Nasi goreng pattaya


Nasi goreng pattaya, or simply nasi pattaya, is a Southeast Asian fried rice dish made by covering or wrapping chicken fried rice, in thin fried egg or omelette. Despite its name, the dish is believed to originate from Malaysia, and today is also commonly found in Indonesia and Singapore. It is often served with chili sauce, tomato ketchup, slices of cucumber, and keropok.
, Sumatra
In Indonesia this kind of nasi goreng is often called nasi goreng amplop, since the nasi goreng is enveloped within a pocket of thin omelette. However, due to proximity and neighbouring influences, today this kind of fried rice is often also called as nasi goreng pattaya in Indonesia. Today, the dish is popular throughout Southeast Asia, it is one of the fried rice variants favourite in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Etymology and origin

The name is believed to be derived from Pattaya, a popular beach resort in Thailand. However, despite its Thai-sounding name, the dish is actually more common in Malaysia than in Thailand. The omelette-covered pattaya fried rice is hardly found in Pattaya itself. It is most likely that the dish did originate in Malaysia, and curiously using that Thai-sounding name–probably for novelty or marketing purpose.
Another popular theory is that the name derived from a Malay bastardisation of the name for the unofficial national dish of Thailand, Phad Thai, which some variations include the fried noodle dish enveloped in an egg omellette as well.

Similar dish

A similar dish exists in Japan, and is called omuraisu. It is a fried ketchup-flavoured rice sandwiched with a thinly spread beaten egg or covered with a plain egg omelette.