Uploaded with ImageShack.us
you may think that vegie and meat are 2 different things, however, they are actually the same.
meat: cook middle hot for 15 minutes, then low hot
vegie: cook middle hot but only until it boils, then immediately turn off fire
meat: low hot for 15-30 minutes (or pressure cooker for 30 minutes)
vegie: turn off fire, close the lid, let it cook inside with no fire for 10-15 minutes.
they are actually the same principle.
the difference is, meat is tougher and require more time to cook, either in middle hot
or low hot, the meat simply need more time compared to vegie.
as for salt and sugar, i think, it is better if you put salt, don't put sugar and if you put sugar,
don't put salt. however, you will do this experiment. i am not going to be concerned with
salt and sugar anymore. this is my decision: it's either salt or sugar, but not both. and the
truth is, i like the taste better when not mixing these two.
i have attached the photo of 2 meals i cooked for dinner today, i hope you can enjoy them. :)
On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Widianto Arbita <poioun@gmail.com> wrote:
These are 3 things I need to make clear, without mistake:
Cooking the vegie
Cooking the vegie is very easy,
1. you put the vegie in the boiling water,
2. wait until the water boils again, after the vegie is put inside the water.
3. once the water boils again, close the lid, and at the same time, turn off the fire.
4. wait until 10-15 minutes, you open the lid, and you will see your vegie is cooked.
5. if after 10-15 minutes the vegie is still not cooked, turn on the fire again, and repeat 2-4.
6. depending on the material of the vegie, some vegie need longer cooking, and some
shorter cooking. for example, carrot takes longer to cook, potato a little quicker to cook
than carrot, and long bean takes quicker to cook than potato and carrot.
7. you must experiment enough.
Cooking the meat:
1. stir fry garlic and onion
2. put meat inside with garlic and onion
3. stir fry until the surface of the meat is brownish.
4. put 'enough water'(see below), and boil the meat at 'middle hot' for 15 minutes
5. this will make the juice of the meat go out of the meat.
6. if the water runs out, (and oil of meat too much) then you add more water, but remember not too much.
7. after 15 minutes of boiling 'enough water' with the meat,
8. either slow cook/low hot for 15-30 minutes
9. or pressure cook(for tougher meat) for 30 minutes with low hot
10. after that you can add ingredient and vegie if you want
11. you must experiment enough.
Cooking other dishes:
I want to make it clear that, if you can cook correctly as shown above and below,
you will be able to cook the meat, and vegie, correctly.
And once you cook them correctly, it is very easy to add already made spices
from the supermarket to add the flavour.
In Indonesia, I usually use the Indonesian brand spice, 'bamboe' brand.
'Bamboe' brand there are a lot of variety of flavor, but you need to add more
sugar or salt sometimes to make it taste better.
I just hope that this actually could make sense, cos, it does make sense to me,
very much so.
On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 2:34 AM, Widianto Arbita <poioun@gmail.com> wrote:
[Attachment(s) from Widianto Arbita included below]
So they meet in the middle, separated by the cooking pan.
And there will be the meat, vegies, salt/sugar, (red) onion and garlic.
Garlic and onion:
Almost in all cooking there is garlic and onion.
For garlic, you chop into little pieces, the same with onion.
In the frying pan, you put oil, let the oil is hot enough, then
put in the garlic.
Once the garlic is yellow colored, put in the onion, fry them
until the (red) onion is brownish.
Then you put the meat in the frying pan, and stir fry it until
the surface of the meat is cooked.
The fire:
Without pressure cooker:
Fire can be in three conditions: very hot, middle hot, low hot.
Very hot(boiling very violently): the meat will cook on the outside and will harden, but uncooked in the inside (no good).
Low hot(tiny boils, one by one come up the surface): the meat will fall apart, too tender and deformed (no good).
Middle hot(enough boil): the meat will cooked balanced (good).
After middle hot: cook at low hot, and it will tenderize the meat, low hot for meat is fine as long as the meat
had already been cooked (by middle hot).
With pressure cooker (what I usually do):
Before putting in pressure cooker, cook the meat at middle hot.
Let it cook for 15 minutes, until the juices are out in the water.
About how much water, look at 'water' section below.
After cooked at middle hot, instead of cook at low hot, we put
the meat in the pressure cooker, with as low fire as possible,
to save gas, or electricity. Low hot at pressure cooker, for about
30 minutes, and after that turn off the fire, let the pressure settles
down in 10-15 minutes, and then you can open the pressure cooker.
Cooking vegetables(without pressure cooker):
You can put in the vegie in the pan with the meat already cooked at
low hot or after cooked in the pressure cooker.
I am not exactly sure what low hot does to vegetables, but, low hot
can be very good for cooking mung bean (kacang hijau), you put
the fire very low (little bubbles), and the mung bean will fall apart,
like rice porridge.
In other times, you can just boil the vegetable in water, and as soon
as the water boils rapidly, close the lid of the vegetable and then
turn off the fire. Wait till 15 minutes, and then open the closed lid,
and you will see that the vegie will be cooked beautifully (after 15
mins). This process 'could' be the same as low hot, but I am not sure about it.
If this doesn't cook the vegie, you can boil the vegie and close the lid, and
then turn off the fire, again. Or you can instead low hot the vegie, for
another 15 minutes.
The water
Too much animal oil and too little water, will not cook the meat because not
hot enough.
Too much water compared to animal oil, the soup will be tasteless.
There should be enough water, with regard to the amount of animal oil, and
so it will also release the juice out of the meat. Of course, we are talking about
having this water boiling at 'middle hot', after that, we put it in 'low hot' or pressure
cooker in 'low hot'.
The salt and sugar
I am still not very sure at the moment about salt and sugar, but this is what I do:
When the meat is cooked, and before we put in vegie, we put in ingredients including
sugar, if needed.
My experience concerning salt and sugar had not been good, and therefore, I only
put salt at the end, that is when I eat, I put the salt just before I eat the cooking.
So far, it never failed me.
The meat
The choice of meat, is very important. In my experience, as long as the meat doesn't
fall apart, all will be good.
By practicing again and again, you will know, which meat will fall apart when you cook it,
by looking at the surface of the meat, you will know whether it will fall apart or not.
If the meat is bad, the meat will become sticky, and fall apart and last time I cooked like this I had a
revolting sensation and didn't cook for probably more than 6 months because of the trauma.
Cooking other dishes:
If you can manage to cook meat with no smell and all is good, you can easily add 'made up'
spices, and my favorite would be the 'bamboe' brand, although you have to experiment with
them and add a bit of salt, if needed.
The juice of the meat:
By cooking the meat at middle hot for 15 minutes with enough water, it will let the juices out of
the meat. This juice will be enough even if you add more water and so you will have enough
'gravy' for the stew.
I have attached the photo of the cooking. I ate this, and I liked it. :)
