Nasi Goreng USA is yet another Malaysian fried rice recipe that is much loved across the causeway too, if you can find it. Best part? It’s so easy to make!
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
What is Nasi Goreng USA?
Now, we’ve already ascertained in our basic nasi goreng recipe that there’s no such thing as an authentic nasi goreng recipe. You make it the way you want it. Because nasi goreng just means fried rice. Remember?
Let’s take a look at the name, shall we?
- nasi = rice
- goreng = fried or to fry
- U = stands for udang, prawn (shrimp)
- S = is for sotong, squid
- A = is for ayam, chicken
So Nasi Goreng USA = Fried Rice with Prawns, Squid and Chicken!
Bonus – Let’s Pronounce it Right!
Because that’s what we do on LinsFood sites! Listen to me pronounce it on the video. Bold italics is where the stress should be.
Nasi = Na (like the a in far), Si, also Sik (short i, like in bit)
the more common pronunciation is with a glottal stop ending, a light k
Goreng = Go (same as in English), Rayng (so ray of sunshine, with ng tagged on)
Udang = U (the u in put), Dung!
Sotong = So (same as in English), Tong (like the o in so)
Ayam = A (like the a in far), Yum
How is it Different?
For starters, today’s nasi goreng recipe has to have the three proteins mentioned above; it’s in the name, after all.
Apart from that, the biggest difference is that Nasi Goreng USA is lighter in flavour, it doesn’t have that depth synonymous with fried rice recipes that are made with dried anchovies (ikan bilis), dried shrimp (udang kering) or shrimp paste (belacan).
So we make up the flavour with the sauces that we add to it. We’ll take a look at the sauces below, under ingredients.
Nasi Goreng USA Recipe
It’s a very easy recipe to make, this is what we’ll be doing:
- Prep the aromatics – shallot and garlic
- Prep the seafood and chicken as necessary (clean, remove shells, de-vein prawns, slice, etc)
- Mix together the sauces (so you’re just adding 1 thing instead of lots of different sauces)
- Fry the shallots and garlic
- Add the chicken
- Vegetables next
- Then the seafood
- Add the sauces, then the rice and cook through for 3 minutes.
Get all your ingredients ready, and it’s just a case of adding, stirring, adding, stirring and you’re done.
Ingredients
The Proteins
So we’ve got prawns (shrimp), squid and chicken. Make life easier by getting the squid all prepared, and the prawns shelled and de-veined, if you like.
Slice your squid tubes in rings and use the the head and tentacles too. I’m only using sliced squid tubes as it’s the only thing I could get.
One thing: never, ever, use cooked prawns and squid when cooking. Always use raw seafood for the best flavour and texture.
I’m using chicken thighs, chopped into bite-sized pieces, as thighs give the best flavour and are perfect for our Nasi Goreng USA recipe.
The Vegetables
We have a small amount of carrots and green beans. Traditionally, long beans would be used in this recipe, but I’m not a fan, and they are more expensive here in the UK, as they’re an “exotic” vegetable only found in ethnic shops.
The Sauces
As mentioned above, it is the sauces we use that make up most of the flavour of Nasi Goreng USA. These can be some or all of the below (asterisks show what I’m using):
- chilli paste (can be cili boh, sambal oelek (on LinsFood) or sambal balado)*
- oyster sauce*
- light soy sauce*
- dark soy sauce
- fish sauce
- tomato ketchup*
- sweet or spicy chilli sauce (shop bought, different from chilli paste)
What you use is a matter of taste, what you absolutely need is something spicy, something salty, then finally, something to add depth of flavour, which is where the oyster sauce and fish sauce come in.
Red Chilli Paste
Traditionally, we’d use cili boh, which is just ground up dried or fresh red chillies. I touched on this before and I know, promised you the recipe. How about I solemnly promise to make my next recipe, cili boh? Scout’s Honour. That I was never a scout is neither here nor there!
You can use any generic red chilli paste that you have, even shop bought sambal oelek. Click here for our sambal oelek recipe on LinsFood, because sambal oelek is just pounding some red chillies with salt and vinegar (or lime juice). Or do it in a food processor.
If you can’t be bothered with all that, finely chop some red chillies, and use that. The hotter your chilli variety, the spicier your nasi goreng USA. So local favourites cili padi will give you a spicy Nasi Goreng USA.
How to Serve Nasi Goreng USA
The most basic way of serving nasi goreng USA would be with a fried egg, cucumber and tomato slices, as you see in the images here. And a dollop of any kind of sambal for more heat, or even tomato ketchup.
But you can pretty much please yourself. Serve it on its own, as above, or as part of a bigger East or South East Asian meal, with Malay curries, Indonesian curries, and even Thai curries.
Remember I said right at the start that this Malaysian fried rice is a little lighter in flavour compared to traditional ones? Because of that, a very popular way of serving it is with daging masak merah, which is a red meat curry.
I have got ayam masak merah for you to cook up instead of the daging one! That’s the chicken version. Here’s the recipe, plus a few other complementary recipes for our Nasi Goreng USA.
And that’s all there is to it. Shall we get cooking?
If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. Feeling like a star? Don’t forget that 5-star rating! Thank you!
If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
Nasi Goreng USA Recipe (Udang, Sotong, Ayam)
Equipment
- 1 wok or deep frying pan I'm using HexClad wok, available on Amazon
Ingredients
- 2 heaped cups cold cooked rice about 300 g (10.5 oz) in total weight
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
Aromatics & Vegetables
- 1 small shallot about 100 g (3.5 oz) pre peeled weight)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small carrot about 60 g (2 oz)
- 10 green beans about 60 g (2 oz)
Sauce
- 2 Tbsp any generic chilli paste or ground up red chillies sambal oelek can be used too
- 1 Tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
To Serve
- cucumber slices
- tomato slices
- some salad leaves optional
- 2 fried eggs sunny side up
- sambal belacan if you fancy
Instructions
Prep Work
- Peel and slice the shallot thinly.Slice the garlic widthwise.1 small shallot, 3 cloves garlic
- Peel or scrub the carrot. Then quarter lengthwise and cut up into small cubes.1 small carrot
- Slice the green beans into small pieces, like the carrot.10 green beans
- Clean the prawns and squid, if not bought prepared. Slice the squid into rings.
- Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together.2 Tbsp any generic chilli paste or ground up red chillies, 1 Tbsp tomato ketchup, 1 Tbsp oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
- You can either prepare the serving ingredients now or do it after the rice has been fried. This includes the fried eggs. Doesn't matter if they're served at room temperature as eggs cool down quickly anyway.
Let's Get Cooking
- Heat the oil on medium and fry the shallots for 1 minute.2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- Add the garlic and fry for 20 seconds.
- Add the chicken, stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
- Tip in the carrots and green beans and stir to mix, for about 10 seconds.
- Next, add the seafood, stir and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the sauce and mix slightly.
- Finally, tip in the cold rice. Increase the heat to medium-high and mix everything thoroughly. Fry the rice, tossing and mixing for 3 minutes. At the end of 3 minutes, the rice would have heated through and everything will be cooked.2 heaped cups cold cooked rice
- Taste and add salt or soy sauce if needed. Serve with the tomatoes, cucumbers and egg, and anything else you fancy.cucumber slices, tomato slices, some salad leaves, 2 fried eggs, sambal belacan