Indonesian fried rice

My friend, Dan, cooked a lovely dinner for me on Sunday night. It was an Indonesian dish, which he said is called something like "Cow Pat" - nice. I said that if it was good, it would feature on my blog, so being the competitive boy that he is, he did an amazing job, and so here we are...

Ingredients

350g long grain rice, soaked in water for 30min and drained

2 tsp salt

650ml water

50ml vegetable oil

2 medium onions chopped very finely

2 red chillies

1 tsp blachan (dried shrimp paste)

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tsp ground coriander

175g cooked prawns, shelled

175g cooked lamb or beef, sliced

2 tsp soft brown sugar mixed with 1 tbsp treacle and 2 tbsp soya sauce

Cook the rice in the water with some salt. Cook the onions in some oil until they are golden. Dan said that the main thing about this dish was slicing the onions very finely, and to keep stirring them when they are frying, everything apart from that is pretty straight forward. Add the chillies, garlic, coriander and blachan. Blachan might sound like it's hard to find, but you can find various versions of it in asian food stores - just ask for dried shrimp paste. Stir in the prawns and meat and fry for a further couple of minutes. Stir in the rice, soya mixture, more salt. Turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. It can be eaten like this or with a fried egg or omelette on top. This recipe makes a massive pan, about 6-7 servings at a guess, so great for having mates round for a chilled night in