Nasi Goreng

Nasi goreng reminds me of my time spent travelling Bali/Lombok in Indonesia. I had nasi goreng every single day for brunch. It normally came served with a yellow prawn cracker the size of the plate. Such simple ingredients, but the dish is full of flavour and packs a punch. Lots of ingredients are required, but the vast majority of them are in the back of the store cupboard. This is the Indonesian version of Chinese takeaway special fried rice, but way healthier and infinity tastier!

Ingredients

Paste

• 1 thumb-size piece of peeled and chopped ginger
• 1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised and chopped
• 3 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 1 tbsp of Heinz Ketchup
• 1 tbsp of coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp of fish sauce
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp of shrimp paste
• 2 tbsp of peanut oil
• 2 tbsp of roast peanuts

• 2 breasts of Moy Park Chicken, sliced into thin strips
• 200g of raw king prawns
• 250g of cooked and cooled basmatic rice
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 3 tbsp of roast peanuts
• 3 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 4 eggs
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1 cucumber, peeled and cut into 'half moons'

To serve
Prawn Crackers, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce.

Method

1. Firstly make the paste, put all the paste ingredients into a  mini blender and whizz until it comes together as a smooth paste.
2. In a wok, add two thirds of the paste and fry it off for a few minutes. Add the chicken and stir fry until cooked through, in the last 2 minutes add the prawns and continue to stir fry until the prawn have turned a lovely coral pink. 
3. Remove the chicken and prawns from the wok and set aside.
4. Add the remaining paste and fry it in the wok with the shallots and garlic. 
5. Add the rice and stir fry it for a few minutes. 
6. Return the chicken and prawns to the rice and stir to combine.
7. Get a frying pan on heat and fry 4 eggs (soft yolk)
8. Add the cucumber, coriander, peanuts and spring onions to the fried rice.
9. To plate up, divide the mixture between 4 plates and top each rice mixture with the softly fried egg.
10. Serve with prawn crackers and sweet chilli sauce drizzled over the egg.

Courgette, Cheddar & Dill Scones

I have been making sweet scones all summer for the B&B, the most popular being my Raspberry Scones. Now as the season is over, I find myself getting a bit bored with my recipes and decided to change things up for a change and make something savory. There's a shop in town I'm always passing and I always see cheesy scones in behind the glass counter so it gave me food for thought.

So here are my Courgette, Cheddar and Dill Scones, perfect breakfast scone, and absolutely fabulous straight from the oven hot for your 11am tea break.

Makes 8 scones

Ingredients

• 300g of self raising flour
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 medium courgette, grated
• 100g of sharp red cheddar cheese, grated
• 3 tsp of chopped fresh dill
• 250g of buttermilk
• 1 tsp of caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200g and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Wrap the courgette in kitchen paper and squeeze the moisture out.
3. Sieve the flour in a bowl and add the salt, sugar, cheese, courgette, and dill.
4. Combine all the ingredients well.
5. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and pour in the buttermilk.
6. Stir until and dough is formed, and turn out on the counter top,
7. Roll into a flat circle and cut into quarters and then into quarters again.
8. Transfer to baking tray and bake in oven for 25 minutes.

Serve warm with lashings sun dried tomato butter. (Whizz sun dried tomatoes, salt, pepper and butter in a food processor. Transfer to a container and refrigerate into firm.)