One day I woke up and thinking about the movie “Julie & Julia” base from a true story about two women (from different time) who could not cook at the beginning not even able to cut onion properly until creating a cook book and a blog about how to cook.
And also Martha Steward, a woman (as far as I know) who know the opportunity to become big. Even she jailed once because of inside trader but she always gives inspiration to people about cooking and other domestic jobs.
Everything happened because of my mother, a woman who taught her children to be domestically independent by doing everything at home our own without a maid.
When I was a kid, I used to wash the dishes, broom the floor, crawling on the floor to wipe the floor.
Even my mother taught us how to clean the floor with shredded coconut. After she made coconut milk, she did not throw the coconut but use it to clean the floor. Well, messy of course but made the floor clean and shine.
When we were kids, cooking was the job of my mother but we helped her, for instance I steam the rice, with a pot for 30 minute (or at least until reduce) and steam the rice for another 30 minute. So to make a good steam rice, actually it is not that easy, well nowadays we could use rice cooker but I could still taste the different of those steam rice.
About the cooking actually now become my favorite thing to do, it began when I was in Banda Aceh, my first job far from my mother and the taste of Acehnese food were different, so I tried to cook myself and I did.
From there I know the basic to make “tumis”.(stir-fry). Sautee garlic, onion or shallot, “lengkuas“ (galangale) and if you like you could put oyster sauce. With that basic for tumis you could add whatever you like, vegetables mixed with meat or seafood.
Its normally happen to me when I don’t know what to cook, I am just using what I have in the fridge and do the tumis.
Just do not cook the vegetables to well or overcook, even for vegetables we should cook them al dente.
When you use beef, do not put water at the beginning, because beef would produce juices when you cook it, so wait until the beef cooked then see if you still need water or not.
When I was in Banda Aceh, I was always thinking that make beef rendang is very difficult, actually not (and there are a lot of ready made or instant spices) but to be honest I don’t like use it because I always want to make all my foods original.
Back to beef rendang, it is not difficult to make, I just need onion or shallot (better than onion but you still could use onion), ginger, lengkuas, lemon grass, chili (a lot if you like very spicy like I do), salt, sugar, tamarind and coconut milk.
I started to make beef rendang when I was in Kabul, Afghanistan and all my friends love it.
My other signature is “sambel bawang”, it was popular in Banda Aceh and it was very easy to make. Sautee the bird eye chili and garlic with very less cooking oil, and mash them with salt and sugar.
Please be noted that I never use MSG for all my foods, which normally in Asian food, as the substitute I always use salt and sugar, the right composition will bring the right taste for my food.
So many times I tried to make bread or rolls and never succeed until one day I did very nice rolls, from there I know that to make bread or rolls I should mix yeast with warm water separately until bubbled then mix it with flour and other ingredient.
I watched Indonesian food program in Banda Aceh once and I was surprised that making sushi is not as difficult as I thought. Just mix and cook normal rice and sticky rice (2:1), after cooked, add rice vinegar, rice wine, salt and sugar. Put on roasted seaweed and you could use everything inside, seafood, vegetables, even chicken or beef, roll it. Voila!!! your own sushi.
From that program I also learned how to make some easy desert, I remember when I was a kid, me, my brothers and sisters had bread for breakfast, but we never ate the edge of the bread because it was hard, so my mother collected them and mixed it with boiled milk and sugar, egg, raisin, a bit of melted butter or margarine and cinnamon powder, then she baked it. It’s a bread pudding.
And I know from that program that to make a cake, you could substitute flour to ground almond or cashew nut.
I had a friend and he was allergic with flour, so this kind of cake was safe for him.
Every time I go home to Indonesia, I always bring some snacks back, like “peyek” and when it finish I normally make “peyek” my own with green bean, I don’t remember who taught me, either my sister or my mother, that for “peyek kacang hijau” I should soak the green bean at least for 24 hours and the green beans will not hard when you make “peyek”.
The other thing that I learned about cooking, you have to have a happy mood and willing to cook, because you will never make anything with your bad mood, for me cooking is always improving my mood.
Don’t get wrong, sometimes when cook or bake, mistakes could happen, but it suppose not to let you down and make you crazy so you don’t want to cook or bake anymore.
I made a lot of mistakes (people always do) but I still cook and bake, like today I had a plan to make puff cream to bring to my friend’s BBQ party, but it was completely failed and I threw the whole dough. I was a bit upset but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to make puff cream anymore.
Being away from my hometown, somehow making me to be creative, I painted when I was in Banda Aceh, decorated the house, this still on here in Kabul.
And that (to be honest) could distract me from being homesick or depress, especially with the situation in Afghanistan.
After all, making friends is the greatest thing on earth and being in Humanitarian Community is the opportunity to have friends from all over the world.
Next time I will write again about my cooking activity and for sure share some tips of cooking or baking.
Just don't give up only because your plan is not happening, if you have a will there is a way.
Kabul, 28 May 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment