Kiwi - Avocado Pudding

Mostly people here use Avocado for guacamole, but in Southeast Asia, we also use Avocado for desserts! We add into our ice cream mix, blend it with palm sugar and some spices for fresh dessert or add it into agar. I love agar not only because it's a seaweed, I like the taste better than gelatine, I'm more familiar to the texture and easier to deal with:) compare to gelatine that can 'fight' you during the molding. Read here if you want to know more about Agar and Gelatine.

Ingredients:

- 1 Medium or large size avocado, blend it

- 7 gr powder agar

- 2 to 3 drops of Pandan Essence. "Koepoe-Koepoe" brand is thicker, smell stronger and can be found in every Asian grocery.

- 3½ C Milk (fat free or whole) can even be replaced with coconut milk if you wish.

- 1½ C Sugar

- 1 large egg if you wish, beat well.

Direction:

- Before start cooking, prepare the mold. Pick 8 to 12 small mold, wet with water (don't let any water sit on the bottom of the bowl). Add slice of your favorite decoration; either slices of lemon, slices of kiwi or anything else.

- Put these slices on the bottom of the bowl. Put into the fridge to keep the fruit fresh.

- Dissolve agar powder into the milk (milk or coconut milk is to replace water) then bring to stove top on medium heat, add sugar and keep stirring until start boiling.

- Add 2 to 3 drops of the Pandan Essence to the mix. Then add egg to add thickness of the mixture.

- Later add avocado purée into the mix.

- When the mix is in constant boiling, immediately remove the pot from the stove. Let cool for about 15 to 20 minutes (cool enough not to burn the decorative fruit), but don't let it too cool or it will start harden. Pour the mix into the mold bowls.

- Keep in fridge until ready to be serve. When serve, just prepare the dish, turn the bowl upside down. Agar will slide down and sit on the serving plate.

- Enjoy!

Tempe (Tahu) Orak-Arik (Sauted Tempe and Tofu)

Through browsing on the net and talking to people at the grocery stores, I found out many people in this part of the world (USA) are more and more familiar with Tempeh - one of the most delicious vegetarian food option from Indonesia. But only a few know how to prepare it; in fact perhaps many have known and have been using Tempeh for quite sometime without knowing its origin, therefor not knowing where to ask on how to prepare it, delicious way, the way mostly Indonesian do. So, here is one of so many variation on preparing Tempeh that I'm going to share...

Ingredients:
- 2 packages of Organic Tempeh of "Turtle Island Food Inc.", dice about ¾ X ¾ inch.
- 2-3 Jalapeno pepper, slice thinly
- 8 to 10 Bird eye chili (or Thai chili), slice thinly. You can reduce the amount to reduce the hot flavor
- 4 red pearl onion, ground
- 2 cloves garlic, ground
- 1 ½ inch of fresh Galangal, slice thin or smashed/jerked
- 2 to 3 pieces of Indian Bay leaves (can be found in Viet Wah or Uwajimaya stores in Seattle)
- 1 big and fresh stem of Lemon Grass, smashed
- 3 to 4 tablespoon Kecap Manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
- salt to taste

Direction:
- Prepare all the spices according to the ingredients order, set aside.
- There are two ways on preparing the Tempeh; you can either bake it first until it's cooked enough; for this way then you need to wrap it in aluminum foil to avoid burn or over cooked. Bake at 350 degree for about 15-20 minutes.
- If you choose to saute it; then you enough cooking oil to saute; either with Olive oil or Canola Oil. Saute until all look evenly golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Heat about 2 tablespoon of cooking oil on the pot/wok on medium heat.
- Add ground red pearl onion and ground garlic until it produces nice smell, then add Daun Salam, jerked galangal and lemon grass. Toss for about a minute.
- Add jalapeno and Thai chili, toss for a bit then add Tempeh; followed by Kecap Manis and salt.
- Stir and toss for another few minutes until the food is brown (Kecap Manis will add darker brown color to the food) and you will see that the chili and jalapeno is cooked.
- Remove from the heat, remove Daun Salam, Galangal and lemon grass from the food and serve.