For coffee and chocolate lovers: Mocca Brownies

I like collecting recipes from magazines, since I was a single young girl and lived together with my parents. When  I'm married and left my home country, I took this collection of course. This is not only a big help for me by cooking but also has a sweet memories. Everytime I leaf through this thick collection folder, I think of the time as I was a young girl..

One of the recipe I found in this folder is mocca brownies. I tried out this recipe as our espresso automatic machine broken and being repaired, so I had to buy instant espresso powder since my husband and I can't live without coffee. Meanwhile we have a new espresso machine and we are happy about it.

Ingredients:

120 g butter
170 g caster sugar (I used only 140 g)
3 eggs
30 g cooking chocolate
2 tbs instant espresso powder (for example nescafe)
70 g all purpose flour
1 tsp kahlua (coffee liquer) - optional

Method:

Preheat the oven 160°C. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add  eggs one at a time, beating  well. Let the chocolate melting in a bowl over pan of hot water. Remove from heat and allow melted chocolate to cool slightly. Sift flours and mix it with instant coffee. Pour it into the egg mixture, stirring well. Finally pour the melted chocolate into mexture. stirring well. Add Kahlua if you like. Place the mixtures in prepared brownies/cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until cake firms to touch. Remove from oven and allow it to cool slightly. Cut in pieces and enjoy it with coffee or tea.

Black and White Wednesday

Window-Shoping in Stockholm (Sweden) on Sept 7th, 2011

Want to join this culinary event? click this site please for more info: http://thewellseasonedcook.blogspot.com/2011/07/black-and-white-wednesday-new-culinary.html

A warm drink to welcome autumn: Apfelstrudel im Glas

 

Last year I looked for a non-alcohol warm drink recipe and found this. Unfortunately I couldn't find the original recipe anymore (in german). This drink was good, that's why I want to share it with you now, since autumn is coming and it's good if you have something to warm you up beside electric heater..LOL

Ingredients (for 2 glasses):

400 ml natural apple juice (or better fresh apple juice)

1 tbsp cream curd

1 tbsp crème fraîche

2 tbsp raisins

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

a pinch of cinnamon powder for garnish

Method:

Put the apple juice, cream curd and crème fraîche in the mixer. Mix them well. Then warm it up.

Add the raisins and 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder. Stir well. Put the drink into 2 glasses, spread cinnamon powder as garnish, serve it immediately. 

Recipe in bahasa indonesia:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/21/Apfelstrudel_im_Glas

Viva bella Italia! Spaghetti con scampi

Yeah definitely, we love Italy! The cuisine, the landscape, the way of life, the climate etc. Here I don't want to talk a bad things about Italy.:-). We are lucky that we live on the border to Italy (about 350 Km from Salzburg to the border, Venice region). 

beautiful Venice view taken from the church tower

Venice was the first famous italian city I've visited. We didn't stay there, but in Jesolo and made an one-day-tour by ship to Venice. It was 2002. Since then, I fell in love with Italy. My husband has been an italian fan for years.  I had a chance to visit Caorle, Grado and Lago di Garda.

my husband and I, a nice memory in Venice

My last trip to Italy was on October 2010. I visited a friend who lives in Cagliari (the capital city of Sardinia). It was unforgetable trip. I love Italy more and more. I hope I have a chance to visit many regions: Rome, Milan and Toskana are still on my waiting lists.

 

beautiful sunset in Cagliari

Now, we come to the best part of italy and it's its cuisine. My husband and I love the lightness on italian cuisine and of course it brings us back to the memories we had during our trips in Italy. I bet you know a lot of italian foods and here I just want  to share one of our favorites recipes.

Spaghetti con scampi (Spaghetti with shrimps)

Ingredients (make 2 portions):

200 g spaghetti

150 g shrimps (peel, let the tail part, devein and wash)

150 g cocktail tomatoes (cut into halves)

4 cloves of garlic (peel and press)

3 stalks of parsley (cut finely the leaves)

3 stalks of basil (cut finely the leaves)

3 tbsp olive oil

black pepper and salt

making of spaghetti con scampi



Method:

1. Cook spaghetti al dente. Drain. Set aside.

2. Preheat the olive oil on the wok/deep fry pan. Stir the pressed garlic until fragrant. Add the deveined washed shrimps. Stir well until they turn its color. Add the tomatoes, cook about 1-2 minutes (until the tomatoes little bit wilt).

3. Add the cooked spaghetti. Taste it with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Stir well.

4. Turn off the stove. Put the parsley and basil. Stir all well. Serve it immediately.

If you like spicy, you can add chopped chili. Since my husband doesn't eat spicy lately, I always put some drops of chili oil to my spaghetti.

Buon Appetito & Ciao!!

Recipe in indonesian language:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/6/Spaghetti_with_shrimps

Budapest Trip: Goulash

During the easter holidays in this year Nina, a friend living in Sweden, visited me. We both went to Budapest by train, visiting my former co-worker. We had a great time as you can see on the picture below:

me, Nina and Riza acting as tourists..lol

Budapest was amazing! Beautiful and clean city, friendly people, not hectic like in west european countries.

beautiful view of Budapest taken from Citadella

As you may know, hungary is famous with its Goulash. I bought original hungarian dried paprika and paprika powder, as they are a kind of must have souvenir if you visit Hungary.

Nina is holding a paprika powder

dried paprika hanging in front of souvenir shop

My husband asked me to make goulash yesterday and gave me the recipe. As he was a student, he cooked goulash quite often and good. And I didn't know that it was so easy to make it and tastes fantastic!!

Ingredienst:

500 g beef (for stew), cut a little bit bigger than mouthpiece

500 g onions, peel and cut finely

1,5 tbs hungarian paprika powder (sweet tasted)

2 dried hungarian paprika (optional)

salt to taste

150 ml water

2 tbs olive oil

3 carrots (optional)

Method:

Preheat the olive oil in the deep fried pan, put chopped onions, stir and cook until tender. Add the meat. Stir and cook until the meat has different color.

Then add water, cook goulash with the low heat and covered.

It takes about an hour, but periodicaly stir the goulash. If the sauce getting thicker and the meat is tender, you can add carrots (cut into big cubes) a few minutes before you remove the pan from the stove.

Serve it with cooked rice, potatos or bread dumpling (like what the austrian people do).

 

It's better if you eat goulash in the next day and it tastes better if you warm it again and again in the next days.

Nostalgic: Bakwan Jagung (Fried Sweet Corn)

This snack reminds me of my childhood in Indonesia. My mom made it quite often and this is one of my favorite snacks.  I haven't made it for a long time since my husband and I avoid, as much as we can, fried things. But yesterday I couldn't resist to make Bakwan Jagung because I saw fresh sweet corn at the market and I want to get back to the time as I was a child and being spoiled by mom's culinary. I put keffir lime leaves as a friend suggested. And it turned very well. Damn, I have to do more exercises in the next days..LOL

Ingredients (make about 20 pcs):

6 fresh sweet corncob

1 small bundle of spring onion
1 small bundle of parsley
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 egg
100 ml broth, more or less ( I used homemade chicken broth)
150 g flour
deep-frying oil

Seasoning (pound all together until it turns to a paste):
5 garlic clove
3 big shallots or more if you have small indonesian shallots
2 candlenuts (indonesian kemiri)
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp koriander seed
salt
(don't worry, if you make too much paste, you can put the rest in the used jam glass and keep it in the fridge, it stays fresh for about 1-2 weeks)

Method:

Wash the corncobs. Let them drip. Take a bowl and shred them with a sharp knife.
After washing and dripping the parsley and spring onion, cut them finely. Do the same thing with the kaffir lime leaves. And mix them well with the corn.
Take 3 tsp of the seasoning paste, put to the corn, add the egg, mix well.
Add the flour and the broth, mix well. Taste it, if is necessary put more salt.
Preheat the deep-frying oil. Put each 1 tbs of the dough into the oil and deep fry it until golden brown. Enjoy it with a small green bird chili, if you like spicy of course..:-)

Apfeltaschen (Puff pastry filled with apple)

I always make this snack every time I need snack but I don't have time to bake something. That's why I always have ready to use puff pastry in my fridge.

Ingredients:

1 roll ready to use puff pastry (around 400 g)

1 big apple

2 tbs raisin

1 tbs bread crumbs

2 tbs sugar

a pinch of cinnamon powder

1 egg yolk

Method:

Preheat the oven (1170°C).

Peel and core the apple. Cut it into small pieces.

Take a bowl, mix well the apple with sugar, raisin, bread crumbs and cinnamon powder.

Unroll the puff pastry, cut into eight pieces. Fill them with the apple. Close them well (see above picture). Spread them with egg yolk. Bake for about 25 minutes untill turn to golden yellow.

Recipe in indonesian language:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/14/APFELTASCHEN_pastry_filled_w_apple