Recently, the internet is buzzing over the NYT times about a Gyeran Bap tweet which essentially is rice with egg. As simple as it sounds, that food is common across ASIA with different versions. Growing up, rice and egg have been a staple in my family even more, during difficult times. When I was a kid, I happened to eat rice with egg so often that eventually I was banned from eating eggs as the doctor advised my mom that I could never eat egg anymore or otherwise, i’d have terrible allergic reactions like that time. Well, I ended up not eating any eggs until I was in middle school and now, just eating them sparingly. So, I grew up thinking that eating eggs is such a luxury. Since then, during difficult times, my family and I would choose to eat rice with tofu or tempe instead of egg.

This is just exactly how it would be served at warung with the same style plate and silver spoon. Well, minus the crackers.
However, the idea of eating rice with egg was again popularized during the lockdown back in 2020 where the Indonesian economy was pretty much halted and massive layouts were happening. Silly me, during that time I even ordered this meal from a famous cafe and it cost me more than $2.5 just for hot rice, fried egg, and soy sauce on top. Now, it’s really been a while since I had that meal, so now I am going to recreate this comforting and filling meal.

It’s not rocket science to make this comforting food. Depending on how many eggs you can have, you are free to eat more than one. But during difficult times, one is more than enough. Then, after that, preheat the pan with cooking oil. And cook the egg depending on how you want it. Usually the egg is served with crackers or “kerupuk” but if you don’t have that, that’s fine too. Another thing, salt is necessary but for me, I don’t like salt on my eggs. So, I definitely omit that step in this cooking part.

In Indonesia, it’s often that these eggs are sold and cooked with lots of oil. Many people cook it on a wok instead of a non-stick pan like I have. So essentially, the egg is bathing on the sea of cooking oil. Then, they would strain the egg and add some garnish and the highlight of this recipe, soy sauce or the locals call it “kecap” which is a thick sauce made from fermented soy beans. If you buy it from local warung, this meal would cost around 10000IDR which is around $0.67 or about 1 hive and a few cents. But if you make it at home, it's definitely going to be cheaper.