Nasi Goreng

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Nasi goreng, literally meaning "fried rice" in Indonesian and Malay, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including fried rice accompanied with other items, or a more complicated fried rice, typically spiced with tamarind and chilli and including other ingredients, particularly egg and prawns. There is also a special nasi goreng which is made with ikan asin (salted dried fish) which is also popular across the country.

There is no single recipe of nasi goreng, every fried rice dish with certain mixtures, additions, ingredients, and toppings could led to another recipe of nasi goreng. Usually in Indonesian household, the ingredients of nasi goreng to be prepared for daily breakfast in the morning could be the leftovers of yesterday meals preserved in the refrigerator, added with fresh vegetables and eggs. The basic ingredients of nasi goreng are rice left over from yesterday's meal and sliced or ground bumbu (spices) mixture of shallot, garlic, pepper, salt, tomato ketchup, sambal or chili sauce, and usually sweet soy sauce. Some variants may add saus tiram (oyster sauce), ang-ciu (chinese cooking red wine), or kecap inggris (Worcestershire sauce). The texture of leftover cooked rice is considered as the most suitable type of rice to be made nasi goreng than the newly cooked one, because the freshly cooked rice is too moist and too soft to be made nasi goreng.


For us Filipinos, this is also practiced in reinventing leftover rice. Just add in any vegetable in the fridge with any meat topping and spices (curry, soy sauce or butter) plus scrambled eggs. One of my friends call this her "comfort food".


Ingredients:


leftover rice
fried scrambled eggs (cut into strips)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
chopped spring onion
chopped carrots
fried shrimps
peas
fried sausage (hotdog)
soy sauce


Procedure:


1. Heat pan with butter. Fry the carrots. 


2. Add spring onion and peas. Don't overcook the vegetables.


3. Add the leftover rice and mix well. Combine in all the other ingredients. 

Photos by SDeluz

4. Season with soy sauce (or any spice of choice). 


5. Serve with the strips of scrambled eggs on top.


Don't throw away your left over food. Cooking can only be limited by your imagination. Enjoy!