Nasi Goreng with Sweet and Sticky Tempeh - Indonesian Fried Rice

I love rice. I think that if I had to choose one starchy carbohydrate that I had to eat for the rest of my life it would be rice. Yes, I have given this some thought, I also know what my five vegetables would be. In fact if I ever end up speed dating I think this might one of my questions along with, "If you were a biscuit, what biscuit would you be?". I think you can tell a lot about someone by which biscuit they identify with (I would be a ginger nut). Anyway, back to the point. I have eaten nasi goreng often on our travels as if you can make yourself understood you can generally get someone to rustle up a vegetarian version even if they are incredulous that you don't want some shrimp or chicken thrown in. One of our first trips away was to Bali and I have fond memories of stopping to eat nasi goreng at a little shack on the way to the airport. It was in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by rice paddies.  Our lovely driver found it highly amusing that the spicy food on an empty stomach gave me instant hiccups (this is a seriously annoying trait my body has) and made J's nose run constantly. He laughed most of the way through the meal, all the while piling extra chillies on his plate!

Rice Paddies in Bali made for a memorable setting to eat spicy Nasi Goreng

Fried rice is one of my go to easy meals and if I am cooking rice I always, accidentally on purpose, make too much so I can throw together some fried rice for lunch. And this is the most important thing when making fried rice- always use at least day old cooked rice. Freshly cooked rice has too much water in it and so it goes mushy when you try to fry it. You can throw what ever veggies you like into the mix but I always make sure there is at least one representative from the onion family e.g leek, scallions or onion. Omit the egg if you want it to be vegan or throw in some cubed cooked chicken or shrimp if you like meat. I like this with sweet sticky tempeh, which I have also provided a recipe for.

Vegan Ngoh Hiangs/Loh Bak or Chinese Sausage Rolls

Happy Vesak Day! Today is a public holiday in Singapore and the event is pretty much the biggest celebration in the Buddhist calender. It is a celebration/remembrance of Buddha's birth, his enlightment and passing away. It is common to eat vegetarian food at this time as a way to show compassion for all living things. Therefore, today's recipe is vegan and suitable for strict buddhist vegetarians who don't eat the 5 pungents. However, I add a small amount of leek as I had it in the fridge but omit if required. Even better, this dish is gluten free which all my recipes this week will be as part of the Coeliac UK's Awareness week.

I love these little beancurd skin rolls which are really quite meaty and tasty. They are called Ngoh Hiang in Singapore after the five spice powder used to season them and more commonly called Lor Bak in Malaysia. The first time I tried one it was under the guise of a vegetarian sausage roll which is kind of how I think of them now. This recipe owes a lot to Rasa Malaysia's recipe for vegetarian Loh Bak but with extra ingredients to make it closer to the versions I have tried in Singapore. 

Kaya- Coconut & Egg Jam

One of best food discoveries we found when we moved to Singapore was Kaya. Although its description of a coconut and egg jam is slightly off putting it probably should be called a curd not a jam. It is delicious spread on hot toast or, my favourite, in pancakes. It is rich and creamy and my prefered type is the green, pandan flavoured one. It is normally served on toast with big pats of butter along with half boiled eggs (you literally scare the eggs with some boiling water and crack the runny eggs into a bowl and season with soya sauce) and strong black coffee.

As we are preparing to move on from Singapore it has set us thinking about all the foods that we will miss, and there are many of them! Singapore has changed our tastebuds forever and as such I have been contemplating making some of the dishes that we normally only eat in hawker centres. That way when we are really missing a dish I should be able to create a tasty variation to ease the cravings. 

I had heard that making kaya was hardwork and time consuming but buoyed on by my recent success of making lemon and orange curd I decided to give it a go. On researching how to make kaya I found recipes using slow cookers and the jam setting on breadmakers and this sounds like the easiest way if you have either of these appliances. This one uses a bowl over a pan and only took around 20 mins to make. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do this dish justice having come out looking like not very appetising baby food!  

Chinese Style Braised Pork Belly or Vegetarian Braised Egg, Mushroom & Tofu

My partner loves to eat pig in all its forms. Be it a sausage, bacon, a ham joint, plain pork loin or even pork scratchings it all gets gobbled down. A favourite Sunday lunch of his when we were living in London would be roast pork with lots of pork crackling and all the trimmings; roast potatoes, stuffing, apple sauce, vegetables and gravy. Now that we have been in Asia awhile we noticed that pork belly is beloved here too but in the form of a dark, sweet and warming braised pork belly oozing unctuous fat and melting in the mouth. So as the saying goes- 'when in Rome....' I decided to give it a shot.

On making the braising liquid and having the delicious aromas of star anise, ginger & chilli wafting around the house I decided that it would be highly unjust if I did not get to sample this dish I had so lovingly prepared. I promptly made some more liquid and added whatever vegetarian ingredients I had to hand which turned out to be dried Shitake mushrooms, firm tofu and several eggs. Boy am I glad I did.

Below are the two recipes; the pork version and the vegetarian version (omit the egg and substitute large chunks of aubergine for a vegan version).

Soya sauce contains small amount of gluten and is therefore not suitable for gluten free. However Tamari, a japanese variety of soya sauce often doesn't contain wheat and is suitable for gluten free diets. Check the label to ensure it is wheat & gluten free.

You can make a double batch of the liquid which is the same for both dishes and then split it between two pans, one for each version to save time.