Classic Indonesian Fried Rice

By Wendy Hutton, Southeast Asia’s Best Recipes

Reprinted with the express permission of Tuttle Publishing.

Fried rice is a common breakfast throughout Indonesia. It is often very simple—cooked rice tossed with a seasoning paste of chili and a dash of sweet soy sauce—or can be more substantial, like this recipe, which adds beef instead of the pork often used in non-Muslim parts of Southeast Asia. You could also add some shrimp and top each serving with a fried egg (which the Indonesians call a “bull’s-eye egg”). This is a quickly made lunch or supper dish.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

1/3 cup (85 ml) oil
7 oz (200 g) sirloin or rump steak, thinly sliced across the grain, shredded
7 oz (200 g) small fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined, or add another 7 oz (200 g) beef
6 cups (800 g) cold cooked rice, stirred with a fork to separate the grains
2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 tablespoons crisp-fried shallots
1 green onion (scallion), minced
1 large ripe tomato, sliced

Seasoning Paste
6 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2–3 red finger-length chilies, sliced

Prepare the Seasoning Paste by processing all the ingredients together to a coarse paste.

Heat 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the oil in a wok and add the Seasoning Paste. Stir-fry over medium heat until softened and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Increase the heat, add the beef and shrimp, if using, and stir-fry until cooked, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir-fry over high heat for 1 minute. Sprinkle with the sweet soy sauce and salt and stir-fry for another minute.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl and keep warm. Use the remaining oil to fry the eggs, one at a time, in the wok, or cook them all at one time in a skillet. Transfer the rice to four plates. Top each serving with a fried egg and garnish with the crisp-fried shallots and green onion. Add a few tomato slices and serve with a chili sambal.

Note: As with all fried rice dishes, it is preferable to use rice that was cooked the previous day, so that it has completely dried out.

Japanese Beef Curry from Scratch

By Harris Salat, The Japanese Food Report and The Japanese Grill

This recipe comes from Nobuko in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan.  When I made this curry, I also cooked up a batch from a packaged curry mix, so I could compare the taste. My wife and a friend from Tokyo joined me for this little experiment. It amazed us all how much better the scratch version tasted, so delicious. And the scratch curry looked so much more appealing, sans thickeners and stabilizers. So I urge you to cook curry from scratch yourself!! (Make a monster batch and freeze the leftovers, they reheat well.) Here’s Nobuko’s recipe:

Note about the recipe: I’m using metric weight measurements, instead of volume; so much easier. I highly recommend you buy a digital scale, which always has metric (this one rocks). Every home cook should own a decent scale.

300 grams beef (brisket is great, but you can also try short ribs or other cuts), cut into bite-sized cubes
Salt and pepper for the beef
2 1/2 tablespoons butter
400 grams onions, sliced as thin as possible
10 grams ginger, finely grated
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into wedges, rangiri style
1 large apple, peeled and coarsely grated
5 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon salt
300 grams new potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

For the roux:
4 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons curry powder (I use Japanese S&B curry powder, but a Madras curry powder is fine, too)
2 tablespoons garam masala

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper.

2. Melt the butter in a stockpot large enough to hold 5 quarts of liquid, over medium heat. Add the onions, ginger, garlic, carrots and beef. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent and the beef browned. Add the apple, beef stock and salt, and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile make the roux. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the flour. Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir until the butter and flour fuse and swell. Don’t stop stirring, or the roux will burn! After about 20 minutes or so, the roux will become the “color of a fox,” as they say in Japan, a deep tan color. At this point, add the curry and garam masala, and cook and stir for 30 seconds, until the spices release their aroma. Turn off the heat. Add a ladleful or two of cooking liquid from the stock and mix into a paste.

4. Add the roux paste into the stockpot, and stir to combine. Add the potatoes. Simmer uncovered on low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 1 hour, or until the beef becomes tender and the curry thick. Serve the curry with Japanese short grained rice on the side. Enjoy.

Caramelized Soy and Lemongrass Spareribs

by Alex Skaria, The Asian Barbecue Book: From Teriyaki to Tandoori

Reprinted with the express permission of Tuttle Publishing.

I like this Vietnamese-inspired recipe because the Caramelized Lemongrass Marinade combines sweet and salty flavors with lemongrass. The sugar is first caramelized, which gives the ribs a nice crust. This marinade is well suited to both smoking and grilling. Serve these ribs with Chinese Coleslaw and Curried Potato Wedges or jasmine rice.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus approximately
8 hours to marinate

Grill time: 20 to 30 minutes for medium well

3 lbs (1.5 kg) pork spareribs
1 cup (250 ml) Caramelized Lemongrass
Marinade
Salt for seasoning the ribs

Place the spareribs in a large shallow dish. Pour the Caramelized Lemongrass Marinade over, turning the ribs in the marinade to thoroughly coat them. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the ribs from the marinade and sprinkle them with salt.

In a small saucepan, add the leftover marinade and place over medium heat. Simmer for a few minutes and set aside for use as a basting sauce.

Prepare the grill for indirect grilling with low heat. If you’re using charcoal, place a drip pan in the middle and live coals around the drip pan.

Just before you begin grilling, oil the hot grate. Place the meat on the grate above the drip pan or, if you’re using a gas grill, over the low heat zone. Grill for about 10 to 15 minutes on each side with the hood closed and baste regularly with cooked marinade.

Check for doneness by pricking the meat. If the juices run clear the ribs are ready.

Beef Hor Fun Rice Noodles

By Terry Tan and Christopher Tan, Singapore Cooking

This is a hearty and filling dish. Chris likes to mix the leftover noodles with a beaten egg and fry them slowly until crusty in a non-stick pan for breakfast.

Serves 3–4
Cooking time: 6 mins
Preparation time: 15 mins plus 30 mins marinating time

250 g (8 oz) tender sirloin beef
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 1/2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons oil
500 g (1 lb) fresh flat rice noodles (hor fun) or kway teow or 250 g (8 oz) dried rice stick noodles, soaked in water for 15 minutes until soft, then drained
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2/3 cup (150 ml) water
3 green onions (scallions), sliced into short lengths
Pickled Green Chillies (page 29), to serve

1  Slice the beef into thin strips. Mix with the rice wine, ginger, pepper, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Set aside to marinate, covered and refrigerated, for at least 20 minutes and up to 3 hours. When ready to cook, mix the cornstarch into the beef.

2  Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a wok over high heat until smoking and quickly stir-fry the noodles with the dark soy sauce for 2 minutes, tossing vigorously, until slightly browned. Remove from the wok.

3  Add the remaining oil to the wok and fry the beef for 2 minutes. Add the water and return the noodles to the wok. Fry for 1 more minute, then add the green onions and toss well for 30 seconds to wilt them. Serve immediately with Pickled Green Chillies on the side.

Note: Hor fun noodles are broader than kway teow. If you cannot find the former, use the widest kway teow you can find.