Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tomato Juice Beef Stew and More
So the time in the jailhouse has finally ended. I have been spending the last few days at home, simply rotting away and dabbling in bits of this and that which I had not had the chance to do since working. While I didn't have much to do in the jail, time to do what you want was significantly cut short if you have to spend time in the office all the same. So I have been up to:
1) Buying 4 books from the National Library Board sale at Expo. 2 are the books I read as a student during my bachelor's and masters respectively: Figures of Criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines and Colonial Vietnam (ed. Vincente Rafael) and Secret Traders, Porous Border (Eric Tagliacozzo). The 3rd was a surprisingly good book about Indonesia till the Abdurrahman Wahid era published by the jailhouse. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the introductory piece and a bit of the middle part written by the editor of Tempo, Goenawan Mohammad. I think it was that little part about Pramoedya Ananta Toer which convinced me to buy the book. As some people know very well, I am a huge fan of the late Pram, as he was known, whatever implication that may be. I am looking forward to re-reading Tim Lindsey's updated piece on premanisme after the Suharto era. I know this is a bit late for Indonesianists out there, but this is coming from someone who is super lazy about keeping up to date with academic readings. The last book is Entre Nous, a thoroughly frivolous book about being French, which I bought just because it was $2 and I'm interested in extending the self-confident and luxurious style to my personal style.
2) My first ever dermatologist visit. My skin has been experiencing dry spells ever since moving here. It was manageable previously, but ever since switching to the normal to oily version of Shiseido's Elixir range and using a new cleanser at the same time, it has been worse this last 2-3 months. It was actually hurting when I sat down at the derm's yesterday. Was told to stop my normal "commercial" regime and use the clinic's ones for 2 weeks. And to come back for another visit after that. My skin looked instantly better after I used them last night. I hope to change some of my existing products, but I'm not sure what to use. The Elixir range is not available in Singapore and I'm still looking for a reputable (and hopefully cheap....sorry, I'm a cheapskate hence the Internet is my best shopping medium) online store to bring it in.
3) Adding more recipes to my limited cooking knowledge. I really ought to post some recipes to this blog, just to keep count of what I have been experimenting with thus far and as future reference. But again, I am simply too lazy hehe. Speaking of which, I just made beef stew using Jolynn's recipe, with some modification. Think will start with this.
Tomato Juice Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients:
Tomato Juice (1 lt. or so)
Beef cubes or shank
1 large onion (slice into rings)
Half clove garlic (sliced)
1 carrot (sliced)
1 potato (cut into big chunks)
Button mushrooms/ broccoli or anything else you like)
Marinate:
Worchestershire sauce (can substitute with dark soy sauce)
3 tablespoon Sesame oil
Black pepper
Mix herbs
Steps:
1) Marinate beef cubes with the marinate ingredients. You may like to be liberal with the Worchestershire sauce, black pepper and mix herbs to give it that strong flavour. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
2) The next day, heat up some oil (I use olive oil, but vegetable oil is good as well) in a pan and fry the garlic for about 3 seconds. Add the marinated beef cubes and onions and fry till all sides of the beef is cooked.
3) Add the carrot, potato and other ingredients and fry till cooked.
4) Place them all into a slow cooker and add the tomato juice till the ingredients are covered. You may use the "Auto" function if you need to leave the house. If not, use "High" and then switch to "Auto" or "Low" when the stew is boiled. Cook for about 3 hours or more.
Phew. It is not easy to pen down the recipes indeed. I'm sure everyone has heard of so and so who is a superb cook but grumble whenever he/she is asked to write down the recipe. Cooking is really all about rough estimation and that cook's instinct, I think.
Hope you enjoy it. Will post more if there is chance! Time for lunch.
1) Buying 4 books from the National Library Board sale at Expo. 2 are the books I read as a student during my bachelor's and masters respectively: Figures of Criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines and Colonial Vietnam (ed. Vincente Rafael) and Secret Traders, Porous Border (Eric Tagliacozzo). The 3rd was a surprisingly good book about Indonesia till the Abdurrahman Wahid era published by the jailhouse. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the introductory piece and a bit of the middle part written by the editor of Tempo, Goenawan Mohammad. I think it was that little part about Pramoedya Ananta Toer which convinced me to buy the book. As some people know very well, I am a huge fan of the late Pram, as he was known, whatever implication that may be. I am looking forward to re-reading Tim Lindsey's updated piece on premanisme after the Suharto era. I know this is a bit late for Indonesianists out there, but this is coming from someone who is super lazy about keeping up to date with academic readings. The last book is Entre Nous, a thoroughly frivolous book about being French, which I bought just because it was $2 and I'm interested in extending the self-confident and luxurious style to my personal style.
2) My first ever dermatologist visit. My skin has been experiencing dry spells ever since moving here. It was manageable previously, but ever since switching to the normal to oily version of Shiseido's Elixir range and using a new cleanser at the same time, it has been worse this last 2-3 months. It was actually hurting when I sat down at the derm's yesterday. Was told to stop my normal "commercial" regime and use the clinic's ones for 2 weeks. And to come back for another visit after that. My skin looked instantly better after I used them last night. I hope to change some of my existing products, but I'm not sure what to use. The Elixir range is not available in Singapore and I'm still looking for a reputable (and hopefully cheap....sorry, I'm a cheapskate hence the Internet is my best shopping medium) online store to bring it in.
3) Adding more recipes to my limited cooking knowledge. I really ought to post some recipes to this blog, just to keep count of what I have been experimenting with thus far and as future reference. But again, I am simply too lazy hehe. Speaking of which, I just made beef stew using Jolynn's recipe, with some modification. Think will start with this.
Tomato Juice Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients:
Tomato Juice (1 lt. or so)
Beef cubes or shank
1 large onion (slice into rings)
Half clove garlic (sliced)
1 carrot (sliced)
1 potato (cut into big chunks)
Button mushrooms/ broccoli or anything else you like)
Marinate:
Worchestershire sauce (can substitute with dark soy sauce)
3 tablespoon Sesame oil
Black pepper
Mix herbs
Steps:
1) Marinate beef cubes with the marinate ingredients. You may like to be liberal with the Worchestershire sauce, black pepper and mix herbs to give it that strong flavour. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
2) The next day, heat up some oil (I use olive oil, but vegetable oil is good as well) in a pan and fry the garlic for about 3 seconds. Add the marinated beef cubes and onions and fry till all sides of the beef is cooked.
3) Add the carrot, potato and other ingredients and fry till cooked.
4) Place them all into a slow cooker and add the tomato juice till the ingredients are covered. You may use the "Auto" function if you need to leave the house. If not, use "High" and then switch to "Auto" or "Low" when the stew is boiled. Cook for about 3 hours or more.
Phew. It is not easy to pen down the recipes indeed. I'm sure everyone has heard of so and so who is a superb cook but grumble whenever he/she is asked to write down the recipe. Cooking is really all about rough estimation and that cook's instinct, I think.
Hope you enjoy it. Will post more if there is chance! Time for lunch.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Recipe: Double Boiled Beef Soup
My Indon side of the family used to make this when I was a kid. Luckily, my Mum (who incidentally does not eat beef or mutton) has passed the recipe to me. For the purpose of future reference, I decided to put it down in "pen"
Ingredients:
Beef shank
Ginger
Plain water
Cuckoo eggs (optional)
Carrot
Tomato
Method:
Rub a pinch of salt on the beef shank in order to get rid of some smell. Leave at one side
Crush the ginger and boil the cuckoo eggs.
Add everything into either a slow cooker or a double boil china pot. Add water. If in china pot, boil over two hours. You may add the peeled cuckoo eggs in halfway through or at the end.
Ingredients:
Beef shank
Ginger
Plain water
Cuckoo eggs (optional)
Carrot
Tomato
Method:
Rub a pinch of salt on the beef shank in order to get rid of some smell. Leave at one side
Crush the ginger and boil the cuckoo eggs.
Add everything into either a slow cooker or a double boil china pot. Add water. If in china pot, boil over two hours. You may add the peeled cuckoo eggs in halfway through or at the end.
Labels: Recipe
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