Simple Japchae

Japchae is Korean stir fry starch noodle with vegetable, seasoned with sesame oil and soy sauce. Usually it will have spinach, carrot, and mushroom as well, but today I'm making a very simple one. The japchae I cooked today only using onion, green onion and beef with the noodle, it's a lot more simple and easy to make compare to the original version. This japchae remind me of the Korean TV series, City Hunter, where the main character only eat japchae with beef and no vegetable at all.
The preparation of this noodle is rather unique, instead of frying all the ingredients together, we boil the noodle, then stir fry all the component separately.
This recipe was adapted from Maangchi's japchae recipe. She's the master of Korean food!

Ingredients,

1 lb (450gr) Korean starch noodle

1 big onion, slice thinly

7 green onion, slice crosswise

1 pack rib eye (around 0.8 lb) or sliced beef

1 handful of garlic, crush and chop finely

roasted sesame seed (optional)

3 pinch of sugar

soy sauce

sesame oil

olive oil

Cooking Method,

1. Boil water in a pot, then put the noodle and cook around 3 minutes or until it cooked.

2. Drain the noodle, then put the noodle into a big bowl and cut them with scissor.

3. Add 2 tbs of sesame oil and 5 tbs of light soy sauce.

4. Heat some olive oil on a pan, stir fry the onion until wilted and turn transparent, then put it on the big bowl with the noodle.

5. Heat some olive oil on the pan, stir fry the green onion for one minute, then add them to the big bowl.

6.Heat more olive oil on the pan, add the garlic, stir until fragrant

7. Add the beef, 3 tbs soy sauce and 2 pinch of sugar. Stir until the beef cooked, then transfer them into the big bowl.

8. Add some roasted sesame seeds if you like

9. Add another 2 tbs of sesame oil and soy sauce to season, mix them well. Somehow, whenever I season this type of noodle, I always end up using large amount of soy sauce...and no, they don't taste salty! :)

10. This dish best serve with kimchi <3

Bihun Kuah Ayam / Vermicelli Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup is a very well known comfort food in a lot of places. In USA, the famous chicken noodle soup is made out of pasta, chicken, carrots, celery and potatoes. In Indonesia, we have different version of chicken noodle soup that is using bihun or vermicelli.
This dish is one of my mother's favorite food, also the go to food to order when any of us got sick. I remember that we always order this food from one of the oldest Chinese restaurant in Bali, Atom Baru. The light taste of this soup makes it easy for the sick people to chow down. I was craving for this bihun last Sunday and decided to cook it based on my memory of the taste. It's really fun to re'create my childhood dishes and introduce them to my new family, hubby and bebe. The soup turn out to be really good, light and tasty at the same time, my family loved it! :)

Ingredients,
Bihun / Rice Vermicelli / Starch Stick.
8 cups of home made chicken broth
1 pack of chicken tight with bone and skin
2 handful of garlic, crush. divide into 2 part
1 handful of shallot, slice thinly
2 thumb of ginger, slice crosswise
a bunch of green vegetable (I forgot it's name...) cut into 4
salt
white pepper
sugar

Cooking Method,

1. Put the chicken, ginger slices and half of the garlic into a pot. 

2. Add 8 cups of water and 1/2 tbs salt, then bring them to boil.

3. Take the chicken out (don't throw the water), cut into small piece, set aside. 

4. Steam the green vegetable, then set aside. The vegetables on the picture bellow may look like a lot, but once they are cooked, they'll shrink to around the 1/4 of what you see now.

5. Heat a new big pot, drizzle some sesame oil.

6. Add the shallot and garlic, stir fry until golden.

7. Add the chicken pieces, stir for 5 minutes.

8. Add the water from boiling the chicken earlier, use a fine tea strainer, then add the home made chicken stock. Season the soup with salt and pepper, also 2-3 pinch of sugar.

9. Cook your bihun / vermicelli on separate pan, then serve them in a bowl with the soup and vegetable.

Thai Crispy Fried Chicken Wings

My friend, Ann Lee made such a delicious fried chicken, and I'm addicted to it! She shared me the surprisingly simple recipe and also got me the special batter mix for the fried chicken. She said that you can just use the flour mix, but usually she also added some oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic and white pepper into the mix.
For me, I marinaded the chicken for at least 2 hours before I added the batter mix. My fried chicken got a deep brown color from the soy sauce.
I made this fried chicken for last week family care group, and everyone loved the super crispy fried chicken :)

Ingredients,

24 chicken wings

Fried chicken batter mix

2/3 cup garlic, crush & chop finely

3 tbs oyster sauce

4 tbs light soy sauce

2 pinch of sugar

dash of white pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Cooking Method,

1. Mix the chicken wings with the garlic, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and pepper.

2. Cover the bowl and let it sit on the fridge for 2-3 hours.

3. Pour the batter mix and add a little bit amount of water to form a thick paste like the picture bellow.

4. Heat the oil, I always use 325F to fry my chicken. Fry the chicken until it turn brown & cooked through.

Nasi Ayam / Stir Fry Chicken with Vegetable on Rice

Nasi ayam is one of our family favorite foods. My sister, my brother and I love this food a lot, and usually mami (our mother) will ordered this food from a small restaurant inside Bali's biggest traditional market. I believe the restaurant name is restaurant Honey, or more known as "Fong Sen" (the late owner of the restaurant), and they sell the most delicious nasi ayam ever!
I was so craving for their nasi ayam and attempted to make one myself. The result is delicious and it tasted similar to those that I always eat from "Fong Sen". Now, I'm proudly share this super simple, and easy recipe with you all :)

Ps. This is a big batch, and other than the sauce, I didn't measure the other ingredients, but you can see the amount of the foods from the picture.

Ingredients,
cooked white rice
1 pack of boneless chicken tight, sliced.
broccoli, cut into small pieces, then soaked in warm water with salt for 20 minutes.
nappa cabbage, sliced.
carrot, slice crosswise.
1 cup of water
Sesame oil

Sauce Ingredients,

2 handful of garlic, crush & chop. Divide into 2

1 thumb ginger, sliced thinly

4 tbs light soy sauce

1.5 tbs chicken stock powder

2 tbs cornstarch diluted in water for thickening the sauce

Cooking Method,

1. Heat the pan, drizzle generous amount of sesame oil then add half of the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant. 

2. Add the chicken, then the soy sauce. Stir fry until the chicken cooked, then set aside.

3. Wash the pan, then add sesame oil then add the garlic, stir until fragrant.

4. Add the broccoli and carrot, stir until they are half cook.

5. Add the nappa cabbage and chicken stock. Mix them well, add the water and cover the pan with lid.

6. Wait until the vegetable are wilted & soft.

7. Add the cooked chicken back to the pan, mix them well, taste them and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. 

8. Add the diluted corn starch to thickening the sauce. You can skip this part if you prefer thinner sauce.

9. Pour it on top of white rice, it's ready to be enjoy with your family & friends :)