Nasi Goreng - Indonesian Fried Rice

Wow! Nasi Goreng is such a fresh and healthy tasting dish, and aside from a couple key ingredients you can make it with almost anything in your fridge plus it's super simple to make!

I didn't know much about Indonesian food until recently when I learned how to make Gado Gado, but James, having lived in Amsterdam (where Indonesian food is popular) for several years , was quite familiar with it and was looking forward to incorporating more of them into our meal planning.

What is Nasi Goreng?

Nasi Goreng is a really warming and comforting dish - I just love the aromatics of the cumin, turmeric and ginger that fill the house while you are cooking it. The name translates to 'fried rice' and the basics for the dish are simply leftover rice, the traditional spices, and egg or some other protein and vegetables.

What is different about our version of Nasi Goreng?

Just like every other dish we produce, we wanted it to include a healthier balance of vegetables than you would normally find in other recipes for Nasi Goreng, so we loaded it up with pretty much everything we had a bit of in the fridge and the result was AMAZING! I would highly suggest you try this if you often end up with bits and pieces of vegetables leftover and have no idea how to use them up.

The list of ingredients may seem long, but you can honestly use any vegetables you want, and as for the flavouring ingredients, these are items we normal have stocked in our pantry. We realized that when we wanted to eat healthier (but not compromise on flavour), we were going to need to rely on fresh herbs and spices in our pantry so our weekly shopping staples include things like limes, cilantro, ginger, and also fresh vegetables that we routinely throw in meals such a spinach, kale, green onions, sprouts, and cabbages.

We like our food spicy, so there is a fair amount of sambal oelek in this recipe, but if you prefer things on the milder side, feel free to reduce that amount to something more comfortable for you, and keep in mind that the fresh ginger also adds some 'spice' to the dish.

Inredients for Nasi Goreng:

• cooked rice
• sesame oil
• fresh ginger
• garlic
• turmeric
• cumin
• sambal oolek
• ketjap manis
• onion
• carrot
• celery
• red cabbage
• spinach
• mushrooms
• bean sprouts
• eggs
• peanuts
• lime
• cilantro

Equipment

• wok
• frying pan

How to Make Nasi Goreng

1. Add the sesame oil to your wok and heat over medium high heat. Add the diced onion, ginger, turmeric and cumin and cook while stirring for about 5 minutes, or until the onions become translucent. Add the crushed garlic to the wok and cook for another minute.
2. Add the cooked rice to the wok, and mix the cooked onion into it. If the rice has just come from the fridge, you may need to use a spatula to break it up a bit so that the rice and onion can mix together. Add the ketjap manis, sambal Oelek and soy sauce to the wok and mix thoroughly to evenly distribute the seasonings amongst the rice.
3. Add the vegetables (except the spinach) to the dish and stir fry while mixing the rice and vegetables to combine for about 3 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened a bit. Once the vegetables have softened, add the spinach. You don't want to over cook it, just wilt it as you fold it in to the rice mixture.
4. Using a non stick frying pan, cook your eggs to your desired level of doneness. We really like our eggs over easy as we really love how mixing the egg yolk into the dish adds a nice creamy finish to it.
5. Divide the fried rice amongst 4 bowls, and top with an egg and peanuts. Garnish with a generous helping of cilantro and a slice of lime - a quick squeeze of lime juice on the dish before eating a nice zest to the dish and really helps to highlight all the flavours.

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