Oyster Mushroom Soup

When the rainy season comes, there will be more additional vegetable ingredients like mushroom as the simile saying ‘like mushroom during the rainy season.’ Balinese people are indeed very familiar with some kinds of mushrooms growing in their garden, fence, decayed wood and pile of straws at rice field. A unique phenomenon is when there are many flying white ants dropping by their lamp at night. Few days later there will grow tiny mushrooms around the fence of their garden known as oong inihan.
Today, some mushrooms can be cultivated all year around. So, we need not wait for the rainy season to get our favourite mushrooms. Straw, oyster or champignon mushroom are now available at supermarkets or even at traditional markets. They can be made into some delicacies such as the following oyster mushroom soup.

Main ingredients:
200g oyster mushroom; 5 pieces baby corn; 1 pc carrot
Seasoning:
1 tbsp slices of Bombay onion; 1 red and green chilli, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 3 cm leek, sliced; 1 tbsp spiced flour; 1 tbsp cooking oil; 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce; salt (to taste)

Method:
1. Cleanse well the baby corn, carrot and oyster mushroom. Then, cut crosswise or halve lengthwise the baby corn; peel and slice lengthwise the carrot; shred the oyster mushroom.
2. Stir-fry the seasonings until fragrance. Pour all main ingredients into the seasoning on the frying pan. Add some water along with the spiced flour. Mix well and wait until boiling. Do not forget to add the teriyaki sauce.
3. Take out and serve hot. (BTN/029)

Christmas Cake

The festive season of Christmas is celebrated with love and great joy. Seemingly, it would be incomplete without the presence of some cakes and food. Other than local food and cakes, one of distinctive servings that is hardly ever absent from this sanctified celebration is the Christmas cake. It can be made in different styles and from various ingredients.
Historically, Christmas cakes have evolved throughout a long period of time. However, they have some similar ingredients in common. For instance, the porridge is said to become the origin of Christmas cake. It was inseparable from the condition at that time where there was no reliable tools available used to process it further. The porridge was added with dried fruits, honey and some other spices. In a later development, people also made a couple of cakes with local fruits or chocolate like black forest. Meanwhile, some cakes are also delivered to family or relatives at other places in the form of Christmas Hamper, a basket containing several kinds of Christmas gift. (BTN/029)