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| Nasi Goreng |
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| Bakmi goreng - this one was so close to my Grandmother's version! I was so happy! |
In light of the attacks this morning in Jakarta, I was going to write a depressing blog post about worrying about my family and friends in Jakarta but instead I've decided to dedicate this post to my memories of growing up in Jakarta as a child.
The smell of nasi goreng or bakmi goreng would waft all through the kitchen onto the dining table. I remember distinctly those aromatic smells coming from the kitchen whenever my grandmother cooked. She was the best! She made such good food that when she was alive I didn't really appreciate it fully because I was such a brat. (I only wanted to eat "restaurant" quality food) - hahaha a picky eater. I'm still a picky eater and being one today is much more tolerable because if food is crap then I won't eat. Therefore no wasted calories ;-)
I like to cook these days and its become quite the stress reliever to come home after a long day and clean veggies, chop onions and garlic, marinate meat, etc. Homemade food tastes really good and I eat less because my nose and sight has been satiated during the process of making it. Leftovers are fantastic for the next few days when I don't have time to cook.
I used to be terrible at cooking (weren't we all terrible at one point!?) and my father still jokes about my weird "nasi goreng" to this day. hehe...
Nasi Goreng is a national Indonesian dish that is usually served with condiments like acar (pickles), satay (chicken or beef skewers), kroepok (shrimp crackers), and a sunny side up egg on top with fried shallots.
When I cook, I don't like to measure things exactly especially if its a dish I've made and did so many trial-and-error experiments with ingredients and sauces. I cook things in accordance "to taste". (Probably why baking and making recipes that have to be exact drives me insane!)
My last semester at hospitality school, we had a class with a guest chef who was very animated and passionate about cooking. He used to work in airline catering for a long time as a consultant. He devised a very simple method of measuring out every ingredient when the head chefs would come in to create the recipes so that each recipe will spurn a dish that would taste exactly the same each time regardless of who was making it. Genius!
During this class, he asked two students to volunteer to be head chefs with a team for the kitchen brigade. I volunteered. I had to device a recipe and write it all out. Guess what I made?! Yep, Nasi Goreng.
This is my recipe.
| Used Net weight | Unit | Item |
| 162 | g | Sunflower Oil |
| 3 | pcs | Eggs (scrambled) |
| 408 | g | Shrimps |
| 566 | g | Onions (chopped & diced) |
| 466 | g | Carrots |
| 250 | g | Peas |
| 206 | g | Green Beans |
| 200 | g | Sambal |
| 165 | g | Sweet Soy sauce |
| 180 | g | Soy Sauce |
| 800 | g | Rice, cooked |
| 5 | pcs | Whole Eggs (sunny side up) |
| 86 | g | Fried Shallots |
| Preparation process | ||
| 1 | In a small mixing bowl, mix the eggs | |
| 2 | Put oil into the pan (72g) | |
| 3 | Add egg (scrambled). 1 min. | |
| 4 | Add chopped onions | |
| 5 | Add shrimps | |
| 6 | Stir fry everything for 5 min. | |
| 7 | Add oil (58g). Add chopped carrots (466g). Stir fry for 3 min. | |
| 8 | Add peas (250g). Stir fry 2 min. | |
| 9 | Add green beans (206g). Stir fry 2 min. | |
| 10 | Add sambal (100g). Mix well. 30 sec. | |
| 11 | Add sweet soy sauce (165 g) Mix well. 30 sec. | |
| 12 | Add sambal (100g). Mix well. 30 sec. | |
| 13 | Add soy sauce (180g) Mix well. 2 min. | |
| 14 | Add rice (800 g). Mix well. 6 min. | |
| 15 | In a separate pan, fry sunny side up eggs. | |
| 16 | Plate rice. Topped with Sunny side up egg. | |
| 17 | Garnish with Fried Shallots | |
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| My knife set :-) |
