Indonesian-Style Fried Rice (aka Nasi Goreng)

I'm cribbing this almost directly from Cook's Illustrated. I love love love Cook's Illustrated. I'm going to let you know what I did differently, too. Let me say up front, though, that you need leftover basmati or jasmine (or just long-grain white) rice. It needs to be in the fridge overnight. I'm one of those people who tends to have leftover rice, though, so this is not a problem for me. The original recipe was double this (give or take) and was for 4-6 people. I halved it here.

Ingredients

• 2-3 green or red Thai chilis. [If you don't have Thai chilis available, a jalapeno will work. If you want to reduce the heat, you can take the seeds and ribs out. I actually partially seeded one Thai chili and I used 2 instead of 3. I'd kick it up to 3 next time, or leave all the seeds in. 2 Thai chilis, one seeded, was a bit of heat, but only a bit.]
• 3 shallots, peeled* [1 of these shallots is for crunchy garnish. If you don't want to do the crunchy garnish, you only need one shallot, a bit less oil, and you can skip step 4. The crunchy garnish is really good, but if you want to cut back a little bit on the oil or on the onion breath, you could skip this.]
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp light or mild molasses [I only had dark molasses. This might actually be better with light, but dark was just fine.]
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• table salt
• 2 large eggs [I don't like eggs, so I didn't use these. I skipped steps 3 & 5. That's your call, though.]
• 1/4 C. vegetable oil
• 6 oz large shrimp
• 2 large scallions, sliced thin [If you want to cut back on the onion, you could omit these.]
• 1 lime, cut into wedges [I didn't use the limes. I just forgot. I'm not sure I'd want to squeeze a lime over this, but feel free to try it.]
• 2-2.5 cups leftover basmati or jasmine rice

As the editor/authors note, this dish progresses fast, so make sure you have your ingredients ready and prepped before you start. You'll need 2 small bowls for prep, one medium bowl for prep, and one small bowl to pour cooking oil into after frying shallots. Also paper towels.

1. Pulse chilis, 2 shallots, and garlic in food processor until course paste is formed. I don't know that I ever would have called what I had "paste," but it's close. Transfer mixture to small bowl and set aside.
2. In second small bowl, stir together brown sugar, molasses, soy sauce, fish sauce, and pinch of table salt. Set aside.
3. If you're using eggs, whisk eggs and pinch of salt together in medium bowl.
4. Thinly slice remaining shallot and place in 12 inch nonstick skillet with oil. Fry over medium-low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until shallots are golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. using slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper towel-lined plate and season with salt to taste. Pour off oil into small bowl and reserve. Wipe out skillet with paper towels.
5. Heat 1 tsp reserved oil in now-empty skillet over medium-low/medium heat until shimmering. Add half of eggs to skillet, gently tilting pan to evenly coat bottom. Cover and cook until bottom of omelet is spotty golden brown and top is just set, about 1.5 minutes. Slide omelet onto cutting board and gently roll up into tight log (like a fruit roll-up). using sharp knife, cut log crosswise into 1-inch segments (leaving segments rolled). Repeat with another tsp reserved oil and remaining egg.
6. Remove rice from fridge & break up any large clumps with fingers. Heat 3 Tbsp reserved oil in now-empty skillet over medium-low to medium heat until just shimmering. Add chile mixture and cook until mixture turns golden, about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add shrimp, increase heat to medium-medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until exterior of shrimp is just opaque, about 2 minutes. 
8. Push shrimp to sides of skillet to clear center; stir molasses mixture to recombine and pour into center of skillet. When molasses mixture bubbles, add rice and cook, stirring and folding constantly, until shrimp is cooked, rice is heated through, and mixture is evenly coated, about 3 minutes.
9. Stir in scallions, remove from heat, and transfer to serving platter. Garnish with egg segments, fried shallots, and lime wedges; serve immediately.

This is one of those meals that I loved immediately. And then I craved more about an hour later. Not because I was hungry, but because I was thinking about it. And it's good leftover and cold. And while it seems a bit complicated, if you skip the egg part, it only takes about a half an hour total.

A close up of the crispy scallion garnish. And the deliciousness under the crispy scallion garnish.

Moroccan Chicken

I've posted Lisa T's Moroccan chicken recipe earlier. Here's a not-very-good picture of the chicken on jasmine rice. So freaking good.

Szechwan-Style Stir Fry

I thought I'd already posted this on here, but I can't find it. So if this is a repeat, apologies. This is slightly modified from my ever-trusty Menus in Minutes. This is one of our favorite stand-bys. It's easy to make a bigger batch, if you've got a wok (hard to find a big enough skillet). I actually like this cold, too. I serve it over basmati or jasmine rice (which I make in my rice cooker), but you could do it with hot cooked rice noodles, too. Or probably just linguini. I haven't tried it, but I bet it'd be good.

Stir together (whisk, really)

1/3 C. bottled teriyaki sauce

3 Tbsp Szechwan spicy stir-fry sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

Set aside, but stir ocassionally through prep & veggie cooking process.

Prepare:

• 1/2 C chopped red onion (these are all approximate and to taste. Add whatever you like. I chop the onion into maybe 3/4 inch pieces)
• 1/2 C. broccoli florets
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
• 1 medium green pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
• I love mushrooms, so I use about a big bag and a half of sliced baby bellas, maybe 4Cs? But that's just me. The book calls for 1 4&1/2 oz jar of sliced mushrooms, drained. I think fresh are way better.
• 1 14-15 oz can whole baby corn, drained and cut in half
• 1 C. fresh snow pea pods if you've got 'em, trimmed.

In a large skillet or wok, preheat about a tsp or 2 olive oil over medium-ish. Add the onion; cook and stir for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook and stir for maybe 4-5 minutes. Then broccoli, cook and stir for another minute or so, then peppers for another minute or so. Then the corn and pea pods. Basically, you want all of this sort of hot and tender crisp.

You can do this next part by pushing the veggies aside, but it works best if you remove them from the pan. Then stir the sauce, add it to the skillet. Cook and stir until it thickens and gets bubbly. It'll get darker, too. This won't take very long. Dump the veggies back in, stir to coat with sauce and heat through.

Serve over basmati or jasmine rice.

If you want, you can add shrimp to this, as I do sometimes. I buy the precooked, just cuz it's easier. I make sure it's thawed, take the tails off, cut it into bite sized pieces if it's not bite-sized already, and throw it in when I throw in the baby corn.

IF you want to do chicken, you want to cut a 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breast into bite-sized strips. Once the veggies are done, take them out of the skillet, then add about 1/2 the chicken at a time, cooking about 4 minutes. Remove when no longer pink in the middle. Then take the chicken out, too, and do the thing with the sauce.

Not Quite Billy's risotto

Billy makes fantastic risotto. I've modified it a bit to my own taste, but this is basically his recipe. I made it last night and have been eating left-overs today. Love it. This is a half recipe that easily feeds 3-4, if you ask me, but you can absolutely double it.

First, ideally you'd get out your risotto pan, but if you don't have one or a good saucier, you can make this in a big high sided skillet. 

You'll need:

Arborio rice (1 C.)

1-2 medium boxes chicken broth, or vegetable or seafood stock. (I use chicken and I always    make sure I have 2 boxes, just in case)

butter (about 1/4 stick)

shrimp (1/2 lb or so)

bunch asparagus

1 large pack baby bella mushrooms

head of garlic

1/2 medium red onion or small red onion

extra virgin olive oil

To Prep:

1. Wash & trim the woody ends off of the asparagus. Then steam or boil until just barely done. Shock in a big bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Lately, in the name of laziness, I've taken to using the zip and steam bags. I steam the asparagus about 2 minutes or so. I think that works just fine. Then I shock them in cold water, drain, and set aside. 

2. Sautee raw, shelled, large/jumbo shrimp in butter and about 5 cloves of garlic until just done. Set aside. OR, thaw cooked frozen shrimp and remove the tails. Set aside. If you choose to do it this way (and to save on dirtying pans, I have lately), you'll want to add more garlic  to Cooking #1 and throw in a hunk of butter (1/5-1/4 stick?) with the first cup of broth.

3. Chop 1/2 medium red onion (or a rather small one)

4. Crush and chop (another) 8 cloves of garlic.

5. Quarter pack of baby bella mushrooms (you can use white, if you'd rather)

6. When asparagus has cooled, chop into bit sized pieces.

Cooking:

1. Sautee the chopped red onion in EVOO for a few minutes. Then add the quartered mushrooms and garlic. (If you're using pre-cooked shrimp -- not sauteed -- then add the extra 5 crushed and chopped cloves of garlic as well. Keep in mind, too, that I LOVE garlic, so you can probably do with just the original 8 cloves if that's more your speed.) Sautee until they look close to done (7-10 minutes), stirring often. 

2. Move the mushrooms, garlic, and onions to the sides of the pan. Add another Tbsp or so of EVOO and 1 C. Arborio rice. Cook rice, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until well-coated.

3. Add 1 C. broth.

4. Cook, stirring constantly, until the broth is completely absorbed.

5. Continue adding broth about 1/2 C. at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next. Don't let the rice cook "dry," though. This whole process will take a good half an hour or so and you'll use between 4-6 C of broth.

6. When you've got about one C. of broth left to add, add the shrimp. If you've sauteed the shrimp in butter and garlic, add the shrimp and most of the garlic butter mixture.

7. When it's almost done, add the asparagus.

8. Risotto is done when rice is tender but firm to the bite and risotto is creamy in texture.

9. Remove from heat and serve immediately with freshly shredded Parmesan shavings, if desired.