Fried rice is one of those quintessential Chinese dishes that everyone loves. My memory is of the lid being lifted off a silver platter to reveal a steaming fragrant pile of golden rice, studded with Chinese sausage, egg, scallions, maybe a shred of napa, and on a good day, some random pieces of duck meat. I always used to order it in restaurants or for takeaway, comparing notes on the best versions with the most ingredients. But like most Chinese food, I was hesitant to try making it myself.

I did eventually take a stab at it- but my fried rice never tasted as good as a restaurant version—until I found the secret ingredient for homemade fried rice. It is called kecap manis. I learned about it in Bali back in the day when I took a cooking class in Ubud. It has a rich soy flavor, sweet and barely musky in an exotic spicy way, unlike any other condiment I have ever tried. Granted- it’s not Chinese- so this is not a truly authentic Chinese fried rice, but man is it delicious. Kecap manis is Indonesian and it gets thrown on lots of recipes in Bali, especially barbequed meats. The flavors come from a dark palm sugar and a soy base with ginger or galangal and star anise. I first had it in the popular Indonesian dish, nasi goreng- which is a kind of Indonesian fried rice.

I read a lot of food bloggers and I have been surprised that kecap manis has not become a fad, along with coconut butter and overnight oats (both delicious and deserving of all fads). I am also surprised that even in the Asian markets that I frequent for other ingredients like lemongrass, dried kaffir lime, gochujang, dark mushroom soy sauce, and sriracha—there’s not a bottle of kecap manis in sight. I suppose I have never lived anywhere with a large Indonesian population- because if I had I’m pretty sure it would be on the shelf. Though I understand that the Netherlands keep it in stock- similar to the British who do not do without their chutney.

The thing is, fried rice is one of the easiest things to cook. It is the quintessential home cooked meal that the cook of the house can turn to when all that’s in the fridge is some old, cold, dried out rice, and some other odds and ends that are not enough for a meal. I am going to give you my quick and easy recipe. It doesn’t have measurements because it is a slapped together last minute kind of meal- but it is so incredibly tasty. I recommend trying it when you have a bunch of rice in the fridge from your takeout that you never ate—or if you made too much rice in your rice cooker for another dish that is now sitting alone and unloved. I’ve included a picture- but please note my final product came out a bit dark purple because I threw in some local purple spinach that I get from our farmers’ co-op.

Rummage around and see what you’ve got in the fridge—eggs, scallions (or even onions), cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, leftover chicken, and/or frozen sausage. If you’ve got a wok, you can really do it right- but I only have a 10 inch fry pan so I do it without the benefit of the hot and quick sear. I take some fresh minced garlic and a knob of ginger sliced into matchsticks (or chopped) and throw it into a hot pan with canola oil. Then throw in whatever vegetables I’ve got. After the vegetables have softened a bit- I move them to a bowl, wipe the pan (carefully!), and add another bit of canola to fry the rice. In goes the rice for a 1-2 minute fry. Then in goes the pre-cooked meat. Then I move everything over to one side of the pan to make scrambled eggs (seasoned with salt and pepper). It’s okay for the eggs to get mixed in to the mixture. The only thing better than fried rice with clumps of egg is when some of the egg binds together some of the rice grains in a delicious clump of fried rice goodness. The rice gets about a teaspoon of oyster sauce, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of kecap manis a squirt of sriracha or other hot sauce, and then I throw in the vegetables and give it a good stir. This is a tasting recipe—taste it and see what it needs some more of (for me, always the kecap manis). Serve piping hot and watch everyone devour.

There are recipes for homemade kecap manis you can find if you would like to give it a try. Personally I really like the ABC brand which I buy from Amazon and make sure to keep in in stock in my fridge at all times.