Mie Babi Jamur Bakso / Egg Noodle Soup with Pork, Mushroom and Meatball

Mie ayam bakso / Egg noodle with chicken and meatball is a very famous dish in Indonesia. Most of the noodle shop own by Chinese immigrant, but other than that we have a lot of hawker style or cheaper version of this noodle too...you can find the noodle cart almost everywhere in Indonesia.
My mom used to have a noodle shop, she sold pork noodle and chicken noodle as well...she made her own noodle, it was a family recipe she got from her parents, my mom also made her home made wonton. I remember her deep fried wonton was crazy delicious!!

 I was craving for that kind of noodle and trying to re-create the dish, this is my second attempt making this dish.  Previously I made this dish with the dried wonton skin and fried meatball (look at picture below), too bad my fried meatball was too tough...lol...I have to try to make the fried meatball again, once I hit the perfection, I'll share the recipe here :)

So, they are 4 components of this dish that need to be cook separately: the meat, noodle, vegetable and the soup.

THE SOUP,

Ingredients,
8 cups of water
1 pack of pork bone
7 cloves garlic, crush and chop finely
a bunch of green onion (about 7 stalks), slice thinly
1/2 tsp white pepper
3 tsp sugar
3.5 tsp salt
1 pack of beef meatballs (I like to use meatball with tendon)

Cooking Method,
1. Wash the pork bone and soaked them in cold water for 20 minutes to drain the bloods.

2. Boil water on a big pot.

3. Put the pork bone into the boiling water, let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Then you'll see the foam rise to the water surface. We don't want those dirty stuff.

4. Throw out the dirty water, rinse the pork bone one more time, rinse the pot, and put new 8 cups water to the pot.

5. Use high temperature, it it boil then low the heat to simmer. Simmer the bone for at least 3 hours or until the meat fall apart from the bone and the broth turn milky. Add more water to retain the 8 cups amount of broth.

6. Take away all the bones, and meat until you got clean broth.

7. Add the green onions, garlic, white pepper, salt and sugar. Bring to boil one more time, then add the meatballs. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. 

THE MEAT,

Ingredients,
1.7 lbs ground pork
1 can string mushroom
1 handful garlic, smash and chop finely
3 tbs sweet soy sauce
1.5 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp
salt, as needed.
Olive oil

Cooking Method,
1. Heat a pan, drizzle some olive oil on it.
2. When the oil is hot, add the garlic

3. Stir fry the garlic until fragrant and wilted, but not brown. Then add the meat

4. Stir the meat until it half cooked, then add all the seasoning. When the meat cooked thoroughly, add the mushroom and mix well

5. Set aside the cooked meat 

THE GREEN VEGETABLE,
Ingredients,
one big bunch of green vegetable, cut into 4 lenghwise

Cooking Method,
1. Cut the green vegetable and rinse 3 times

2. Divide the green vegetable into 2 part, the leaves and the other bottom half (the leaves cook faster). Boil the quickly and then set aside.

THE NOODLE,

Ingredients,

Wonton noodle / thick egg noodle

sesame oil

sweet soy sauce

Cooking Method,

1. Open the noodle from the knot, then boil them on boiling water until cook (follow the instruction of the packaging).

2. Drain the noodle, then drizzle some sesame oil and sweet soy sauce on the bowl. 

3. Add the individual potion into the bowl and mix the noodle with the sesame oil and the sweet soy sauce

SERVING,

place the boil vegetable and meat on top of the noodle. I like to have the meatballs and the soup on separate bowl, some people like to pour the soup into the noodle bowl...it's all up to one's personal preference :)

Fragrant Pork Bone Soup with Winter Melon and Pandan Leaves

Last month during the lunch time at Church, my friend, Yuth made this delicious pork bone soup. It was so light, yet very fragrant and flavorful, I ate 2 bowls of them...haha. I asked him what ingredients did he use for the soup? "secret" he said...later on he told me that his secret ingredients was the pandan leaves and also he didn't use ginger for the soup.
I always love winter melon, I think it's the best match for Chinese pork bone soup. Sadly, I almost chop off my finger one day while trying to cut the hard skin of winter melon...and I haven't cook winter melon again ever since. Yuth told me his tips to cut the winter melon, so instead of trying to cut the hard skin, he told me to use peeler to shave off the skin. I tried it and it was so easy!! I wish I knew this tips earlier, so I can enjoy my favorite winter melon more. So, here's my version of the soup. Yuth only used 1 pandan leaves and he used cilantro on his soup. I skip the cilantro and use more pandan leaves.

Ingredients,
1 pack of pork short rib, chopped
5 pandan leaves
1 bucket of cut winter melon
1 handful of garlic, crush.
salt & white pepper
3 pinch of sugar

Cooking Method,

1. Wash the pork bone and soaked them in cold water for 20 minutes to drain the bloods. If you are in hurry, you can omit this step.
2. Boil water on a big pot.
3. Put the pork bone into the boiling water, let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Then you'll see the foam rise to the water surface. We don't want those dirty stuff.
4. Throw out the dirty water, rinse the pork bone one more time, rinse the pot, and put new water to the pot.
5. Boil the water with the pork bone in it one more time. Use High temperature
6. Add the pandan leaves and garlic into the pot.

7. Season with salt, white pepper and sugar.

8. After the soup is boiling, turn down the heat to simmer. Cook with the lid close for 1 hour.

9. After 1 hour, add the winter melon, the continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.

10. The soup is ready when the short rib and winter melon turn soft. The pork meat should be easily fall from the bone when poke with fork.

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.

Pindang Iga / Sweet, Sour & Spicy Ribs Soup

I remember that I cooked this food for my sister while she visited me in Seattle on December 2010, and I  she loved it a lot! and hubby also loves this dish. It's the perfect dish to eat for a rainy cold weather.
Unlike Balinese fishy pindang, this Javanese pindang is very different in taste. This Javanese pindang is sweet, sour and spicy, the unique combination of flavors will make your tongue dancing and keep wanting this food more and more.
This recipe was adapted from Masakan Indonesia Untuk Jamuan

Ingredients,
3 lbs pork neck bone + pork ribs
Olive oil

Sauce Ingredients A ---> blend all the ingredients in food processor
1 tbs galangal powder
1 tsp turmetic powder
1 thumb of ginger
1 handful of garlic

Sauce Ingredients B,
4 lemongrass, smash it.
1 handful bay leaves
2 handful of shallot, thinly sliced.
2 tsp dark tamarind paste, dilute it in 1 cup of hot water
5 ripe tomatoes, sliced large chunk
10 red jalapeno, halves
4 bird eye chili (optional, if you want it more spicy)
3 tbs sweet soy sauce
2 tsp Javanese brown sugar
salt

Cooking Method,
1. Wash the pork bone and pork feet, then soaked them in cold water for 20 minutes to drain the bloods. If you are in hurry, you can omit this step, I did it too sometimes.
2. Boil water on a big pot.
3. Put the pork bone and pork feet into the boiling water, let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Then you'll see the foam rise to the water surface. We don't want those dirty stuff.
4. Throw out the dirty water, rinse the pork bone one more time, rinse the pot, and put new water to the pot.
5. Boil the water with the pork bone in it one more time. Use High temperature
6. Add salt, half of the tomatoes, lemongrass and bay leaves, simmer until the pork bone is soft. Approximately 2 hours.
7. Heat another pan, heat the olive oil on medium high heat.
8. Add the sliced shallot into the new pan, pan fry until it get brownish. 
9. Add the sauce ingredient A and mix it with the shallot until fragrant.
10. Add the cooked mixture of shallots & sauce ingredients A into the soup.
11. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients B into the soup, simmer for another 30 minutes.
12. Keep tasting, the end result should be sweet, sour and spicy. 
13. Serve it with warm steam rice, the authentic Indonesian style :)

Potato and Leek Soup

If you love a smooth, creamy, hearty and simply delicious soup, you should try this one!
It was a cold rainy day and I was hungry... I wanted to cook a delicious soup that won't take forever to cook, so it can't be a meaty soup that would required hours and hours of simmering. Then I decided to try cooking this potato and leek soup, an American classic.
This recipe was adapted from Emeril Lagasse's potato and leek soup recipe.

Ingredients,
2 large leeks
4 large russet potatoes, diced.
6 strips bacon, chopped.
2 tbs butter
3/4 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt & black pepper


Sauce Ingredients A ---> tie them inside a cheesecloth / put them inside a large tea bag
4 bay leaves
20 peppercorn
2 tsp dry thyme
2 green leaves from the leek

Garnish,
chive, chopped

Cooking Method,
1. Cut the Leek, separate the white part from the green part.
2. Halve the leek, rinse them clean, then sliced thinly crosswise, set aside.
3. Heat the large soup pot, using medium heat, melt the butter.
4. Add the chopped bacon, stir until it soft for 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the sliced leek, stir until it wilted for around 5 minutes.
6. Add the wine and bring to boil.
7. Add the chicken stock, diced potatoes, sauce ingredients A.
8. Season them with salt and black pepper.
9. Bring to boil one more time, then lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
10. When the potato are falling apart, it's time to puree the soup.
11. Puree the soup in food processor
12. Add the heavy cream to the pureed soup, the adjust the seasoning.
13. Serve the soup with sprinkle chive and some freshly ground black pepper.

Sop Buntut / Oxtail Soup

Oxtail soup always reminds me of my younger brother. I remember that oxtail soup is one of his favorite dish and he always ask mom to buy him oxtail soup from a restaurant not far from our house. So, if we had oxtail soup at home, most likely it's because my brother requested it.
My mom doesn't cook oxtail soup, and even my master-chef grandma told me "if you want to cook oxtail soup, just use that instant spice pack, it's taste so good and so easy!". So I always been using the instant spice pack ever since. I even remember the very first time I cook oxtail soup, I didn't have any idea that I had to cook the soup for a long to achieve the tasty soup with tender meat. I only cooked it for 30 minutes, and the meat was so rubbery like sandals...lol. It was on 2006 in Seattle while I live together with my brother.
Last month, my friend Tess invite me over for dinner, and she cooked me oxtail soup. I asked her if she made the soup from scratch (not using instant spice pack", and she said yes. She told me that she only seasoned the soup with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Nutmeg is the key ingredient here.
Inspired by her oxtail soup, I recreate my own version of oxtail soup. It's very easy and delicious <3

Ps. I usually don't use measurement while I'm cooking, but for the purpose of writing this recipe, I measure every spices and ingredients used to cooked this soup. Enjoy!

Ingredients,
2.9 lbs fresh oxtail
5 carrots, peeled & sliced
3 stalk celery
1 big thumb of ginger, sliced
1/2 cabbage, chopped big sliced
1 tbs butter
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
7 tsp nutmeg
1tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper

Sauce Ingredients A ---> blend all the ingredients in food processor
1 big onion
1 handful of garlic
2 handful of shallot

Garnish,
tomatoes, sliced
green onion, chopped.
lime, sliced.
fried shallot (bawang goreng)

Cooking Method,
1. Wash clean the oxtail, the  boil them in 12 cups of water for 20 minutes until it for the dirty foam. Remove the water, rinse the oxtail one more time.

2. Add 10 cup of cold water into the pan.
3. Add the oxtail and ginger, then bring to boil in high heat for 20 minutes.

4. Low the heat to simmer.
5. Add salt, pepper, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon powder.
6. Simmer for 1 hour, close the lid.
7. After 1 hour, add the carrots, celery and cabbage (the cabbage wasn't in the picture).

8. Take another pan, heat the butter.

9. Pan fry the blended sauce ingredient A with the butter. Then add it into the soup.

10. Simmer for another 2-3 hours or until the meat is tender and easily falls off from the bone.
11. Put slices of fresh tomato on the bowl, then pour the oxtail soup.

12. Garnish the soup with some green onions, squeeze some lemon and sprinkle the fried shallot...bon apetit!!