Home-Multiplied Yogurt

I love yogurt.

But I am going to wreck my budget if I will get a store-bought yogurt for each time I get a craving for yogurt dessert, tzatziki dip or muesli.

So I am sharing the splendid solution for this. Yogurt need not be expensive. Here is how it goes:

Get a small tub of plain yogurt from the store. Make sure it says it has live micro-organisms.

Prepare as much milk as you want. Use full-cream milk. I use powdered milk and dilute it in warm water - not boiling okay. It should be warm in such a way that it will still be comfortable to dip your finger in it.

Take a tablespoon of the yogurt and mix it in the prepared milk. Cover and place in a warm place away from sunlight for 8 to 10 hours.

After that, you'll be surprised to see that your milk has coagulated and cultured into a liter of plain yogurt, yahoo!

Go chill in the ref. It keeps for one week. I personally love adding honey and dried mangoes to it. It is also a clever way to clean up that fruit jam jar. When a jar of jam is almost empty (except for thos bits sticking in the corners), I just pour some yogurt into the jar, shake and then, you have flavored yogurt!

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Beef Rendang (Anne's Version)

Awesome picture www.aglugofoil.com. That is how my dish really turned out!

I do not claim to have a found an improvement to this Malaysian dish but I did found my way around the limitations in ingredients here in Quezon City. So it is good news that we can still enjoy this rich stew even if it is quite a search mission to get hold of some key ingredients.

The cooking style is definitely not familiar because instead of just chopping the aromatics, we need to blend or pound it into a paste. Also I did not let my beef go through the pressure cooker and just let it simmer in the electric stove. I do have a gas stove but I use the electric stove for stewing. The heating plate retains heat even if turned off so I just turn it on for 5 minutes and turn it off for 15 minutess through the 2-hour cooking time. The flavor slow cooking delivers is definitely worth it. A coal stove will also work wonderfully for this. Cook this the night before you intend to serve it to really get the most flavor, as with any old stew.

Ingredients:
Flavor paste
1 pc siling haba, seeds removed, chopped
4 pcs siling labuyo, seeds removed, chopped
2 medium red onions, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tbsp finely sliced fresh lemongrass (or about 4 inches worth of the white part near the roots)
1 tbsp galangal paste (I found Thai Galangal Paste in Cherry Foodarama)
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
1 - 2 tbsp water, to thin the paste as needed

1/2 cup dessicated coconut, toasted dry on a pan
1/2 kilo beef brisket cut to chunks
1 cup coconut milk (or simply milk of one coconut - put all that milk in!)
2 cups water (as needed)
2 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce (it's supposed to be Malaysian thick soy sauce)
2 tbsp regular soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder
8 asitaba leaves, sliced thinly (but it's really supposed to be lime and turmeric leaves. Asitaba tastes nothing like them but hey, those are the only leaves I can get in my front yard))
Pepper and patis to taste

Procedure:
In a mortar and pestle, combine first 7 ingredients and pound together until it becomes a paste. Otherwie, use a blender and whiz away to make a paste. Add water if necessary to thin the paste ito a manageable texture. Set aside.

Toas the dessicated coconut until golden brown. Grind to a paste or blend in the blender again. Set aside.

In a pan, heat oil in medium-high flame and add the flavor paste. Saute until it becomes very aromatic about 3-4 minutes. Add the beef and stir in for about 3 minutes more.

Add to the beef mixture the coconut milk, the water, the curry powder, both soy sauce and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Then add blended toasted coconut and asitaba leaves. Mix thoroughly, cover and bring to a slow boil.

Now lower the heat and you can go back surfing, wash the laundry or watch Sherlock Holmes and let it stew for about 1.5 hours or until beef is tender. Just make sure that you stir it occasionally, every 10-15 minutes so it will not burn at the bottom.

When it is done, it will be brown, thick and grainy from the coconut. Serve it with hot rice and cucumber slices.

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Talks about Broccoli Stalks

Yep, they're all good!

One morning, a vegetable vendor came knocking at our gate and displaying his decent, robust broccoli. Our neighbor was inspecting them but said "The inedible part is even bigger than the florets!"

Even in the grocery I hear people comment about the useless stalks being too big. But what most people are unaware of is that the stalks are as edible as the florets. In fact they pack a lot of flavor on a Leek and Broccoli Soup. Or just simply stir fry it with some oyster sauce and sprinkled with toasted garlic.

Just make sure that you peel the tough outer skin with a peeler and chop for the soup or slice thinly for stir fries. Trust me. The stalks will make the money you are paying for broccoli worthwhile.

Up next, Leek Broccoli Soup.

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#55: Menu of Week March 11-15 2013

Monday:
Breakfast - Grilled Tomato & Cheese Sandwhich (on Wheat Bread)
Lunch - Curried Chicken Liver
Dinner - Kangkong in Garlic & Black Beans and left-over Curry

Tuesday:
Breakfast - French Toast with Caramel Syrup
Lunch - Adobong Baboy sa Gata
Dinner - Tabbouleh Salad, Spicy Peanut Chicken, Corn & Carrot Salad, Fusilli in Tomato Sauce and Caramel Cheesecake Ice Cream 
(now before you go hating me, we had dinner in our friend's house so she was the one who literally dished out this gorgeous feast) 

#54: 1st Bangkok Food Album

After a long silence (brought about by the growing demands of my adorable toddler) I have come back with a vengeance! The recipe ideas that I had in my mind piled on top of the other. I hope I will be able to draw them out again and actually WRITE them. But for now, I bring you some tasty moments I had from my recent (and short :-( ) trip to Sala Daeng, Bangkok. 

It's my first time to fly out so I even took pictures of my airplane food! Hahaha!

Braised beef, tofu salad, and a nice coctail drink on the side, yahoo!

Mousse cake with coffee for dessert

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A strong team of condiments on a street food table