Nasi Goreng and Sambal Goreng Telur

One of the main reasons I miss my previous house was the proximity to some really good restaurants. My current town has many restaurants but for some reason, most are Italian. While I do enjoy Italian, I would have liked a bit of variety. A Chinese take-out near my house totally sucks. I mean, how could it be when they mess up a basic fried rice, right? But thankfully, discovered another a little further away that has great grub. No Indian restaurants at all, which I really miss. Of course since I'm in NJ, about a half hour away are some desi joints but I've been spoilt by my previous house, I think :)

I love all of the Oriental cuisines. And dishes that blend heat, sourness and sweetness seamlessly are impossible to resist! Here are recipes for two of my favorite quick-fix dishes. In this version, I have toned down the heat of red chilies and sambal for Little M. Both dishes were delicious by themselves and make a wonderful combi together.

The first recipe is for plain nasi goreng, which is sans any protein or veggies and is adapted from here.



Ingredients:

3 red chilies
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp kecap manis/sweet soy sauce (I substituted with a mixture of organic molasses and soy sauce, following a tip from here)
1/2 tsp palm sugar
2 tbsp oil
3 cups cooked rice

Pound red chilies, garlic and onion into a coarse paste. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the ground paste. Add the cooked rice. Stir in the two soy sauces, sugar. There was enough sodium between the two soy sauces that I did not need to add any more salt to the rice.

Pretty simple, right? Works great with leftover rice.

Sambal Goreng Telur or Egg Sambal is adapted from here.



Ingredients:

2 eggs, hard boiled
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp each roasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp roasted coriander powder
1 tsp sambal ulek (store bought)
1/2 tsp palm sugar
1/5 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Heat oil. Fry garlic and onion for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomato, salt and fry until soft. Add the powders, sambal paste, tamarind paste, palm sugar and saute for a few mintes. Stir in coconut milk and bring to a boil. Halve the boiled eggs. Pour some sauce on top and serve. Some recipes I looked at involved frying the boiled egg in a little oil but I skipped that.

And as usual, I could not resist clicking some pictures next to a sun streaming window, to get some nice play of light and shadow. So, here's another look at the egg sambal.