Indonesianish Fried Rice

Between seasonal, from the market, no recipe cooking, recipe development projects, and $1 a meal Hunger Challenge recipes, I’ve been slowly working my way through James Oseland’s wonderful book, Cradle of Flavor.

Awhile ago I made one of the many sambals in the book, Javanese Sambal. It consists of dried shrimp paste, lots of shallots, garlic, red chiles, and palm sugar. It’s a cooked sambal, so it’s fiery, but mellow. It seems to go with everything and lasts forever. The day I made it we ate it with rice and steamed fish, but there was a lot left and it keeps finding its way to the table as a condiment.

This was a quick breakfast of leftover, lovely, and local Massa Organic Brown Rice, and a fried egg. I tossed in the sambal, and stirred in the Indonesian soy sauce (pictured), then topped it all off with a fried egg, a few leaves of cilantro, and some cool cucumber slices. Memorable. If I were you, I’d buy this book. You can’t find food this good and authentic-tasting in any restaurants I know.

Photo Credits: Susan Fleming