Javanese bibimbap a.k.a PECEL ! ^______^

another colorfull bento!! ^____^
looks like bibimbap huh? :D
but this is 100% INDONESIAN. we call it with 'pecel'.
different from korean bibimbap, all the veggies here are boiled and plain. We do not eat this with gochujang, but instead with chilli pasta, we mix it with peanut sauce. we also add fried tempeh and tofu as the additional dishes.
while in the other tier, we have brown rice, with fried shrimp in condiment, fried egg (sunny egg-but i roll it so it looks more stylish :p), and some mixed fruit. lovely..

actually this theme caused by friend's request, he said he misses Indonesia so much after years in Brunei.  he misses his homeland's cuisine. and he asked me to make bento si ayah with the original indonesian contents.

this morning, after i tagged him on this photo at my facebook, he said,
"I miss my home so badly, thanks to you, for making the traditional ones and tagging me on the picture....it cures my homesickness..."

I'm so pleased to know that.. :,)
wishing him to get home soon....

xoxo

Sundanese Traditional Cuisine

A WEEK !!!
yes, i didn't make any bento for a week. My last bento was the 'aishiteru' theme, that i've been posted at last wednesday. That's because i'm a lil bit busy here for these few days, besides, last week hubby got fever--so he didn't go to work and that caused me in pausing the bentoing activities too.

well, today i made him this humble bento. Hubby loved it so much, he thanked me a lot this morning for making him bento again. And the menu was fit his taste.
These are "Sundanese traditional Cuisine". The Sundanese are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Indonesian island of Java, like us :D--but we're not the native, actually we're Javanese that stayed in the land of Sundanese. You know something--The name Sunda derives from the word su which means goodness. Sunda also means light, cleanness, bright, and white.
well, because of that, i try to make the bento's menus as simple as possible.

in the tier there were: hot plain rice with corn maize, baby nila fishes, fried tempeh-tofu, stir-fry watercress leaves, and condiment with shrimp paste in it. yummie :D
well hubby said, these remains him to the root-culture of national culinary. indeed.

happy wednesday, all !

*wish me luck, i'm in the progress of making these bentos to a book. well.. hopefully :D

love, kisses and hugs.

Aishiteru

what a busy day!
goede middag girls  \^___^/



Indeed a busy day--even days.
Just on this beginning of week, I've started another online shop. 
Quite smoothly with my first e-shop of educative toys liliput for kids, now i make the liliput for moms and gadgets bento si ayah. For 3 years i've dream to make another branch of liliput for kids, named as liliput for moms. It'll sells things that mommies need. Now, the dream comes true. 

my first original brand : Liliput

dream comes true-my second brand : Liliput for moms

While gadgets bento si ayah actually came from friends on my facebook that asked me, not only to write the review of dailies bento si ayah, but also sells the gadgets that bento si ayah needs in making. That's because, lots of them eager to make bento, but didn't have the gadgets cause the difficulties in finding them or the expensive prices. my gratitude for them *

my bento e-shop for bento gadgets

but, for now, i only sale them through my facebook. i haven't made the blog yet. only liliput for kids, but in indonesian, not yet in english. Check it out on here. 


well, 
for today's bento i made the aishiteru theme.
like usual, i never did have any ideas or plans before i made the bento. like today..

do you see the mantou? according to Wikipedia,

Mantou, often referred to as Chinese steamed bun/bread, is a kind of steamed bun originating in China. They are typically eaten as a staple in northern parts of China where wheat, rather than rice, is grown. They are made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents. In size and texture, they range from 4 cm, soft and fluffy in the most elegant restaurants, to over 15 cm, firm and dense for the working man's lunch. (As white flour, being more heavily processed, was once more expensive, white mantou were somewhat of a luxury in preindustrial China.)

i was curious. Usually we consumed this by buying them from the dept.store. They have the marvelous and cute shapes. So i tried to make it by myself. This is my first time. :)

The sticky dough and the difficulties in forming them, were paid with the scent from the steamed bun and the taste. i love it so much T___T (even though the shape is horrible and quite simple :D)--the shortcoming is only on the fact that the bun turns to a bit hard if cold :D. well, cause of that, i tell hubby to put the buns in the rice cooker for 10 minutes before the lunchtime. anyway, i brought him 3 buns here. they're about 5 x 3 cm. But hubby said, he's full enough only with two buns. So he gave the rest to his coworker.
and, do you see the apple craft? it says "Ai"--the japanese means "love". yes, at first i didn't have any ideas for today's theme. but then i saw the buns... i made them with love, indeed. so, i thought, why don't we use the 'love' theme for today. Then i asked hubby to search for the picture of this word in japanese. He wrote it on the paper .. very stiff :D that paper is my guidance in making the apple's craft. I put some heart picks to emphasized the atmosphere.

 

here they are! the dishes that made hubby goes mad :D He looooooooooooooves these so much. And just after the dish cooked, hubby stood in front of my kitchen's door and asked me "can i have my breakfast earlier pleeeeaasee" --after i gave him a little try for the dish.
well, this is gyoza. This is what Wikipedia said :

Jiǎozi 餃子 or 饺子 (Chinese transliteration), gyōza (Japanese transliteration), Mo:Mo: or Momocha म:म: or ममचा (Nepali transliteration), or pot sticker is a Chinese dumpling widely spread to Japan, Eastern and Western Asia.
Jiaozi typically consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together or by crimping. Jiaozi should not be confused with wonton: jiaozi have a thicker, chewier skin and a flatter, more oblate, double-saucer like shape (similar in shape to ravioli), and are usually eaten with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce (and/or hot chili sauce); while wontons have thinner skin, are sphere-shaped, and are usually served in broth. The dough for the jiaozi and wonton wrapper also consist of different ingredients.

I made the filling from the mixture of shredded cabbage,  well cooked beef diced in the very small cut--like minced meat, grated ginger, scallions, garlic, soyu, and olive oil.  If you like, you can make the filling from almost every things..minced chicken fillet, vegetables (for the vegen), shrimp, sausage, anything :)

as vegetable-dish, i made him "cauliflower in sweet gravy". this is a perfect combination! :D Well, below, is hubby's breakfast :

so humble isn't it :D and i made one too for hubby's coworker. there you go girls, bento si ayah for wednesday!! 


love, kisses and hugs.

2 days of bento-ing reviews

buongiorno !!
\^___^/


ok, i haven't posted the Friday's bento yet. 
so, i'll post it with today's bento :D


oh,
my friends on my facebook, like usual, asked me to write down the recipes. all of them, they said--for the friday's and today's. 
so, i'll write only the selected menus ok? check them out!
---

Friday, 1st April 2011

this is hubby's new lunch box. we bought it because i love the colors, the space are minis and enough for his portion. even though his coworkers asked him whether it's enough or not, hubby said the portion was perfecto, enough. not too small, but not too full too.

`Well, these are the menus : 

the rice tier was fits for 1 1/2 rice bowls. so i compacted the rice to the small tier and gave fried tempeh that i molded to bear shape. and the watermelon formed from kyuuri and imitation crab stick. while the watermelon seeds made from the kyurii seeds itself. 

as the side dishes, 
first i made him chicken wing in oyster sauce with sesame seeds sprinkle. he loved this so badly. at first, i didn't trust him. but then, i tried it my self, and yes, it was delicious :).


this is the recipe :

chicken wing in oyster sauce with sesame seeds sprinkle

ingredients :

6 chicken wings

2 cloves of garlic, chopped 

1 cm ginger, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

sugar, pepper and salt to taste
100 ml of fresh water

sesame seeds

oil to saute

how to:

1. season the chicken wings with salt. 
2. fry the chicken wings until cooked, set aside.
3. heat the oil and saute until fragrant the garlic and ginger.
4. add the fried chicken wings, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper.
5. pour the water, and cook until the sauce shrinking and the seasons seep.
6. sprinkle with sesame seeds at the top.

there you go, that simple!

as the base is the cajun red beans. I found the original recipe from ken's blog. but i did some differences, since i didn't have the ingredients he asked for. here is the bento si ayah's recipe :

cajun red beans

Ingredients:

smoked beef sausage (cut into small pieces)
1 cup onion (diced)

celery (diced)

green pepper (diced)

garlic (chopped)

chicken stock

red beans (rinsed and drained)
red paprika powder and  cayenne pepper (or to taste) 

oregano

bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Add the sausage and saute until lightly golden brown, about 5-7 minutes, and set aside.
3. Add the onions, celery and green pepper to the pan and cook until tender, about 7-10minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the stock, beans, ham hock, paprika, cayenne, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer covered for 1-3 hours.
7. serve it

i also made him asparagus with poached egg in dill sauce. my friend said, poaching egg is the parameter of the expert chef :) because, even though it's a simple task, but it needs a precise timing and heat. lots of cooker, make this not in the perfect form : the egg yolk is too well-cooked, or they couldn't move it to the top of dishes without breaking the egg yolk. 
well, at first i thought, i was failed too. but then hubby said, the poaching egg is perfect. the egg yolk very dilute and i could move it to the tier without breaking the egg yolk. fuuuh.. :D

hubby's breakfast was the same menu :)

that's all for the friday's bento :)

--------

Monday, 4th April on 2011

the same tiers, with the different menu! :D
like usual, i didn't plan any for the menu. my friend said, today's menu are Italian! well, i guess they're right.

yummie!
the main dish is baked rice with smoke-beef sausage. with side dishes of spaghetti with chicken cutlet, Javanese steak, and brown mashed potatoes. as my friends' requests, i'll write the baked rice recipe and the javanese steak.

baked rice with 
smoke-beef sausages

ingredients:

oil 

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 part of onion, diced

1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce

1 tea spoon of tomatoes puree

100 ml chicken stock

pepper, salt to taste

100gr mixed vegetables (you can use the packed ones, but bento si ayah prefers to cut the vegetable itself, it's fresher) 

red chilli pepper, seeded, sliced thinly

cooked rice

smoke beef sausages, cut to pieces

the topping:

butter

1 tea spoon of wheat flour

150 ml milk

cheese, grated

direction:

1. heat the oil, saute the garlic with onion until fragrant. add the worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, and chicken stock. stir well. add the salt and pepper, mixed vegetables, and the red chilli pepper. set aside
2. as the topping : heat the butter, add the flour. while stirring, pour the milk and cook until it gravy and thickens. add the cheese. stir well. set aside
3. take the aluminum foil dish, put the rice in. 
4. give some mixed vegetables with seasons, the top topping, and the sausages.
5. baked in 180 degrees heat, for 20 minutes. 
6. ready to serve

the second is Javanese steak.

don't forget to reserving the mixed vegetables as one of the compliments. you may serve this with french fries, local potato fries, or brown mashed potato fries like bento si ayah.

12:50 pm

ahahaha, actually i don't think it's important to write the hash (brown mashed) potatoes recipe  here :D but since my friends keep asking about this, ok--i'll write it :D

all you need to do is :

Beat the egg in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, mix together egg and onion with mashed potatoes (if you like, you can grated it, or diced it like mine). Add salt and pepper as you desire.

if you want to make it crispier, try not to use any eggs in it.

At a medium setting, heat olive oil in a medium size frying pan. Scoop the potato mixture into the frying pan in 4 inch circles, pat with a spatula to flatten the mounds to approximately 1/2 to 1 inch thick. Cook until bottom is browned. Flip the patty over and brown the other side.

anyway, this is how bento si ayah serve the dish :

Javanese steak

ingredients :

tenderloin beef, sliced thinly

butter

mixed vegetables

sauce :

oil

garlic

wheat flour

milk

salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

marinade:

salt

pepper

nutmeg

sweet-soy sauce

how to:

1. first marinate the beef with the seasons. keep it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. heat the butter on the pan, and grill the beef.
3. for the sauce : heat the oil, saute the garlic until fragrant. add the flour, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. stir until thickens.
4. serve the steak with sauce, mix vegetables, and the potatoes. 

simple isn't it?
hope you can make it too at home :)

well, i arrange the same menu for hubby's breakfast in the smaller portion, with fruits too. 

and the same menu for hubby's coworker order. there you go :) that's all for today girls..
love kisses and hugs 
xoxo