Nasi goreng and Bakmi goreng recipe

Nasi Goreng

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

You can also substitute rice with egg noodles to make Bakmi Goreng

My knife set :-)