Crispy Sambal Coconut Rice
with Sticky Tamarind Pork,
Charred Pineapple & Peanut Crunch
By Chef Gordon Ramswine
What it is:
A slightly unhinged Indonesian-inspired rice dish with sweet heat, acid, smoke and proper texture — somewhere between nasi goreng, satay and a very bad-tempered holiday in Bali.
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS (Serves: 4)
For the rice:
2 cups cooked jasmine rice, preferably cold
200ml coconut milk
2 tbsp kecap manis
1 tbsp sambal oelek
2 spring onions, sliced
1 tbsp neutral oil
½ tsp ground turmeric
Salt
For the sticky pork:
500g pork mince
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp kecap manis
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sambal oelek
1 tsp brown sugar
Juice of ½ lime
For the charred pineapple:
250g fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks
1 tsp brown sugar
Pinch of chilli flakes
Juice of ½ lime
Peanut crunch:
½ cup roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
2 tbsp crispy fried shallots
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Small handful coriander, chopped
Method
Heat a large frying pan or wok until properly hot. Add the pineapple with the sugar and chilli and leave it alone long enough to actually char rather than politely steam. Toss through the lime juice and remove.
Mix all the sticky pork ingredients except the lime juice. Fry over high heat, breaking the pork into rough nuggets rather than tiny mince. Keep cooking until dark, sticky and caramelised around the edges. Add the lime juice at the end.
For the rice, heat the oil in the same pan. Add the cold rice, turmeric, sambal and kecap manis. Fry hard for several minutes. Pour in the coconut milk a little at a time and keep frying until the rice absorbs it and starts forming crispy, almost burnt patches underneath. Fold through the spring onions.
Pile the coconut sambal rice into bowls, spoon over the sticky tamarind pork and charred pineapple, then assault the whole thing with peanut crunch, coriander and extra sambal.
Menu Description & Serving Notes.
Ramswine’s rule:
If your rice is pale, wet and apologetic, you haven’t fried it. Turn the bloody heat up.
Optional August upgrade: top each bowl with a fried egg with brutally crisp edges and a soft yolk.
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