Nasi Goreng is Indonesian and began life as a breakfast dish using up leftover rice from the previous evening but has evolved into a popular street food choice, right up to being served in posh restaurants. It can be spicy or not depending on your taste and vegetarian or not. There's Mie Goreng too using noodles instead of rice.
What follows is a series of variations on this original recipe, all of which qualify as candidates for “dive in” dishes.
Whichever variation of The Gorengs you choose the principle is the same – it's the perfect vehicle for using leftovers and adding treats like prawns and ham hock. It's quick and easy to produce and so satisfying to place a large wok full of deliciousness on the table with additional sides – more chopped cashews, bowls of soy, kecap manis, a heap of small thin wraps and a stack of Little Gem lettuce cups.
The easiest way to show the “zhuzh” is to give the original recipe and underline the alternative ingredients.
Here goes :
Nasi Goreng
Serves 4-6
3 eggs
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp oil
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed or garlic paste
half tsp chilli powder – instead of using chilli
powder use ½ tsp of sambal paste *
8oz (225g) cooked rice – instead of using plain rice, use bags
of frozen rice with added veggies *
6oz (175g) cooked chicken or turkey meat, diced
6oz (175g) peeled prawns, defrosted if frozen
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp soft light brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
instead of using soy, sugar and lemon juice use
60ml of soy sauce and 120ml of Kecap Manis *
6oz (175g) cooked wafer ham, thinly sliced
instead of using cooked wafer ham use cooked
shredded ham hock *
black pepper
Beat the egg lightly with the 1 tbsp water. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan. Pour in the egg and cook until set underneath, flip it and repeat. Slide the omelette out of the pan on to a board, roll up into a cigar shape and slice into strips – set aside.
Add the vegetable oil to the wok and heat gently. Add the onions, garlic and chilli powder* and fry until lightly browned. Add the rice* and cook for a few seconds then stir in the chicken and prawns. Cook for 2/3 minutes.
Mix the soy sauce, sugar and lemon juice* together, then stir thoroughly into the rice mixture. Stir in the ham* then season to taste with pepper. Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with the omelette strips.
Optional sides :
Add a dish of chopped honey roasted cashews
Add bowls of soy and Kecap Manis for extra drizzle
Add a stack of small thin wraps – small wraps are easier
to control for little fingers
Add a stack of Little Gem lettuce cups – ideal for
filling with the Nasi and devouring – you'll save on
cutlery too!
a perfect “dive in dish”
Here's an alternative “fish” Nasi recipe :
Nasi but not
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed or garlic paste
half tsp chilli powder or sambal paste
8oz (225g) cooked rice
6oz (175g) cooked salmon fillet, flaked
6oz (175g) smoked salmon, finely sliced
6oz (175g) peeled prawns, defrosted if frozen
120ml Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)
60ml dark soy sauce
4-6 hard boiled eggs, quartered
black pepper
Serves 4-6
Add the vegetable oil to a wok and heat gently. Add the onions, garlic and chilli powder and fry until lightly browned. Add the rice and cook for a few seconds then stir in the salmon and prawns.
Mix the kecap manis and soy sauce together, stir into the rice mixture, then season to taste with pepper.
Add the eggs, folding in gently, serve immediately, straight from the wok.
You can adjust the amounts of fish/seafood to your own personal taste – bearing in mind that you have two elements to replace from the original recipe – chicken and ham – 175g each plus 175g of prawns. You are adding hard boiled eggs and although these are a garnish they are definitely an integral part of the dish since the sauce is quite punchy and the fish quite salty so they play an important part in the balance.
Once again though, make it your own – adjust to suit yourself, if you want more prawns then adjust the amount of salmon accordingly. The great thing about this recipe is that it is a “leftovers” dish i.e. everything in it, apart from the onion, garlic and chilli and the sauce, is already cooked.
It's quite “kedgeree-esque” in that both contain fish and boiled eggs and both started life as breakfast dishes – now you have a choice – Asian or Indian!
On the other hand you may prefer noodles – hold that thought - here is Mie Goreng - the noodle version of the Nasi Goreng.
Mie Goreng
Serves 4-6
3 eggs
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely sliced
Drop of rapeseed or vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed or tsps of paste
2 carrots, finely sliced (you could use cooked leftovers)
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Pinch of ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 red chilli, seeded removed and finely diced
1 tsp sambal paste
250g medium egg noodles, cooked
30ml dark soy sauce
60ml kecap manis
100g beansprouts
350g cooked prawns, defrosted
100g chopped roasted peanuts to garnish (optional)
Beat the egg lightly with the 1 tbsp water. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan. Pour in the egg and cook until set underneath, flip it and repeat. Slide the omelette out of the pan on to a board, roll up into a cigar shape and slice into strips – set aside.
Heat a large wok or frying pan and add a drop of oil. Add the onion and stir fry for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger and carrots and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add a drop of water to prevent drying out.
Add the sambal paste, coriander and cumin and fry for 20/30 seconds – again you can add a drop of water if required. Add the cooked noodles, spring onions, beansprouts and prawns – turning until warmed through. Add the dark soy sauce and the kecap manis and repeat.
Serve straight from wok or spoon into individual bowls and garnish with the omelette strips and peanuts.
Serving suggestions
For a vegetarian version, substitute with 300g of shredded Chinese cabbage – aka bok choy or pak choi. Sweet baby peppers – red, yellow and orange – would work well too, de-seeded and finely sliced.
You could add sliced water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.
You could serve the Rendang Sauce with any of The Gorengs.
Anything goes – whatever leftover veggies or cooked chicken or meat – finely dice and make it your own!
Coming up … more ideas for the Economy Drive!
No comments:
Post a Comment