Nando's Spicy Rice a la Marina

If you live in Malaysia and you live eating at Nando's then you must know about the spicy rice. I like it sooo much but it could be pricey eating at Nando's daily .. at least with my salary. So I tried recreating the diah.. with little knowledge of Portuguese recipes. Nando's is Portuguese right?

I've made it a couple of times and I think it tastes nice. Lol.. for this recipe I'm using long grain rice. So I have to soak the rice first for at least 10 minutes before cooking.

Ingredients:

1 cup of uncooked rice (cleaned and soaked for at least 10 minutes)
Boneless chicken breast (skin removed)
1 green bell pepper
1 small onion
1 small tomato
Mushroom (i usually use swiss button mushrooms for this recipe but you can use any mushroom you'd like as long as it tastes good when grilled)
1 cup of water (or stock)
Coriander leaves
1 clove Garlic chopped finely
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
chilli powder
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon lime juice

Method

1. Cut the chicken into small squares. Not too small and not too big. Marinade the chicken with salt, pepper and a few teaspoons of chilli powder. Cover and set aside.
2. Cut the vegetables (green bell pepper, onion,mushroom,tomato) to about the same size as the chicken. Bite size but not too small.
3.Heat the pan. Spray some cooking oil.
4. Brown the chicken. Not too long enough to brown it. Remove chicken. Set aside. Spray the pan again and brown the onion. Again not too long. We just need to have it charred. Repeat with the rest of the veges.
5. After the last vegetable has been charred, put the olive oil in the heated pan.
6. Stir in chopped garlic.
7. Add the drained rice. Stir. Add turmeric powder and the chilli powder. Stir the rice.
8. Add water (or chicken stock if you'd like). Stir the rice.
9. When the water reduced, add the charred veges and chicken. Stir.
10. Stir in chopped coriander, salt and pepper to taste.
11. Let it simmer.. when you don't see anymore water, turn off the heat and cover the pan fully. Let the rice sit for another 10 minutes.
12. Add the lime juice and stir thoroughly and serve warm.

If you like your meals hot eat it with peri-peri sauce. Baked sliced almonds would be great as garnish.

Enjoy!

Chicken Rendang a la Marina

Hello... It's been a while. I haven't been cooking lately. I took up a job.. and it's taking too much of my time. huhu..

Anyway, someone actually requested that I post a youtube video on how to make simple rendang. The easiest rendang I could think of is Rendang Pedas Ayam. It doesn't require kerisik (grated coconut that is fried until it's brown and oily), and it's really easy. Blend all the ingredients and cook. Simple. I used to make it when I was a student. During Hari Raya time.. before Raya of course, we'd go to Chinatown and get the ingredients. That was back in.. the late 90s. Darn.. now everyone knows my age. LOL! The ingredients are really easy to get back then, I am sure it's even easier to get now.

Hope you'll enjoy the recipe. The youtube video is here... http://youtu.be/KUwGlC8SlBg

Chicken Rendang a la Marina

Ingredients:

Chicken ( I used about 1 kg chicken cut into small pieces)
shallots (I used about 15 - 20. More is good :D )
garlic (1 clove is enough)
ginger (1 cm)
Galangal (1 cm)
2 lemongrass
chili boh (dried chili - soak in hot water, tossed and blended - I used 1/2 cup)
milk from 1 coconut (about 1 cup)
1 turmeric leaf sliced thinly.. or you could just mince it (this one is hard to find but no worries, you may replace it with screwpine leaf (Pandan). If you're using pandan leaf, simply wash it thoroughly and make a knot with the leaf and throw it in about the same time i put in the turmeric leaf)
sugar & salt to taste
vegetable oil for cooking.

Method:

1. Blend the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, lemongrass till fine.
2. Heat vegetable oil in wok. Once hot, add the blended ingredients. Stir frequently until browned. Make sure they don't burn.
3. Add in the chili boh. Let the chili cooked. Stir in low heat.
4. Once chili is fully cooked, add the coconut milk. Stir.
5. When it looks red and reduced, add the chicken. Fold carefully so not to break the chicken to pieces.
6. When chicken is cooked add the sliced turmeric leaf. Stir and add sugar and salt to taste.
7. Chicken rendang is ready to be eaten when they turn slightly browned and the gravy is reduced to paste.


Serve hot with rice.

Yummy! Chicken Rendang a la Marina