Nasi Goreng Kampung if translate directly to English literally means ” Barrio Fried Rice”. In Malay language, Kampung means provincial or barrio. The city folks used to have this saying “balik kampung lar” to mock their friends whenever you can’t do certain things right. We always make fun of the kampung folks but actually most of us are from kampung and we migrate to the city right after we graduate for a better future.
Is quite similar here in Manila, where people making fun of the provincial folks to be “baduy” ( unfashionable or uncouth ). So when I told my Pinoy friends about the balik kampung expression, they can relate it very well. Whenever someone fails in the city, In Malaysia, we will tell them to “balik kampung tanam jagung” . This simply means go back to barrio and plant corn as a profession as it is less stressful.
But we as polite people never once tell that to someone who is actually from the province. Is only poking fun at our closest friends who are actually born and bred in the city or those who has been in the city for a long time.
So with that being said, you know I don’t look down upon the provincial ways in fact being an old school, I love the provincial mentality. They are mostly simple and complicated. Same goes with their dishes, simple yet delicious. Nasi Goreng Kampung is one of those dishes that’s originated from kampung and now being very popular with the city folks in Malaysia and Singapore.
Here is my version of Nasi Goreng Kampung.
INGREDIENTS :-
- Left over rice 2 plates ( rice from yesterday )
- dried anchovies ( fried till crispy set aside )
- chicken meat ( bite size )
- chicken egg
- kangkung ( morning glory )
- cabbage
- minced garlic
- onions slice thinly
- some belacan paste ( Malaysian bagoong ) – 2cm x 1cm
- carrots ( optional )
- fish sauce
- sweet soy sauce
- chili ( minced or made into paste ) – if you like it spicy you can put more
- salt and pepper to taste
COOKING :-
- heat up 5 spoonful of cooking oil
- sauteed the minced garlic and follow with onion
- add in chili paste
- add in belacan ( Malaysian bagoong )
- add in chicken meat and continue to mix well
- add in sweet soy sauce, fish sauce and salt
- add in cabbage and carrots
- add in rice and mixed well
- make a hole in the center of the wok by putting rice a side and break the egg
- add in kangkung ( morning glory )
- fried till rice is evenly mixed with ingredients
- make sure rice is not lumpy and can see grain by grain
- add some pepper and garnish the fried anchovies on top of the rice
Fried rice is really a dish that is so versatile. Have so many different version but the method is almost the same. I’m sure you heard of pineapple fried rice, salted fish fried rice or fried rice with crab meat. What makes fried rice difference is the ingredients being used. So the thing that makes this version of fried rice Nasi Goreng Kampung is the used of anchovies and kangkung. The original version does not even have meat but since I am right now in the city, I’ll just indulge myself with a little bit of chicken meat in my Nasi Goreng Kampung.
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