Lapis Surabaya Asli (Indonesian/Surabaya Layer Cake)

Honestly, I never made this cake before. I guess because I used to take it for granted that there are so many relatives, aunts and neighbors who can make this kind of cake - so I was just used to eat without bothering getting the knowledge on how to make it.

This is one of Indonesia's signature cakes. Good for any occasion, especially to be made as wedding cake! You may find the same 'layer' style and (quite close) ingredients similarity everywhere, yet it's what we call "Lapis Surabaya" (Surabaya layer cake) as it's been so distinctively known being made by Surabayans. Click HERE to learn more about Surabaya, Indonesia.

Then the time of me wanting to eat this came and I wanted so desperately to be able to do this. After digging on my printed references, and searching online as well, I found the 'most suitable' composition of this cake according to my 'taste memory'. The reason being I mentioned "taste-memory" as when I looked up on those both printed and online references, there are different versions of this cake. But I do know, for sure, the original one, calls for more than 24 egg yols for the whole thing. So I came read all through those informations, decided myself that I wanted to try the best to my 'calculation' and my not-so-much-knowledge of cake baking. After that, I was so delighted and excited that the result turns out to be perfect! My first try! The other thing I can proudly said here is that I made the jam myself so I can guarantee that this cake is "preservatives free":)... Yay!

Just pay a good attention on the details and timing and do the mix one layer at a time (exception for those baking-experts!:)) and really DON'T mix during the process of adding butter and flour, I can assure you that the process of the making will be perfectly fine. So, here goes!

Ingredients (per layer):
11 egg yolks
1 white egg
1/3 Cup of butter
2/3 Cup of sugar
½ Cup of flour (low protein)
1 teaspoon of vanilla or rum essence
Apricot or Peach jam for filling
Cocoa powder (for the chocolate layer)

Direction:
Heat the oven to 350 degree (Fahrenheit)
Grease 3 9-inches diameter pan, if you’re using the regular pan
Beat the butter until white and soft. Set aside
Beat the egg yolks and the white egg, with sugar and vanilla or rum. For 30 seconds to 1 minute in low speed, to mix them well
Then increase the speed to medium (if using stand mixer, or high speed if using hand mixer) and beat for 6 to 7 minutes or until the mix is white and raised.
Immediately lower the speed and turn off the mixer.
Fold gently the butter, followed by flour.
Keep folding gently until all mixed well.
Pour into the pan and bake in the center of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes. Don’t open during the process.
Insert a toothpick to see if the center is well-cooked. Remove from oven and cool.

NOTE: for the brown layer (middle one), replace 1 tablespoon of the flour with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.

Assembly:
When the cake layers are all cool, spread the jam on one lowest part, top with the middle part (brown) and spread the jam again on it. Cover with the top part.
You either can decorate the cake with butter cream frosting or without. Bon appétit

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.

NASI UDUK & AYAM GORENG BERBUMBU (JAKARTA STEAMED RICE with SPICED FRIED CHICKEN)

Imagine you're sitting on the food vendor on the side of Jakarta's crowded streets. It's a hot humid and busy night with lots of other kind of food sellers' tents/vendors around you. Your order is right in front of you with a cup of hot tea to company... I can't even remember when was the last time I ate this; as when we went to Jakarta last December 2007-January 2008 we didn't even buy this! I had stomach problem and were too worry about stomach so we couldn't buy. But the last couple of days I was so craving of Pecel Ayam and Nasi Uduk, so we went shopping last night. Got Basil Lemon Leaves (Daun Kemangi), fresh lemon grass, fresh galangal, fresh Thai egg plant (terong bundar hijau) and bird-eye chilis then I'm all set to cook. To accompany the rice, I prepared famous street-vendor fried-chicken which we commonly know as "Ayam goreng Berbumbu". Oh... it was heaven!! Even hubby ate what I ate. No complain except the hot chili. We didn't do "Sambal Terasi" as I can't stand the smell of toasted "Terasi" (shrimp/fish paste) that stays inside of the house, even after you air out the house for an hour!I guess the basic for the "Betawi Steamed Rice" (Nasi Uduk) is well-known by many people. But just in case here I share my recipe, which yields for 4-6 people;

Ingredients:
RICE:
- Rice and sticky rice
- ratio is 2 (rice) :1 (sticky rice)
- Galangal, lemon grass and 2 Indian bay-leaves (daun salam)
- Coconut milk (medium thickness) and salt to taste

SPICED FRIED CHICKEN (Ayam Berbumbu):
- 4 to 6 pieces chicken
- 6 pearl onions (or shallots) and 3 garlic
- 4 candlenut (kemiri)
- 1 finger digit (that's how mostly Indonesians measure the amount of ginger or turmeric to use) of turmeric
- 1 Teaspoon tamarind
- Lemon grass, galangal (jerked) and Indian Bay leaves.
- Palm sugar and salt to taste
- 300 ml medium -thickness coconut milk with water enough to soak the chicken in.

Directions:
RICE:
- Bring coconut milk, galangal, lemon grass and Indian bay leaves to boil, add rice. Continue cooking until liquid is dry, occasionaly stir to keep rice from lumping. Take off from the heat and put aside.
- Prepare the steamer, when the water is boiling put the rice and steam until the rice is well -cooked. Like when you prepare regular rice.

SPICED FRIED CHICKEN (Ayam Berbumbu):
- Put all the ingredients into the pot with the chicken, cook until the juice is boiling, done enough to marinade the chicken and chicken look half-cooked. Take out of the heat, put aside.
- Heat Cooking Oil in frying pan for deep frying. Fry chicken until all the skin looks golden-brownish. Serve with Rice, Lalap (fresh leaves) and sambal and krupuk (fried fish crackers).

AYAM BETUTU (BALINESE CHICKEN DISH)

I found this recipe from one of the Indonesian recipe books I brought from Indonesia. The picture showed very plump, goldenish chicken drumsticks, that made me droolled and wanted to prepare this. The book suggested the meal to be accompanied with "Sambal Matah" and some Indonesian fresh veggies, but since hubby was joining the meal; I just made some stir-fry green bean rather than complete "Sambal Matah and Lalapan"...and, oh... I also 'improvised' the recipe by marinading the chicken with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Ingredients:
Source: “Aneka Santapan Nusantara ala Resto” by Enita Sri Yana
- 4 - 6 chicken drumsticks
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 2 Tablespoon Teriyaki Sauce
- 2 Tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 Tablespoon margarine
- ½ Teaspoon sugar
- 500 ml water (I used half for non-country chicken)
- Chicken broth powder to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 1 stem lemon grass; smashed the bottom
- 2 lime leaves

Spices to ground (finely):
- 5 shallots2 garlic
- 1 thumb-size fresh ginger
- 1 thumb-size fresh turmeric
- 2 red chili (jalapeno type)
- 2 bird-eye chili

Directions:
PREPARE: mix chicken with salt, pepper and lemon or lime juice, put aside. Heat up the grill or oven into 425 degree Fahrenheit. Heat the cooking oil, sauté the grounded spices, adding lemon grass, lime leaves for 2-3 minutes, then add coconut milk, sugar, pepper, Teriyaki sauce, chicken broth and water. Cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken cooked enough before you put it into the grill/oven. Coat chicken with the margarine, then juice and put them into the oven, turning them every 5 minutes to keep an even brown color. When the skin looks golden-brown, take the chicken out. Serve with hot steamed rice and sambal and fresh vegetables (lalapan).

KUE LUMPUR SEDERHANA (Indonesian Traditional Cake)

Again - trying out some of the recipes that I found on the new recipe book I bought in Indonesia, Kue Lumpur. Simple to make and I just used the aebleskiver pan. Turned out a bit smaller than the regular size but taste wise is the same... I posted this picture on the blog but never put the recipe. Now I am sharing:). Happy Trying...

Ingredients:
- 75 gr margarine
- 100 ml water (wisely control the actual need of water)
- 150 gr flour
- salt to taste
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla essence
- 4 to 5 large to extra large eggs
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 2 Cups Peeled Young Coconut meat

Directions:
- Heat the Oven into 350 degree (Fahrenheit)
- Prepare the Cast-Iron Baking pan.
- Melt margarine beforehand. Let it cool.
- Beat eggs and sugar until white/well-mixed.
- Add flour, salt and vanilla essence.
- Add coconut milk and melted margarine and mix with spoon thoroughly until all ingredients well mixed. Add water only enough to make it into a pancake/omelette consistency. If using coconut milk is enough, don't add water.
- Brush the bowl of the baking pan with margarine or oil.
- Pour the mixture up to 3/4 full- Add the young coconut (and raisins if you wish).
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake is well cooked.
Note:
The reason I bake this is because of my stove has a smooth/ceramic surface. Otherwise, like mostly people do; you can put this on your stove top. Then of course, cooking time is less than 30 minutes. Again pay attention on your stove heat, the size of the pan and elevation. You can add almost any kind of dried fruit into this cake or plain just as I did.

KUE KACAMATA (Cassava Wrapped Plantain Cake)

This is one "Indonesian Traditional Market Treats" that is quite rare. Perhaps because nowadays people tend to enjoy modern treats/cake or perhaps because of the taste that isn't really a public favorite? I don't know. It might be because this type is not well-introduced even in Jakarta. But I do remember, a best friend of mine - from Bugis, Makassar, always had this type of cake at her house almost everyday... If the plantain (in Indonesia we named this plantain as "Pisang Tanduk" as it looks big like a horn) well-ripened then it will result in a very delicious cake.

Ingredients:

- 500 gr ground cassava.

- 150 gr shredded coconut from a ripened one.

- 100 gr sugar- salt to taste

- Food Coloring essence and Pandan Essence

- 2 to 3 plantains

- Banana leaves to wrap

Coconut Coat:

- Shredded Coconut from a ripened one.

- Salt to taste

Directions:

- Prepare the steamer to steam the cake.

- Dry the cassava by straining the water with cheesecloth. Let the water sit unti the starch sits on the bottom. Dump the water and add the starch to the cassava.

- Add the shredded coconut, sugar and salt. Mix well until sugar dissolves.

- At this point, you may divide the mix into three and put the color essence on each mix.

- Prepare banana leaves for each of the 3 plantains.

- Put each divided mix into each leave. level the mix.

- Add the plantains, cover all the plaintain with the mix.

- Then wrap up with the leaf, pin each of the long sides.

- Steam for approx. 40 minutes. Take out and let it cool.

- Slice the cake and serve with steamed shredded coconut.