Indonesian Fried Rice ( Nasi Goreng )

Nasi Goreng is the most common food you can find in Indonesia . Everyone knows how to cook Nasi Goreng , or as we know it over here , Fried Rice . It’s a little different with Chinese Fried Rice , the Indonesian uses shallots , garlic , tomatoes , etc while the chinese fried rice mainly uses soy sauce .

Growing up in Indonesia , we used to have this street vendor during dinner time , selling all kinds of food , maybe it’s satay ( grilled chicken on a stick with peanut sauce ) , fried rice , fruit salad , meatball soup ( bakso ) , all kinds you can think of . All you have to do just wait til they pass by your house and they’ll cook it in front of your house . It was awesome , especially during my college days , where i was too lazy to cook , or just being hungry in the middle of the night and there was no food left anymore , but wait .. there’s street vendor passing by your dorm and food will be ready within minutes !

So , most indonesian would cook their fried rice without any meat , however they would add sunny side egg as a topping . I like to add meat whether it’s ham or chinese sausage to my fried rice , along with scrambled egg , or skip the egg and make sunny side up . Whatever you like . And the most important thing with fried rice is that you have to use day old rice , not freshly cooked rice . So plan ahead , us , Indonesian , usually have rice everyday , so we usually have leftovers rice and whatever you have left in the fridge . It’s like when you have no other idea to cook .. you make fried rice LOL

Make sure the rice is day old rice , i put them in the fridge overnight and take it out an hour or two before you cook them . I also use ham , and chinese sausage in this recipe . You can replace the onion if you can’t find any shallots , use any kinds of tomatoes , ( my mom sometimes used ketchup to replace the tomatoes ) , use sambal or if you have fresh chilis , use it , the shrimp paste in the recipe is optional but it def use it if you have them since it makes it more flavorful . The fried rice is also needs to be cooked in high heat , constantly stirring and mixing is required , otherwise you’ll burn the rice .

Ingredients :

• 2 cups of rice ( using the measurement from the rice cooker , and cook it according to your rice cooker direction , cut the water just slightly , you don’t want soft mushy rice for fried rice ) , cook the day before , store in fridge until ready to use
• 150 grams roma tomatoes
• 125 grams shallots
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• about 1/2- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
• sambal oelek ( rooster brand ) if you don’t have thai chilis
• lee kum kee low sodium soy sauce
• ABC sweet soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 0.5 lb of sweet ham ( sometimes i used leftovers from spiral ham if i have them , otherwise i buy them from deli at grocery store , you can also use spam if you want ) , chopped
• 4 chinese sausage links , sliced thinly
• 4 beaten eggs to make scrambled eggs or if you prefer sunny side
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions :

• In a food processor ,throw in the garlic , shallots , tomatoes , shrimp paste , 1 tbsp olive oil , sugar and sambal . Pulse until it becomes very smooth . Set aside this paste to be cooked later on .
• In a large wok , brown the ham , cook the sausage ( chinese sausage takes very quick to cook , within 1-2 minutes high heat and don’t wash the wok , use the wok to cook the eggs or immediately add in the paste . ) Remove the cooked ham , sausage and eggs .
• If you choose not to use the sausage , add 1 tbsp olive oil to the wok , cook the paste for 30 seconds or so , add the rice , keep mixing , don’t mash up the rice , mixing , add soy sauce and sweet soy sauce . Add the ham , sausage and eggs , keep mixing . You might want to taste it , i wish i had measurement for soy sauce and sweet soy sauce , but i usually tried it and eyeball them , add as i need to .
• Keep stirring and mixing until everything looks pretty much dry and mixed well .
• Turn off the heat , remove the rice from wok . Serve with crackers and pickled cucumber on the side .