So last weekend it was my husband’s birthday, actually it was also my Dad’s, so we had a little gathering on Saturday to celebrate. The key to any good party in my mind is good company and always have plenty of alcohol. Thankfully both were in abundance last weekend. Obviously food is important, but I think it’s more important when catering for a little crowd to make things as easy as possible for yourself. Serve a cocktail as a starter, a cheese board for pudding, or better still if you friends like ours and they offer to bring something – say yes! My friend Rachel made the most divine cookies – ginger and chocolate. Two different types, just to clarify. My husband just dies for the ginger cookies, one of these days I must get her recipe and she may even let me share it with you!
So in the spirit of keeping things simple, we served nasi goreng for supper with a satay sauce. Ok, so I know they both originate in different countries but as much as I love fried rice I need a little sauce to go with mine. Nasi goreng is an Indonesian fried rice, I think often had for breakfast. This recipe is one my mom used to make for us when we were children and I absolutely love how easy it is to do. I have to be honest I don’t know how much it resembles the original but regardless this one is divine.
So here are a few recipe ideas to get you through a great party.
For a Taicang cocktail you’ll need a bottle of prosecco (or more depending on how many you’ve coming), some ginger root and you’ll also need to make a mandarin and clove reduction. Sounds complicated but I assure you it isn’t. To make this you could use tinned mandarins, but I used fresh ones and squeezed the juice out of them. I used 4 biggish ones in total. Put a tbsp of honey and about 5 cloves into a saucepan with the mandarin juice. Simmer over a med-high heat until the liquid has reduced and started to go a bit syrupy. Keep an eye on it though, the high sugar content in it could burn. The first batch I made did. It should take about 10-12 minutes to boil down. Pour into a jug to cool for later. When your guests arrive, pour a little of the mandarin reduction into a champagne flute, top with prosecco and add a slice of ginger. Make sure you remove the skin from the ginger root and cut into discs.
Whilst your guests are enjoying their cocktails, you can get on with the main dish. It would be best however to do a little bit of prep before they arrive. Earlier that day I cooked enough rice for 8 people and once cooked, I turned it out into a sieve and ran a cold tap over it. I transfered it to a bowl and popped in the fridge until I needed it. Though I was feeding 8 people, the recipe below is enough to feed 6, so you can adjust the quantities up or down depending on how many your feeding. You’ll need:
3 cups of basmati rice
6 streaky bacin rashers, diced
2 large spanish onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp mild curry powder
6 chicken breasts, diced
90ml soy sauce
6 spring onions, chopped
60g flakes almonds, toasted
6 large eggs
♡ To start cook your rice as you normally would and allow to cool as above. I use small cappuccino cups to measure, as one cup does enough for 2 people perfectly. I use a ratio of 1 cup rice to 1.5 cups of water.
♡ Next you’ll need to make 3 omelettes. Combine two of the eggs with some salt, pepper and a dash of water. Whisk and pour into a pan over a medium heat. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes and turn over. When cooked set aside on a plate and make another two omelettes in the same way.
♡ Fry off the bacon until cooked and starting to crisp. Then add the diced chicken breasts and cook for approx 10 minutes. Now add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions have softened and the chicken is cooked through. Now add the spices and give it a good stir.
♡ Add 3/4 if your rice and stir well until completely mixed with the spices. Allow to heat through completely and add the rest of the rice, it makes it easier to do it in batches. When your rice is completely warmed through, add the soy sauce and spring onions and stir. Throw in half the almonds and keep the rest for sprinkling on top. Once the rice is warmed through your ready to serve.
♡ Cut the omelettes into strips and serve the rice in bowls with the omelet and toasted almonds sprinkled on top.
♡ For extra heat I serve some chopped chillis in a bowl for those who like theirs hot. And for those that prefer a little less heat I serve some chopped cucumber.
I made a quick satay to go with this but you could serve any sauce you like. For the satay I chopped an onion finely and added to a pan with a crushed garlic clove, a little oil, a small chopped red chilli and a tsp of dried chilli flakes. Cook until the onion has softened and add a tsp of brown sugar. Add 1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce and 2 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter. Pour in enough coconut milk until you achieve your desired consistency.
To end the night we had the yummy cookies, a cheese board and some frozen grapes which I served with a bar of good dark chocolate. The frozen grapes are kind of like a sorbet without any effort at all. The night went on until god knows what time and I think it’s fair to say there were a few sore heads the next day! Of course I forgot to take proper pictures as I was having too much fun ♡
