Friday, August 15, 2008

Nasi Goreng Merah Putih: Red (Spicy Shrimp) & White (Chicken) Fried Rice


Thanks to Dhi, Fitri and Dwi's Red and White food blog event, I learnt that I am not the only Indonesian living outside Indonesia with growing sense of nationalism. There are many out there who knew exactly how I felt.

I knew I had to participate in the event, and this dish I am presenting, is everything about cheesy, corny, sappy, and nostalgic me.

When I was young, I don't grow up eating my mom's cooking. She works hard and never had any time to cook (play a sappy music here). But, waitaminute! That was hardly a sad thing as there were plenty of food to eat (ordered in, take away, deliveries, etc hehe - change music to Indonesian dang dut here please). There's a place where we often order from, it is a small restaurant tucked in a corner at the end of my street, the name is Tjandra. Regulars like us know how to order beyond their famous chicken noodle dish :p. My personal favorite were their super tasty red fried rice and white fried rice. The red fried rice is typical Indonesian and the white fried rice is adapted from Chinese fried rice. No other place did fried rice like this one.

Another trip down the memory lane, I recall my primary 6 days...when I had my home economics final exam. Girls had to cook and boys had to do something technical (last time we girls swore "lucky them". All they did was connect a few cables and we had to do all the sweating, chopping, and sauteeing!). We were clueless, our mom and aunties and nannies worked hard preparing all the ingredients, all we had to do was throwing everything into a wok, and yet so many of us still managed dramatic failures, ranging from throwing a plate into flaming fire to burning our rice LOL. I am amazed our school building survived that final exam LOL. Guess what was the dish I first learnt how to cook, my final exam piece? (If the answer isn't fried rice, then it is a very twisted story build up lol) Yes, it was fried rice. Gloriously red and spicy fried rice, with all its classic and corny embellishment such as lettuce and sliced tomatoes base. Our male classmates tried our cooking and most of them ended up spitting stuff into the bins HAHAHA!

So, I've decided to recreate this dish for the event, as nothing represents everything about me and my life back in Indonesia more than this dish.

Nasi Goreng Merah Putih
Red (Spicy Shrimp) and White (Chicken) Fried Rice


Recipe
Red (Spicy Shrimp) Fried Rice
- 1 cup of rice, cooked one day ahead, refrigerated over night
- 1 pack of shrimps, deshelled, deveined
- 1 egg
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 4 cloves of shallot, chopped
- 4 red chilli (remove the core and seeds if you do not want it spicy, adjust the amount of chilli according to your taste)
- lime juice
- 1 tbsp shrimp paste
- salt, sugar, pepper, sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), soy sauce, ketchup, sambal ABC
- oil

Marinate shrimps in salt, pepper and lime juice. In food processor, grind garlic, shallot, chilli, shrimp paste, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, pepper and some oil (if you don't have a food processor, just like me, do it manually or just slice the ingredients as finely as you can). Saute shrimps in hot oil until just pink, set aside. Saute spice mixture in a bit of oil, add rice, add seasoning and sauces, ketchup and kecap manis being the most dominant, add shrimps, add eggs, set aside.

White (Chicken) Fried Rice
- 1 cup of rice, cooked one day ahead, refrigerated over night
- 1 egg
- 1/2 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast meat, whack them with a wooden stick to tenderize, cut into cubes
- 3 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- chicken stock powder (optional), salt, pepper, sugar

Marinate chicken breast meat with salt, pepper and sugar. Saute shallots, add chicken pieces until a bit browned, add rice, season well, add egg, serve

Cheesy and Corny Assembly
Normal days, you don't even have to make both red and white :p and you can serve it in bowls or plates or even scoop the rice off the wok, or heck! Bring the wok and rest it on your lap in front of your TV ala me.

But for this event, I wanna go cheesy and corny. Lay lettuce leaves on a long plate, arrange slices of fresh tomatoes on top, just like how I did when I was 12 LOL! Scoop red fried rice into a bowl, make it dense enough to hold the shape, fill until half full, then fill the cup with white fried rice. I was going for the inverted cone shape (tumpeng), which is associated with celebrations in Indonesia, but I don't have anything in cone shape or even a martini glass, so I went for dome shape instead, with a shrimp on top hehe..and fried rice calls for shrimp crackers, so I slapped that on too!

PS. I wanted to record myself singing either Indonesia's national anthem or the Independence Day song...but I worry it might only be a disgrace for my home country hehe

Happy Independence Day, Indonesia! MERDEKA!

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

masih mending kalo harus motong2, masak, nyuci2...coba di sekolah gue harus menjahit! minta ampun, gue udah nangis2 terus tiap kali ada kelas :D

nasi gorengnya & udangnya asyik Rit!

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

Thanks for the story. It is wonderful hearing from others about their childhoods in different countries.

I love the red and white fried rice! What a great presentation!

Lidia Sianturi said...

kayak burung merak ya Rit jadinya..great idea!
so proud of you..maminya ga pernah masak, tp dirimu pinter masak...bravo!

Anonymous said...

What a great story and hilarious I might add. Thanks for the rice recipes I always need a good one!

Cakelaw said...

This looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Of course you will pass your course with such yummy presentation! And I will not spit your rice out... :)

Anonymous said...

Samaaaaa... taro nasi cantik2 di piring cuma kalo mau foto, kalo buat makan sendiri mah langsung dari wajan ya Rit :D hehehe....

Btw, foto yang disubmit yang pertama kaaaan?

sefa firdaus said...

idenya keren Rit.. apalagi ada cerita dibalik nasi goreng, jadi tambah keren ;)

samaan kok kita, aku makanan dibikin cantik krn utk difoto aja, kalo buat makan mah, langsung sendok :))

Little Corner of Mine said...

Wow girl, you are too creative! Love your presentation! And Happy merderka to Indonesia, Malaysia is coming next!

Anonymous said...

MERDEKA....!!!!!
nasi gorenge ketok nyumi.. wingi bar gæ nasgor terasi requeste pakne cah-2...tak ks lombok 3 gede-2 dadi abang ;)

nasgor mah hayuuuukkk aja..sapa sih yg ga duyan nasgor ?

For breakfast, dinner, supper.. mah OK... kelingan jam kost wengi-2 golek nasgor nek ngarep Sriratu Peterongan :)
Kangen nasgor babat gongso :((
Rit kapan koe balik SMG ? aku suk 16 Okt - 14 Nov, nek bareng ketemuan yuuuks...*twink*

Happee Monkee said...

That nasi goreng looks so fabulous! It's out of this world!
Btw, I've left an award for you. Have a look on Twenty Something & Cooking. :)

FunkeeDeeva said...

lol, i was laughing away when you mentioned to change the music to dangdut. i actually did imagined that ha ha

aduh sedap your nasi goreng
indonesian food is always delicious and tasty

-azi, kuala lumpur-

tigerfish said...

Looks so delicious! Love your presentation too.

Dragon said...

I love hearing about how people find comfort in the foods of their childhoods. This is a wonderful entry.

Dwiana P said...

wuah Ibu Rita nasi gorengnya menggugah selera berapa bu sepiring?? weleh asli jadi pengen euy.

thanks Rit buat entry nya. Merdeka!

CECIL said...

I just replied to your comment in my blog. Lemme tell ya, YOU ARE ONE INCREDIBLY FAST girl! Haha. I just posted it for 2 seconds (seriously), saw how long the post was and thought better of it (like, what was I thinking talking about those upacara bendera stuff?!) - edit it, re-post it. And saw you already put a comment on original post! Thank you so very much, but holycow you are quick! Haha.

Anyway, I tried to think of something for Red&White theme but just couldn't come up with one. Geez, shame on me! :) Good job, Rit!

(mental note to self: next time, read and reread an entry before posting it)

SIG said...

That's a lovely story. Happy Independence Day, Indonesia!

Manggy said...

Merdeka! :) I love the two-toned effect Rita!

Anonymous said...

full marks for presentation ... this is the most gorgeous fried rice I've seen... can I order one plate please?

daphne said...

great story mocha. I love the colours and the shrimp ideas!

Chibog in Chief said...

happy independence day!! and what a great way to celebrate this day but with a dish of nasi goreng!! this is definitely my fave indonesian dish!!

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow looks tempting.

Elsye said...

langsung ngilerrr aku liatnya...udah lama ga bikin nasgor yang lebih variatif , sengkkiiyuuuu ritaaaa

Jin Hooi said...

haha, we have the same course back in Malaysia.. I cooked cha kuey teow .. and ...hehehe.. same as yours.. ended up in the bins ..kekeke..

Deborah said...

I loved the stories that went along with this!! I'm not very familiar with Indonesian food, but this sure does sound delicious!

Wibowo Kosasih said...

Nationalitic Yummy ... Especially emping yang diatas itu ...

Aimée said...

Great post! It's been many years since I backpacked in Indonesia, but I can still remember the nasi goreng and how incredible it was. You sure did it justice here!

Sharon said...

Looks delicious! I sincerely miss Indonesian food. I suppose I'll just have to make it myself now :)

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

I love chicken fried rice! Excellent recipe and I must say the presentation is outstanding! You really made that? That's restaurant quality!

Jessy and her dog Winnie said...

That looks great! Awesome presentation!

Foni said...

gile rit..menggugah gue tu nasgor.
kyk direstoran rapi bener..
bayangin pedesnya terasi, kerupuk..nyam2222

Mama Mia said...

When I went to Bali I ate Nasi Goreng everyday! I love this stuff!

Unknown said...

hi everyone, thanks for stopping by! ^_^ glad you like my two toned fried rice ;)

liz, gua juga musti jahit..tapi itu SMA hehehe, rok jahitan gua selalu penyookkk

dhi & sefa, makan dari wajan yoook hiukkk

fd, let's dangdut! yeah!

dwi, sepiring buat dikau seh gratisss

jinhooi, wow, so cooking lesson is global eh?

i am glad to find out how internationally well known indonesian fried rice is! :)

INDONESIA MERDEKA!

Indonesia Eats said...

I almsot made red and white nasi goreng for this event...would you mind sharing with me? I would be gladly to come over :D

food makes me happy said...

Haha that shapes of the fried rice are so cute!

Oggi said...

I enjoyed reading your HomeEc cooking episode as well as the yummy Nasi Goreng.:)