RESEP MASAKAN ORIENTAL

When I was asked to take part in a special holiday YouTube playlist called, “ Christmas Morning Breakfast ,” I started thinking about seasonal variation on things like eggs benedict, quiche, and French toast. But then I realized…you can’t wrap those things up and give them as an edible gift, so I decided to do this granola instead. We’ve covered the edible gift topic before, and discussed the fine line between, “Wow, what a creative and thoughtful gift!” and “Wow, what a cheapskate!” Happily, when it comes to this delicious, crunchy treat, one taste and the lucky recipient will forget about any ulterior economic motivations. Since this was a Christmas-themed recipe, I went with lots of festively colored dried fruit, but the beauty of the granola technique is that it pretty much works with anything. I love the looks of the green pumpkin seeds, but things like hazelnuts and pecans would also work wonderfully. As I mentioned in the video, it’s really up to you to determine the cooking ti...

It’s always nice when you start out making one thing, and it unexpectedly turns into something else, which ends up being far better than you expected. Such was the case with this quite homely, yet amazingly delicious sweet corn and wild mushroom spoonbread. I was trying to do a simple, wild mushroom-studded, sweet corn casserole to reinforce our holiday side dish repertoire, and before I knew it, I was eating the best, most flavorful cornbread dressing I’d ever tasted. Not only that, but we completely eliminated the step of having to make corn bread first! Of course, I wish I could do stuff like this on purpose, but like my golf buddies used to say, “better lucky, than good.” The only drawback, as I obsessed over in the video, was the less that stellar appearance when it came out of the oven.  I may try some type of gratin topping next time, but honestly, this was so wonderful tasting that I can’t even pretend to be upset over such superficial concerns.  I hope you give it a ...

Tabbouleh is another one of those popular recipes for which I’ve received hundreds of food wishes for, and yet inexplicably I’ve still not posted one. Why not? I have no idea. I’m as mystified as anyone. In the meantime, I wanted to share this fine version from friend of the blog Robert Sogomonian (aka @psyrixx ). You can check out his original post here . Enjoy!

Not only is polenta one of the first foods I remember watching someone cook, but it’s probably also responsible for the first time I ever heard someone curse.  I remember my grandfather standing at the stove, stirring a big pot of the stuff, and every once in a while some of the thick, bubbling polenta would burp out of the pot and on to his hand. He would jump back and yell something, which to my very young ears sounded sort of like, “hey, some fun girl!”  Of course, years later I realized he was actually saying, “vaffanculo.” I’ll let you translate yourself. By the way, one way to avoid the wrath of the molten mush is to adjust your heat to maintain a nice gentle bubble. Besides severe burns, there’s not a lot that can go wrong with this recipe. As long as you stir it in slowly, whisking constantly, and simmer it until it’s perfectly soft, you will have one of the world’s great comfort foods, and a beautiful base for any number of stews or braises. Enjoy! Ingredients for 4 ...

I’ve always been fascinated with Israeli couscous, also known as pearl couscous, and have received several food wishes recently for a recipe showing it off. I’ve had it most often in cold salads, but for whatever reason I decided to turn it into a hot side dish. Since it’s nothing more than tiny balls of lightly toasted pasta dough, I thought it would work well in some type of macaroni-n-cheese application. I decided to skip the traditional béchamel and instead use more of a risotto technique. Short story short, it worked great! I’ve always been a fan of the southern delicacy “pimento cheese,” so I decided to hedge my bets and toss in some of the bittersweet jewels. All in all, I really liked the dish, and how well it held up. The shot you see at the end, when I dig the fork in for a taste, was actually filmed three days after this was made, and had been reheated in the microwave. Despite sitting in the fridge, and the less then gentle reheating, it was still creamy and delicious. By ...

Finally, after only five or six hundred requests, we’re posting a quinoa recipe! People love eating this “super food” for all the obvious nutritional reasons, but based on the emails I’ve received, they’re constantly searching for new and delicious ways to use it. Well, this was so tasty, so fast, and so easy, I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t make it into the regular rotation. And don’t think for a minute that we’ve simply overwhelmed the quinoa with a bunch of high-calorie, unhealthy ingredients, because that’s not the case. Not that I’m above such culinary shenanigans; but it just wasn’t necessary. I was really surprised how decadent and satisfying this seemed, and with only a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and a handful of very lean smoked ham. These tiny quinoa seeds (that’s right, now you can sound like a d-bag correcting your foodie friends at cocktail parties who call this a “grain”) really are sponges for flavor. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I can’t wait to experiment with...