Mealtimes in my house can be fraught. I don’t eat meat, my husband doesn’t eat fish and our three children (aged eight, four and two) have preferences that seem to change hourly.
This recipe was originally taken from a Jamie Oliver book and modified to be more kid-friendly (I take out the bird's eye chilli, so the adults tend to finish with a dollop of sriracha and a blob of crispy chilli or peanut rayu).
When I was in the thick of co-writing Aisling and the City (with my friend Emer McLysaght), it was a handy weekday go-to because it only takes about 20 minutes and, honestly, who can resist a dish finished off with a crispy fried egg?
For the green components, the recipe calls for tenderstem broccoli and sugar snap peas, but I’ve substituted just about anything from the vegetable drawer over the years – and gotten away with it. And the good news is, the leftovers taste even better from the fridge for lunch the next day.
Sarah Breen is co-author of Aisling and the City
Sarah Breen’s kid-friendly nasi goreng
Serves 4-5
Ingredients
Rice of your choice
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
A handful of coriander
200g sugar snap peas
200g tenderstem broccoli
1 tbsp palm sugar
2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Splash of fish sauce
4 large eggs
Lime wedge
To serve: Sriracha sauce, crispy chilli or peanut rayu
Method
1 Cook the rice until fluffy and then leave it to cool.
2 Peel the onion, garlic and ginger and chop finely, along with the coriander stalks (you can retain the leaves for a garnish).
3 Finely slice the sugar snap peas at an angle and cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces.
4 Heat a wok and add a splash of oil. Throw in the onion, garlic, ginger, coriander stalks and palm sugar and stir-fry until soft and the palm sugar is dissolved. Add the broccoli and sugar snaps and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
5 Add the cooked rice, sweet soy sauce and a splash of fish sauce and cook until the rice is hot, tossing regularly to make sure everything is well coated in the sauce. Turn the heat off.
6 In a hot pan, fry the eggs until crispy underneath and bubbly.
7 Tip the rice into a bowl (Jamie suggests moulds but I don't have time for that) and plop the egg on top. Finish with some sriracha, crispy chilli or peanut rayu, a wedge of lime and the remaining coriander leaves.
