NASI GORENG (Fried Rice - english)

Nasi goreng, literally meaning "fried rice" in Indonesian and Malay, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including fried rice accompanied with other items, or a more complicated fried rice, typically spiced with tamarind and chilli and including other ingredients, particularly egg and prawns. There is also a special nasi goreng which is made with ikan asin (salted dried fish) which is also popular across the country.
Nasi goreng is considered the national dish of Indonesia^[1] There are many Indonesian cuisines but few national dishes. Indonesia's national dish knows no social barriers. It can be enjoyed in its simplest manifestation from a tin plate at a roadside warung, or food stall; eaten on porcelain in fancy restaurants, or constructed at the ubiquitous buffet tables of Jakarta dinner parties.^[2]
Nasi goreng was part of the dinner menu for Barack Obama's state visit to Indonesia in 2010, where he praised the dish, along with bakso (meatball soup) and emping (melinjo crackers made from Gnetum gnemon), as delicious. ^[3]

Variations

There is no single recipe of nasi goreng, every fried rice dish with certain mixtures, additions, ingredients, and toppings could led to another recipe of nasi goreng. Usually in Indonesian household, the ingredients of nasi goreng to be prepared for daily breakfast in the morning could be the leftovers of yesterday meals preserved in the refrigerator, added with fresh vegetables and eggs. The basic ingredients of nasi goreng are rice left over from yesterday's meal and sliced or ground bumbu (spices) mixture of shallot, garlic, pepper, salt, tomato ketchup, sambal or chili sauce, and usually sweet soy sauce. Some variants may add saus tiram (oyster sauce), ang-ciu (chinese cooking red wine), or kecap inggris (Worcestershire sauce). The texture of leftover cooked rice is considered as the most suitable type of rice to be made nasi goreng than the newly cooked one, because the freshly cooked rice is too moist and too soft to be made nasi goreng.
Some of common nasi goreng recipes are:

• Nasi goreng ayam: the most common nasi goreng with chicken, spices and sweet soy sauce, the color is golden brown
• Nasi goreng istimewa: special nasi goreng, usually refer to nasi goreng ayam with addition of fried eggs topping
• Nasi goreng ati ampela: nasi goreng with chicken gizzard and liver
• Nasi goreng sapi: nasi goreng with beef
• Nasi goreng kambing: nasi goreng with goat meat
• Nasi goreng pete: nasi goreng with green stinky beans, the combo variation of nasi goreng kambing-pete is also popular
• Nasi goreng sea food: nasi goreng with seafood such as cuttlefish, prawns, shellfish and fish
• Nasi goreng ikan asin: nasi goreng with salted fish usually without sweet soy sauce, as the result the color is paler than regular nasi goreng
• Nasi goreng teri Medan: nasi goreng with salted anchovy, specialty of Medan, North Sumatra
• Nasi goreng Aceh: Aceh style spicy shrimp nasi goreng
• Nasi goreng Jawa Timur: East Javanese style of nasi goreng, similar with nasi goreng ayam, but sweet soy sauce is replaced with tomato and chili sauce, as the result the color is red instead of golden brown. The Makassar nasi goreng also red, similar to this one
• Nasi goreng amplop: nasi goreng "enveloped" in thin omelette
• Nasi goreng santri: means priest's nasi goreng, refer to a meatless vegetarian nasi goreng
• Nasi goreng sosis: nasi goreng with sausages
• Nasi goreng Hawaii or also called nasi goreng nanas: nasi goreng with pineapple
• Nasi goreng Hongkong: nasi goreng Hongkong style, more closely related to Chinese fried rice and similar to Japanese Chahan (Yakimeshi)

Condiments:

• Krupuk: various types of crackers, usually emping or prawn crackers
• Acar: pickles made from vinegar preserved cucumber, shallots, and small chilli pepper
• Sambal: somekind of traditional chilli sauce
• Slices of fresh vegetables: usually cucumber, tomato, lettuce and cabbage
• Fried eggs: fried eggs, omelette or shredded omelette could be served as nasi goreng topping

Ingredients

The main ingredients for the plain nasi goreng include pre-cooked rice, soy sauce, garlic, shallot and some spring onions for garnishing. Nasi goreng can be eaten at any time of day, and many Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans eat nasi goreng for breakfast, often using leftovers from the previous day's dinner. The rice used to make nasi goreng is cooked ahead of time and left to cool down (so it is not soggy), which is one reason to use rice cooked from the day before.

Restaurants

In restaurants, the dish is often served as a main meal accompanied by additional items such as a fried egg, fried chicken, satay, vegetables, and kerupuk (meaning crackers, also called "prawn crackers" and many other names). In many warungs (street stalls), when accompanied by a fried egg, it is sometimes called nasi goreng istimewa (special fried rice).^{[citation needed]}. Nasi goreng is usually sold together with bakmie (noodle with meatballs) goreng by the street vendor. They sell a simple nasi goreng with small amount of shredded fried chicken, scrambled egg (that is mixed with water), green vegetables, and served with pickled cucumber.