NASI GORENG (18 june 2004)
A dish that is eaten by many Dutch families is nasi goreng, which is Indonesian for fried rice. But the dish is often just called nasi -- although this means nothing but rice.
The average Dutch nasi often looks like this:
typically 'Dutch' nasi
Well-made nasi can do without most of the additions you see in the picture. Ingredients like pickled gherkins, ham or peanut sauce are as alien to nasi goreng as a banana would be to macaroni.
The basic ingredients of a simple nasi (for four people) are:
- 600 g rice
- 1 onion the size of a tennis ball
- 250-500 g pork
- trassi (Indonesian shrimp paste)
- salt
The rice
The rice is a critical ingredient. Soft and fluffy grains, like in parboiled pandang rice, may be pleasant with Thai food, but are unsuitable for nasi. The grains of the cooked rice should still be firm. A good sort is Surinam rice, which is best cooked in a so-called steamer.
steamer
A steamer is a cooking-pot in which water is boiled. In the top of this pan, a kind of strainer is suspended.
If you use a steamer, you should first cook the rice for eight or ten minutes in boiling water. Then the boiled rice is transferred to the strainer-part of the steamer. The rice is then steamed for 20 - 30 minutes. Don't forget to loosen the rice from time to time with a spoon so that the steam can get all around the grains.
When the rice is cooked, it should be left to cool.
The pork
Pork is often streaked with fat. It's a good idea to cut some of this fat off. But don't throw it away. You can melt the fat (lard) out for twenty minutes. The molten fat is quite tasty and can be used for frying. If the pork is very fat, you can throw some of the liquid fat away (or keep it for another dish).
There seem to be people who eat what is left after the fat has melted out, but I throw it away. It reminds me too much of congealed snot.
The preparation
Cut the pork into very small pieces, mix with some salt and fry in the molten fat (or in oil if you don't like the taste of lard) for about twenty minutes in a big teflon-coated pan. If you want to do it in the authentic way, you can use a wadjan. A wadjan looks like a Chinese wok, but is usually made of thicker material.
wok
Cut the onion into small pieces. If necessary, drain excessive oil from the pork and add the cut onion to the mixture of fried pork and molten fat. Fry until the onion turns golden brown. At the end, allow the trassi to fry with this for a minute or so.
Add the cold rice and fry for about 5 minutes, while you keep turning it with a spatula or big spoon. Here you can mix in salt, sambal (pepper paste) and kecap (ketjap, sweet Indonesian soy sauce) to taste.
nasi
Many people like to eat pickles with fried rice. Sometimes sweet-and-sour gherkins are used. Although gherkins are easy (you can buy them in a jar), I prefer a simple cucumber salad.
Cucumber salad
Peel a cucumber, cut it over the length in half and cut it in thin slices (about three mm thick). Mix with a teaspoon of salt and leave for ten minutes. Add four tablespoons of colourless vinegar and mix. Then drain as much liquid as possible.
Add a little sambal, three or four tablespoons of sugar and no more than half a teaspoon of Thai fish sauce. Mix well.
