sis....
I'm expecting desserts soon ok ? :D


(nj / SanggarSeni.com)
Image copyright : SanggarSeni.com

Cooking

Who says that cooking are only for moms ?

Cooking Chicken Curry, Rendang Beef Stew, well... do it with your own personal unique touch, add a little twist here and there, experiment a bit and present it with style :)

You have no idea how fun cooking can get, especially when creating desserts, try making and decorating cupcakes, pies, cheesecake with any topping imaginable, tiramisu, greentea cake, or why not make ice cream, now dat all falls under "cooking" category.... yummmm.... :)

Or try making traditional desserts, use what's available locally, sweet potato with coconut cream and brown sugar or taro, and many more...

So...Let's get busy in the kitchen :D

Sanggar Masak

Cooking