Bubur Ayam Cikini (Chicken porridge)

This chicken rice porridge's cart has been here since 1960s and it's not moving anywhere :)

(trans: Bubur means porridge, Ayam means chicken)

The name of this chicken porridge is "Bubur Ayam HR Sulaiman Cirebon" because the name of the owner was HR. Sulaiman (now his son is taking care this famous chicken porridge business) and HR. Sulaiman came from Cirebon, the city that is famous of Tahu Gejrot (stinky tofu). But then, mostly people are more familiar with the name "Bubur Ayam Cikini" because of the location is in Cikini - Central Jakarta.

The toppings for the chicken porridge.

Salty soy sauce and white pepper.

Pssstt... I've never seen this brand of salty soy sauce in the market so I guess this is one of the secret ingredients that make the chicken porridge tasted special *wink*

The way of preparation of the chicken porridge is a little bit than the one I already posted before, you can click here to read it.


Let's see how is the preparation of making this chicken porridge ;)

First scoop a big spoon full of a thick porridge into a bowl.

Sprinkle white pepper.
Ah.. even just a little but it totally gave a peppery kick!

Add some tong cai (mustard green pickle)

Drizzle some salty soy sauce.

Generously add some slices of Cakwee (yaotiao/ yau char kway)

then some torn chicken

And last, for the top... Emping (malinjo chips)
Ready to be served to the hungry customers *drools*

As the texture of the porridge and also toppings are a bit different than the usual street chicken porridge, definitely the taste is slightly different too. I could taste the warm thick rice porridge is cooked with chicken broth and ginger which added a nice aroma.

Carrot Cake

It's been awhile since I've been looking for a yummy carrot cake recipe. So glad that I found one in JoyofBaking.com

Definitely, I got very tempted to bake it directly!

So here is the result. As usual, I tried not to put any cream nor frosting to my cake but don't worry, I still put the frosting cream recipe here, in case you want to give it a try :)

Carrot Cake Recipe by Stephanie Jaworski.

For the cake:
1 cup (100 grams) pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
3/4 pound (340 grams) raw carrots (about 2 1/2 cups finely grated)
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (240 ml) safflower, vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Note: For a moister carrot cake, add 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple (well drained) or applesauce to the batter when you add the oil and vanilla extract. You may have to bake the cake a few minutes longer.

Note: This cake can be baked in a 9 x 13 x 2 inch (23 x 33 x 5 cm) pan. Just increase the baking time to between 30 to 40 minutes

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups (230 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract
finely grated lemon zest of one lemon


Direction to make the Carrot Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray two - 9 x 2 inch (23 x 5 cm) cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper.

Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Peel and finely grate the carrots. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots and chopped nuts. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack, remove the pans and parchment paper, and then cool completely before frosting.

To assemble: place one cake layer, top side down, onto your serving plate. Spread with about one third of the frosting. Gently place the other cake, top of cake facing down, onto the frosting, and spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. If desired, press toasted and finely chopped nuts on the sides of the cake and decorate the top of the cake with marzipan carrots (see below). Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Serves 10 - 12.

Frosting:
In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the cream cheese and butter, on low speed, just until blended with no lumps. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract, and lemon zest.

Btw, I really love these Korean twins! I just think they are so awesome.... Beautiful voices! :)

Eating Marijuana leaves?

When my friend told me that she's going to bring me to eat at a restaurant that serves marijuana (cannabis) leaves as a condiment, it definitely really intrigued me! I was surprised that it's legal to eat marijuana leaves because for sure it's illegal to smoke it.

When we arrived at the restaurant, I was like... Oh my, I've been passing this "Rumah Makan Medan Baru" so many times because it has been here since about 35 years ago, but all this time, I thought it's just an ordinary Padang restaurant which actually turned out that this restaurant is serving Aceh food (trans: rumah makan means restaurant).

A little introduction about Aceh:
Aceh is a special territory of Indonesia, located at the northwestern Sumatra island. According to the history, Aceh was the first place where Islam established in Southeast Asia and so far, it's considered as the most religiously conservative area among places in Indonesia. In December 2004, Aceh was hit by the tsunami resulting about 230.000 people killed.

As soon as I stepped into the restaurant, I could see the same attraction like at those Padang restaurants where the waiters bring many food plates at one time on their forearms.

Can you count how many plates are there on one forearm? ;)

Inside the restaurant.
It's divided into non-air conditioned room and air conditioned room.

Our table.... so full of food! :)
No... no.... no..., we didn't eat all the food on the table!
We just took the food that we wanted to eat on our plate and paid for it.

The best way to eat this kind of food is with your fingers! ;)

And you know what? I learned that this place is actually the best place in town for the Gulai Kepala Ikan (fish head curry) . The kind of fish that being served is ikan Kakap Putih or barramundi fish. It costed us Rp. 89.500 (it depends on the weight) plus 10% tax.

It tasted so delicious, the gravy was sweet, rich taste and creamy from the tick coconut milk. The fish meat was so soft like cotton and some parts of the meat tasted like jelly.

The owner of the restaurant was so helpful. He came to our table and showed us that actually inside the fish bone, there's still meat. He opened it by using 2 forks, pretty interesting to see the trick to open it. Then, he poured the sauce of "asam ganja" on the fish bone.

I had a chance to see how they prepared the fish head.

For me, the most interesting dish from all is the marijuana leaves which is the condiment of the fish head named "Asam Ganja".
(trans: Asam means sour; Ganja means marijuana)

I asked the owner what's actually inside the asam ganja. He told me that the ingredients beside the marijuana leaves are shallot, belimbing buluh (it's a family of starfruit), dried shrimp, lemongrass. So, how did it taste? Yumm... A nice tanginess that definitely gave a zing :)

Fish eggs.
I wonder how many million eggs where there on the plate.

Fried Pigeons
What a big surprise to see the inside of the pigeon's stomach!
It freaked me out at first but then I was able to take a pic of it :)
The meat of pigeon gives off a pungent, chicken-like aroma but then, I absolutely prefer chicken meat.

The rest of the food on the table:
From left to right.

Sweet soy bean cake with chilli, anchovy and peanuts. Cassava leaves with long beans, bean sprout and grated old coconut.

Boiled papaya leaves. Deep fried sliced beef with chili.

Potato with stinky beans and shrimps. Gizzards curry.

Fried pineapple with red chilli. Pickles (cucumber, shallot and red chilli)

The lunch was ended with a glass of Tamarillo (Tree tomato) juice. Here in Indonesia, Tamarillo is known as Terong Belanda. If you are interested to see the Tamarillo fruit and how to make the juice, click here.

Rumah Makan "Medan Baru"
(Medan Baru Restaurant)
Jl. Raya Krekot Bunder No. 65
Pasar Baru, Jakarta Pusat
Indonesia
Tel: 3844273, 3844922, 3858992

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.

The Duck King restaurant (PIM 2)

The Duck King restaurant is one of my favorite restaurants. It's a group restaurant and has a total of 8 restaurants in Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya. This group of restaurant is specializing in authentic Chinese cuisine with the influence of Southeast Asian taste, therefor the food is halal (no pork).

Last year, I even celebrated my birthday at the Grand Duck King restaurant which located in Grand Indonesia Mall in Central Jakarta.

Last week, my friend who is living in Singapore; came to visit and we had a very nice lunch at one of the Duck King restaurants that is located at Pondok Indah Mall 2 in South Jakarta.

Our lunch started with dim sum as appetizer.

Fried prawns wanton with mayonnaise - Rp. 15.800.
Nice crunchy with tasty filling.

Steamed Hakau - Rp. 16.800
The filling of prawns was so juicy and flavorful.

Steamed Siew Mai - Rp. 15.800
Wonderful meaty!

Steamed chicken feet with black pepper - Rp. 14.800
It's spicy and a bit chewy.... yummy!

Then the main course followed the dim sum.

A plate of dry Hong Kong Noodle with wanton - Rp. 32.000

Frankly speaking, I hardly eat dry version noodles. After a few bites, I found out that I like the springy texture. Next time, definitely, I will order it again :)

Eating at The Duck King restaurant wouldn't be complete without a plate of roasted duck. Love the roasted duck! The crispy skin and juicy tender meat of the duck was just heavenly.

Braised Tou Miaw with dried scallop and oyster sauce - Rp. 58.000

A good way of cooking the tou miaw vegetable, as the gravy enriched the taste.

So many delicious food for just 2 hungry stomachs which was so fulfilling and we almost couldn't finish it. Still, we didn't forget to order the dessert :) My friend and I shared together a little bowl of longan fruit with almond tofu sago "Mei Lo" - Rp. 25.000

Prices are subjected to tax and service charge.

The Duck King restaurant
Pondok Indah Mall 2
3rd Floor Unit 340-342
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah
Jakarta Selatan 12310
Telp. +62 21 7592 0610 - 11

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.

Tukang Soto Ayam Madura (Chicken Stew from Madura)

Soto Ayam Madura (chicken stew) is a well known dish from Madura - an island located northeastern coast near East Java. The topping on this chicken stew named "koya" powder is the signature. Koya powder is made from prawn crackers, fried garlic and dried shrimp.

The preparation to make Soto Ayam Madura:

A bowl of rice

Vermicelli and pieces of torn chicken on the top of rice.

Torn chicken.

Then add bean sprouts and fine chopped chinese celery.

Slices of white cabbage and boiled egg.

Slices of a tomato and salt.

Pour the chicken broth (chicken cooked with turmeric, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, bay leaves, ginger, pepper seeds, shallot, garlic, nutmeg).

It looks so colorful and delicious, isn't it? ;)

Sprinkle with koya powder and also a squeeze of lime juice .

Add chili sauce if you like hot and spicy :)

A bowl of Soto Ayam Madura costs Rp. 7.000 (USD 70 cents)