Tag: main course
Nasi Goreng
Nasi Goreng
Nasi goreng is Indonesian-style fried rice. The main flavor component of this dish comes from kecap manis, which is a sweet soy sauce. It is syrupy in consistency and not very salty. As the rice cooks in the kecap manis, it caramelizes. The fried rice is garnished with fried shallots, green onions, and is topped off with a fried egg.
Ingredients
- 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breast or protein of your choice; thinly sliced
Rice
- 2 tbsp shallot oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 red chili finely chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 3 cups cooked day old rice
- 3 tbsp kecap manis
- 2 tsp shrimp paste
- fried eggs 1 per serving
Garnish
- fried shallots
- green onions chopped
Instructions
- Heat up a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté the shallots until crispy. Drain on paper towel.
- Using 2 tbsp of the shallot oil, sauté the garlic and chilies for a few seconds until aromatic.
- Add in the onion and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add in the chicken. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring in 1 tbsp of kecap manis.
- Stir in the rest of the kecap manis and shrimp paste.
- Stir in the rice; making sure all the grains are evenly coated. Cook for 2 minutes.
Indonesian Chicken Curry
Indonesian Chicken Curry
If you’ve never tried Indonesian food before, this is where you should start. This chicken curry is a marriage between Thai and Indian cuisine. The curry sauce will make you want to carry around a mug of it to drink, it’s so good. While there are a ton of ingredients, most of them get processed into the curry paste. You pretty much sauté the curry paste with the cinnamon sticks, lime leaves, and lemongrass. Brown the chicken in the curry paste and simmer in coconut milk and chicken stock. Serve the curry with steamed rice.
Ingredients
Curry Paste
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 4 dried red chilies
- 2 green chilies
- 1/4 cup cashews
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 large shallot minced
- 3 tbsp ginger minced
Chicken Curry
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 5 lime leaves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 3 stalks lemongrass
- 3 lbs whole chicken legs drums cut in 2; thighs cut in 3
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
Instructions
- Combine all of the curry paste ingredients.
- Using an immersion blender, blend until a smooth paste is formed. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the lime leaves, cinnamon sticks, and lemongrass for 1 minute.
- Add in the curry paste and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the chicken. Coat in the curry paste and brown for 5-6 minutes.
- Pour in 1 cup of coconut milk and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the rest of the coconut milk and fish sauce.
Smoked Turkey and Cottage Bacon Sandwich
Smoked Turkey and Cottage Bacon Sandwich
I smoked a whole turkey this past weekend with the intention of doing multiple things with it. This is one of them…I found these really nice sweet onions rolls at the grocery store and thought that smoked turkey and cottage bacon would go great on them. And so I made it happen. I didn’t provide measurements for most of the ingredients because, dammit; you should be able to put as much turkey and bacon on your sandwich as you want without me telling. I just provide the skeleton of the sandwich.
Servings: 2 sandwiches
Ingredients
- cottage bacon or any bacon of your liking
- 1 tbsp green butter or regular butter
- 2 sweet onion rolls
- smoked turkey breast
- 2 slices swiss cheese
- arugula
- 1 tomato thinly sliced
- spicy brown mustard
Instructions
- Cook your bacon until it is crispy on a griddle. Set aside. Drain all but a tbsp of the bacon grease.
- Cook the smoked turkey breast in the bacon grease for a couple minutes per side. Remove from the pan.
- Melt the butter of your liking on a griddle over medium heat. Toast the sliced side of the onion roll until browned.
- Flip the rolls over. On the top side of the roll, placd a slice of Swiss cheese and as much bacon as you’d like. Remove from the griddle.
- Squirt some spicy brown mustard on the bottom half of the toasted roll. Layer the turkey on top of the mustard. Place the sliced tomatoes and arugula on top of the bacon side of the roll. Put them together.
Smoked Turkey Breast
When I see a bone in turkey breast on sale for $.99/lb, I hop on that shit. You can pay up to $10/lb for good quality smoked turkey deli meat; so why not make it at home for a fraction of the price. Even if you don’t have a smoker, you can still brine the breast and roast it in the oven at 325 degrees for 15 minutes per lbs. The internal temp needs to read 165 degrees.Most bone in turkey breasts will weigh between 6-8lbs. For maximum flavor, I like to brine my turkey breasts for 12 hours; pretty much overnight. The turkey breast will need to be pat dry and let to rest at room temp for at least an hour before smoking. If you want to add anymore seasonings to the outside of the breast such as Cajun, lemon pepper, mix herbs, honey, etc, do so now. I left mine plain since there is plenty of flavor in the brine.The nice thing about poultry is that it will take on the flavor of whatever wood chips you choose gor smoking. I used a combination of oak and cherrywood. Smoke the turkey breast at 250 degrees for 3 hours. At the 3 hour mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. You want the thermometer to read 165 degrees. Depending on the size of the breast, this can take an additional 15 minutes – 1 hour. Let the turkey breast rest for 30 minutes before serving.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- bone in turkey breast 6-8lbs
Brine
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup sea salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 head garlic minced
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp thyme
Wood Chips
- oak wood chips
- cherrywood chips
Instructions
- Mix all of the brining ingredients together. Place the turkey breast in a gallon sized storage bag. Pour in the brine. Brine for 12 hours.
- Pat the turkey breast dry with paper towels. Let sit at room temp an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Place the turkey in the smoker. Smoke for 3 hours.
- At the 3 hour mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. You want the thermometer to read 165 degrees. Depending on the size of the breast, this can take an additional 15 minutes – 1 hour.
- Let the turkey breast rest for up to 30 minutes before slicing.
Cottage Bacon
There’s no question about it: bacon is king. But have you ever had cottage bacon? The bacon you are used to eating is made from cured pork belly. Cottage bacon is made from cured pork shoulder. The results are even better then I expected. It has the flavor of belly bacon. It cooks up the same way. What makes cottage bacon even better in my opinion, is how meaty it is. It has a larger meat to fat ratio. I love my belly bacon, but I’m starting to think that cottage bacon is the way to go.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs boneless pork shoulder
Dry Rub Cure
- 3 tbsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp pink curing salts
Wood Chips
- 1/2 hickory wood chips
- 1/2 applewood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the dry rub ingredients.
- Cover the pork shoulder with all of the dry rub.
- Place the pork shoulder In a gallon sized storage bag. Place in the refrigerator for 1 week. Flip everyday so the pork marinates in it’s juices.
- After 1 week, take out of the storage bag. Place on a rack and put back in the refrigerator for 1 day to help dry out the pork to develop a pellicle. When ready to smoke, let the pork shoulder rest at room temp for an hour.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Throw the pork shoulder in the smoker. Once the woodchips are smoking, turn the smoker down to 200 degrees. Repeat this step every time you change out the wood chips.
- At the 3 hour mark, take the temp of the pork shoulder. Continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.
- Let the pork rest until completely cooled. Place in the refrigerator for 1 day before slicing.
- Slice to the thickness of your liking.
- To cook, preheat a skillet or a griddle over medium high heat. Place slices on the pan.
- Cook for 6-8 minutes, flipping the pieces every 2 minutes.
