Nasi Goreng — a plant-based Other recipe by BOSH!
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Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng is one of those dishes we genuinely get excited about making on a weeknight. It's smoky, spicy, a little bit sticky, and absolutely packed with flavour from that homemade spice paste. The lemongrass and ginger do something magic in the wok and the whole thing comes together in just 25 minutes. Honestly, once you've made this from scratch you'll never go back to a jar. Make it tonight, you won't regret it.

Cook: 25 min
Serves 2

Before You Start

  • Blender
  • Wok or large frying pan
  • Vegetable peeler

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 1 Bird's eye chilli
  • 1 x 250g bag(s) of microwavable brown basmati rice
  • 200g white cabbage
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 large carrot
  • 2 banana shallots
  • 1 small handful coriander leaves
  • 1 lime
  • 30g unsalted roasted peanuts
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp tomato purée
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2 Bird's eye chilli
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 5cm piece of fresh ginger
  • 1 lemongrass stalk
  • 2 banana shallots

Method

1

First, make the spice paste

  • Peel and roughly chop the shallots
  • Remove the tough outer layer of the lemongrass stalk and roughly chop the tender inner layers
  • Peel the ginger by scraping off the skin with a spoon, then roughly chop
  • Peel and roughly chop the garlic
  • Trim the chillies
  • Put all the paste ingredients in the blender and blitz to a paste
2

Now, roughly chop the peanuts

  • Cut the lime into wedges
  • Roughly chop the coriander and set aside
3

Now, prep your vegetables

  • Peel and thinly slice the shallots lengthways
  • Peel the carrot, then cut it lengthways into long ribbons using the vegetable peeler
  • Trim, halve, core and cut the pepper into strips
  • Halve, core and finely shred the cabbage
  • Rip the stem from the chilli, thinly slice and set aside
4

Cook the nasi goreng

  • Heat the olive oil in the wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Add the shallots and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly until softened
  • Add the carrot and pepper and stir for another 2-3 minutes
  • Add the cabbage and soy sauce and stir for another 2-3 minutes
  • Tip the stir-fried vegetables onto a plate and set to one side
  • Return the wok to the heat, add the spice paste and stir for 2 minutes until very fragrant, loosening it with a little water if necessary
5

Finish and serve

  • Add the cooked rice to the pan and fold it into the paste
  • Return the cooked vegetables to the pan and fold them into the rice until the rice and vegetables are warmed through
  • Taste and season to perfection with salt and pepper
  • Plate up your nasi goreng, sprinkle over the peanuts, coriander and chilli and serve with a wedge of lime

Tips & Variations

  • Use leftover rice: This is genuinely one of the best fridge-raid meals going. Day-old rice that's been sitting in the fridge overnight fries up perfectly and won't clump together in the wok.
  • Turn up the heat: We find this works really well with a properly hot pan. Get your wok or frying pan smoking before you add anything and you'll get that lovely charred, smoky flavour that makes Nasi Goreng so good.
  • Go easy on the chilli if you need to: The spice paste can pack a real punch depending on your chillies. If you're cooking for people who don't love heat, deseed the chillies before blending and you'll still get loads of flavour without the fire.

Why This Works

The real secret here is taking the time to blitz your own spice paste rather than reaching for a shortcut. Fresh lemongrass, ginger, shallots and chilli all blended together gives you this incredible fragrant base that coats every grain of rice. We also find that using day-old rice makes a massive difference, it fries up so much better than freshly cooked rice which can go a bit claggy.