What is for dinner tonight, ladies? I consider myself very lucky because I have a cookbook called “The Indonesian Kitchen”. Of course, as a cooking dummy I always choose an easy recipe to follow. For tonight I’ll be cooking a dish called Ikan Kecap (Indonesian Soy Sauce Fish). Doesn’t it sound yummy, ladies? It does and I hope that I’ll get it right. This recipe serves 4 person and takes 20 minutes to prepare and another 20 minutes to cook.

What you need

• 1 pound mackerel
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 – 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 large lettuce leaves
• 0,5 teaspoon shrimp paste
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1 large clove garlic (minced)
• 1,5 inch long piece fresh ginger (peeled and chopped)
• 1 red chili (seeded and chopped)

What to do

• Wash your mackerel under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
• Cut your mackerel fillets into 2 x 3 inch pieces.
• Mix salt and flour in a shallow bowl, roll your mackerel fillets in the flour one by one, and set them on a clean plate.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil in a skillet and fry your mackerel for 3 to 4 minutes per side.
• Place them on a plate, cover with foil to keep warm and set aside.
• Mix shrimp paste and 2 tablespoons water together in a small bowl.
• Clean and dry the skillet before heating the remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil.
• Add onion, garlic, ginger, and chili pepper and stir-fry for about 5 minutes.
• Add shrimp paste to your onion mixture and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add lemon juice, brown sugar, and soy sauce to taste. Stir them to combine.
• Arrange lettuce leaves on four plates and place fish on top.
• Finally, pour the sauce over the fish and serve.

Have a great spring weekend and bon apetit!

A few months ago a friend of mine gave me a cookbook called “The Indonesian Kitchen” and yesterday I decided to give a try. One recipe called “Pepes Ikan” or “Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves” sounded very yummy in my ears (Shut up, woman, everything sounds very yummy if you don’t or cannot cook very well!!)  Anyways, I took the risk and the result was not as bad as I was afraid of. In fact, it was almost as yummy as it sounded  This is the recipe according to that cookbook.

What you need:

• 4 whole fish, about 350 gr. per fish
• 80 gr. scallions (sliced)
• 1 turmeric leaf (sliced)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves (chopped)
• 10 gr. lemon basil (sliced)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons  of chicken stock
• 4 banana leaves, about 25 x 30 cm per each

Spice pasta:

• 50 gr. shallots (peeled and sliced)
• 10 gr. bird’s eye chilies (sliced)
• 15 gr. ginger (peeled and sliced)
• 50 gr. candlenuts (crushed)
• 10 gr. turmeric  (sliced)
• 2 stalks lemon grass (sliced)

Seasoning:

• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Some salt to taste
• Some white pepper to taste

What to do:

• Gut and clean your fish thoroughly
• Use a sharp knife to make 4 slits on both sides of your fish
• Rub your fish all over, including slits if using whole fish, with your seasonings
• Refrigerate your fish for about 30 minutes
• In the meantime, prepare your spice paste: combine all ingredients in a blender and grind them into a fine paste
• Heat oil in a saucepan
• Add your spice paste and sauté over low heat
• Add the chicken stock to prevent sticking
• Add all remaining ingredients (except salt and banana leaves)
• Sauté for about a minute, remove from heat and leave to cool to room temperature
• Season your fish to taste with some salt
• Place one rounded tablespoon spice mixture on the center of each banana leaf
• Place your fish on top and cover fish with more spice paste
• Wrap your fish tightly in banana leaf and secure with kitchen string
• Steam them for about 10 to 15 minutes and serve your fish as you like

Give it a try yourself and bon apetit!

Yesterday I went to Albert Heijn (AH), my favorite supermarket. I call it my favorite because it’s near my house and I can get anything I need to stock my fridge. No to mentioned that at AH I can get some fantastic spring vegetables, from baby carrots with tops, baby fennel with its herby leaves, baby turnips, peas, fine green to yellow French beans. They are very colourful and easy to cook. Yeah, these are the reasons why I love them so much. I also bought some salmon steaks for dinner. I was really in the mood for some crispy fried salmon with spring vegetables.

What you need:

• 1 x aïoli recipe
• 850ml vegetable stock (lightly seasoned)
• 8 baby bulbs of fennel (stalks removed and herby tops reserved)
• 4 x 170 – 225g salmon steaks (scored)
• 1 small handful of fresh mint (ripped)
• 1 small handful of fresh basil (leaves picked)
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• around 100g green beans (tops removed)
• around 100g podded broad beans
• around 100g podded peas

What to do:

• Make the aïoli and when you’ve done that, bring your stock to the boil in a large pan then add your fennel and allow this to boil for 4 minutes while you heat up a non-stick frying pan.
• Take your salmon steaks and, if you like it, you could finely slice a little of your mint and basil and push this into the score marks.
• Pat the salmon steaks with a little olive oil, season and place skin-side down in the frying pan. Leave them for 2 minutes to get really crispy then check how they’re doing. They’ll want around 4 minutes on the skin side and 1 minute on the other (you’ll see the salmon change colour).
• When the fennel has had 4 minutes, add the green beans and the broad beans.
• Give them a further 2 minutes. By this time you will probably want to turn over the salmon steaks for their last minute.
• Add the peas to the other veg and cook for a final 2 minutes. Don’t be tempted to overcook the salmon – remove it from the heat.
• Divide the vegetables between 4 bowls, rip over the mint and basil, ladle over some of your hot cooking stock and place the salmon on top.
• Serve with a dollop of aïoli.

And as I said, it’s easy to cook, colourful and very yummy! Bon apetit!

Last night I was invited to a dinner party at a girlfriend’s house. I have always known that she cooks well, but to my (everybody’s) surprise, her new boy friend can cook even better! Hot tuna salad with basil crème fraîche á la Jamie, he called the dish. It was a very good dish! And of course I checked the recipe to share with you all.

What you need:

• a bunch of asparagus, trimmed
• 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, quartered
• a large bunch of fresh basil (leaves picked, baby leaves kept to one side)
• a handful of black olives, stones removed
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tuna steaks
• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche

What to do:

• Heat a griddle pan until it gets really hot then put your asparagus in it.
• Place a heavy saucepan on top so that it presses the spears right down on to the bars.
• Cook them for 2 minutes, turning them halfway through, until they have lovely charred marks.
• Pop the asparagus on a board and chop them in half at an angle.
• Put the asparagus in a bowl with your tomatoes, half the basil leaves, the olives, a splash of oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
• Season them, then toss it all together and put it to one side while you get the fish ready.
• Rub your tuna steaks with a little bit of oil and season them.
• Sear your tuna steaks for about a minute on each side in the griddle pan for a rare steak – leave them for 2 minutes on each side if you prefer them cooked medium, or 3 to 4 minutes each side if you like them well done.
• Pound the remaining basil in a pestle and mortar then mix in the crème fraîche.
• Season the basil and add some more lemon juice to taste.
• Put the salad on a plate, then tear the tuna into strips and pop them on top.
• Spoon over some of the crème fraîche sauce and scatter over the baby basil leaves.

Have a great dinner party on your own and bon apetit!

Let’s check the first of my five major New Year’s resolutions  that says:

1. Gaining weight (it is also this year resolutions that I haven’t been able to achieve): Unlike some people who actually try to lose some weight, I have been trying to gain it since I was 18 years old. Sometimes you ask your relatives: “Have you eaten yet?” Well, some of mine often ask me: “Do you eat?” Yes, I do but I do not seem to have the ability to gain my weight no matter what I eat.

Some people say that consuming enough of deep-fried foods will help you to gain some weight. Well, I am a little pessimistic about that theory because I have been eating weight gaining foods since the 1^st of January. NO OBVIOUS RESULT SO FAR! But I am not going to give it up and will keep on trying. After all, I have had another eleven months to go.

A few days ago, I got an interesting weight gaining food’s recipe from a collegue of mine. It’s called fish, chips and mushy peas. She said that she had found this recipe online soon after she gave birth to her second child. And one of her New Year’s resolutions is losing weight! HOW IRONIC! But, it sounds very promissing though. Yesterday, I tried the recipe and it was quite good. I think I’ll have this food often, and who knows that I’ll gain some weight in no time.

What you need:

For the fish and chips:

• Sunflower oil for deep-frying
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 225g nice white fish fillets, pinboned
• 225g flour, plus extra for dusting
• 285ml pint good cold beer
• 3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
• 900g potatoes, peeled and sliced into chips

For the mushy peas:

• a knob of butter
• 4 handfuls of podded peas
• a small handful of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

What to do:

To make your mushy peas;

• Put the butter in a pan with the peas and the chopped mint.
• Put a lid on top and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
• Mush the peas up in a food processor or mash them by hand until they are stodgy, thick and perfect for dipping your fish into.
• Keep them warm while you cook your fish and chips.

To cook the fish and chips;

• Pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a large frying pan and heat it to 190°C.
• Mix the salt and pepper together and season the fish fillets on both sides. This will help to remove any excess water, making the fish really meaty.
• Whisk the flour, beer and baking powder together until nice and shiny. The texture should be like semi-whipped double cream.
• Dust each fish fillet in a little of the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off. Holding one end, lower the fish into the oil one by one, carefully so you don’t get splashed – it will depend on the size of your fryer how many fish you can do at once.
• Cook for 4 minutes or so, until the batter is golden and crisp.
• Meanwhile, parboil your chips in salted boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened but still retaining their shape, then drain them in a colander and leave to steam completely dry.
• When all the moisture has disappeared, fry them in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180°c until golden and crisp.
• While the chips are frying, you can place the fish on a baking tray and put them in the oven for a few minutes at 180°C to finish cooking. This way they will stay crisp while you finish off the chips.
• When they are done, drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas.

Let’s eat! Let’s gain some weight! Bon apetit!