The Art and Science of Food

Pepes Ikan Woku and Happy Canada Day!

According to wikipedia, Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), is Canada's national day, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country, which was in turn composed of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally. Happy Canada Day!!!!

Back to my day off, I celebrated by cooking. I was in Winnipeg to spend my day with my husband and kitchen :). What did I make? Still, something spicy and fishy. Pepes Ikan Woku! It can be translated as Steamed Fish with Woku Spices in Banana Leaves. Woku spices are rich Manadonese mixed spices.

Pepes Ikan Woku
recipe by Yohana Halim and Sedap Sekejap, modified by me

Ingredients
500 g fish steak (I used halibut steak, you can substitute for whole fish such as grouper, red snapper, basa, etc)
calamansi
4 sprigs of lemon basil leaves (kemangi leaves)
1 turmeric leaves
7 kaffir lime leaves, 5 leaves for shredded and tear off the rest
1 pandan leaf, cut into 2 cm length
1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
banana leaves for wrapper
tooth picks

Grind into a paste
8 shallots
10 red chilies or as desired
4 candlenuts, toasted
3 cm long turmeric, roasted and peeled
3 cm long ginger, peeled
3 tbsp ground frozen lemongrass
salt as desired

Directions
1. Squeeze calamansi over fish and mariante for 30 minutes.
2. Rub fish with spiced paste and let it for 15 minutes.
3. Place fish, spiced paste, the leaves ingredients in banana leaves, wrap them up and pin with wood tooth picks or tie wih strings. Steam 45 minutes or until done.

Hello from Boissevain

Labels: Miscellaneous | 2 pours

As of June 15th, I moved to a small cattle producer town in Manitoba, Boissevain due to my current job. I still go back to Winnipeg once every two weeks.

The little small town has caught my intention with flowers around the area. I was so happy I finally found lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi) plants for purchased here, at the greenhouse where I bought them. Lemon basil is a fragrant herb that is commonly used in Indonesian cuisine.

The warmness and friendliness feeling that I enjoy the most from people in this town. The most important I don't need to see lots traffic like in Winnipeg! :) Absolutely, I enjoy driving here.

A cozy coffee area in the giftware shop is also part of my morning coffee break. It's only one block away from my office with magnificent things that foodies love. Care to see the history of The Station, please visit the website at http://www.the-station.ca/. Thanks to Audrey Hicks to let me taking pics of the store. If you go to the US border or enter Canada through highway 10 please do visit Boissevain and The Station.

The Station
406 South Railway Street
Boissevain, MB
Canada R0K 0E0

The Front Look and The Black and White Corner...

The Red Lovers...

The Blue Lovers...

The Eco and Antique Lovers...

There, you go, my spot for coffee break...

Gulai Paku (Pakis) // Minangese Fiddleheads in Spiced Coconut Sauce

Labels: Fish and Shellfish, Fruits and Vegetables, Indonesian Culinary | 9 pours

Edible fiddleheads are only available during late May to early June in Manitoba, Canada. It means I only eat once a year since I moved to this country.

Since my father was a part of Sumatrans, our family used to have edible fidleheads for gulai paku (known as pakis). The most different that I noticed between edible fiddleheads in Indonesia and Canada was the size. Canada's fiddleheads are bigger than Indonesian's.

Gulai paku is a Minangese (Western Sumatran) dish with turmeric leaves and asam kandis as the typical spices. I have posted the information about asam kandis before and always substitute for kokam since I cook Sumatran foods quite often for you can see on this link

Gulai Paku
source: the internet, modified by me

Ingredients:
300 g edible fiddleheads, rinse off
500 mL thin coconut milk
100 g tiny silver anchovies (I used silver anchovies)
1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruised
1 cm length galangal
2 pieces asam kandis (I used kokam)
15 ruku-ruku leaves or can be substituted for lemon basil (I didn't add any)
1 turmeric leaf
2 kaffir lime leaves
2 Indonesian bay leaves

Blend the spices into a paste:
red chilies, as desired (I used a mix between green chilies and red chilied powder)
7 shallots
2 cloves garlic
4 tbsp coconut milk
1 cm length turmeric
1 cm length ginger
1/2 tsp dried shrimp paste, roasted (most recipes don't add this)
salt as desired

Directions:
1. Transfer the spiced paste into a saucepan, simmer and stiring often about 6 - 8 minutes.
2. Add thick coconut milk, asam kandis, lemon grass, galangal and all the leaves. Bring to almost a boil, then simmer for 25 - 30 minutes, stirring often.
3. Add fiddleheads and continue to simmer until the fiddleheads are almost cooked, then add silver anchovies and continue simmering until cooked

Note:
In this case, I made the fiddleheads were still crunchy.

Pepes Ikan Kembung // Indonesian Mackerel en Papillote

Labels: Fish and Shellfish, Indonesian Culinary | 5 pours

Cooking in parchment paper, en papillote in French or al Cartoccio in Italian. It's a perfect technique for delicate fish filets. This method in which we seal the food in a pouch and bake. The food essentially steams in the oven in its own juices. The method is also incredibly easy and has the added benefits of being a low fat method of cooking.

The technique's keys are
1) use fresh ingredients;
2) preparation or mise en place. Using aromatic vegetables, herbs, and if you like, a little vermouth, wine, or olive oil can add depth.

In this case, I used Indian mackerel or it`s known as ikan kembung in Indonesian. Instead of banana leaves which are very popular in Indonesian cuisine, I used parchment paper. Sambal Matah Bali ingredients have been inspired my modified pepes such as shallots, lemongrass (I used frozen ground lemongrass), bird's eye chillies, kaffir lime leaves. The pepes was also enriched by candlenuts, tomato and kencur (kaempeferia galangal).

No need recipe. I just threw all ingredients to the food processor, except fish and the wrappers. First of all, rinse off the fish and marinate with tamarind for 15 minutes. Rub fish with ground spices. Place in parchment paper and wrap it up, then wrap the fish in parchment paper with aluminium foil. Steam, pouch or bake until done.

PS. Sambal Matah recipe can be seen at http://indonesia-eats.blogspot.com/2008/01/sambal-matah-raw-shallot-and-lemongrass.html

Say Cheese! What About Berries Cheese?

Labels: Chocolate and Cheese | 5 pours

Have you ever had berries cheese snack before? The product was pretty innovative by combining mozzarella cheese and Saskatoon berries. To create a packaging for the product, my friend asked me a favour to take few shots of the product as his team group who were developed for their class project. Shots were taken a place at the Food Science's kitchen of my university.

For those who are interested to develop this product, you may contact my friend by sending me an email.

Matcha (Green Tea) Pudding

Labels: Asian Culinary, Coffee and Tea, Desserts | 10 pours

Matcha or green tea powder in Japanese has become popular ingredient all over the world. You can name a number of different bakery or coffee shops which are selling their goodies/beverages with matcha included. Not only the good taste but the healthy effect of green tea is the reason why green tea is so famous.

I was so tempting to make this dessert for so long and I didn't remember anymore until the CAM Boga case. CAM Boga is a publisher who published few cookbooks by using Indonesian foodie bloggers' pictures without permission. This publisher used green tea pudding picture of Indonesian women magazine, Femina.

The original recipe was posted at Femina-Online. Due to the lack of ingredients, such milk and heavy cream in my pantry and too lazy to go out, I substituted for sweetened condensed milk and skipped the sugar. I also didn't make the sauce as directed

Please see the recipe by clicking read more.

Matcha Pudding
recipe by Femina, modified by me

Ingredients:
1 L water
7 g green tea powder (I used the organic green tea powder)*
1 package (7 g) of agar powder
1 cup (250 ml) sweetened condesed milk

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients, except green tea powder.
2. Separate two mixture into two small pots.
3. Add green tea powder into pot 1 and bring to a boil at medium heat, stir occasionally.
4. Prepare moulds by rinse off with cold water, then add the boiling mixture into the moulds. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, bring pot 2 into a boil and stir occasionally. When the green mixture has set, add the white mixture into the moulds. Fridge them until ready to serve. You can serve with almond cream sauce as well.

*If you don't have matcha or green tea powder just use sencha (green tea leaves) then grind.

Smoothie Plus - Spring has prung, Let's have fresh ingredients

Labels: Beverages, Fruits and Vegetables | 7 pours

The smoothie plus picture is my contribution for CLICK!, a photo event is hosted by Jugalbandi. With "Spring/Autumn" as the theme I decided to participate at this event with Smoothie Plus. Spring has sprung, in which bring all the fresh ingredients together in the kitchen. Luscious fresh fruits are becoming more available and less expensive.

Smoothie Plus! Why? Let's see. There were strawberries, blackberries and mangosteen. Did you know that mangosteen is one of the hottest new superfoods? For people who grew up in Indonesia or other South East Asian countries, mangosteen was not a new food. I grew up with mangosteens and enjoyed them as my fruit snack.

Smoothie Plus (1 portion)
recipe by me

Ingredients
strawberries
blackberries
mangosteen
banana
soy milk

Directions:
Blend together until smooth and serve.