Rengil

500 g minced beef or lamb
1/2 Coconut, shredded, cook on a low heat in a wok until it turns light brown and crispy (stir often to avoid burning). Can be replaced with 1 cup of ready-to-use dry shredded coconut.
500 ml coconut milk (from 1 coconut)
100 g hot chilies
100 g shallots
100 g garlics
3 cm of ginger
3 cm of galangal
5-10 kafir lime leaves
2 pcs of lemon grass, take the white inner part
1 tsp of sugar
2 tbsp of cooking oil
Salt to taste

• Grind spices together into paste : chilies, shallots, garlics, ginger, galangal, lemon grass, kafir-lime leaves, salt and sugar.
• Take one third of the spices paste and mix well with minced beef. Mix in the shredded coconut also.
• Make meat balls the size of pingpong ball (1.5 inch diameter), set aside.
• On a medium heat, heat cooking oil in a pan, saute the remaining spice paste untill well-cooked and pour in the cocconut milk; continue cooking until it boils.
• Add meat balls, continue cooking for 20-30 minutes until the sauce is thicken.
• Served with rice

Gadon Daging (Beef Gadon)

This dish is similar to meat loaf. Wrapping and cook in banana leaves will give more flavour to this dish. With its exotic asian spices to flavour, it makes a good companion with rice or breads and different vegetables stir-fries. Served hot or cool.

500 g beef mince
1 bulb of Garlic
100 g shallots
2 tsp of corriander powder
1/2 tsp of cumin powder
1 tbsp of tamarind extract
Salt and pepper to taste
Galangal, thinly sliced and cut in 1 cm wide
Salam leaves (can be replaced with lauriel leaves), cut in 1 cm wide
1 cup of thick coconut milk
2 eggs
Banana Leaves for wrapping.

1. Grind these spices together in a pestle (or chop using electric blender/food processor) : garlics, shallots, corriander, cumin, tamarind, salt and pepper; until it becomes paste.
2. Add the spices paste with the beef-mince, coconut milk, eggs, and mix well.
3. Wrap in banana leaves (in "tum" shape), with galangal and salam leaves (one piece of each) placed at the bottom and topped with 3 tbsp of beef-mince which has already well-mixed with the spices.
4. Continue wrap the rest of the spiced beef-mince
5. Using steaming pan, steam for about 30 minutes until it is cooked.
6. Serve hot or cool.

Note:
for a much simpler way... after step 2, continue with this...

Line the banana leaves at the bottom and all sides of a pyrex, spread galangal slices and salam leaves on it, then top with the spiced beef-mince.
Steam for 1 hour.

Mung Beans Soup

I have cooked and eaten so many soup made with mung-beans, but my favourite is still my mother's Mung Beans Soup. Simple to make, and... so delicious.
Served hot, this soup is perfect for appetizer in cold weather.

150 g Mung-beans
150 g Beef-mince
1 liter Beef stock
3 pcs of Green onion, thinly sliced
1 cup of chopped celery
1 Onion, sliced
5 Garlics
A pinch of Nutmeg
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tbsp of Cooking Oil

• Soak the mung-beans several hours or overnight, and rinse with water.
• Using a pan, boil the mung-beans with beef stock until soft and cracked (you can add more water later).
• Meanwhile, mix beef-mince with a little bit salt and pepper, and roll into small marble-sized balls. Put aside in the fridge
• Chop garlic finely and saute carefully with a little bit oil in a low heat until slightly brown, add the sliced onion, then mix in the mung-beans and chopped celery, add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Cook to boil for 5 minutes.
• Using blender, blend until smooth and creamy. It's ok to add more water/stock at this point in order to have the right consistency.
• Put the pan back on the stove. Add the mince-beef balls and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes until the meat balls are cooked, and the flavour is well mixed in. Stir occasionally to avoid burnt at the bottom of the pan. Add sliced green onion in the last 1-2 minutes, and served hot.

Mom recipe's cookbook

Got back Mom recipe book from Sister D. three days ago (she borrowed it last year). Mom gave this precious book with her handwritting to me about two years ago. She had this book since her twenties and wrote down her favourite recipes on it. Many are still our favourite dish. She doesn't cook anymore since she has problems with her health. In that book: Rengil, Mung-bean Soup (Sup Kacang Hijau), Croquete, Chicken Rica-rica, Hula-hula Pudding, etc.