Nasi goreng
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the paste:
- 3tbsp groundnut oil
- 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 large shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 15g roasted, unsalted peanuts
- 3 red chillies, roughly chopped
- 3cm-piece fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1tbsp tomato purée
- ½tsp blachan (dried shrimp paste) or, if you can't find any,
1tbsp fish sauce - 1tbsp ketap manis (sweet soy sauce)
For the nasi goreng:
- 4tbsp sunflower oil
- 6 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
- 200g small, cooked prawns
- 250g basmati rice, cooked and cooled
- 1tbsp light soy sauce
- 4 spring onions, sliced lengthways
- 4 large free-range eggs
- 5cm-piece cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh coriander to garnish
Method
First make the paste by putting all the ingredients into a food processor and
blending until smooth. Next, pour the sunflower oil into a wok over a medium
heat. Add the shallots and fry until crisp and golden brown. Lift them out
with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on kitchen paper.
Add 2tbsp of the paste to the wok and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Tip in the
chicken and prawns and stir-fry for 5 minutes or until golden brown and
cooked through. Add the cooked rice and stir-fry over a high heat for 2
minutes, until heated through. Add the fried shallots and stir-fry for 1
minute.
Pour in the soy sauce and add most of the spring onions. Toss together well,
then spoon among the plates. In another pan, fry the eggs. Top each portion
with an egg, the remaining spring onions, cucumber slices and coriander.
Nutritional information: 626 calories, 30g fat per serving
FYI As well as adding a fragrant kick to dishes, fresh ginger eases
nausea and indigestion, and is even thought to help lower cholesterol. Keep
some to hand in the fridge or freezer.
Blackened snapper with cornbread and fennel and apple slaw
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
For the cornbread:
- 50g butter, plus extra for greasing
- 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 pint low-fat bio yoghurt
- 2 free-range eggs, whisked
- 225g fine cornmeal or polenta
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1tsp sea salt
- 140g plain flour
- 1tsp sugar
- 1 red chilli, cut into 8
- 8 sprigs rosemary
For the salad:
- 1 fennel, trimmed with the fennel herb put to one side
- 1 red apple, such as
- a Braeburn
- 1 small red onion
- 1 red chilli
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 sweetcorn cob, with the kernels carved off
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the fish:
- ½tsp garlic granules
- ½tsp ground cumin
- ½tsp chilli powder
- ½tsp of celery salt
- ½tsp ground coriander
- ½tsp paprika
- 4x150g thick fillet of red snapper or seabass, (from the neck end)
- 1 lemon
Method
To make the cornbread, preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas mark 7. Grease a
30cm cake tin or ovenproof frying pan. Melt the butter in a pan over a low
heat. Tip in the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes until softened and
beginning to turn golden.
Beat the yoghurt and eggs in a bowl, then stir in the buttery onions. In
another bowl, mix the cornmeal, baking powder, sea salt, flour and sugar,
then pour over the yoghurt and egg mixture. Stir until combined.
Pour this batter into the cake tin or frying pan and smooth the top with a
knife. Spear each piece of chilli with a piece of rosemary and place in the
batter, leaving a few centimetres between each one. Bake for 25 minutes
until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to
cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out.
To make the salad, slice the fennel, apple, red onion and chilli as thinly as
possible. Place in a bowl with the spring onions and sweetcorn kernels and
cover with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper, and really work the dressing
into the mixture with your hands. It’s a good idea to let them marinate
together for about half an hour before serving.
For the fish, mix the spices together in a bowl and dust evenly over the
fillets. Heat a pan on high and fry the fish, skin side down for 4 minutes,
turning and finishing it off on the other side for about 2 minutes.
Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the fish before removing from the pan.
Serve the cornbread in slices topped with a handful of salad, a fish fillet
and a lemon wedge.
Nutritional information: 789 calories, 25g fat per serving
PHOTOGRAPHY: KAREN THOMAS, ALAMY HAIR AND MAKE-UP: LILLY KEYS PROP STYLING:
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AT 2.10PM, CHANNEL 4
Raise a glass
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