Eleanor Ford - Fire Islands
Fire Islands is a lovely cookbook really focusing on Indonesian food written by Eleanor Ford. Eleanor is a food writer, recipe developer and food stylist. She lived in Indonesia for many years and Fire Islands really does show her love for the beautiful islands. It is filled with recipes, stunning photos, information on the Islands and with explanations and details on the ingredients and it really made me want to get on to a plane and go and discover Indonesia. Now.
Did you know that Indonesia is made up of over 17,500 islands, with just over 6,000 being inhabited? The main islands are Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and the Western part of New Guinea.
I loved the travel photos, especially of the beautiful foods and loved the passion that oozed out of every single page.
This was my very first book I bought after joining the Great British Chefs bookclub and even before my first flick through I loved it, it is so pretty. On first flick through I was hooked, there was so much to read and soak up and my first dish was sambal prawns and they were so fabulous that I then started tagging recipes. I absolutely love it. I love it so much that it is in my top 5 cookbooks that I own it is that truly fantastic. I realise now that my favourite books are ones written with passion and making me want to discover more.
There are lots of beautiful delicious (and spicy) recipes and I was really intrigued by the bumbu spices which are in so many recipes and yet I had never heard of before. I love finding out and learning new techniques, ingredients and ways to improve my cooking. Indeed Ketjap manis is now such a firm favourite that it gets put into many dishes - however unauthentic it may be some. It is a lovely sauce and because of the sweet salty nature of it, it brings many dishes alive. The wonderful thing about the bumbu is when you first start to cook them the aromas fill the air and start to stimulate your taste buds and building the excitement.
Everything I have cooked from this book has worked out beautifully, the recipes are well written, easy to follow and moreover exciting and delicious to eat. The nasi goreng is a firm favourite now in this house - especially on meat free Mondays. I love how all leftover vegetables can be thrown into this dish and it always turns out perfectly. Aside from the taste the best thing is that it saves food waste and keeps your shopping costs lower. I am a leftovers queen so this really sang out to me.
If you have not cooked Indonesian and are not sure what to put together then fear not, Eleanor suggests what to cook with what dishes to make an entire meal. This is especially important when you are unsure of a cuisine or just learning about it, it is invaluable. It does make it so much more exciting.
Once I started reading this book I just could not put it down. I have earmarked so many recipes and learnt so much from it. I am now seeking out Eleanors other book Samarkand and meanwhile am loving cooking from this book.
I do have a thing about fried chicken and the Indonesian Fried Chicken did not disappoint. It was salty and spicy and crunchy and fantastic, served with a fiery red tomato sambal which was a real find. The sambal has now found its way into many dishes and on the side of many dishes, absolutely gorgeous.
If you like spicy interesting food and want to feel like you are somewhere magical then this really is the book to start with. Most of the recipes don’t require huge skills in the kitchen and everything is explained really well and most importantly, the recipes work.
Buy it, you really won't be sorry.
Recipes 8/10
Readability 10/10
Knowledge learnt 8/10
Total 26/30