Thursday, January 14, 2016

Nasi goreng and Bakmi goreng recipe







Nasi Goreng
Bakmi goreng - this one was so close to my Grandmother's version! I was so happy!

In light of the attacks this morning in Jakarta, I was going to write a depressing blog post about worrying about my family and friends in Jakarta but instead I've decided to dedicate this post to my memories of growing up in Jakarta as a child. 

The smell of nasi goreng or bakmi goreng would waft all through the kitchen onto the dining table. I remember distinctly those aromatic smells coming from the kitchen whenever my grandmother cooked. She was the best! She made such good food that when she was alive I didn't really appreciate it fully because I was such a brat. (I only wanted to eat "restaurant" quality food) - hahaha a picky eater. I'm still a picky eater and being one today is much more tolerable because if food is crap then I won't eat. Therefore no wasted calories ;-)

I like to cook these days and its become quite the stress reliever to come home after a long day and clean veggies, chop onions and garlic, marinate meat, etc. Homemade food tastes really good and I eat less because my nose and sight has been satiated during the process of making it. Leftovers are fantastic for the next few days when I don't have time to cook. 

I used to be terrible at cooking (weren't we all terrible at one point!?) and my father still jokes about my weird "nasi goreng" to this day. hehe... 

Nasi Goreng is a national Indonesian dish that is usually served with condiments like acar (pickles), satay (chicken or beef skewers), kroepok (shrimp crackers), and a sunny side up egg on top with fried shallots. 

When I cook, I don't like to measure things exactly especially if its a dish I've made and did so many trial-and-error experiments with ingredients and sauces. I cook things in accordance "to taste". (Probably why baking and making recipes that have to be exact drives me insane!)

My last semester at hospitality school, we had a class with a guest chef who was very animated and passionate about cooking. He used to work in airline catering for a long time as a consultant. He devised a very simple method of measuring out every ingredient when the head chefs would come in to create the recipes so that each recipe will spurn a dish that would taste exactly the same each time regardless of who was making it. Genius! 

During this class, he asked two students to volunteer to be head chefs with a team for the kitchen brigade. I volunteered. I had to device a recipe and write it all out. Guess what I made?! Yep, Nasi Goreng. 

This is my recipe.


Used Net weight Unit Item
162 g Sunflower Oil
3 pcs Eggs (scrambled)
408 g Shrimps
566 g Onions (chopped & diced)
466 g Carrots
250 g Peas
206 g Green Beans
200 g Sambal
165 g Sweet Soy sauce
180 g Soy Sauce
800 g Rice, cooked
5 pcs Whole Eggs (sunny side up)
86 g Fried Shallots

Preparation process
1 In a small mixing bowl, mix the eggs
2 Put oil into the pan (72g)
3 Add egg (scrambled). 1 min.
4 Add chopped onions
5 Add shrimps
6 Stir fry everything for 5 min.
7 Add oil (58g). Add chopped carrots (466g). Stir fry for 3 min.
8 Add peas (250g). Stir fry 2 min.
9 Add green beans (206g). Stir fry 2 min.
10 Add sambal (100g). Mix well. 30 sec.
11 Add sweet soy sauce (165 g) Mix well. 30 sec.
12 Add sambal (100g). Mix well. 30 sec.
13 Add soy sauce (180g) Mix well. 2 min.
14 Add rice (800 g). Mix well. 6 min. 
15 In a separate pan, fry sunny side up eggs.
16 Plate rice. Topped with Sunny side up egg. 
17 Garnish with Fried Shallots


You can also substitute rice with egg noodles to make Bakmi Goreng

My knife set :-) 






Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Happy New Year!



Happy New Year Everyone!

How was the holiday season this time around for you? It seems like every holiday season is blending in to the ones from the past. (Or am I just getting old and tired of the season?!) I spent Christmas Eve on a train from Brussels to Schipol airport. It was delayed because some crazy idiot decides to feel suicidal and walk on the train tracks (or that person could also be high on drugs) so the train was stalled and delayed for at least 45 minutes. Thank goodness my flight was the next morning. 
Note to self: do not take the train to Schipol on the day of a flight
By the time I got to the airport hotel, I was tired. I like the Citizen M hotels because of their huge beds, free movies, mood lighting, and breakfast! Ok, enough endorsing my personal views for now since I'm interning at a fairly large hotel company but didn't stay at one of our properties (feeling the guilt!). I will try and utilise my employee discount though when I travel to some locations where accommodation is ridiculously expensive. 
I flew on Christmas day to Singapore. Arrived the next day. Then the jet lag ensued... Sigh. There seems to be a problem flying east when it comes to jet lag. 
Where did you spend NYE? I had dinner with family then went to my friends' place and hung out with her and her cute cat. Very different from last year's NYE.
Had a nice little week in Singapore and saw my family and some friends. I am glad to get back to Brussels though to really begin some work. My first couple weeks were not very intense as it was the holiday season and copious meetings, conference, dinners.