PAN-SEARED PLANTAIN (WITH GRATED CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE RICE)

Here is another fun dish to company a delicious hot black tea, plain without cream or sugar. A perfect match for afternoon tea! Last winter (January), after returning home from visiting my home-town (Jakarta) with the snow that covered Tri-Cities, my mind was wandering off to the warm, sunny, bright-blue skied Jakarta and voila! I made this delicious dish to heal 'the blue'...

Ingredients:

- 2 big Plantain, ripened (choose dark yellow skin with some black blemish) - or 4 small ones.

- Grated cheese (baby cheddar) or if you wish; young coconut: grated length-wise.

- Chocolate Rice

- Margarine to sear the plantain

Directions:

- If you're using the long/bigger plantains, cut them into half, then slice length-wise, into ¼ inch thin. If you're using the smaller plantain, then slice ¼ inch thin without cutting into half.

- Heat pancake griddle then add about a tablespoon of margarine. Then arrange the sliced plantains on the griddle.

- Turn them once the side is gold-brownish. Add margarine occasionally to keep the griddle well-greased.

- Remove from the heat.

- Arrange on a serving dish, while still hot; spread grated cheese on them (or the grated coconut), followed with chocolate rice.

- Serve while hot.

NOTE:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Plantains, here is a quick note about Plantain

RISOLES (INDONESIAN SPRING ROLLS WITH RAGOUT FILLING)

Type of pastry that possibly we adapted from western culture (Dutch) and getting a lot of adaptations and additions to the ingredients of skin and the contents (filling). This one is the "dutchy" style rather than the "lumpia type". Honestly, I think in Indonesia alone there are tons of confusion regarding to which one is "Risol", "Risoles" or "spring rolls" as there is only one particular type of "lumpia" which is commonly known from Semarang only. Anyway - that's why I put the title "with ragout filling", to define the kind. This one is the one which skin is soft instead of 'crispy-fried' one.
Ingredients:
SKIN:
- 2 eggs
- 150 gr flour
- 450 to 500 ml milk
- ½ teaspoon salt (enough to taste)

FILLING (RAGOUT):
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 2 big stems green onion, chopped
- 1 stem celery, chopped small
- 250 gr cooked chopped chicken
- 100 gr carrot (or about 1 big size) chopped
- 100 ml milk or can be replaced with chicken stock (sodium-free is my choice)
- 2 Tablespoon canola/olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 Tsp flour
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- sugar and salt to taste
- water
- 1 egg, beat well
- 100 gr bread crumbs

Directions:
FILLING (RAGOUT):
- Sauté the onions until cooked and brings nice aroma on low-medium heat.
- Add chicken and carrot, stir well and let sit for about 3 minutes.
- Dissolve the flour with a little water/milk, ready to be used.
- Add green onion and celery, milk or stock, salt and pepper, sugar, nutmeg and the dissolved flour into the pan.
- Cook until it forms thick sauce. Remove from the heat.

SKIN:
- Mix well eggs, milk and salt. Then add the flour slowly and gradually.
- Mix well and ready to cook.
- Heat the omelet pan, brush a little cooking oil on the surface.
- Pour about 1 and half tablespoon of the skin-mix to the pan. Spread evenly throughout the pan by tilting the pan around. As soon as the liquid turns solid (transparent look) remove immediately from the pan, into a flat and wide surfaced plate.
- Repeat the same procedure until all mixture is out and separate each spring rolls skin with parchment paper to avoid sticking to one another.

ASSEMBLY:
- Take one skin, add 1 tablespoon (or less depends on how big you want the spring roll is) on to the skin, fold.
- Roll the spring rolls on the well-beaten egg, then into the bread crumbs.
- Heat a frying pan and add cooking oil enough for deep frying the spring rolls.
- Fry the rolls until golden in color and remove, pat with paper towel to absorb the oil.
- Serve with bird-eye chili (Thai chili), hot sauce or peanut sauce!

Panada (Indonesia Empanada)

This is one of soulfood of Indonesia. Each time I made this, my memory goes back to late 70's and 80's when my mother and her friends made this. She learned this from her friend at church who was from North Sulawesi (as this is originally from Manado, North Sulawesi) and I remember how they twisted the edge of the bun with their own very fingers instead of like what I do; using the empanada mold:). Some people use shredded chicken rather than fish specially if you're allergic to seafood, but using Tuna is The Best:). Enjoy Trying!

Ingredients:

DOUGH:

• 1 teaspoon granulated yeast


• 25 ml lukewarm water


• 250 g bread flour (high protein)


• 1 egg


• 2 tablespoon sugar


• ½ teaspoon salt


• 100 ml lukewarm coconut milk

FILLING:

• 1 Tablespoon cooking oil


• 250 grams tuna steak, steam and chopped or ground


• 250 ml coconut milk (you might use less than what’s suggested here)


• 20 Lemon Basil leaves (daun kemangi)


• 1 Pandan leave, fine slice

Directions:

DOUGH:

Dissolve yeast into the lukewarm water, put aside until it’s sudsy. Put the flour in a mixing bowl, make a hole in the middle and put the egg, yeast mix, sugar and salt, mix thoroughly. Knead the dough well for about 3-4 minutes, then add coconut milk slowly, alternatively, just enough to form a smooth dough and not stick on your fingers. Make a ball of the dough, cover with a cloth and proof it for about 2 hours or until the dough rises.

FILLING:

Heat the frying pan and add the cooking oil. Sauté the ground ingredients until cooked, add fish and stir well. Add coconut milk and cook some more until the liquid dissolve, before it’s dry, add the leaves and remove from the heat.

To make Panada: Punch the middle of the dough, take an egg size of it, form round then flatten it. Put about 2 teaspoon of the filling mix in the center, cover the dough, pinch the edge with Empanada Mold. Deep fry in hot oil until golden-brown.