A spicy rice dish that tastes even better the next day

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.

A tasty pasta arrabiata that can be cooked in minutes

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Win a trip to Bordeaux or a four-night gourmet getaway in Ireland

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Four simple recipes to get kids into the kitchen

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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.