Nasi Goreng

Literally meaning fried rice in Indonesian and Malay, this is a popular meal all over the world. There are hundreds of recipes; this one is quick and easy
Ingredients - Serves 4
  • 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
  • 3 medium-sized (or 450 g) carrots, chopped
  • 1 green capsicum (bell pepper), deseeded and chopped
  • 1½ cups uncooked long-grain rice
  • 4 eggs, optional
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 3-4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 1 small cucumber, sliced, optional
  • 1 small tomato, sliced, optional
  • For the chilli paste
  • 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 3-4 cloves (or 8-10 g) of garlic
  • 1" piece (8-10 g) of ginger
  • 4-5 fresh red chillies or 3-4 dried red chillies, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes or 2½-3 tbsp red chilli flakes
Steps
  1. Cook the rice separately
    2. An {electric rice cooker} can be useful
  2. Spread out on a large tray and leave it to cool
  3. Grind all ingredients for the chilli paste together with about 2 tbsp of water, if needed, and set aside
    4. Use a {mortar and pestle} if you are making small quantities. Otherwise, use a {spice mill}, {Indian mixie grinder} or {magic bullet} or something similar. Regular blenders are too large, so they will just toss the contents around instead of grinding them
  4. Heat oil in a large wok. Fry the spring onions, carrots and capsicum on high heat for 3 minutes
  5. Add the tomato puree, soy sauce and chilli paste and mix well
  6. Push everything to a side, and break the eggs into the wok and fry while scrambling them. Skip this step if not using eggs
  7. Once done, add the rice and mix well. There is no salt added to this dish because we rely on the soy sauce to provide the salt. So adjust soy sauce if you need to
  8. Serve hot with fresh tomato and cucumber slices
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