Ariyani

Tedjo

Jasmine Tea, or locally known as Teh Melati, is a popular kind of tea in Indonesia. This brewed tea is poured into stacked tea cups. Some bubbles were forming as results of pouring from a distance. Decorated with a jasmine flower and its leaves, picked from my home garden.

Coconut milk is one signature ingredient in Indonesian cuisine. Using freshly made coconut milk is still preferred by some people, even though it is a pretty exhausting process.

Here the milk is extracted by hand-squeezing the grated coconut that has been mixed with warm water. A traditional bamboo strainer specially made for coconut milk is used to catch the loose coconut from falling into the extracted liquid. A set of traditional tin measuring cups commonly used to measure coconut milk is shown in the scene.

Matcha Lotus, Black Sesame and Valrhona Chocolate Mooncake. A special mooncake for Mid-Autumn Festival celebration this year, created by Chef Hideki Maeda of Nobu Singapore at Four Seasons Hotel Singapore. As this particular delicacy is incorporating Japanese culture into a traditional Chinese, the props used are a reflection of both cultures. The golden color chosen for this scene was inspired by the luxurious lacquered gift box that came with the mooncakes.

A traditional Indonesian / Manadonese dish goes fancy and a little wild. Seared tuna topped with Manado's signature salsa called Sambal Dabu-dabu. The dish is presented on a rock lined with plum aralia leaf and garnished with local basil leaves.

An artwork of cannelloni tubes, an arrangement inspired by a city scene of skyscrapers. The scene is accented with a sprig of fresh basil.

A nigiri sushi of lightly seared tuna. The sushi is placed on a mat of thin branches, lined with shiso leaves. The sushi is presented on wooden drawer set with smoke from dry ice.

A traditional rice meal called Nasi Langgi, popular in Semarang, Central Java. Fragrant and savory rice topped with braised chicken, spicy liver stew, tempeh, glass noodles, potato crisps and omelet. This rice meal is served on a large wooden spoon lined with plum aralia leaf. Underneath the wooden spoon are two decorative banana leaves. The decorative banana blossom is placed on the plate next to the spoon.

This meal is based on Chirashi Sushi. This is a meal adapted to feed my senior dog, Miel, who is suffering from cardiac and liver problems; thus this meal meets the dietary requirement for a dog with these diseases.
Miel's dried dog food also takes part of this meal set. Yes, that's the bits on the upper left hand corner of the tray. For the main, I omit the rice and serve only the topping. I also serve some soup of chicken broth with seaweed, shitake mushroom and fried tofu. Fruits are also good for her, so watermelon and papaya are there to complete the meal.

This set meal is styled using Japanese styled crockeries only for photography purpose. When it was meal time for Miel, I served this on her regular dog bowl.

Assorted herbs and spices commonly used in Indonesian cuisine. They can be dried or fresh, ground or whole ones. Usually the spices are blended into spice paste in a mortar and pestle, together with shallot and garlic.

Donut Klepon.

Picking up the trend of bringing the Klepon flavors into cakes and pastries. Klepon is a traditional sweet snack. It is glutinous rice ball flavored with pandan, stuffed with coconut sugar and then coated with grated coconut.

So with this viral food trend, I gave the donut some glaze and toppings that say Klepon: pandan flavor glaze, grated coconut and coconut sugar granules

An Indonesian style afternoon tea for two. The snacks served are traditional Indonesian snacks, both sweet and savory. The snacks are served on a stacked wooden trays and garnished with orange jasmine leaves. Snacks offered here are Kue Dadar Gulung (pandan crepe roll), Kue Talam Hijau (steamed pandan and brown sugar pudding), Sosis Solo (fried egg roll), Kue Mangkok (steamed rice flour cupcake), and Risoles (fried breaded crepe roll).

The set is decorated with Batik shawl from Java, woven bamboo container from Lombok, decorative bamboo leaves and screen in Batik pattern.

A mocktail of lychee and lemon juices with drops of butterfly pea tea. The drinks is garnished with gum paste flower and gold leaves. The background is beautiful moon orchids, the Mother's Day gift from my daughter.

A glass of iced butterfly pea tea. The iced tea was to have some lemon slices added. Before adding the citrus, I dropped the slices to make a splash. One slice is off the glass, but it makes the picture looks nice.

Agar-agar Mosaic. Three flavours of agar-agar: coconut sugar, butterfly pea tea, butterfly pea tea latte with coconut milk. The agar-agar were thinly sliced then arranged in mosaic pattern. It is then garnished with gum paste flowers, mint leaves and coconut milk foam.