Nasi Goreng
Yesterday's rice fried with a pounded chilli-shallot base and darkened with kecap manis, a fried egg landing on top.
- Prep
- 15m
- Cook
- 12m
- Total
- 27m
- Serves
- 3
- Effort
- Easy
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 4 | Pound the shallots, garlic and chilli to a rough paste 5m | Fry the sambal base until it darkens and the oil separates 5m Two shades darker and no longer smelling raw. This is the whole flavour of the dish. | Fry the rice hard, spreading it thin against the pan 6m Let it sit for 30 seconds at a time. You want some grains toasted, not all of them warm. | Plate the rice and land a fried egg on each portion 1m Fry the eggs in hot oil so the whites frill and crisp at the edges. | |
| 4 cloves | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 1 | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 3 tbsp | |||||
| 4 cups | |||||
| 150 g | |||||
| 1 | |||||
| 3 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 3 | Fry the eggs in shallow hot oil 4m | ||||
| 3 tbsp | |||||
| 1/2 | |||||
| 1 | |||||
| 3 tbsp | |||||
| 1 | |||||
-
Pound the shallots, garlic and chilli to a rough paste
5m- shallots 4
- garlic 4 cloves
- red chillies 3
- candlenut (optional) 1
- white miso 1 tsp
-
Fry the sambal base until it darkens and the oil separates
5m- from 1 Pound the shallots, garlic and chilli to a rough paste
- neutral oil 3 tbsp
Two shades darker and no longer smelling raw. This is the whole flavour of the dish.
-
Fry the rice hard, spreading it thin against the pan
6m- from 2 Fry the sambal base until it darkens and the oil separates
- cold cooked rice 4 cups
- cabbage 150 g
- carrot 1
- kecap manis 3 tbsp
- light soy sauce 1 tbsp
- white pepper 1/2 tsp
Let it sit for 30 seconds at a time. You want some grains toasted, not all of them warm.
-
Fry the eggs in shallow hot oil
4m- eggs 3
- neutral oil 3 tbsp
-
Plate the rice and land a fried egg on each portion
1m- from 3 Fry the rice hard, spreading it thin against the pan
- from 4 Fry the eggs in shallow hot oil
- cucumber 1/2
- tomato 1
- crisp fried shallots 3 tbsp
- lime 1
Fry the eggs in hot oil so the whites frill and crisp at the edges.
Why kecap manis goes in last
Kecap manis is roughly half palm sugar. Added early it caramelises, then burns, and the bitterness spreads through everything before the rice has finished frying. Held back until the final sixty seconds, it coats hot grains and darkens them without ever sitting long enough on bare metal to scorch. The same logic explains why the sambal base goes in first and alone: it needs several minutes in oil to lose its raw allium sharpness, and it cannot get that once there is a wok full of rice absorbing all the heat.
Notes
- Day-old rice, straight from the fridge. Fresh rice steams and clumps, and no amount of heat will separate it.
- Terasi, fermented shrimp paste, is the traditional savoury base. A teaspoon of miso gives comparable depth without it.
- The garnishes are not decoration. Cold cucumber and lime are what keep a very sweet, very salty plate of rice eatable to the end.