Another common method of preprocessing the freshly cooked rice is to air them to enable the trapped moisture to escape and to further separates the grains to avoid lumping. This is usually done traditionally with "akeul" method of flipping the rice mass over and over again, until there's only a small amount of vapour visible. The rice then needs to be left cooling off for a while, until the temperature is much reduced. The result will be easy to separate grains with just enough moisture.
Afterward, heat the pan in medium heat, add the chopped shallot and garlic, fry the chicken and bakso, put in and the sliced chillies. Turn the heat into low, add the rice in small amount, pour the kecap manis, salt, and seasoning, mix them well, and then add another amount of the rice, and mix them well also. Unless you're making it in a small portion, this partial addition of rice helps to make sure that seasoning are mixed evenly, and no lumping formed. Test the rice for final adjust of the taste, turn the heat into high for the last touch, and flip the rice over again for few times to add the caramelized taste.
Sprinkle some fried shallots on top, serve it with sate ayam, kerupuk udang, and acar, and your Nasi Goreng Indonesia is ready, selamat makan!
Versatile dish Nasi Goreng is
Apart from the convention of common style accepted as Nasi Goreng Indonesia, fried rice in essence is a wonderful dish to cook and to eat, since it has the endless possibility of recipes and pairing combination. You can have it mixed with scrambled egg, or have it with sunny side up (runny is the best imho), or top it with sliced omelette, and it still tasted good. If you grow tired with the same sate ayam pairing, then fried chicken and other kind of meat protein would be a good pairing. In Aceh region, they even serves nasi goreng with selectable condiments; from the mandatory salted fish, fried chilly, and fried peanut, to the heavier choice of fried chicken, deep fried squid, shrimp, and fresh water eel. Sausage and beef jerky are also great. The idea of the pairing is; keep the condiments less complicated, because the taste of nasi goreng itself usually is already rich and complex.
The endless possibility and the variations a Nasi Goreng could have, is also the reason why I usually order this dish on a new restaurant I visited, to get a glimpse of the restaurant's quality. Can the chef make a simple dish great? You may make it Indonesian style with kecap manis and a bit of spiciness from the chillies, Each ones may have a different approach and it's all permissible.
On the other hand, if they failed on such a simple dish then I will have a big question mark in my head related to the taste and quality of other menu served at the restaurant. Well it's not always the case the about 90% of the time the Nasi Goreng trial will prove worthy.
How about you? Have you had any good Nasi Goreng Indonesia encounter recently? And how would you like it to be prepared, share with us! (byms)
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