This dessert is very easy to make. Mother told me that it is a very common Indonesian dessert, but I have never seen or eaten any before. It was quite surreal when she whipped it out and served small portions of it on these tiny little saucers in no time at all.

The key of success lies on the mould you are using. If you are being super creative (like what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks, shameless self promotion, that is), it is going to look absolutely delicious. Nobody will believe you that it is that easy to make. It is sticky, it is sweet and it looks pretty, in a rustic kind of way.

Anybody knows what this dessert is called?

I used a couple of medium sized cassava roots. I washed and scrubbed the skin under running water for quite a bit. The cassava we got here from the market come very fresh, complete with dirt and all.

I love claypot rice, although I have to admit that we don’t own a claypot. Mother uses ceramic bowl to individually steam the rice and flips the rice on serving plate. It is very delicious and every time she makes this, it is a treat. This is a pork version of our family’s claypot rice. You can substitute it with beef or chicken. Or a bit of everything.

The dish is a bit of fragrant rice topped with succulent braised pork, shiitake mushrooms and hard boiled egg. Our version is always served with heaps of fresh coriander and pickled shallots, chilies and cucumber.

I think the cone-shape mould is just perfect for this dish. It is very pretty. I served this to a couple of friends and they were impressed. It was the first time I didn’t get the “This looks like …  Bhawahaha” remark.

This is a classic dish for Indonesian Chinese one-month-old baby celebration. They are not normally prepared at home. Family with new-born babies are expected to send a complete dish of yellow sticky rice, grilled chicken, red bean cakes and red boiled eggs to relatives and friends who have sent their best wishes during the first month. I love the grilled chicken pack, although some families now choose to send overly decorated cupcakes, which I think are only good to look at. I would pick over grilled chicken over cupcakes any day.

This way of preparing Indonesian grilled chicken (or ayam panggang) was  from our grandmother’s trick. It is not always fun to start up open fire to cook off the chicken, so the last charring period is done in oven.

Don’t expect the grilled chicken to be the much expected juicy roast chicken. Chicken, both fried and grilled, in Indonesian cuisine is meant to be cardboard hard, served with elaborated chili sauce or sweet soy sauce-based sauces. So do expect the chicken to be slightly tough and dry with succulent spicy sauce. The chicken with such strange texture may taste unpalatable, but it is to be served with well-cooked turmeric-scented rice or sticky rice.

As I am stumbling at work and worrying about the challenge, I managed to pull this off this morning. It is very quick to prepare and it looks nice, if you are having nice lunch gathering with your girlfriends, this would be perfect.

I love fried rice. I never get bored of it. I know it is lame, but one of the best Indonesian street dishes is fried rice. They are cooked with margarine (really), laden with sweet soy sauce, generous spices of garlic, shallots and lots of chilies, served with a bit of chicken bits here and there and some crackers and pickled shallots and chilies. But homemade fried rice is really the best. My favorite fried rice is the ones rich with spices and chilies. The fancy bits such as meat of all sorts are nice, but the rice and spice are all I want in a good serving of fried rice.

There is this restaurant that served curry fried rice wrapped in a piece of omelette, shaped like an envelope. It is a very popular restaurant and that fried rice is one of the best seller dish.

I was using our pre-made curry paste for the fried rice. Any instant curry paste can be used. A lot of other ingredients can be added, chicken, lamb, beef, prawn, deep-fried potato cubes, peas. Or even vegetarian version. I was very tempted to throw in some raisins and cashews to create a briyani look-alike. Maybe next time.

The basic ingredients are onion, curry paste, curry leaves and coconut milk.

A very easy, yet slightly time consuming chocolate and milk jelly. Again, my first attempt but the chocolate part is a definite keeper. I combined melted chocolate for the chocolate layered part and milk for the white layered part.

Weekend is here. I will be found running around the kitchen like a mad woman with the jelly cones. So, if you need me, I will be here.