Lontong (Rice Cake)

Two weeks ago, I wanted to make oxtail soup. I almost cancelled making that considering the time. At least I had to cook it for about 3 hours. I just remembered last thanksgiving I bought a new pressure cooker pan that was still in its box. Making long story short, I used that pan to cook oxtail soup...in one hour my husband's favorite soup was ready.

After that day, I'm curious to use that pan again and again. I made rice porridge, chicken and mung beans.

Several days ago I made lontong. Lontong is rice cake wrapped by banana leaves. Usually we need 3-4 hours cooking time. I got recipe from my friend. She used to cook it about 10 minutes with pressure cooker. But for me, I needed 30 minutes. It might be due to the quality of the pan :-). I bought inexpensive one.

Usually we can eat lontong with curry (either it's white or yellow), satay with peanut sauce, tofu with peanut sauce and many other dishes we can eat with lontong.

Anyway here's the recipe :

Ingredients :
1.5 cups uncooked rice
2.5 cups water (depend to the rice type)
1/2 tsp salt

Methods:
1.  Rinse the rice, and put them into a pan (not the pressure cooker one) with the water and salt. Cook until the rice absorb the water. Put aside.

2.  Cut banana leaves around letter size paper, and also put  half smaller size of the leaf on top of the first layer, put the rice in the middle, try to make a long shape and roll and wrap it. Close the edge using toothpick or stapler.  ( I can make 5 pcs)

3. Put the wrapped rice into the pressure cooker add some water until the cake is merged. (follow the instruction from your manual book of the  pressure cooker). For me it's 30 minutes cooking time.

4. Enjoy Lontong when it is fully cool.

Grilled Red Snapper

It's summer time...
We will not pass this season without going to lake, barbecuing and hanging out with friends.
Last month, we went to Pawtuckaway Lake (...again..and again..last year we went there for 3 times..)
It's not too far from our house. It has play ground, 'beach sand'  and picnic area. We can rent a canoe or kayak. The water is quite warm too. In New England area, though it's summer, not all lake or sea water can be as warm as we think.

I decided to bring fish for our barbecue potluck. My friends suggested me to buy fresh fish at a seafood store near my area. I thought I would see 'fish market' over there. It's more like an office with big refrigerator  at the waiting area. In the refrigerator we can see frozen sea food, such as fish fillet, shrimp, scallop,etc. How about fresh fish... I asked the man who is busy on his desk. He asked me if i knew what kind of fish I would buy. Honestly, I don't have enough knowledge about fish. He pointed to a picture that has the name and the picture of the fish. I still had no idea.  Finally, I remember red fish. I just asked him that kind of fish. I tell him I wanted whole fish not fillet.  He understood, and went inside, after about 5 minutes waiting, he came back with plastic bag with red fish and tons of ice cube.  Red snapper is the name of the fish. I already prepared cool box, so I could place all the fish inside the car without worrying to spread the smell.

This is my first attempt to clean the whole fish... Usually in Indonesia, I can asked the vendor to clean it for me. I marinated the fish with ground seasoning ( garlic, shallot, lemon grass, ginger, salt, pepper, lemon juice). I also made sambel ijo (green chilly sauce) as a condiment to eat this fish.

It is always great to be with friends and family. We gather together, the kids are playing, the men are busy grilling food. The aroma was so good... we all enjoyed the atmosphere.

My son was very happy too... He loves to play with the sand. He was excited to climb, slide with his friends at the play ground. I changed his clothes for 3 times...he loved to get dirty and wet.  He also enjoyed the food, he ate satay and corn.