Project 12: Month 3 Meal: Bob’s Nasi Goreng

Month 3 – here we go! (I’ll get the previous month’s up soon…) The basic premise behind Project 12 is, as part of my #biggestwinner efforts, to create one dish a month which hopefully others will tell me ‘Yay-or-Nay’ in terms of health… plus it keeps me practicing cooking…

Goal this time was to use brown rice, prawns, and hardboiled eggs which I had from Trader Joe’s – before you call me out for buying the ‘ready-boiled’ eggs, that’s part of the Project – to make use of ready-made items but still be health.  Anyway, with the base items, I went to the grocery store to buy some extras.  First  I saw mango salsa, figured we could make that work. and then I saw tomatillos which just look weird enough that they gotta be used too…. then I originally bought  okra thinking that I’d make okra curry one day, but instead decided to mix it in to what I’m calling Bob’s Mexican Gujarati Nasi Goreng…. (a bit long?).  Never made Nasi Goreng, but I’ve eaten it, and Indonesian foods are some of favorites, so how could I go wrong?….

Prep time was about 45 minutes and then cooking was only about 20. I think I could get the prep down to 20 minutes now that I know what I’m doing.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tblspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 Tomatillos
• 10 Scallions
• 4 Garlic cloves
• 10 Almonds
• 1 Tblspoon Cayenne pepper
• 2 Tblsppon Tamarind Sauce (Ambli for the brown folk reading…)
• Fish Sauce
• Trader Joe’s Frozen Shrimps (deveined, de-shelled)
• Frozen Okra (chopped)
• Trader Joe’s Brown rice
• 20 Cherry Tomatoes
• 2 Hard boiled eggs
• 1/2 bunch Parsley

Prep:

1. Blanch Almonds and slide off skin (I really have no idea of what ‘blanch’ means but I think this is what i did…. basically soaked them in water and then slid the skin off.  I used to watch my mom do this all the time as kid when she was making halwa. There was no option back then, but man this was a pain, and I have no idea why I didn’t just buy pre-cut almonds…
2. Chop Garlic, Scallions, Parsley – no magic here. just chop them up… the garlic was easy. Just chop the ends so the skin comes off, and then lay the knife on top of the clove flat, and slam down so it crushes the garlic…
3. Defrost prawns and okra
4. chop 5 cherry tomatoes into quarters.

Sauce

• De-husk (take off the skin…) from the Tomatillos. Boil for 5 minutes.
• Boil 10 cherry tomatoes
• Mix half garlic, half parsley, tomatillos and cherry tomatoes together in blender.
• Set aside.

Prepare Brown rice – steam 10-12 min on stovetop.

Sliced Hard boiled eggs.

Cooking

1. Heat Oil in large skillet – apparently there are tricks to this… I just turn the grill up to ‘high’ until it looks like it is hot…
2. Brown remaining garlic – this starts to stink so close your closet doors
3. Stir in scallions,  remaining parsley – I stirred it for about a minute.
4. Add sauce and bring to simmer on medium – this step and the next were pretty much done together.
5. Add the cayenne pepper and tamarind sauce.
6. Add prawns and stir in for 2 minutes – be careful when adding this since the prawns have water in them and the splatter a bit… this should still be on medium-low heat
7. Add fish sauce (this was a last min addition still not sure if it was a good idea or if it actually needed more…)



8. Add okra (added it this late, because i don’t like them a bit crunchy. Way too many! Could definitely have used half a bag, or even a quarter…). Mix this for a couple minutes so all if it is covered in the sauce.
9. Stir in rice.  I just dumped this in, but I guess it could have been done slowly.  In hind sight a Wok would have helped for this…



10. Add in cherry tomatoes and chopped hard boiled eggs – this made it more colorful which I always figure makes the ingredients match…
11. Garnish with almonds, eggs. Add mango Salsa.

I gotta say – this was damn good if I do say so myself…. Notice I didn’t add any salt and very little sugar (tamarind sauce). The rest at least sounds like pure health conscious ingredients!  What do you think? What would you have added/removed?

• Thanks Soo! Great tip on the rice – never knew that trick.
  I’m going to try this again soon so will try the French beans and carrots too. It’s late night here and now i’m getting hungry…

  Reply

• Hi “Bob”‘
  Your recipe is intriguing – a new variation to the many many types we have in Asia.

  If you are not allergic to peanuts, peanut oil is another good substitute as it enhances the overall flavour of the fried rice. We don’t use okra as okra tends to get a little gooey when cooked. The rice is best for use in fried rice if it’s been cooked and left overnight (in the fridge) so that the grains do not stick together when you fry them.

  Typical ingredients we use over here would include onion (small red ones), garlic, meat (leftover meat chopped/diced), french beans/long beans or perhaps green peas and diced carrots and for those who enjoy a little spice, bird’s eye chillies. Scallion are used for garnishing. Eggs are usually scramble in the pan before mixing with all other ingredients.
  Seasoning could include light soy sauce, white pepper or oyster sauce.
  ; D

  Reply

• Thanks! I didn’t know that about Olive Oil. I always thought that Coconut oil was bad for you. I’ve been trying to eat more antioxidant foods too.

  hardboiled eggs – boiling them is not the hard part. I hate the peeling part! And the smell it leaves… i’m all about ease 😀

  I had no idea soaking almonds is good for you! this is great info!

  Reply

• Rahim, I am impressed. This actually sounds pretty good and healthy! Only suggestion is that I would replace the olive oil with coconut oil instead. Olive oil is best used on it’s own and not heated. When heated above it’s smoke point (which is actually not that high if you are frying things), it will start to degrade. You do not want this as free radicals will occur in your body (free radicals will always occur in the body. The trick is to keep the numbers down. You do this by having a diet rich in antioxidants). Coconut oil, needs to be heated pretty high before it starts to degrade. Save your olive oil for things like salad dressing and other recipes that don’t call for it to be heated.

  I do not agree with buying store bought hard boiled eggs. Perhaps it’s my thrifty asian side coming out of me but I seriously think that it’s not that hard to make. Just boil a whole bunch the night before and keep them in the fridge. Besides, hard boiled eggs can also make a good breakfast or snack.

  One thing you might find interesting. Soaking almonds, especially overnight is actually very good for you. Unsoaked, almonds can be very difficult to digest. However, soaking them will make it much more easier.

  Reply