Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Pondok Sanjaya (Pempek - Fish Cake)

Palembang Food

My ex-supervisor brought me to eat at Pondok Sanjaya that served delicious Palembang food (Palembang is the capital city from South Sumatra, Indonesia).

Palembang Food

The most famous authentic dish from Palembang is Pempek.
Pempek is fish cake made from mackerel fish and sago.
It can be consumed as main meal or as snack.

Palembang Food

Different types of Pempek:

Palembang Food

No. 1 = Pempek Pistel (grated young papaya filling)
No. 2 = Pempek Kulit Ikan (Fish Skin)
No. 3 = Pempek Tahu (tofu filling)
No. 4 = Pempek Keriting (Curly)
No. 5 = Pempek Lenjer (without filling)
No. 6 = Pempek Telor or also known as Kapal Selam Kecil (egg filling)
Note: There are 2 kinds of Pempek Kapal Selam (trans: kapal selam means submarine, Besar means Big, Kecil means Small). Pempek Kapal Selam Besar is filled with duck egg and in a bigger size than Pempek Telor. Pempek Kapal Selam Kecil/ Telor is filled with chicken egg .
No. 7 = Pempek Adaan (the fish cake dough is mixed with onions and coconut milk)

Aside from the shape of Pempek Pistel and Pempek Telor are almost the same, you can tell that Pempek Pistel got wave edges.

All the pempeks are boiled first before deep fried except the Pempek skin fish and Pempek Adaan which directly being deep fried.

Inside the pempek:
No. 3 = tofu
No. 6 = chicken egg
No. 1 = grated young papaya

Palembang Food

Served with a pungent sweet sour sauce made from vinegar, garlic, salt and brown sugar plus a drizzle of dried shrimp.

Palembang Food

Pempek is one of my favorite food. I just love the chewy texture:)

3 types of chili sauce:
Bird eye's chili sauce- Peanut chili sauce - Red chili sauce with fermented soy bean
Palembang Food

Another type of Pempek which is not fried but directly grilled on charcoal is called as Pempek Panggang or also know as Tunu. Usually, eaten with ebi (dried shrimp) and sweet soy sauce.

A good way to eat it is by adding the bird eye's chili sauce for those who love to eat hot and spicy.

Pempek Panggang
Palembang Food


Otak - Otak
Fish cake wrapped in banana leaves and grilled on charcoal.
In Palembang, otak-otak is served with red chili sauce mixed fermented soy sauce, but in other cities, it is served with the peanut sauce.
Palembang Food

Model Gandum
The fried dough is made from wheat, served with mushroom and glass vermicelli in soup.
Palembang Food

Tekwan
the same dough like pempek but it's boiled like little meatballs in soup
Palembang Food


Es Kacang (Red Bean ice)
with coconut milk and chocolate condense milk
Palembang Food

Bubur Sumsum or Jongkong
Rice pudding made from rice flour, coconut milk, salt and pandan leaves, eaten with brown sugar sauce.
Palembang Food

Address:
Restoran Sari Sanjaya
(Pondok Sanjaya)
Jl. Lapangan Roos Raya No. 1 Tebet
Jakarta
Telp: (021) 52901588

Disclaimer:The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Ready, Get Set, Go... Yummy!

Last January, I bought an oven because mom got some orders to bake cakes for Chinese New Year in the beginning of February, and besides our Ariston oven is already very old... so, it's already time to replace it :)

The new gas oven.

My mom's newest creation "Grated Apple Cake".
This how the grated apple cake looks in the box.
Ready to be delivered :)


This is my mom baking the layer cake called Kue Lapis or Lapis Legit or also known as Spekkoek which is a Dutch Indonesian cake since it was invented during the Dutch colonial time in Indonesia.

It takes about almost 2 hours to sit in front of the oven. It really need a lot of patience and also labor to make this cake because of the baking method is to make one thin layer until it's baked first then follow with more other thin layers in order to reach the top of the baking pan. My mom always makes at least 25 layers or more for a cake.

The main ingredients are 35 egg yolks, butter, flour, sugar, rum and also with spices like cardamom, cinnamon, clove buds, etc.

In my humble opinion this Kue Lapis is one of the most delectable cakes in this world :)
A close up picture of Kue Lapis.

Another cake which is commonly being ordered during Chinese New Year is Lapis Surabaya which is a 3 layers cake (2 butter cakes and 1 chocolate cake in the middle, in between is strawberry jam). This cake has total of 45 egg yolks in it! Scary, huh? But it tasted so delicious ;)


Oh.. By the way, Cumi and Ciki (bloggers from Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia) were in Jakarta yesterday. I had a chance to meet them up and brought them around to see a few places in the Central of Jakarta. It's really great and fun to meet you two! :)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day cookies


Love is in the air

Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound

And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise
But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when I look in your eyes

Love is in the air
In the whisper of the trees
Love is in the air
In the thunder of the sea

And I don't know if I'm just dreaming
Don't know if I feel sane
But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when you call out my name

(Chorus)
Love is in the air
Love is in the air
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh

Love is in the air
In the rising of the sun
Love is in the air
When the day is nearly done

And I don't know if you're an illusion
Don't know if I see it true
But you're something that I must believe in
And you're there when I reach out for you

Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound
And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise

But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when I look in your eyes


Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! How I wish I could celebrate it with someone that I love.... ;)

Recipe:
Ingredients:
250 gram flour
100 gram butter
75 gram sugar powder
75 gram cocoa powder
20 gram milk powder
1 egg
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
Pre-heat oven 375 F
Cream the butter with sugar.
Add egg and vanilla extract.
Mix with flour, baking powder and milk powder.
Roll out the dough and use cookies cutter
Bake cookies about 15 minutes
Leave it cool
Decorate the cookies with icing sugar (optional)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Chinese New Year royal icing cookies

It's almost Chinese New Year! :)

This year, Chinese New Year's Day will be the same day as the Valentine's Day on the 14th of February.

I've made butter cookies and royal icing, with the Chinese New Year's theme and full of red color (red is an auspicious color, symbolic of joy) .

cookies,royal icing

Those are popular Chinese characters used during Chinese New Year:

吉 Ji - lucky, auspicious, propitious

和 He - harmony

財 Cai - wealth, money

喜 Xi - happines

福 Fu - good fortune, good luck, blessing


Chinese boys and girls are wearing red costumes.
cookies,royal icing

Fish (魚, read: yú) is a significant symbol sounds like the word for riches or abundance .

cookies,royal icing

Happy Chinese New Year
cookies,royal icing