Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice)

This week, I was a bit at a loss as to which country I wanted my theme night to be focused on. However, it only made sense to "visit" Indonesia when I looked at the ingredients that were available to me from both my Thai and Malaysian nights. (Unfortunately, I had not taken pictures of the Malaysian themed dishes I made the previous week, but I will probably want to recreate a few of them at some point).

My first entry of my Indonesian themed dishes is the Nasi Goreng. This recipe is adapted from the Rasa Malaysia website (http://rasamalaysia.com/), which is an absolutely amazing food blog website. I truly recommend it if you are trying to find an asian recipe. I thought this fried rice was really flavorful and I think there would be many ways to spice it up including putting other veggies and/or ground pork/chicken/beef.

INGREDIENTS

1 Shallot
1 Garlic
1 Chili (sliced)
1 Tomato (chopped into small pieces)
1/2 tsp. toasted belacan (terasi)
1/2 tsp. palm sugar
1/2 tbsp. kecap manis
8 oz. overnight rice
1 fried egg (well done and chopped)
2 tablespoons oil

DIRECTIONS

Break the overnight/leftover rice using the back of a spoon so they don’t clump together. In a wok, toast the belacan on low heat until it becomes dry and aromatic. Toasted belacan should be somewhat powdery and appear like tiny granules. Fry an egg (well-done), cut into small pieces and set aside.

Using a mini food processor, blend the shallot, garlic, red chili, and toasted belacan. Transfer the blended flavoring paste into a small saucer.

Heat up a wok and add oil. Add the flavoring paste and stir-fry until aromatic or when the oil separates. Add the rice into the wok and stir well with the flavoring paste. Add kecap manis and palm sugar into the rice and continue to stir-fry and make sure that they are well blended with the rice. Finally, add tomato and fried egg and continue to stir-fry. Dish out and serve immediately.