Fried Rice / Nasi Goreng

Grocery shopping and cooking for one is hard and I'm realizing that it can be as expensive as eating out (which I have been doing a lot) because of the amount of waste that it produces. Greens and fresh herbs don't last long enough to be used for the next dish (or only very little survive). It's really tricky if you have a busy schedule. I bought a whole bunch of groceries that are just sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks now. My bank account was thinning and I still had leftover rempah from when I made laksa almost a month ago. I was surprised that the rempah was still good, so I made the same laksa broth and just added Thai eggplants that I bought a couple of weeks ago thinking I have time to make jungle curry. I also added grated coconut which I also bought a couple of weeks ago thinking I have time to make rendang. I ate it with jasmine rice for lunch and I didn't really like it...partly because I had to wait a few hours to eat it and the rice just absorbed all the sauce, but also the sauce is just not good with rice.

I had some leftover shrimp in the freezer and bought a whole sword squid from Mitsuwa a couple of days ago. I have a bunch of green onions wilting away in the fridge. So I decided to make fried rice, Indonesian-style before everything goes to waste. That being said, I don't mean to reduce fried rice as a leftovers dish because it's definitely an elegant dish. It's also a very comforting dish. I would eat garlic fried rice (called sinangag in Tagalog) with fried egg almost every morning even to this day. There's also plenty of family dinners where we would eat Chinese-style fried rice and fried squid, Chinese-style pork chops, roast chicken, etc... And I love kimchi bokkeumbap!

I learned Indonesian fried rice (nasi goreng) in culinary school and the most important ingredient in this dish is kecap manis. This sweet, syrupy dark soy sauce is ubiquitous in Indonesian kitchens. If you can't find this ingredient, do not substitute regular soy sauce, just omit it from the recipe.

12 pieces tiger shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 whole squid, cut into batons
5 cups cooked jasmine rice, preferably a day old
1 large shallot, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp shrimp paste
1/4 cup kecap manis
1/4 cup green onions, sliced into rings
2 eggs, beaten
cilantro, roughly chopped
fish sauce, to taste
coconut oil

optional toppings:
sliced cucumber, sliced tomatoes, limes, shrimp chips

Heat coconut oil on high in a large saute pan or wok. Cook shrimp until it starts to turn pink, remove from the pan and set aside. Add in squid and cook until semi-translucent, about 30 seconds, remove from the pan and set aside. Saute garlic, shallots, and shrimp paste until garlic starts to caramelize. Add in rice and stir continuously until grains separate. Drizzle in the sweet soy sauce, then stir fry until rice is coated with the sauce. Push rice to the side of the pan to make room. Drizzle a little oil in the empty area and pour in the eggs, stir until it starts to solidify then slow stir in the rice into it. Keep stir frying until moisture evaporates and rice is relatively dry (a little bit of toasted crunchiness at the bottom of the pan is highly recommended). Add back in the shrimp and squid, then add in the green onions. Drizzle fish sauce to taste and stir fry until shrimp is completely cooked. Sprinkle cilantro and mix. Serve with cucumber slices, tomatoes, lime wedge and shrimp chips on the side.