Nasi Goreng

One TV Cook I love is Rick Stein. I have watched all his food programmes and I love that he is so passionate about the food he makes and the new food he tries in his trips when he make is TV programmes.
Unlike some TV Cooks he really take good mouth full of food and eat before he says if it is nice or not, I dislike those tv cook who just take a tsp of food they make and then say hmmmmmmmmmm Delicious.
And I am like did he /she tasted what they made.

To be honest I have watched his cooking programme Far Eastern Odyssey ( first shown in BBC) a couple of times, every time they show in a channel I watch and each time I love it.
And as you can see in his show, when the locals are making a certain dish he has this tiny note book and he will be noting all the ingridients they are adding so I know this will be nearly authentic as the original food is.
Another recipe I trried from the same book is Thai Yellow Curry with Shrimps

Nasi goreng, literally meaning "fried rice" in Indonesian, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including stir fried rice in small amount of cooking oil or margarine, typically spiced with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), shallot, garlic, tamarind and chilli and accompanied with other ingredients, particularly egg, chicken and prawns. There is also another kind of nasi goreng which is made with ikan asin (salted dried fish) which is also popular across the country.
Nasi goreng is considered the national dish of Indonesia.
There are many Indonesian cuisines but few national dishes. Indonesia's national dish knows no social barriers. It can be enjoyed in its simplest manifestation from a tin plate at a roadside warung, travelling night hawker's cart; eaten on porcelain in restaurants, or constructed at the buffet tables of Jakarta dinner parties.
In 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Nasi Goreng as the number two of their 'World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods' list after rendang.
Source thanks to Wiki



For the Indonesian stir-fried rice

300 gme long grain rice ( I used basmati rice)
100 gm fine green beans, cut into 2.5 cm piece ( I didn't use it as i didn't have them at home )
2 tbsp vegetable oil
125 gm skinned and bonless chicken, cut into small bit size pieces
125 gme large raw peeled prawns.
200 gm shallots thinly sliced.
20 gm garlic finley chopped
2 medium hot red chillies seeded and finley chopped ( I didn't deseed the chillies)
1 red bird's eye red chillies sliced
1 mediul carrot thinly sliced
3/4 quantity of Balinese Spice paste ( see below)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp Kecap manis
1 tbsp light soy sauce
8 spring onions chopped
To serve
2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 large free-range eggs
¼ cucumber, sliced
2 medium-sized tomatoes, sliced
ready-made prawn crackers
spiced pickles
Crispy fried shallots ( I used stor bought one)

For the Balinese spice paste (Base gede)
You only need 3/4 of the below paste, I freeze the rest of the paste and use it when I make grilled chicken.

¾ tsp black peppercorns
¼ nutmeg, freshly grated
25 gmcandle nuts, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts or roasted peanuts
1 tsp sesame seeds
60g shallots, peeled, roughly chopped
25 gm fresh root ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
40 gm galangal (or extra ginger), peeled, roughly chopped ( try to get this as the flavour is totally different)
15g fresh turmeric, peeled, or 1 tsp ground turmeric
3 fat lemongrass stalks, hard outer leaves removed, core chopped
20 gm garlic
2 medium-hot red chilli, seeds removed, roughly chopped
3 red bird's-eye chillies, roughly chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste ( I didn't use)
1tbsp palm sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 lime, juice only

For the Balinese spice paste, grind the peppercorns, nutmeg, nuts and sesame seeds to a fine powder in a spice grinder. Transfer the mixture to a food processor, then add the remaining Balinese spice paste ingredients and blend to a very smooth paste.

Cook the rice according and let it cool.

Drop the beans into a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain, refresh inder cold water and set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok. When it is really hot add the chicken and prawns and stir fry for 1 minute. ( I then take out the shrimps as I dodn't want it over cooked and I add them in the end) but you don't have to you can just leave in the wok together with teh chicken.
Add the shallots, garlic, chillies and carrots and stir fry for a futher 2 minutes untill the carrots is just tender.
Add the 3/4 of the Balinese pasteand stir fry for futher few minutes.
Add the tomaot puree, kecap manis, cooked rice and green beans and stir fry over a hugh heat for 2 minutes.
Add the Spice paste and spring onions and toss together.
Femove from the heat and keep hot.

Heat the oil in a large frying  pan, crack in the eggs and fry for a couple of minutes, spooning hot oil over the yolks as they cook.
Spoon the Nasi goren onto the plated and top each one with fried egg.
Over lap the cucumber and tomato to the side of each plate.
Sprinkle the crisp fried shallots over the eggs and fried rice and serve with prawn crackers and achar pickles.