Taka and This Delicous �Chili Pepper� Life

I have tried to not make a political post of broken heart, because i think people will get disturbed by my melodrama story. But its my blog, my catharsis, huh! I am not that such drama queen, but i feel better when i think about my sadness. Maybe i am just addicted to painful of something i can�t have. A kind of obsessive compulsive.

Maybe I am ridiculous but, Lord, I am thankful for loosing many things. I am thankful for chances to belong. Though hurt, Loosing many things taught me about inner peace. We have to let them go, because, someday we will lose much bigger things like memorable stuffs, branded stuffs, job, people we loved, finally, we ll lose our soul, walk alone and face death. We have to and we will face them even when they are biting and hurt, right?

I can say, loosing many things realizes me that life is as delicious as chili pepper. Actually my Japanese friend, Taka said that after I told him about my broken heart story. Then, he said, �actually, I couldn't find words on your relationship.. but now you seemed to be fine. Anytime and anywhere we crash some troubles unexpectedly. But I believe that all of them is meaningful for our fruitful life like chili pepper of Yogyakarta, right?haha,� after that, i laughed all the day. His quote was quite funny for me.

Taka used to hate hot and biting food with chili and pepper of course. But i disagreed with him. I told him that chili in Indonesian food is the most wanted and dominating spice. Even it tastes hot and biting, many Indonesian addicted to it. Foods would be more tasty with chili. Indonesian people would feel incomplete without chili in their food. You-foreigner- dont believe? Ask your Indonesian friend who stay abroad. My brother lives in Milan, Italy, and sometimes he is dying of chilis.

I think Taka now agree with my idea that chili is delicious. My point is; even some people think that chili is ridiculous and biting but it is addictive, amazing, sensational, and delicious. Chili also has a lot of vitamin C, its good for your diet program :p. There are benefit, delicacy and enjoyment in hot and ridiculousness. And there will always so much hot hot hot chili pepper that we have to taste!

Cooking Story Part 2 : Nasi Goreng Kunyit

Mulai sekarang aku berjanji pada diriku sendiri untuk ngeblog sebulan minimal tiga kali. Menulis itu seperti sebuah penyembuhan bagiku. Janji untuk ngeblog itu bagiku terdengar klise dan pernah kuucapkan sebelumnya. Mmmm, maksudku sekarang aku meralatnya menjadi ngeblog dengan intensitas pemakaian bahasa Indonesia lebih sering. Seperti terlihat pada arsip blogku, beberapa tulisan terakhir kutulis dengan bahasa inggris. Blog ini memiliki beberapa pengnjung setia. Hanya sedikit. Kukira salah satu diantara mereka ada yang memilih untuk berhenti menyimak blogku. Dia yang hanya bisa memahami tulisan dengan bahasa Inggris, India dan Urdu. Dia... penyemangatku. Dia... bume-ku, b****** u�r my everything. I never found someone love me like he did.


Aku cukup bisa memahami keputusannya untuk tidak lagi menyimak blogku, mungkin dia menganggap tulisan ini seperti serpihan kaca yang siap menghujamnya bertubi-tubi ketika ia membaca ceritaku atau mengingat apapun tentangku. Sikapku yang kadang grusa-grusu itu menyakitinya. Kukira aku pantas mendapatkan ini semua. Kata Lelu, sahabatku, kami berdua sama-sama cerdas, saking cerdasnya kami bahkan tidak bisa mempercayai satu sama lain. Skeptis. But, bume, dont you think that this is hurt for me also? I feel pain too! You�ve been turning my whole life so blue during these days, bume!! Biking, reading, working, wacthing movies, and everything I did couldnt cure this deep painful. Well, but i think writing and cooking make me feel comfort and better nowadays. I know I do well, and you will be fine, bume.


Memasak sama menyembuhkannya dengan menulis. Merasakan lezatnya karya seni meleleh dalam mulutmu itu bahagianya seperti ketika kamu harus memikul es berkilo-kilo di pundakmu lalu muncul kehangatan yang melelehkan bebanmu seketika.


Oke, kembali ke judul awal ya, namanya juga cooking story. Mengapa aku memberi judul depan dengan kata-kata Cooking strory? Cerita Memasak? Yang jelas aku tidak sedang menulis buku resep sekarang. I just want to spill my story out. Its a story about how cooking changes point of view, my concicousness, and my life. Oke, oke, I come straight now. Here we go....


Libur lebaran kemarin simbah memberikanku penggerus batu untuk dibawa di Bandung. Itu cukup jadi kejutan bagiku mengingat waktu itu aku membutuhkan benda itu di Bandung dan tak kunjung kutemukan bendanya. Jika ditemukan pun pasti kualitasnya tidak sebaik yang kumau dan harganya terlalu mahal. Kok bisa ya jiwa kami bisa sebegini terkoneksi?


Kemarin mbak Danik, teman kosku meminjam penggerus batu itu. Benda hitam seberat 10 kilo itu habis kupakai untuk ngulek kunyit untuk bumbu perkedel jagung. Dengan semangat, mba Danik mulai menggerus bumbu untuk nasi gorengnya, dan warnanya jadi agak kuning karena pengaruh kunyit yang susah dibersihkan. Warna itu terlihat menarik. Ini mencuri perhatianku selama lebih dari 24 jam setelahnya.

Aku pun mulai membayangkan jika ada dua jempol kunir yang kugerus bersama tiga siung bawag putih sampai halus lalu ditumis bersama setengah sendok makan margarin nonkolesterol kemudian dimasukan potogan bawang merah, garam, petai dan cabe rawit, pasti kombinasi dari kekhasan rasa bumbu-bumbu itu menghasilkan nasi goreng yang membuatku ketagihan. Aku sudah mencobanya sore ini, bentuknya jadinya seperti nasi kuning dengan tambahan-tambahan bumbu dan rempah. Aku juga menambahkan toping telur dadar dan daun seledri. Itu saja. Sederhana tapi enak. Cukup jarang bagiku bisa memasak nasi goreng seenak ini.


Yang kucatat kali ini adalah;

- Untuk selalu menggunakan nasi yang tidak terlalu lembek, gunakan nasi yang pulen cenderung agak keras.
- Gunakan sutil kayu, untuk mengaduk nasi goreng yang padat, sutil kayu akan bekerja lebih baik dan kuat daripada sutil stanless stil
- Bagi yang menghindari MSG, sekarang tersedia penyedap rasa non MSG dan dibuat dari kaldu jamur. Dijamin sehat dan bebas kolesterol. Bisa dicari di supermarket yang menyediakan barang impor. Sayang sekali ya, orang indonesia belum pada peduli dengan isu kesehatan seperti ini, sehingga lebih banyak produsen makanan sehat dari manca.


Yak, mungkin segitu dulu cerita memasaku, gambar jadinya ada diatas, hehehe, menggoda gak? :D... and last but not least... wish u were here, bume!! I miss the way you teach me indian herbs. I miss the way you talking about commerce even i dont understand. Imiss the way you stare at me. I miss the way you talk. I miss the way you tease me. I miss the you mad. I miss your smile. I miss the way you love me, I miss all things in you... Maaf ya, mungkin buat temen-temen yang baca, aku ini semacam jijay, hehe ... emang! Akhirnyaaaa... selamat memasak semuaaaaa!

Cooking Story Part 1: Javanese Chicken Soup (Recipe and hints)

For me, cooking is the greatest art over across the universe. I think I am falling in love with great food taste. I�ve been starting cooking for since I was kid. Mom used to ask me to help for cooking. I thought cooking is boring, but I wrong. Its amazing to taste delicious art melt in your mouth. I like cooking because I like eating. Actually, I started cook everyday because cooking makes my living cost cheaper! :D


I went places for tasting various culinary from different cultures . Somehow, tasting spices and identifying those in my mind increases my curiousity to cook. I failed so many time because foods weren�t tasted delicious but I learned many things. I believe everybody can cook, even better than me.


I remember when I was in college, I used to watch Julie and Julia Movie and Julia Child's cooking show during dinner. She was so energetic, so humble, so humorous, so impressive, so instructive. She really knows how to cook with fun and resulted perfect arts. She was even better than chefs in Masterchef Indonesia reality show. They cook soo serious and judge contestants arrogantly. Tongues are different. Can�t we make cooking fun?

This is first time I write about cooking. I write about Indonesian Chicken Soup cooking. Simplest recipe for beginner, but wasn�t that simple for me. I cooked chicken soup many times, resulted many tastes of soup. First of all, for 4 portions, Indonesian chicken soup needs carrots, cabage, stringbean, spring onion, celery and of course, chicken. To make the gravy, you need water,salt, chicken (for stock), fried onion slices, red onion slices, and peppers. If you dont want to fry the onion ist okay, but i suggest you to fry it before you put it to the water. The taste would be more delicous. I can say, onion is the prime spice of indonesian food. After the water boiled, you can put the vegetables to the gravy. Wait 3 minutes, dont be too long, otherwise the vegetables nutrition would be lost.

Hints;
� Always begin with cold water, never warm or hot.

� When tasting to adjust flavors, use a stainless steel spoon, not a wooden or sterling silver spoon. Wood and silver disguise flavor on the tongue.

� If you must avoid salt, know that the flavor will be greatly diminished. Adding no-salt or low-sodium broth concentrate will help.

� Don't turn your nose up at this: Chicken feet add not only robust flavor, but gelatinous body to the soup. Fresh chicken feet need to be scalded about five minutes so the skin and toenails can be removed before adding to the stockpot. Calf feet, veal knuckles and beef marrow bones achieve the same goal. Bones also leach nutritious calcium and minerals into the soup.

� If at all possible, do not use chicken that has been frozen. Freezing forces moisture from the tissues. When the bird is thawed, all that moisture ends up down the drain, leaving a dry and tasteless chicken.

� Unthawed frozen vegetables should not be added to the soup until the last 15 minutes of cooking time.

� Don't let the soup boil. It should simmer very gently or the meat will become tough and the broth cloudy.

� Dark meat has more flavor than white meat. If you are using chicken parts rather than a whole chicken, keep this in mind. Using only all white meat will result in a much less flavorful result.

� For those concerned about fat, make the soup in two stages. Cook the chicken with its aromatic vegetables and herbs on one day. Strain the meat and flavorings from the broth. Refrigerate the broth until the fat solidifies on top. Save the fat for other uses or discard. Continue with the soup. Do keep in mind that the majority of the flavor is in the fat.

� If you are planning ahead, cook the chicken with vegetables and herbs. Freeze the strained stock. If your planned future use includes chicken meat, freeze the meat in the stock to keep it from drying out. You can later thaw and add fresh vegetables, pasta or rice.

� For a richer broth, remove the chicken from the bones as soon as it is tender and refrigerate. Add the bones back to the soup and continue simmering until desired strength is achieved. Strain and proceed.