Spicy Fried Eggplant (Terong Goreng Pedas)

2 eggplant, cut into 1cm slices
1/2 cup peanut oil
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 small chilies, deseeded and finely chopped (reduce to less spicy)
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
1/4 cup water
1 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
2 green shallots, sliced

Brush eggplant slices with oil, reserving 1 tbsp of oil. Heat a large non-stick frying pan. Add eggplants and cook 1-2 minutes on each side until golden. Remove and set aside. Heat remaining oil.

Add onions and cook for 4-5 minutes or until golden. Add garlic, chilies, coriander, tamarind, water and sugar. Return eggplant to pan and cook until sauce reduces. Garnish with green shallots. Serve with steamed rice.

Cucumber Sambal (Sambal Selamat)

1/2 cucumber, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 shallots, finely sliced
100ml rice or white wine vinegar

Place the garlic, fennel seeds, sugar and salt in a pestle and mortar and pound finely. Alternatively, grind the ingredients thoroughly in a food processor.

Stir in the shallots or onion, vinegar and cucumber and allow to stand for at least 3 hours to allow the flavors to combine.

Vegetables with Spicy Peanut Sauce (Pecel)

100 g bean sprouts, cleaned
100 g spinach, cut
100 cabbage, shredded
add any vegetables you like (cucumber, cooked peeled corn, bitter gourd, etc)

200 g peanut, peeled and fried (or peanut butter jams)

Spice Paste
2 cloves of garlic
2 red chillies, seeded and fried
5 eye’s bird chillies, seeded and fried
5 cm kencur (kaempferia galangal), peel off the skin
1 tbs dried prawn paste (terasi), optional
7 kaffir lime leafs
2 tbs tamarind mixed and squeeze with 100 ml lukewarm water and drain.
50 g palm sugar or to taste
1 tsp sugar
fried prawn crackers

Fry garlic and the chillies. Set aside. If you use peanut butter jams, simply grind or blend jams with the rest of ingredients of spice paste. Continue blending to make it smooth. Add some of warm water to make the sauce thicken

Cook all the vegetables. Set aside.

Serve: Arrange the vegetables, pour with the peanut sauce, add some fried prawn crackers. Ready to serve.

Fresh Vegetables Soup (Sayur Sop)

2 carrots
100 gram cabbage, cut into small pieces
100 gram bean, cut 3 cm long
200 gram potatoes, cut into medium cube
2 chicken hotdog (optional), thinly sliced
5 chicken wings for broth
2 stalk of celery leaves, chopped
1 stalk of spring onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of fried shallots
800 ml water
salt and sugar to taste

Note: you also can add broccoli, read beans, sweet corns and many more!

Spice Paste
3 shallots (or half medium red onion)
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of pepper

Place chicken wings in boiling water for 20 minutes to prepare the broth. Add the carrots.

Heat oil in the pan and fry the spice paste until its fragrant, and put it into the broth. Add the rest of the ingredients, salt and sugar to taste. Continue cooking until all vegetables well cooked. Add some water if it's necessary.

Serve with fried shallots.

Green Mango Salad Indonesian Style (Salad Mangga Muda)

1 green/un-riped mango, peeled, thinly sliced
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 birds eye chili (reduce to less spicy)
1 green onion (chopped) - optional
1 tbs basil (chopped)
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs palm sugar
1 tbs roasted peanuts (chopped)

Mix the mango, shallots, chili, green onion, basil in a large bowl. Mix fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar in a small bowl. Toss the salad with the dressing and garnished with the peanuts. Ready to serve.

Spicy Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk (Sayur Lodeh)

200 g long beans (Kacang Panjang)
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes
200 ml thick coconut milk
400 ml light coconut milk or you can substitute with 200 ml water
2 cm fresh galangal
1 fresh kaffir lime leafs (daun jeruk purut)
1 Salaam leaf (Bay leaf)
Sugar and salt to taste

Spice Paste
2 red chillies (optional, depend on your taste)
2 bird's eyes chillies (optional)
3 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
2 Candlenuts (kemiri)
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1 cm of fresh Kencur or 1/8 teaspoon Kencur powder
2 cm fresh turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
A pinch of dried shrimp paste (terasi/balacan), toasted
Salt to taste

Grind or blend the spice paste. Then sauté until it's fragrant, add the galangal, kaffir lime and salaam leaf.

Add the light coconut milk/water and sugar. Continue mixing for few minutes until all spices are absorbed.

All all the vegetables, add thick coconut milk. Continue cooking until its boiling, do not overcooked the vegetables.

Cooked Vegetables with Spiced Grated Coconut (Urap-urap Sayur)

100 g bean sprouts
100 g cabbage, shredded
50 g green bean (buncis), cut into 2 cm
100 g spinach, cut into 2 or 3 cm
200 g fresh grated coconut

Spice Paste
4 cloves of garlic
3 red chillies, seeded
2 bird's eyes chillies
2 cm Kencur, peeled and sliced
50 g Palm sugar
4 fresh Kaffir Lime leafs, finely shredded
Salt to taste

Grind or blend all spice paste ingredients. Heat oil and sauté the spice paste until fragrant. Then add the grated coconut, mix it well for few minutes, then set aside.

Cook all the vegetables, set aside and cool them off.

Serve: Combine the vegetables with the spiced grated coconut.

Shrimp and Beansprout Fritters (Bakwan)

Ingredients A :
120g plain flour sifted together with 1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
150ml water
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp pepper

Ingredients B :
120g beansprouts, tailed and halved
1 big onion, diced
1 stalk spring onion, diced
2 red chilies, chopped
5 cups oil for deep-frying
200g shrimps, shelled with tail intact

To make Ingredients A, mix sifted flour with egg and water till well-combined. Add Ingredients B, salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a wok. Dip a soup ladle in the hot oil for a little while to heat it up.

Then remove it from oil, and fill it with batter and a few shrimps on top. Dip the ladle in hot oil and leave to fry till the fritter floats free.

Fry till golden brown. Dish up and drain. Repeat till all the batter is used up. Serve fritters with chilly sauce.

Fried Carrot Balls (Gorengan Bola-Bola Wortel)

350g carrot, peeled and sliced
1 egg, beaten
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup sesame seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
Cooking oil, for deep frying

Place the carrot in boiling salted water for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and mash well. Place the ginger in a garlic crushed and squeeze the juice into the mashed carrot. Add the spring onions, sesame oil and egg and season to taste.

Shape the carrot mixture into small-sized balls. Roll the balls in the combined flour and sesame seeds, shaking off the excess. Heat 3-4 cm oil in a pan; add the carrot balls and coo in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden.

Remove the balls from the pan, drain on paper towels, then return to the oil and cook for another 30 seconds. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Fried Red Soya Beans (Lentho)

100 g of red soya bean
50 g of tapioca flour
30 g granted coconut
1 teaspoon coriander
3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
A pinch of pepper
salt to taste

Bring to boil red bean. Cook until its soft enough. When it's cooked, take out from the water and let it cold.

Grind or blend the shallots, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper into paste. Add the red bean and smashed coarsely.

Add the tapioca flour and the granted coconut. Mix well all the ingredients.

Form into oval small dough. Fry in deep wok over medium heat until crispy. Remove from the wok and serve.

Fresh Vegetables Pickles (Acar Mentah)

1 small cucumber, cleaned, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
3 shallots, peeled, thinly sliced
6 fresh bird's eyes chillies, cleaned, thinly sliced (optional)
3 tbs of vinegar
2 tbs sugar
1 1/2 warm water
1 tsp salt

Mix water with vinegar, sugar and salt. Add the vegetables. Refrigerate 4-5 hours before serving.

Stir-Fried Vegetables (Oseng-oseng Sayur)

100 g beef (or beef ham, thinly sliced)
1 red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced
2 carrots thinly cut
6 pieces baby corn, cut into 2 or 3 cm
5 beans thinly cut
1 small onion,
3 cloves of garlic
1 block beef seasoning mixture/beef bouillon
300 ml water

Boil the beef with 300 ml water until tender, cut the meat into small pieces. Set aside. Just skip this process if you substitute with beef ham.

Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a wok and sauté the onion, garlic and chilli until fragrant. Add carrot, meat, beef stock, and beef bouillon. Continue cooking.

When the carrot is tender, add others vegetables.
Cook for 5 minutes and serve.

Crunchy Turmeric Vegetable Pickles (Acar Kuning)

2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, cut sticks shape
1 carrot, peeled, cut sticks shape
2 bird's-eye chillies, sliced (optional)
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 cup water
1 tbs cooking oil
sugar and salt for taste

Spice Paste
5 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
5 Candlenuts (Kemiri)
1 tsp turmeric powder (or 2cm fresh tumeric, crushed)

Heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, fry the spice paste. Add sugar, salt and vinegar.

Add carrot, cucumber and chillies together with 1 cup of water. Stirr well and cook until vegetables tender. To have the crunchy taste, don't overcook.

Spicy Tofu with Dark Sweet Soy Sauce (Kering Tahu)

250 g Tofu/Tahu
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 big red Chillies
2 bird's eyes Chillies (optional)
2 Shallots, chopped
1 cm of fresh Galangal (Lengkuas/Laos), chopped
3 tablespoons of dark sweet soy sauce
100 ml water
Salt and sugar to taste

Cut tofu into small cube then fry half done.

In remaining oil, sauté the shallot, garlic, chillies and galangal until fragrant. Then add tofu, sweet soy sauce and water. Add salt and sugar to taste. Cook until the sauce absorbed.

Serve with steamed rice.

Saffron may help Lift your mood

Saffron has long been used in traditional Persian medicine as a mood lifter, usually steeped into a medicinal tea or used to prepare rice. Research from Iran's Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital at Tehran University of Medical Sciences has found that saffron may help to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and depression.

In one study, 75% of women with PMS who were given saffron capsules daily reported that their PMS symptoms (such as mood swings and depression) declined by at least half, compared with only 8 percent of women who didn't take saffron.

Roasted Tempe (Tempe Bakar Berbumbu)

3 pieces tempe medium size, cut into pieces (as desired)
300 ml water

Spices:
3 garlic clove, shred
2 cm galangale
8 small red onion, shred
1 tbsp tamarind juice
3 tbsp shaved brown sugar
3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp salt

mix the spices with water, boil
add tempe to the boiled water, cook and stirr once in a while till the water all gone
roast tempe, spread the spices residue to both side of tempe till aromatic, then remove and serve with steam rice.

Cilantro, Soapy but has many Health Benefits

This herb, popular in Mexican and Asian dishes, is surprisingly divisive. There's even a website dedicated to cilantro-haters. The aldehydes give cilantro its fragrance and give off that soapy smell and flavor, but some people find it pleasing.

Want to make it more palatable? Crush up the leaves, which converts the aldehydes into a less noxious aroma, making it easier to eat.

On the other hand, Cilantro has many health benefits, such as:

Protects against the Salmonella bacteria
Reportedly works as a natural chelation treatment
Aids in digestion and helps settle the stomach and prevent flatulence
An anti-inflammatory that may alleviate symptoms of arthritis
Protects against urinary tract infections
Prevents nausea
Relieves intestinal gas
Lowers blood sugar
Lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) and raises good cholesteraol (HDL)
A good source of iron
A good source of magnesium
Rich in phytonutrients and flavonoids

Sweet ,Spicy, and Sour Fruits Salad (Rujak Buah)

Unripe Mango
Pineapple
Melon
Cucumber
Sweet potato
all fruits thinly sliced

Sauce :

100 g fried peanut
2-3 bird's eyes chillies (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried shrimp paste
100 g palm sugar
1 teaspoon tamarind juice
100 ml water

Peel and Clean all fruits then sliced. Store in the fridge for 15 minutes
Grind and blend all ingredients for the sauce.

Serve fruits with sauce.

Sweet Marinated Bean Cake (Tempe Bacem)

250 g tempe, cut into 6-8 pieces
1 cm of galangal*
2 Salaam leaves (bay leaves)
250 ml thick coconut milk
250 ml water
*can be substituted with 1 tablespoon of galangal powder

Spice Paste
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of coriander
4 shallots or half medium red onion
1 tsp of tamarind (asem jawa)
2 tbsp of palm sugar/brown sugar
salt to taste

Grind or blend the spice paste.

Boil the coconut milk/coconut water together with tempe, galangal, Salaam leafs, and spice paste. Add the water and continue cooking until the spices and water are absorbed. Then cool them off.

Heat up 50 ml oil into deep frying pan and fry the tofu both sides, but don't do it too much (too dry/crunchy).

Apple "diet" foods that make you hungrier

Yes, we all know that apples are great for you, particularly for those who are in diet. They contain lots of vitamins and fiber, but a single apple is not a balanced snack. If you don’t eat anything else with your afternoon apple, you may overeat at dinner.

Better choice: Apple with 5-10 almonds or a cheese stick. Spend a few more calories on your snack so you won’t be ravenous later.