My father loved nasi goreng. In Australia, we eat a lot of fusion food - Greek, Italian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Chinese - all with an Aussie twist, where we use our fresh ingredients to make it our own. Vietnamese rice paper rolls, chicken parmigiana at the pub, dim sims - some of these get so 'aussie' they're no longer recognisable by the culture they're adopted from.

Nasi goreng is one most of us are familiar with, as most of us have been to Bali or at least know it from the Telstra Ad. Put out by Telstra in 2005, it features a boy asking why the Great Wall of China was built, to which the father replies 'to keep the rabbits out.'. Later, the boy says it's built by the Emperor Nasi Goreng, repeating his father's lack of knowledge. Most of us can quote this ad. It's brilliant.

It's quite literally fried rice, served with an egg on top - simple and adaptable. We ate it a lot in Bali with my grandson this year on a family holiday. You can't beat a $2 fried rice.

You can't beat fried rice with family - my Mum making it for my Dad when he was dying, because he loved it, and my brother in law asking us over for dinner: 'it's only nasi goreng, but can you bring a bottle of wine?'.

Now of course you can make traditional nasi goreng with terasi (a type of shrimp paste condiment) and kecap manis (a sweet soy sauce) and you can have it with or without egg, or with chicken or tofu or tempeh, but my son and I have been experimenting with our favourite nasi goreng. A lot. Since Bali I've gone through a whole bottle of kecap manis and have eaten nasi goreng twice a week.

We've been texting back and forth about adaptations and tweaks. We both agree fish sauce is a good enough substitute for terasi, though he's using terasi as he's making a paste of onion, spring onions, garlic and ginger. Both of us love ginger in ours, though it's not common in Bali that we know of. We also like lime juice. We both agree that a little soy or tamari is nice as well, but shouldn't dominate the rice. If we use kecap manis alone, we agree, it's too sweet.

We both agree that day old rice isn't necessary at all. I swear by brown rice or black rice because of the flavour, but it's more traditional to use white. If you're interested, read this article on how to cook the perfect nasi goreng here, which we both read, and made us realise that there perhaps isn't a right way to cook it, but many ways.

We both love the egg on top. I like mine hard, he likes his runny. It's an extra bit of protein. I often cook tofu with mine, crumbling it and frying it with a splash of tamari or soy first and stirring it into mine at the end, because my husband doesn't like tofu. I often omit the garlic for this reason. We use vegetables according to what we have in the fridge.

So here's my recipe for nasi goreng.

What's yours?

River's Nasi Goreng

1 cup of cooked rice per person
1 - 2 eggs per person
4 - 6 spring onions
1 carrot
1 zucchini
A cup of thinly sliced cabbage
A large handful of green beans
A large handful or two of spinach
Rice bran oil or light oil
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsps of grated fresh ginger
Finely chopped chilli or some chilli oil (optional)
3 tbsps kecap manis
A splash of fish sauce (around 2 tsps)
A splash of tamari

Finely chop the spring onions and saute lightly in rice bran oil with ginger and garlic til fragrant and semi cooked. Add the harder veggies (finely chopped, please - carrot and zucc) and the lime juice, kecap manis and fish sauce. Simmer in the sauce til it starts to soften.

Now add the other veggies to wilt/soften. At this point you still want some sauce in there because the rice is going to heat through and soak up the sauce and kinda almost caramelise. If it's too dry add a little more equal lime, kecap manis and fish sauce. Taste. Too sweet or salty? Balance out with sweet (kecap manis and lime) or salt (a little soy/tamari.

Now start frying your eggs, and add the rice to the pan to heat up for a minute or two along with the remaining spring onions. At this point you can add any pre cooked meat (finely chopped chicken, tofu, tempeh) and stir through to heat.

You can slop straight onto a plate or press into a bowl and upend so you get this gorgeous little dome of rice. I like to serve with the egg on top and a sprinkling of crispy fried shallots.

What's your favourite memory of a recipe?

*This post is written for the Silver Bloggers Monday prompt - this week asks us about a recipe that's tied to a powerful memory.

With Love,

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