how to make SOTO MADURA

Ingredients: 500 gr beef or internals, 100 gr bean sprouts, 80 gr rice noodles, 60 gr Indonesian parsley, 60 gr scallions, 60 gr ginger, 1 lime, salt and pepper.

Directions:

* Boil meat until done. Drain and cut into bite-sized slices.
* Remove the tails of bean sprouts, boil until half done
* Boil rice noodles separately
* Keep these in separate plates
* Cut Indonesian parsley and scallions
* Grind shallots, and brown it for a little bit
* Skin and cut ginger
* Make beef stock using beef bones boiled in water for about an hour. Remove bones, and put in salt, pepper, ginger, and shallots.
* Serve the soto by putting the beef, bean sprouts, noodles into a bowl. Pour soup into it.
* Sprinkle with Indonesian parsley and scallions. 

Indonesian Soto Ayam Recipe (Chicken Noodle Soup) 

Since discovering the taste of real Indonesian food at Java Spice in Rowland Heights, I have had no less than 5 Indonesian meals (eat-in, take-out, and home cooking included) in the last two weeks: dishes such as Ayam Kalasan, Soto Ayam, Gado-Gado, Nasi Goreng, and Sate.
This is not my first mad cuisine crush. I will spend an obsessive amount of time researching a new (to me) cuisine when I fall in love with it. I have been similarly smitten with Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Sichuan cuisines. So yes, I became a food stalker and searched everywhere for Indonesian recipes, food pictures, blogs, restaurants, and cookbooks.
It was like being back at school and Indonesian food was my graduate course. I burned the midnight oil for an Indonesian Food exam. I went to local libraries, Borders, Barnes & Noble’s religiously and holed up in the ethnic cookbooks section reading and ogling beautiful Indonesian cookbooks (unfortunately, there are only a handful of them!). I just have to cook Indonesian food in my kitchen, with my own hands, to satisfy and get over my current obsessive-compulsive behavior…
And before the restraining order goes into effect.
Finally I got myself the long list of ingredients and spent hours cooking up the following Soto Ayam.
I am never a huge fan of Soto Ayam in Malaysia but the Indonesian version of Soto Ayam won me over. To kick up the flavor of the traditional Soto Ayam, this variation is infused with coconut milk and more spices. In Indonesia , this dish is called Soto Resah. It tasted very good and my native Malaysian palate favors this more complex and richer rendition.

Recipe: Indonesian Soto Ayam
Ingredients:
1/2 chicken breast meat, skinless and deboned (cut into small cubes)
1 stalk of lemon grass (cut into 3 strips)
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of chicken broth
1 glass of water
Spice Paste:
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
4 shallots (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 pieces of turmeric (peeled and chopped) or 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder
2-inch piece of galangal (peeled and sliced)
2-inch piece of ginger (peeled and sliced)
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
Other ingredients:
2 cups of sliced cabbages
2 cups of bean sprouts
1/2 pack of vermicelli or 1 small package of glass noodles
2 limes, cut into wedges
2 hard-boiled eggs (cut into wedges)
1 stalk of spring onion (chopped)
Method:
Blend the spice paste in a food processor. Add some water if needed. Pour some oil in a pot and add in the spice paste. Stir the spice paste and wait for it to turn light brown. Add in chicken broth, coconut milk, lemon grass strips, and water. Once the broth starts boiling, add in chicken breast cubes. Cover the pot and lower the heat and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Blanch beansprouts, pre-soaked vermicelli / glass noddles, cabbages in another pot of boiling water and transfer them into a bowl once they are cooked. Add in toppings of hard-boiled eggs, chopped spring onions and pour the hot chicken broth into the bowl. Serve hot with lime wedges.

EATING LIKE THE SPANISH

Bored of cooking every day the same meals, the same recipes, and want to try something different and exotic?

You can choose any culture, any country you want and you will find specific traditional food for each and every one of them. But there is something different about the way the Spanish cook, they just make food enjoying it and this is what matters and offers such tasty results.

First of all you have to know Spanish people like to eat a lot of eggs. But they never, or almost never, eat boiled eggs like we do. The traditional egg preparation method is to scramble them and fry them, obtaining a delicious omlette with potatoes and lots of onions added in the frying pan. The Spanish tortilla, as it is called is an exceptional and nutritional way to feed your family for lunch.

Another wonderful dish is the paella. The paella means that you will pretty much throw in the frying pan everything you have in your fridge. Everything that goes with each other, of course. The base for the paella is usually obtained out of boiled chicken wings of legs and to it we will add vegetables assorted to our taste. It is important that we fry everything together in olive oil for a better taste. We can even add fruits in the pan and after everything is done, just a minute before turning off the fire, we pour in the pan an assorted natural juice or liqueur or wine, whatever we want as long as we think we will like it. And the result will be an absolutely extraordinary dish made to fit our every taste and desire.

Spanish deserts are often a dream, but they can be rather difficult to prepare and they usually contain lots of calories. Spanish cooking in generally is for people that really have time to spend in the kitchen and enjoy doing it. Most Spanish dishes take a log time to complete and a regular Spanish meal can require up to 3 or even 4 dishes to serve.

If you are willing to try but don’t really have that much time on your hand them you can just go to a Spanish restaurant near you an d see for a change how Spanish people eat. But if you experience weight problems you must be careful on how much you eat, Spanish food can be addictive and it contains many calories to give you lots of benefic energy.