Quick and easy: my nasi recipe

Bored of the same old pasta recipe every evening, but also looking for something as easy? Try nasi! This super easy, healthy, Indonesian recipe is perfect for large groups and easily customisable for many diets.

For nasi, you’ll need:

• Rice, I prefer basmati rice
• Veggies you like, I prefer red bell pepper, spring onion and bean sprouts
• 1 White onion
• A clove of garlic
• Chicken breast, I’d say about half a chicken breast per person, unless you’re vegetarian/vegan of course.
• Sweet, Indonesian soy sauce (ketjap manis)
• Turmeric powder
• Djahe (ginger root powder)
• Cumin powder
• Salt and pepper
• Oil to cook in, I prefer coconut oil
• Optionally: eggs (1 per person), fried onions, shrimp crackers

Preparing your basic nasi:

To prepare, you’ll need to chop all your vegetables and garlic into medium to small pieces and you need to dice your chicken and to cook a pan of water. Prepare the rice as is said on the packaging. Then, you heat up your oil in a wok or large frying pan on high heat. I prefer coconut oil for this, since it’s best to get it very hot before adding anything. Then, turn back the heat to a medium and you can add the chopped onion, garlic and chicken to the pan.

When this is almost cooked through, you can add the veggies and the cumin, turmeric and djahe. I also add a small splash of water to this, so it’s easier for the spices to get everywhere and it makes the chicken dry out a little less. When this is almost heated up, you can turn the heat to low and add the rice (which should be done at this point) and the sweet soy sauce. If you prefer some more flavour, you can add salt and pepper (or some sriracha sauce!), but I don’t usually feel I need it.

Extra’s and tailoring it to your diet and taste

In the traditional Nasi Goreng, you also bake some eggs to put on top of the rice. To be honest, this is not my favourite, so I often skip that part. However, I love to garnish it with some crunchy, fried onions on the plate. In addition, some shrimp crackers make for the perfect side snack!

Vegan or vegetarian nasi?

Of course, if you’re vegan or vegetarian, I’d skip the chicken, eggs, and shrimp crackers. Although I do think they make the dish a little richer in taste, it’s also pretty great without. You could add some vegetarian chicken or possibly tofu instead, but I must admit I’ve never tried it that way myself. I also saw some recipes with cauliflower rice to make it more low carb if you’re on a keto diet. When I want to switch it up a bit, I do change the chicken for diced shrimps, white fish and/or smoked bacon, which also tastes very good!

The next day

One of the things I love most about this recipe, is that although it’s great the first day, it tastes even better the next day. Therefore, I always make huge portions and eat it for lunch or dinner other days. You can easily refrigerate or freeze this, so you can keep it for a long time. It’s also pretty cheap, considering the basic dish only needs rice, spices and veggies and it’s really filling and versatile.

Have you ever heard of and tried nasi before and if you have, how do you make it? Let me know in the comments below. And, if you liked this recipe, please subscribe and get a free e-book on saving money! You could also follow me on  Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to get regular updates. Anyways, I hope you’ll like this nasi recipe!

Lots of love,

Lisa

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