Tomatoes season is here! Tomatoes are everywhere, and they’re very cheap, you can buy them for only IDR 3K-5K per kg in the market, don’t you wonder how much are they from the farmer? Some say they’re less than IDR 1K per kg from the farmers! Ahhh, poor farmers 😦

Tomatoes are cheap, but that doesn’t mean manufactured bottled tomatoes sauce’s price decreasing or becoming cheaper, so I guess while the tomatoes are cheap, why don’t we make our own tomatoes sauce?

We can save a little money and homemade tomatoes sauce is definitely healthier than the manufactured ones. So let’s buy a bunch of tomatoes and turn them into a fresh, healthy, and delicious sauce!

Musim tomat telah tiba! Tomat mudah ditemui dimana-mana dengan harga yang sangat murah. Kita dapat membeli tomat satu kilogram seharga 3000-5000 rupiah saja. Kebayang ga harga dari petaninya berapa? Katanya harga satu kilogram tomat dari petaninya langsung kurang dari 1000 rupiah, bahkan ada yang 300-500 rupiah!

Tomat sedang murah, bukan berarti harga saus tomat pabrikan otomatis menjadi lebih murah, jadi mumpung harga tomat sedang murah, yuk kita buat saus tomat sendiri!

Mudah, jauh lebih murah sehingga kita dapat menghemat sedikit uang, dan yang pasti saus tomat buatan sendiri jauh lebih sehat daripada buatan pabrik kan? Jadi mari kita beli tomat dan buat saus tomat sendiri! 🙂

Ingredients/Bahan :

• 500 gr tomatoes/tomat
• 10 cloves of garlic/siung bawang putih
• 100 gr red chilies/cabe merah (optional, you can add them more or less, or not at all/bisa lebih atau kurang atau tidak pakai cabe merah sama sekali)
• 3-5 tbs granulated sugar/gula putih
• salt as needed/garam seperlunya
• 250 ml water/air
• 1 tsp cornstarch or all-purpose flour/maizena atau tepung terigu
• White vinegar as needed/cuka seperlunya (if you think tomatoes are not sour enough/hanya kalau merasa tomat kurang asam)

Instruction/Cara :

1. Boil tomatoes in a saucepan, just until the skin cracked and easy to peel (Picture 1). Drain them and don’t throw away the water, just leave the water in the saucepan to be used.
2. Peel the tomatoes and chop them roughly. Chop the garlic and red chilies also, put them back into the saucepan and boil them again until soft and all the water is gone (Picture 2).
3. Leave it to cool completely.
4. Put it into a blender, and blend it until smooth. Strain it, so you will get a smooth thick liquid (Picture 3).
5. Put it back into the saucepan, season it with salt and sugar and vinegar if needed and then dissolve the cornstarch/all-purpose flour into 2 tbs of water and mix it with the sauce.
6. Bring the sauce to boil (Picture 4).
7. Leave it to cool and put it into a jar or a container, and ready to be served.
8. Enjoy! ❤

1. Rebus tomat dalam panci, sampai kulitnya pecah dan mudah dikupas (Gambar 1). Tiriskan dan jangan buang airnya, tinggalkan saja air di panci untuk digunakan nanti.
2. Kupas tomat dan cincang kasar. Potong bawang putih dan cabai merah juga, masukkan kembali ke dalam panci dan rebus kembali sampai lunak dan semua airnya hilang (Gambar 2).
3. Biarkan hingga dingin.
4. Masukkan ke dalam blender, dan blender sampai halus. Saring, untuk mendapatkan saus yang lebih halus (Gambar 3).
5. Masukkan kembali ke dalam panci, bumbui dengan garam dan gula dan cuka jika perlu dan kemudian larutkan tepung jagung / tepung terigu ke dalam 2 sdm air dan campurkan ke dalam saus.
6. Didihkan saus (Gambar 4).
7. Biarkan hingga dingin dan masukkan ke dalam stoples atau wadah, dan siap disajikan.
8. Selamat menikmati! ❤

When I seek for a comfort, I seek for a comfort food. And I think the best comfort food is sandwich, with a lot of veggies stuffed into it, makes it a bit or even a lot healthier than junk food, especially you make it all by yourself from scratch. Not only healthier but also cheaper 😉
So here we go making our own sandwiches, witches!

What we need :

• self-made Soft baguettes, see the recipe here https://doyouaflavor.food.blog/2019/08/13/soft-baguette/
• All kind of veggies for salads (lettuce, arugula, mesclun, mustard, basically all leaves that can be eaten raw or can be made for salad greens, well I don’t know all the leaves that can be eaten for salad, but you can buy mix packaged salad leaves in the supermarket, plus cucumbers and tomatoes)
• Pulled beef (I haven’t wrote my own recipe for pulled beef but you can make it your own or just pull the beef from your beef dishes such as beef rendang or beef stew)
• Some ketchup or chili sauce if you like it a bit spicy
• Some mayonnaise (preferably homemade – I write the recipe too later)
• Some butter to lightly grill the baguettes

Assembling

1. Prepare all ingredients ; slice the cucumber and tomatoes
2. Cut the baguette horizontally, and spread it with butter, then grill it on a hot pan one side with butter only or both sides.
3. Place the bottom baguette on the serving plate while it still hot or warm.
4. Spread it with ketchup/chili sauce or both
5. Put the pulled beef evenly, then the veggies start with leaves, here you can add mayonnaise then cucumbers, and tomato and mayonnaise again if you like or ketchup (it will hold the above baguette) then put the other half baguette.
6. Ready to eat or you can cut it in two to make it easier to eat.

You can also make egg and cheese filling sandwich, just exchange the pulled beef with scramble eggs and cheese slices, it will be really really delicious too you know 🙂

This brownie is so dense but soft, toffee-ish or fudgy-ish, and no mixer needed, very simple and fail-proof, so let’s just kick it 🙂

Ingredients :

• 250 gr cooking chocolate block
• 30 gr cocoa powder
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 5 tablespoon margarine/butter
• a pinch of salt
• vanilla extract/powder
• 50 ml milk
• Chopped toasted cashew nut as needed (optional)
• Sliced almond as needed (optional)
• Chocolate chunk/chips as needed (optional)

How to :

1. Chop the cooking chocolate and put in a bowl with cocoa powder, butter and sugar, melt them using bain marie. Let aside, and cool it down.
2. When the chocolate mix is cool enough, mix the eggs in and whisk it well
3. Pour the flour, salt, and vanilla and mix them well.
4. Pour the milk in, and mix them well.
5. Add in the cashew nut, and pour the dough into brownie pan.
6. Top it with sliced almond and chocolate chunk/chips.
7. Bake it for about 45 minutes or check it with a toothpick, if it come out clean, it means the brownie is done.
8. Cool it in a rack, until completely cool and put them in fridge until it’s frozen.

This recipe is actually base on a regular white bread recipe (I assumed) that I changed a bit to my liking, or rather I make my own recipe because I didn’t see any recipe making it and call it “soft baguette” myself…, so here is the recipe :

Yield : about 6 bars of small baguette
Time needed : an hour and half or so

Ingredients :

• 500gr high protein contained flour
• 1 egg
• 6 gr yeast
• 3 gr bread improver
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 350 ml warm water/milk
• 3 tablespoon of butter/margarine

How to :

1. Put all dry ingredients in a big bowl, whisk them well and make a hole in the middle.
2. Put the egg in the hole and mix it using hand with the dry ingredients
3. Pour the water/milk to the dough little by little and knead the dough until all water is poured. If it is too sticky you can add the flour, if it’s too dry you can add the water, just feel it with your hand, you will know.
4. Continue kneading the dough while you add the butter, knead the dough until it’s smooth.
5. Put the dough in the bowl, cover with damp napkin, and leave to prove for about 30 minutes or double in size.
6. Press the dough and let the air out, cut it into six, and shape them into small long baguette, and let them prove again for about 15 minutes, and ready to bake.
7. Bake them until golden brown
8. You can make sandwiches out of it or you just can eat them with the filling/topping of your choice…
9. Enjoy! ❤

Do you know that “Granola” was actually a trademark that registered in the US in the late 19th century? Now it is still a trademark but only in Australia.
Granola and muesli are basically the same, they are breakfast food that contain rolled oats, nuts, fresh or dried fruits, sweeteners, seeds, but granola is usually baked until it is crisp, and muesli use uncooked oats and combine with liquids like milk, water, juice, or yogurt and left it for a night in the fridge.
But guess what? I’d say they are exactly the same! I’ve bought a package of muesli and it was baked! lol
And there is granola bar, it’s granola that pressed and cut into a bar shape, and of course it’s baked :), and here is the recipe :

Making about : 30 bars
Time needed : 30 minutes, and 2 hours resting

Ingredients :

• 500gr organic rolled oats
• 150gr mixed dried fruits (I use : cranberry, goji berry, raisin, blueberry)
• 100gr cashew nut
• 100gr sun flower seeds
• 50gr almond slices
• 50gr pumpkin seeds
• 25gr chia seeds
• 80gr honey
• 50gr blueberry jam (or you can use brown sugar)
• 150gr dates

How to make :

1. Prepare a square baking pan/tray (size 24x24cm) and cover it with plastic wrap or parchment paper.
2. Toast all ingredients except dried fruits, chia seeds, honey, sugar and dates. Toasting time depends on each ingredient.
3. Puree the dates (without pits) using a blender or food processor.
4. Boil honey and jam (or sugar) in a saucepan about 5 minutes or until it’s thick but not too caramelized.
5. Mix well the dates puree into sugar and honey mixture.
6. Place all toasted ingredients, mixed fruits and chia seeds in a large bowl.
7. Pour the sugar, honey and dates puree mixture into the bowl, and mix them well.
8. Pour all the mixture into baking tray, spread it evenly, and press it hard enough evenly until they stick together and you think they can hold the shape.
9. Place the baking tray in refrigerator for minimum 2 hours.
10. After 2 hours or so, it’s ready to be cut. One tray can make 30 bars, or 20 bars if you cut it bigger.
11. You can wrap them in plastic wrap individually and make them ready-to-go with you in your bag wherever and whenever you’ll go or you can store them in refrigerator for longer life time.