Recipes for lockdown: Nasi Goreng

Early in lockdown I went to the mahussive Asian supermarket near me, Wing Yip, and was surprised to find everything fully stocked and no one in there. This was when chicken breasts and thighs were hard to come by. You could get enough chicken to feed all of Joe Exotic's big cats at Wing Yip, and then some.

I wondered whether this was a sign of COVID-induced racism. I heard horrible stories about Chinese restaurants closing down in Sydney because people were afraid to eat there. I mean, really? How stupid are the general public? A Chinese Australian is just as likely to spread the virus as any other Australian, no more, no less. It’s about contact. But you know all that...

Anyway, I didn’t buy any chicken, cause I didn’t need 10 kilos, but I did stock up on all sorts of delicious condiments and sauces to get my Asian cook on. 

One thing I had been wanting to make for ages was nasi goreng, but the two key ingredients aren’t always easy to come by in London: ketjap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) and properly stinky shrimp paste. Yes, really. The version you can get in Tesco or Sainsbury's isn’t quite right. It's been dulled down for Western palates. I don't understand this – if you are buying shrimp paste it is surely because you have eaten good Asian food and want to make something similar. When I found properly stinky shrimp paste it transformed my dishes. They tasted like the real deal. If you don't have an Asian store near you, then you can order a decent one online; this is the one that I found at Wing Yip and I'd recommend it.  

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Babatunde's jollof rice with chicken

I have an affinity for West African people. Whenever I find myself attracted to a person of African descent, they inevitably turn out to be (a) Nigerian or (b) Ghanaian. At the risk of making a sweeping generalisation based on the behaviour of 3 ex-partners, the downside of this is that they are near impossible to pin down for any kind of social arrangement. The upside is that when they finally do commit, there is bound to be jollof rice on the table. I can live with that.

Jollof rice is perhaps the most popular dish in West Africa. You will find it at every large social gathering and small ones too. In Nigeria, you can even get it as a side dish at KFC.

It is said to have originated in Senegambia and to be named after the Wolof tribe, but like any such claims when it comes to food, this is fiercely debated by other West African nations. I have heard a Ghanaian and a Nigerian argue for almost an hour about where jollof rice is really from and who makes it best (their mums, of course).

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