Nasi Goreng : Indonesia's National Dish

Nasi Goreng, literally fried rice, is a dish you likely associate with Chinese food, but it's actually Indonesia that calls it their "national dish". The beauty of nasi goreng is that it's the perfect way to use up leftover rice, and about the only use once it's been refrigerated.

Just don't expect it to turn bright yellow. I'm pretty sure that's added turmeric.

Nasi Goreng

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 2-3

2 cups leftover cooked rice

2 tbsp oil

3 eggs

1 onion

2 green chillis

1 garlic clove

1 leek

1/2 pound chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces

3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (or dark soy sauce, if unavailable)

On one skillet, make on omlette out of the three eggs. Take it off the heat and cut into strips. Heat oil in a frying pan and add leeks, garlic, onion, and chillies and cook until aromatic. Next add the chicken, and cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked.

Mix the Rice, eggs, and soy sauce, and mix until rice is hot.

Then serve and enjoy.

Avocado Juice

One of Indonesia's more unique, and most delicious treats is a sort of smoothies known locally as "Avocado Juice". It is not, in fact, juice but a smoothie concocted by putting Avocado, milk, and sugar in a blender. And surprisingly, it is fantastic.

Avocado Juice

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

2 cups milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

a couple drops vanilla

Preparation:

Slice avocado and remove seed, and outer skin. Place in blender with milk, water, sugar, and vanilla, and blend until smooth and lightly whipped. Pour over ice and enjoy.

Chapter 6 : Indonesia

As countries go, Indonesia remains an enigma to Americans. We know it gets hit by tsunamis, rebel separatists can be found there, and merchants stamp Osama bin Ladin on t-shirts there, but that's about it. Bizarre snippets of news float across the Pacific to us from the large and varied nation situated between Malaysia and Australia.

Having been roommates with an Indonesia for a few years wasn't as illuminating as you might expect, but I learned a few things from her. First, Indonesians love fried

chicken, by the bucket, and their favorite condiment is a sort of ketchup made with chilli peppers and tomato, or even just chilli peppers, called Manis Pedas or Extra Pedas, accordingly. I won't mince words about it: this is the single best spicy condiment I have ever tasted. Many of my friends fo buying Sriracha sauce, which is both mild and flavorless by comparison.

They also tend to prefer a sweet, molasses-like soy sauce called Ketchup Manis, or Sweet Soy Sauce. One can use these two condiments to make delicious ramen with no effort. Just strain the ramen after you cook it, and pour both into the pile of noodles and mix it up, and you'll have a sweet, spicy treat with no effort.

If you can locate these two condiments, don't hesitate to pick them up, and take a day off from cooking and pick up some good old fashioned fried chicken with extra pedas.

Here Comes the Mummies

Egyptian cuisine contains some interesting dishes, but perhaps the most unexpectedly delicious is Kushari, an odd blend of pasta, rice, and lentils in spicy tomato sauce.

Kushari

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lentils

1/2 cup rice

1 cup macaroni

3 cups water

Caramelized onions:

3 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, sliced into rings

Spicy tomato sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

2 medium diced onions

7 garlic cloves, diced

2 tsp vinegar

salt

pepper

chilli pepper flakes

Cooking:

Bring 3 cups water to a boil, add lentils. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add rice, simmer covered for 15 minutes. Separately, boil macaroni according to package.

To make the spicy tomato sauce, heat 2 tbsp oil and then sauté (over medium heat) diced onions until soft. Add garlic and fry until caramelized (pale brown in color). Add tomato paste and vinegar. Add crushed tomatoes. Season with chilli pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste, and simmer 1/2 hour to 1 hour.

Heat 3 tbsp oil and then sauté sliced onions until caramelized. Strain oil, and put the sliced onions on paper towels.

Combine the cooked lentils, rice, and macaroni, in an oiled pot, and cook over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve topped with spicy tomato sauce and caramelized onions.

This might look like a lot of effort, but you'll be thankful you did it! This recipe turned out fantastic!

Walk Like an Egyptian

The chances are pretty good you've had hummus at some point. Chick pea hummus is common these days, but fava bean hummus has a far more complex flavor and I recommend trying it out. It doesn't take much.

And really, just go with the canned fava beans. It's easier. You can find tahini at any grocery store featuring imported items, or health food stores like Whole Foods. Based on this recipe:

Fava Bean Hummus

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 6

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 15oz cans of fava beans, drained

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cups tahini (roasted)

Options:

Toasted pine nuts (garnish)

Chopped parsley (garnish)

Roasted red pepper (chopped, then blended with the hummus)

Preparation:

In a food processor, combine garlic, fava beans, lemon juice, water, olive oil, and salt, and blend thoroughly. Then add the tahini and blend until smooth.

Serve with pita bread (preferably whole wheat, pocketless).

It's just about the easiest recipe ever, so have fun with it. Blend in different flavors. The fava beans produce a much more complex flavor than the chick pea hummus you're probably familiar with (though the only difference in the recipe is the beans), and the cost is almost nothing.

Chapter 5 : Egypt

I handed my torch to Katrina as we entered the tomb, stepping slowly toward the sarcophagus. "Beans," I said. "Among the gold and treasure of these tombs, they found fava beans."

"Fava beans?" she replied. "Why's that important?"

"Think of it! The first civilization, but both the poor and rich lived on a diet of a legume." I picked up a ruby, examining the gem in my palm. "They say even the pharoahs were satisfied with beans."

"So, you are sure these things aren't cursed, right?"

"Of course!" I said, ignoring the faint moaning coming from the sarcophagus. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Fava Beans

These brown beans often come in three sizes, and I recommend the small or medium, as the large can be a bit hard to cook evenly.

While chick peas are the staple of Levantine cuisine, Egypt has long used the fava bean for hummus, falafel, and easiest of all, ful medames. The flavor of this little bean, which I had never had until a short while ago, is incredible.

Ful Medames is the national dish of Egypt, and as simple as it sounds, it really is delicious. I tried out this recipe:

Ful Medames

Prep Time: Overnight (for beans soaking)

Cooking Time: 2 1/2 hours

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 cups dry fava beans

1/3 cup parsley

olive oil

3 lemons, quartered

6 cloves garlic

chilli pepper flakes

cumin

Prep:

It is important to soak the beans overnight, or longer. Make sure to drain them completely. If you soak them for multiple days, drain them daily.

Cooking:

Put the drained beans in a pot and cover with unsalted water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 1/2 hours, until beans are tender, and let the liquid reduce.

Take off the heat and mash the beans a bit. Then salt to taste.

Serve with the quartered lemons, cumin, chilli pepper flakes, parsley, garlic, and olive oil as condiments.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

I have tasted things you might never believe, squishy, brainy snow fungus, rubbery pig's feet, or black chinese death eggs, and yet none of them really seems more bizarre than this: chocolate covered bacon.

I can imagine why people eat pig's feet, or even century eggs. Why anyone would ever dip cold precooked bacon into chocolate, however, is beyond me.

One might assume that since it's sold every year at the Indiana State Fair, that there's a reason. After all, sometimes unexpected things taste good. And perhaps the saltiness of the bacon would accompany the sweetness of the chocolate, as in chocolate covered pretzels.

You'd be wrong. Dead wrong. The first bite you have the distinct taste of chocolate, the next stringy, barely cooked bacon pouring acrid smoky aromas into your nostrils. Describing this as unpleasant doesn't do it justice, this experience was an abomination. Nowhere int he depths of the human conscious mind should this have been allowed to surface. Thankfully, the fair is only once a year, and the rest of the year we all don't take leave of our senses quite so readily.

Deep Fried Butter

Somewhere out there is a man. Not just any ordinary man, but a man with a purpose. His purpose? To throw random foods into batter, and then deep fry them to discover this year's latest State Fair food.

Last year it was the Deep Fried Pepsi, a donut that asked only one question: could anything even sound more disgusting?

Well never fear, for 2010 there is the now infamous deep fried butter, a thick battered wall of dough protecting a large pocket of molten butter.

Now, if you thought this was bound to be the worst thing in history, you'd be wrong for two reasons. One, the worst thing in history is proabably chocolate covered bacon. But two, it was actually... good? In fact, the butter inside was pleasant and the soft, but crisp shell was downright tasty. I mean, it was rich, and in that way disgusting, but so is cake, and while I wouldn't eat this everyday, the buttery goodness certainly wasn't bad. In fact, I might prefer the things to elephant ears and funnel cakes.

Definitely worth a try. One only wonders what the mysterious deep frying man will create next year...

Chapter 4 : The Indiana State Fair

In all the world, perhaps nowhere have such bizarre foods been seen as your local state fair. For reasons unbeknownst to modern man, every year new and more bizarre concoctions come out.... almost all of them deep fried.

Deciding to take our lives into our hands, Katrina and I arrived and decided to go for one of the fair's most famous attractions: Deep Fried Cheese. Cut into large cubes, breaded, and deep fried this creation rose from the pits of the deep fryer, oozing with milkfat and corn oil.

The taste was actually not all bad, although the ranch accompanying it was a bit too much.