Simple and Tasty Nasi Goreng

My wife and I love Prawn Crackers, we love them so much that we normally produce a meal to accompany them rather than the normal way round. Nasi Goreng, like all types of fried rices, was a way in which to use up the leftover boiled rice as the frying killed off the dangerous microbes that love to gather on rice. It has its origins in Indonesia (where it is often labelled as the national dish), however it has now spread across many of the Asian countries and also is big in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

This recipe produces enough to feed four people:-

375g long-grain rice
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
500g Chicken breast, cut into 1cm thick strips
250g cooked peeled prawns
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
Prawn crackers, to serve, i'll let you decide how many you want

Put a pan on to boil, add some salt to it. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and add the rice, about 20 minutes. Then drain and rinse under cold water and the set aside in a colander to drain thoroughly.

Then make an omelette with the eggs. Then roll it up and cut it into strips, then put it aside.

In a mortar crush the onion, garlic and chilli into a paste.Then put the oil in a wok and fry the onion paste for a couple of minutes until you start getting a beautiful fragrant smell from it. Then add your chicken strips and stir-fry until it starts changing colour on all sides. Add the prawns and soy sauce, stir fry until the chicken is tender.

Now add the rice to the wok, toss until the rice gets hot. Throw in the omelette strips, season to taste and then serve.

So simple, so tasty. So give this amazing, healthy Asian dish a go, you won't be disappointed.

Finnish Cabbage Casserole

Cabbage Casserole (Kaalilaatikko in Finnish) is a traditional Finnish dish that is fairly simple to make and can be done in large quantities and frozen for future meals. Like many Traditional Finnish dishes, every family has their own version and way of making and serving it. My take on it comes from making it at work and also from Tanja's version. It is highly nutritional and very filling, a great winter dish. Also it can be made the night before (most Finns say it tastes better left overnight in the fridge). It is normally served with Lingonberry Jam, but you can serve it with cranberry or, as my wife likes to, with cottage cheese

So to make a portion that will serve 8 people (or do 4 meals for a couple), you will need to have:-

1.25 kilos Cabbage
500g mince (I used beef-pork mince)
300g rice (Easy cook is best in my opinion for this dish)
1 onion, diced
2 medium carrots, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 litre of beef stock
3 tbsp Dark Syrup (Treacle)
salt and pepper¨
Lingonberry (or other savoury jam) or Cottage Cheese to serve

Firstly heat you oven to 180oC. Then in a pan, add a tiny bit of oil and fry your onion and cabbage, you want to cook it until the cabbage is al dente (has a bite but still edible), then put it in a large bowl. Return the pan to the heat and add the mince and garlic, brown the mince then add to the bowl. Add seasoning, carrots, rice and the syrup, mixing it thoroughly. Add to a large casserole dish, add half the beef stock and put into the oven.

Cook for 20 minutes and then stir, adding the other half of the stock. It is very important not to let the stock run out as it will turn your cabbage bitter. Cook for a future 20 minutes. The rice will have soaked up all the stock and other juices and become edible. Serve straight away, goes great with fresh bread and butter, or allow to cool down and put in fridge.

If you are going to leave it overnight, do as above then when you want to reheat, add about 200ml of water and put in a preheated 180oC oven for 10/15 minutes.

I hope you will love this Finnish one-pot, I know I do. The syrup gives it a nice sweet under current, mixing well with the savouries.

Easiest One Pot you'll ever make

So for the very first recipe on this blog I will choose a very easy, simple one. 

This recipe comes from the annuals of my wife's childhood. It is a great Sabbath dish as you can leave it in the oven for hours. Also the simplicity (4 ingredients),the nutritional value (packed full of healthy fats, proteins and essential vitamins and minerals) and cheapness (on tesco's website I priced it all up to £2.75) makes this a dish a great additional to your diet.

The recipe that follows is good for two hungry people like my wife and I or for 3 normal stomachs. In a averaged sized crockery pot, you can get up to 6 thighs cooking in there, just multiply the recipe accordingly. 


For it you will need:-
200g Porridge Rice (Short grain rice, what you use for rice pudding, also risotto or sushi rice will do)
2-3 Chicken Thighs (You can use other parts like drumsticks or even a whole chicken)
Stock cube
250ml water

Turn your oven on and heat it to 125oc. In a crockery pot (or casserole tin or oven dish) put in your rice, crumble a stock cube over it and then pour water over it all.

Layer your chicken over that and then put the lid on (or cover with tin foil). Put in the oven and cook for 4 hours. If you are going to be out longer than that, reduce the temperature to 100oC and cook for 5-6 hours.

When serving have a spare bowl so you can put all the bones in it without cluttering up your own bowl. Sometimes the rice needs some extra seasoning. It is great on its own but you can serve it with bread and salad.