Nasi Goreng. Delicious, savoury and tangy fried rice with a crispy fried egg on top. A delicious main dish ready in 30 minutes!
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What is Nasi Goreng?
Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian fried rice stir fried with sweet soy sauce, tamarind concentrate, tomato paste, fish sauce, sugar and sesame oil with protein and aromatics. It's served with a crispy fried egg, crispy shallots, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with sambal oelek (a garlic chili sauce).
Nasi Goreng is popular staple food in South East Asia. I love making this dish as it brings me back to my travels to that region. A great weeknight meal for the whole family to enjoy as it comes together fairly quickly.
Ingredients
Please scroll down to recipe card for full measurements.
- Neutral oil: like vegetable oil, avocado oil or any scentless oil with a high smoke point.
- Shallots
- Spam or ham: Or substitute with sliced chicken thighs, ground pork or beef.
- Cooked jasmine rice: I recommend using day old jasmine rice or long-grain rice. Leftover rice is the key to making fluffy fried rice.
- Garlic
- Eggs
Stir Fry Sauce
- Sesame oil
- Brown sugar, cane sugar, or palm sugar
- Dark soy sauce: this is dark in color and thicker in viscosity but not sweet.
- Sweet soy sauce aka Kecap manis: an Indonesian sweet soy sauce that is thick, sweet and dark in color. Or replace with the same amount of dark soy sauce and mixing in 2 tablespoon of brown sugar.
- Fish sauce: this will give our fried rice umami flavors.
- Tomato paste
- Tamarind pulp mixed with hot water: The tamarind pulp offers a sweet tartness to the fried rice.
Optional Toppings
- Fresh Cucumber slices
- Tomato wedges
- Red chilli
- Green onions or spring onions
- Lime juice
- Peanuts
- Optional: for added spice, add chili sauce such as sambal oelek. I share a recipe for Sambal Oelek here.
Note: Your Asian grocery store will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
How to make Nasi Goreng
Create Tamarind Concentrate
In a small bowl, mix tamarind paste and 2 tablespoon hot boiling water. Mash the paste up until it becomes a thick liquid. Remove and discard the pulp by running it through a fine sieve reserving the concentrate you created. Mix this into the stir fry sauce.
Prepare Stir Fry Sauce
In another small bowl, combine stir-fry sauce ingredients as listed and add the tamarind concentrate. Set aside.
Make Crispy Shallots
To make the crispy shallots: In a hot wok or large pan on low-medium heat, add only 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Heat oil and then toss in one sliced shallot. Fry until they become browned and crispy on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a small bowl leaving the remaining oil in the pan.
Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a small bowl leaving the remaining oil in the pan.
Stir Fry Aromatics & Spam
Raise heat to medium high heat and add in the remaining shallot, spam and garlic. Stir fry for about 3 minutes until spam is slightly browned.
Toss in Rice
Add in day-old cooked rice and break apart. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes until it begins to steam.
Add Sauce
Pour in sauce and stir fry together. Once rice is thoroughly covered in sauce, immediately remove and transfer to a serving plate. Do not overcook. Keep warm by covering it.
Fry Crispy Egg
Clean wok or pan. On medium-high heat, add remaining vegetable oil. Crack first egg into a bowl and slide the egg into the hot oil to shallow fry until you get crispy edges. The egg yolk should be runny. Repeat this process for remaining eggs. Transfer over fried rice.
Serve & Garnish
Serve fried rice with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, red chili, green onion, fried shallots and limes. Enjoy!
Storage & Reheating
This dish will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or reheat on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat until hot.
Expert Tips
- Use day old cold rice to avoid mushy fried rice.
- Use fresh vegetables for the toppings.
- Prepare all your ingredients in advance.
- Once the rice is combined with the sauce, remove off heat to prevent sticky fried rice.
- Fry the egg in a clean pan. This prevents the fried egg from sticking to any leftover rice that may be stuck to the pan.
Other fried rice recipes you may like!
- Kimchi Sausage Fried Rice
- Thai Spicy Basil Fried Rice
- Shrimp Fried Rice
- Chinese Chicken Fried Rice
- Tomato Egg Fried Rice
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Nasi Goreng
Ingredients
Fried Rice
- 500 grams cooked jasmine rice day old
- 170 grams spam diced (or sub with ham, sliced chicken, ground beef or pork)
- 3 eggs
- 1 shallot finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3-5 tablespoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil
Stir Fry Sauce:
- 2 tablespoon Kecap Manis (If you don't have this ingredient, substitute with 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce with 2 tablespoon brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar or cane sugar/palm sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce or shrimp paste
- 11 grams tamarind pulp
Toppings:
- 1 shallot thinly sliced
- 1 cucumber sliced
- 2 tomatoes sliced into wedges
- 1 red chili pepper sliced
- 2 green onions finely sliced
- 1 lime sliced into quarters
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix tamarind paste and 2 tablespoon hot boiling water. Mash the paste up until it becomes a thick liquid. Remove and discard the pulp by running it through a fine sieve reserving the concentrate you created.
- In another small bowl, combine stir-fry sauce ingredients as listed and add the tamarind concentrate. Set aside.
- To make the crispy shallots: In a hot wok or large pan on low-medium heat, add only 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Heat oil and then toss in one sliced shallot. Fry until they become browned and crispy on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a small bowl leaving the remaining oil in the pan.
- Raise heat to medium high heat and add in the remaining shallot, spam and garlic. Stir fry for about 3 minutes until spam is slightly browned.
- Add in day-old cooked rice and break apart. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes until it begins to steam.
- Pour in sauce and give it a good stir fry. Once rice is thoroughly covered in sauce, immediately remove and transfer to a serving plate. Do not overcook. Keep warm by covering it.
- Clean wok or pan. On medium-high heat, add remaining vegetable oil. Crack first egg into a bowl and slide the egg into the hot oil to shallow fry until you get crispy edges. The egg yolk should be runny. Repeat this process for remaining eggs. Transfer over fried rice.
- Serve fried rice with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, red chili, green onion, crispy shallots and limes. Enjoy!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
That beautiful fried egg on top and those fresh veggies make this dish so irresistible... and that was such a smart tip to use day old cold rice!
Michelle | Sift & Simmer
Mmm spam makes everything taste better! Looks delish Christie!