sop merah

Sop merah is comfort food in my family. It’s a type of Indonesian chicken soup with sweet and sour taste. The red colour comes partially from the juice of carrots and tomatoes, but mostly from the sweet and sour sauce. If I were to make a comparison to other cuisine, it would be like the Italian minestrone soup in that it is tomato based soup, but it’s also like Korean budae jjigae 부대찌개 in that it has canned spam and frankfurts in it. But it’s not really an exact comparison. You just have to try it for yourself.

When I cook this, I always cook a massive amount. Like spagbol, I eat what I want and freeze the rest for those days I just can't be bothered to cook.

Since I blogged about this last, I’ve made a few changes to make it easier but still authentic.

Ingredients:

• 2kg chicken drumsticks, skin off
• 1 bunch spring onions, half bunch left whole, the other half bunch is sliced
• 1kg carrot, half is juiced (pulp removed), the other half is cut into 1cm pieces
• 1kg tomatoes, juiced (pulp removed)
• 500g small swiss brown mushrooms, quartered
• 250g frankfurt sausages, cut 1cm pieces and pan-fried
• 2 cans of spam (I like the "less sodium" type), cut into 1cm pieces and pan-fried
• 2 of 240g Lee Kum Kee sweet & sour sauce
• Salt, white pepper to taste
• Vinegar, sweet soy sauce/sugar to taste

Optional fried prawn balls:

• 500g prawns, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Boil the chicken drumsticks in an 8L stock pot with half a bunch of whole spring onions, tomato juice, carrot juice and water to cover. Season with 2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp white pepper.
2. After 20 minutes of boiling, add the carrots and swiss brown mushrooms. Boil for another 20 minutes.
3. Strain the chicken and shred it to bite-sized pieces, and add it back to the broth.
4. Add all the sweet & sour sauce, the pan-fried spam and sausages to the broth, wait until it comes back to the boil. The broth should be watery, if it’s too thick you need to add more water. In my 8L stock pot, with all ingredients inside, I added water to the brim.
5. Taste if the sweet and sourness is just right. If it needs more sourness, add vinegar. If more sweetness is required, add max 3 tbsp of ABC kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), and sugar if you need more sweetness.
6. Garnish with spring onions and serve with steamed jasmine rice

Optional prawn balls:

1. Mix ingredients for prawn balls.
2. Shaped into sausages and deep-fry in oil until golden
3. Cut into 1cm pieces and add them to the soup before serving.

If I'm perfectly honest, the prawn balls most often than not I don't bother with. It adds another level of specialness to the soup. But, sometimes it is just one steps too many.

Also, with the sweet and sour sauce, I've tried a few different brands, but the one that is to my taste is the Lee Kum Kee brand. Feel free to use any brand you like.

Ribless Chicken Ribs in Korea

Last winter, I was given a chance to go to South Korea for free, all I had to do was pack enough warm clothes for a week and get there. Being a huge K-drama and K-pop fan, it should be a no-brainer. Not to mention my long torrid affair with Korean food, my fondness was to the point where I jokingly told my husband if ever we got fired from our current jobs, we should think about starting fresh in Korea.

soto ayam lamongan

I'm not surprised that soto is one of the top contenders for the title of Indonesia's national dish. I'd probably be more surprised if it doesn't win this imaginary contest.

Soto is one of those dishes that ticked all the boxes. It's packed with enough tropical spices to make it somewhat exotic, but the flavour is mild enough to be loved by indonesians and foreigners alike. If you're a new visitor to the country and you've had your lifetime share of nasi goreng in your brief visit, soto would be my suggestion for you to have a go at.

ayam goreng tenes

Fried chicken, one might say, would be the dish that transcends culture, country, age and palate. I can't think of a lot of people who wouldn't be satisfied with a beautifully fried chicken (except vegetarians, of course).

bubur ayam agus, breakfast food for dinner

A warming bowl of bubur (porridge or congee), to me, is the ultimate comfort food. I associate porridge with those times when I'm sick, when my palate and my stomach couldn't handle anything more than the soft and comforting slurry of rice going down my aching throat and warming my stomach.

pastel tutup malang

Pastel tutup, for all intents and purposes, is the indonesian version of a shepherd's pie. Like the english pie, pastel tutup is a meat pie with a potato crust topping. But that is where the similarities end. Unlike an english shepherd's pie, which can be heavy or even fatty depending on what type of meat mince used, pastel tutup's filling is light and a joy to eat.

depot sulaiman ayam bakar bumbu rujak

The best way to describe ayam bumbu rujak is without words.

nao miso ramen

Ramen, one of my favourite things to eat of all time. A decent bowl of ramen is also one of the hardest things to find in Perth.

frangipani bali nasi campur

I like picture menus, it's like the trailer to a movie, the blurb to a book. You can decide from the photos if the food is to your liking before committing to a restaurant.

malioboro ayam tulang lunak

Tender chicken thigh, covered lovingly with delicious salty egg sauce. How tender? Very tender. Super. Extremely.

bumbu bali nasi campur

Gedang mekuah - Rp 70,000

Gedang mekuah is a bowl of spicy green papaya and seafood soup. It was my appetiser when I went for lunch at this restaurant called Bumbu Bali.

a story of bali & a review of bebek betutu pak man

Ayam Betutu - Rp 20,000 per piece

Bali, the island of the Gods, or better known to you and you as that place where Elizabeth Gilbert (picture Julia Roberts) found the Love part (in the form of dreamy Javier Bardem) in the book/movie/extravaganza that is Eat, Pray, Love. I haven't actually read the book, but I did watch the movie because everyone else was talking about is so much.

thai gourmet cafe gai yang & som tum set

For us, there were more misses than hits with the Thai Gourmet Cafe. We headed off to Northbridge for an early lunch at the cafe one Saturday morning. The place wasn't that busy at 11am. The picture menu convinced me to order the BBQ chicken set (thai: gai yang & som tum). My sister ordered the chicken pineapple fried rice and my brother-in-law the pad thai.

basic chicken stock

Chicken stock is a staple in my kitchen. I usually make a big batch every month and freeze it in a few different sized containers. Small containers to flavour things like stir-fries, or medium to big containers for soups.

Ikea pruta containers (set of 17) - $5.95

cafe asia stir fried chicken with fresh mushroom

Cafe Asia, or Asian Cafe as we like to call it, is a frequent hang-out, mainly because my parents and sister like this place so much. Personally, I can't see why.

Last night we went there again, the restaurant was almost at full capacity with all kinds of Northbridge riff raff. There was a multicultural family at one table, a quintessential Italian nonna and nonno at another, and there were asian students all abounds.

hawker's cuisine sambal kang kong

I have actually blogged about Hawker’s Cuisine before. But since it was early last year and it was when I was still using my old format, with the claustrophobic 4-picture-in-a-frame photo, I feel like a brand new post is warranted.

I have been to Hawker’s Cuisine a few times since then and I haven’t been disappointed with the food yet. The service, on the other hand, is another matter. When you get a nice waitperson like I had this time, you’ll have the best service. But, when you get a rude one, well, I would just say to myself, I’m here for the food. Such are Chinese restaurants, you have to take the good with the bad.As with typical non-high-end Chinese restaurants, the décor was an afterthought. A few lanterns here, Chinese paintings there, an aquarium, bright orangey-yellow chairs, bright colour wall and presto. It’s definitely not a first date kind of restaurant, it’s more like a 30th date sort of place.

cathay pacific meals

Seasonal fresh fruit

Yoghurt

Sweet & sour chicken with vegetables & steamed jasmine rice

Banana loaf

It's been so hectic lately that I find it hard to find the time to blog, what with the new house, the furniture shopping for the new house, the assembling of the furniture, the cleaning and the moving. It feels like I've been spending every single hour getting the house ready. But tonight I have resolved to make time to write this blog. It's about the food I ate during my journey back to Australia flying with Cathay Pacific.

wild wing maverick combo

The Wild Wing restaurant was more like a sports bar than a restaurant. On the walls were LCD TVs tuned in to various types of sport. It was overrun by college kids type. From its name, I was imagining an over-the-top cowboy theme. But, although there were a few pictures here and there in that flavour, it was not too overboard.

Myself, my husband and a friend went there for dinner. I suggested the Maverick combo, a set of 50 pieces of chicken wings in 3 different seasonings. These two guys almost chickened out though, pardon the pun, they thought 50 pieces were too many. Lucky I didn't let them deter me.

I got myself the Honey Garlic & BBQ, my husband got the Dry Cajun and I think Timo got the Ring of Fire. We also ordered a side of Original Fries.

Original Fries - $4.99

stir-fry chicken & noodle with egg sauce

This stir-fry chicken is originally supposed to be served with rice. But, I modified it to my liking by serving it with noodle and adding the egg sauce, and voila! For those of you who has rightly said that I am way too much of a carnivore, this one is for you. There are more vegetables than meat in this dish, so it's super healthy.

destiny crispy chicken with honey

Crispy chicken with honey black pepper - $8.99

We were in Vaughan looking at properties and we got so carried away that we forgot to have lunch. Initially we wanted to go to Chako Barbecue Izakaya and have a big all-you-can-eat feed, but when we got there it was already 2.30pm (their lunch service stops at 3pm). So, we ended up next door at Destiny Asian Fusion.