Nasi goreng is the Malay and Indonesian word for “fried rice”. If you believe Wikipedia, it's the national dish of Indonesia. I see it more as a way of using up left-over rice. Both Malaysia and Indonesia have much more glamorous dishes that could contend for the title of national dish.

Nasi goreng looks different every time. Here some of mine:

“Nasi” means (cooked) rice. The first step in preparing nasi goreng is to cook (boil) the rice and let it cool. This happens naturally when rice is left over from another meal.

The Wikipedia page is strongly biased in favour of Indonesian variants, but I only know it from Malay states (later Malaysia). Since it's intended to use up left-overs, it's very varied in composition. About the only things that are typical are soya sauce (often dark) and raw egg. This recipe isn't even very typical; it's just my slant on it.

Ingredients

I haven't given quantities because it's not that kind of dish. The balance should be obvious. Vary the ingredients depending on what you have at hand.

Preparation

All ingredients except rice and egg should be finely chopped before starting.

1. Cook the rice if necessary. In principle there should be some left over.
2. Finely chop the onion or spring onion and fry lightly in oil, then add chopped or crushed garlic. Don't let it brown.
3. Add raw fish, bacon or meat and cook.
4. Add vegetables, prawns and squid. Don't overcook the prawns and squid or they'll become tough.
5. When everything is cooked, add the rice and soya sauce and stir well.
6. Add raw eggs and stir into the rice. Some people leave the eggs to congeal in relatively large lumps, but I prefer to stir the mixture until the eggs are no longer immediately obvious.
7. Sprinkle with sesame oil and coriander leaf and serve.

Nasi goreng for breakfast

Work in progress

Since August 2016 I've been considering nasi goreng for breakfast. Here the idea is very different: thaw out some pre-prepared frozen ingredients and put them together as quickly as possible. Here's my current state of play. Create a mixture like this, which should be good for about 4 portions:

Fry onions until fragrant, add ginger and garlic and fry until warm. Add chicken, fry, add capsicum, fry. Add peas, don't fry.

Take about ¼ of this mixture and add crumbled cooked rice, about 150 g. Fry with soya sauce, add a raw egg and fry until the egg is cooked. Serve.

This needs improvement: it's boring. Sesame oil? Prawns?