It’s been an age since I posted anything, but the start of November finds us on the good barge Beatrix overwintering in Castelnaudary on the Canal du Midi. For anyone that has followed this blog to date.. we were last seen locked down in La Croix sur Meuse sometime last winter. There have been many meals since then, but barging – navigating south – since March kept me busy and away from the key board. Maybe I’ll post some of it maybe not. Be that as it may, I want to get back to posting some of my favourite recipes – if that’s not too grand a word. I have long maintained that the secret to good home cooking is learning the basics of a particular style – be it Indian, Italian, Thai or whatever and then adapting it to your own taste, and whatever ingredients you can find locally and have to hand.
I was first introduced to Indonesian cuisine by Dutch friends – the Smits / Uitvlugts. BBQ’d satés with peanut sauce, nasi and bami goreng ( fried rice / noodles) sambals – batjek, brandal etc… and although I have never been to Indonesia (surely a big miss? Ed.) what I learnt from my friends Olga and Martin has stayed with me. Whenever, we met up over several decades we would cook and eat together – that’s just what our families do. I remember discussing nasi goreng with (the now late – RIP) Martin one day – “It’s just great left over cuisine. It’s what you do with left over rice and whatever else.” Of course left over cuisine is not unique to the Indonesian kitchen – but it’s more than just heating up yesterday’s left over meal. It’s about assessing what you have left over and transforming it into a new and delicious dish – this is a skill in it’s own right – something that some of our great chefs think about and practise. I always cook more rice than can be eaten at one meal. Why? Because I love my fried rice / nasi goreng and you cannot make it with fresh cooked rice – it has to have been cooled overnight.
So tonight I had the last of a batch of coconut rice, which I’d made with a batch of Black-eyed peas – see: https://nomadsi.net/2021/01/05/black-eye-beans/ – I also had: half a savoy cabbage, some carrots, onions and chili, ginger and garlic – of course. So at the butcher’s I bought a pork spare rib chop – échine de porc – I like these for stir fries, because they have a bit of fat in them which makes them juicy and tender, although diced shoulder will also do nicely. What you see above was the end result – delicious though I say it myself – and this is how it’s done.
Ingredients
- Left over rice / coconut rice
- 1 medium onion (red) chopped
- 4 medium carrots
- 1/2 savoy cabbage or other fresh greens
- 3-4 large garlic cloves
- fresh chilis or scotch bonnet – to taste
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger
- 1 pork spare rib chop ( or other meat – lamb chop works well)
- Thai fish sauce
- sweet soy sauce – ketjup manis
- sesame oil
- cooking oil
Method
- finely slice all the veg
- finely chop the ginger, chili, garlic
- slice the pork into thin strips
- Pre-heat wok and add oil and a few drops of sesame oil
- fry off the pork strips until brown, remove from wok and set aside
- brown chopped onions
- add in sliced carrots and stir fry
- add in greens and stir fry
- sprinkle fish sauce and ketjap over mixture – plus some boiling water, beer or wine as handy and needed to moisten.
- push all around the edge of the wok and add chopped spices into simmering juices in the centre – cover
- add fried pork and stir
- sprinkle rice over mixture until covered, add fish sauce and a little more ketjap – do not stir – cover.
- cook until rice is hot and steamed through.
- uncover, stir and serve
- ENJOY!
Nomad Si 