Legendary Dishes | Nasi Goreng (special fried rice)

BALI INDONESIA

One of the most iconic rice dishes on the planet, nasi goreng can be a simple bowl of fried rice with few ingredients or a cornucopia of flavours complimented by pieces of beef, chicken, prawns, squid and assorted vegetables among the rice. At its most basic it contains chillies, garlic, spring onions, seasonings and soy sauce, choice of fish and meat, plus omelette shreds, fried egg, cucumber pieces and tomatoes as a garnish. This is the all dancing, all singing version.

  • 500 g long grain rice, cooked
  • 300 g chicken breast, marinaded in 50 ml soy sauce and 150 ml water, cooked, chopped small
  • 250 g beef fillet, sliced thin
  • 200 g prawns, chopped into small pieces / small shrimp
  • 200 g squid body, blanched in hot water, sliced thin
  • 8 spring onions, sliced thin
  • 8 tbsp basa gede spice paste (below)
  • 120 g peas / green beans, cut small
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 50 g button mushrooms
  • 45 g butter / 45 ml vegetable oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed, chopped
  • 8 green chillies, sliced thin along length
  • 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp sweet soy sauce 
  • Salty soy sauce, splash
  • Green peppercorns, ground, pinch

Garnish

  • 4 tomatoes, quartered
  • 300 g shallots, sliced thin, fried to a crisp
  • 4 eggs, fried
  • 60 ml vegetable oil
  • 1 cucumber, sliced thick, quartered

Make an omelette with the egg seasoned with a pinch of green peppercorns, fold out onto a board or plate, roll up and cut into thin strips.

Fry spring onions and garlic in the butter or oil in a large wok. Add paste, fry for a few minutes, then add the mushrooms, chillies and peas. Lower heat.

Boil water, blanch the squid in the hot water, remove and leave to cool a little.

Fry beef in a separate small wok.

Cut squid into thin strips. Add a little oil to the beef wok, fry squid. Add to the large wok.

Fold the ingredients into each other, add rice. Cook until the rice is hot, add the shrimp. Stir in chilli sauce and oyster sauce. Add the beef and the chicken. Season with soy sauces.

Fold egg strips into the rice.

Serve, garnished with a fried egg per person, and with tomatoes and cucumbers.

Basa Gede BALI spice paste

Ideally the hard ingredients for this paste should be pounded with a pestle in a mortar until coarse, the shrimp paste and sugar added, and then loosened with the lime juice. This creates a thicker paste. This quantity is for a blended version, that can be stored for later use.

  • 240 g galangal root, chopped small
  • 180 g ginger root, chopped small
  • 150 g shallots, chopped small
  • 6 limes, juiced
  • 5 lemon grass stalks, chopped small
  • 125 g candle / cashew / macadamia / pecan nuts
  • 125 g garlic, chopped small
  • 125 g hot red chillies, chopped small
  • 125 g turmeric root, chopped small
  • 120 ml coconut oil / vegetable oil
  • 60 g palm sugar, pounded
  • 30 g green coriander stalks, chopped small
  • 30 g shrimp paste, pounded
  • 15 g black peppercorns
  • 15 g sesame seeds
  • 10 g nutmeg

Grind peppercorns, nutmeg and sesame seeds to the powder. Blend chillies, coriander, galangal, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, nuts, shallots and turmeric with the lime juice and 90 ml of oil. Add shrimp paste, sugar and ground spices, blend several times until smooth. Fry for three minutes in remaining oil. When cool store in sterlised jars.

INDIGENOUS INGREDIENTS = Chillies |Galangal | Green Coriander Leaves | Green Peppercorns | Lemon Grass | Palm Sugar | Prawns |Rice |  Shallots (red onions) | Shrimp Paste | Squid | Sweet Soy Sauce | Turmeric Root

LEGENDARY DISHES

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