Indonesian Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) (June 2021 – Issue 3)

Source: Asian Food Network

Prep + Cook Time: 25 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500 g Rice
  • 50 g dried Red Chillies (soaked in hot water and then drained)
  • 4 cloves Garlic
  • 2 Red Onions
  • 4 tbsp Cooking Oil
  • 50 g Chicken Liver (diced and blanched)
  • 50 g Chicken Gizzard (diced and blanched)
  • 100 g Chicken Breast (diced and blanched)
  • ½ cup Cabbage (thinly sliced)
  • ½ cup Baby Spinach
  • 3 Eggs
  • 50 g Spring Onions
  • 3 tbsp Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)
  • 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
  • 1 tbsp White Pepper
  • 1 tbsp Salt
  • 2 tbsp Shallots (fried)

METHOD:

  1. Blend and fry chilli paste
    • In a food processor, blend dried red chillies, garlic, and red onions. 
    • Add 1 tablespoon of oil into a pan over medium heat.
    • Once the oil is hot, fry the blended ingredients until fragrant.
  2. Sauté chicken and vegetables
    • In the same pan, add chicken breasts and liver, sauté until well-mixed. 
    • In a separate pan, fry the chicken gizzards and then add to the pan with the rest of the chicken.
    • Add sliced cabbage and spinach leaves and quickly sauté until wilted.
  3. Season and cook the rice and eggs
    • Add rice, 3 tablespoons kecap manis, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon white pepper and 1 tablespoon salt.
    • Fry on high heat and toss until mixed well. 
    • Whisk eggs together in a bowl. Push all the ingredients to the side, then add eggs directly to the pan surface.
    • Scramble the eggs over high heat to make runny scrambled eggs, then mix together with surrounding fried rice.
  4. Plate and Serve!
    • Season to taste, then remove from heat. Add spring onions to garnish and mix. Serve with fried shallots. 

Try to use cold and a day old rice: Using rice that is hot and freshly cooked can affect the stirring and frying process. Hot rice tends to get stickier when it is stir fried in the sauce. Using cold rice allows it to caramelise and retain the flavour and colour of the kecap manis. If you are using hot rice, you can spread it out evenly on a tray and refrigerate it for a couple of hours to dry off the surface of the rice.


Make sure you use kecap manis (sweet soy sauce): Thicker and sweeter than normal soy sauce, the kecap manis is a distinct feature of the Indonesian Nasi Goreng. Using kecap manis will give your Nasi Goreng the sweet and savoury flavour.


Experiment with shrimp paste: In today’s recipe, we will be using only chilli paste. However, the Indonesian Nasi Goreng tastes just as good with shrimp paste added to the mix. Including the shrimp paste will simply enhance the flavour of your Nasi Goreng further.