I grew up with this rice and I liked it, but I honestly pined for the lighter Cantonese version of fried rice. “Hey Pops, why’s your nasi goreng deep in colour and funk? I want the one like at the Chinese takeaway!”
“You serious, young Snacc Boss? This is NASI GORENG from the village,” my dad would say. “Now sit up and pierce that egg yolk with your fork and give it a hit of chilli or ketchup if you want.” Ahh, my childhood. Smiley face.
A lot of nasi goreng recipes call for day-old rice, which does work well. I use cooled rice for two reasons.
First, I prefer my rice not dried-out or stale, which often happens in the fridge.
Second, nasi goreng is not an afterthought; I’m not just using left-over rice. I want to blast it pretty much straight from the pan when I’m hungry. So I like to dry out the exterior of the rice, while keeping the inside tender. It’ll still be a bit sticky and that’s cool – you just don’t want it too wet.
*Raph Rashid owns Melbourne’s Taco Truck a
