Nasi Goreng

Nasi goreng, literally "fried rice" in Bahasa, is one of the best known Indonesian dishes. It's super easy to make, like most fried rice dishes, and should be a bit spicy, and just a little bit sweet. There's no one definitive recipe for nasi goreng; instead the dish is traditionally made for breakfast, using whatever bits and pieces are left over from the night before, so feel free to toss in any bits of leftover meat and vegetables you have hanging around.

Kimchi fried rice

When I was travelling in Asia, I got used to the idea of rice or noodles for breakfast. A fried egg on top was the closest I usually got to a "Western-style" breakfast. And once I got used to the idea, I realised that I enjoyed having a much wider variety of flavours to choose from in the morning. This recipe, adapted from one on the redoubtable Korean Bapsang, is a tasty and quick way to use up leftovers from the night before's Korean meal.

Give it a try - you'll never look at toast and eggs the same way again.

Hainanese chicken rice

	Hugely popular in Singapore, as well as much of Malaysia, chicken rice is true comfort food. Chicken is poached slowly until it is just cooked and still very tender, then served with rice cooked in the chicken fat and some of the poaching stock, and garnished with cucumber and chilli sauce. Finally, the stock is used to make a simple accompanying chicken soup.

Almost dolsot bibimbap

Dolsot bibimbap is the first dish I ever ate in a Korean restaurant: a heated stone bowl (called a dolsot), filled with rice and vegetables. The hot stone causes the rice to go brown and crispy on the bottom. A raw egg is traditionally broken on top of the dish, to mix in at the table, and spicy-sweet red chili paste is added to taste. It's comforting, it's simple, and it warms you up on a cold day. I call this almost bibimbap because I've simplified the recipe to make use of what I had in the house, mid-week. I also use a cast iron skillet in place of the dolsot. So, all in all, it's almost bibimbap.

Nasi kuning (yellow rice)

This rice is typically served on special occasions, normally shaped into a cone and served alongside various meat and vegetable dishes. The flavour is very light and delicate, so be sure you don't swamp the rice with sauces.