Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) can be traced back to 4000 years BC China; yes, that early thanks to the early use of writing and good record keeping of the Chinese, probably till this day. It was said to be an evolution of a dish called Muxufan from Central Asia (Simmer, 2019), made it through to a lot of parts in China, particularly in our interest: Southern China, with rice as their staple food. Chinese in majority do not enjoy cold food and we have to agree that hot food is best served hot for a very scientific reason. Because aroma carrying volatiles only evaporate up our noses in higher temperature which by the way, smell does play a big part in flavour perception. Also, these peasants in the south would be damned if their leftover rice should end up in the trash. Thus they re-cooked their leftovers, toss in some oil and spice, resulting in a completely new mouth-watering dish altogether.
The oldest recipe known until today is the Yang Zhou fried rice (Nasi Goreng Cina) during the Sui Dynasty (589 - 618 CE)
Fig 1.0 YangZhou fried rice, usually known as Chinese Fried rice or Nasi Goreng Cina. Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash
Its arrival in Southeast Asia; in particular Thailand, Malay Peninsula, and Indonesian archipelago; could be traced back to the 10th century brought by Chinese immigrants and it has been evolving since into countless varieties depending on the region with its availability of local fresh produces and spices. We can now find Nasi Goreng almost everywhere with unique local twists and signatures such as spicy savory Nasi Goreng Aceh that contains a lot of spices due to Indian influence in their culinary tradition, or Nasi Goreng Kencur due to the abundance for this fragrant rhizome called kencur in the region. Nasi Goreng Padang using rendang paste because it's their master stock, or Nasi Goreng Kampung in Malaysia that uses tiny anchovies as a signature because it's their flavour bomb. I don't know if we got the time to name it all but the varieties had become too many due the nature of the dish itself that is mind-bogglingly versatile.
Regardless the varieties, the basic s are still the same all the way; the essentials: leftover rice, oil, and spice; the most common is allium variety.
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