Xmas 2014 - Small Gathering 4The Kids (& The Parents Too)

We had a jolly time on that one evening when my kids together with their friends, which happen to be my kids school mates and my neighbors too, gathered at my place. The kids were busy playing together while we the parents had so much fun catching up (read: gossiping LOL)
The kids had presents under Xmas tree and they happily ripped off all of them in no time, and they didn't even want to wait til after dinner hehe..

Posing with all the Xmas gifts :)

 

 

 

We had potluck for dinner, all the yummy food that made us so stuffed!

I cooked Indonesian style yellow rice, turmeric fried chicken and sambal eggs and I had beef floss sent from Indonesia which goes well with the yellow rice. I also baked fruit pastry cake and Xmas tree brownies with my kids as the decorator :)
One mummy made very yummy ondeh2 (we call it 'klepon' in Indonesian) and also really delicious samosa. Another mummy cooked fried noodles, fried chicken nuggets, made veggies achar and yummy agar2 too. Also my sis came and she cooked delicious begedil (we call it perkedel in Indonesian)

Now I will share all the dishes I cooked and the cakes I baked :)

First, I start with the delicious Indonesian style yellow rice, cooked in rice cooker
It's one yummy and tasty rice which I forgot to take picture of aarrggh! I only had 1 picture which has been mixed with chicken pieces taken with my handphone

Source: Diah Didi

What you need:

500g long grain rice
about 900ml water
11/2 tsp ground turmeric
4 pcs Indonesian bay leaves
4cm blue ginger, peeled and lightly pounded
2 stalks lemongrass, lightly pounded
2 pandan leaves, tied a knot
11/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp instant coconut milk (I used Kara)

Method:

1. Mix together all ingredients except coconut milk in rice cooker, give a quick stir and let it start cooking
2. When the cooking process stops (usually when the light switched to "keep warm" mode), quickly pour in coconut milk and stir well. Close back the rice cooker and after about 30mins open up and give a thorough stir, discarding the lemongrass and blue ginger. And it's done :)

Second is turmeric fried chicken. Tasty and tender very well marinated chicken fried til golden brown. It's a must when one eats yellow rice :)

 

 

Source: Herti Kitchen

 

What you need:

 

1 free range chicken, cut into pieces

2 pcs Indonesian bay leaves

2 stalks lemongrass, lightly pounded

250ml coconut water mixed with 100ml water (original recipe used 250ml water)

cooking oil for frying

1 large lime to pre wash the chicken

 

Blend together:

5 candlenuts

1 tsp ground coriander

8 cloves of garlic

1 tsp ground turmeric

4cm blue ginger, peeled and sliced

4cm old ginger, peeled and sliced

11/2 tsp salt

 

Method:

1. Squeeze large lime over the chicken and let it stand for about 15mins. Rinse
2. Slather the blended spices all over the chicken including inside the cavity, cover in cling wrap and keep refrigerated for a minimum of 2 hours
3. In a large wok, pour coconut water mixture, together with bay leaves, lemongrass. Bring to boil and then add in chicken. Let it cook til the liquid is much lesser and thickened
4. In another wok, heat cooking oil and fry the chicken pieces til golden brown

Third is sambal balado egg. Another must dish to accompany yellow rice. I am not too tolerant to super spicy dish using bird's eye chili so I used all large red chilis and I discarded most of the seeds. Those love super spicy dishes, you may retain all the seeds and/or add bird's eye chili into it

Source: NCC (Natural Cooking Club)

What you need:

10 hard boiled eggs, peeled (original recipe fry the eggs)
400g large red chilis, discard the seeds, cut in chunks and blitz in food processor but not too smooth
120g shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
25g garlic, peeled, halved and blitz in food processor til smooth
1 stalk of lemongrass, lightly pounded
1pc Indonesian bay leaf
1cm blue ginger, lightly pounded
salt, sugar and chicken stock powder (to your preference)
150ml cooking oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok and sautee shallots til translucent. Add in chilis and garlic and continue to cook til fragrant
2. Add in lemongrass, bay leaf and blue ginger, stir well and cook for a few mins
3. Add in salt, sugar  and chicken stock powder, stir well and adjust the taste
4. Add in eggs, stir well, let boil for a while and remove from heat

 

 

So those are the three dishes I cooked. Now is the cake I baked that day. It's actually an old recipe I once tried to make too and my family and I loved it. Fruit pastry cake. You may view it HERE

This cake has been popular lately in some Facebook baking groups. I followed the modified recipe I found there. My apology as I can't remember who did the modification hence no mention here. Anyway, it turned out really good :)

 

 

 

 

Original recipe is from Happy Home Baking

 

What you need:

 

100g butter
180g caster sugar (reduced to 165g) 

50g low fat yogurt (I used 70g)

30ml fresh orange juice (addition)
3 eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest

210g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
500g fruits (I used canned peach, fresh raspberries and blueberries)

 

Method:

1. Wash, cut and drain fruits - set aside
2. Grease with butter the side of a 9" or 8" round pan and line the base with parchment paper
3. With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and yogurt till light and fluffy
4. Add in the eggs gradually and beat till incorporated in the batter. (the mixture may appear slightly curdled)
5. Add vanilla extract and zest. Mix to combine
6. Sieve over flour and baking powder and mix till smooth
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spatula
8. Arrange fruits on top, don’t press the fruits down into the batter. Decorate the fruits as desired
9. Bake in pre-heat oven at 180degC for 60minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Cover the top with foil in the last 15 mins of baking to prevent the top from getting over browned
10. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about 5~10 mins
11. Dust the cake with some icing sugar if desired

 

The last thing I baked was decorated Christmas tree fudgy brownies. Please refer the recipe is HERE

I used 2 brownies pans so that it turned out not so thick. Then I cut into long triangle to Christmas tree shape. After it's completely cooled, I poked each triangle with ice cream stick and let my kids decorating them with whatever I had on hand - with a little help from me :)

 

 

This is my favorite :)

 

 

 

So, that's all what I have prepared for the gathering. We all enjoyed it so much and can't wait for another one next year! LOL

 

This post is linked at Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2015 hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids at here.

 

 

 

***Please pardon the quality of some of the pics above. They were taken using my mobile phone in a rush LOL