Nasi Lemak

During Mr J's two and half year stay in Malaysia, he did adapt to most of the local food culture. The one small part that he couldn't get accustomed to is to start the day with a spicy meal.

We often headed out to hawker centres for breakfast during the weekends. I would have a bowl of laksa or a plate of nasi lemak. He would stare at me and couldn't understand the thrill and satisfaction that come from the suffering of the scorching hot spiciness.

"The food you grew up with is the food you will enjoy for the rest of your life." True or not, I know that whenever we return to Malaysia, my first breakfast will be nasi lemak and he will always make a bee line to the nearest snack bar for his frikandel fix whenever we touch down in Schiphol Airport in The Netherlands.

Nasi lemak literally means creamy rice. It's rice cooked in coconut milk and perfumed by pandan (screwpine) leaf. It's usually eaten with a range of condiments. It started off as a very humble breakfast dish consisting of coconut rice, roasted peanuts, cucumber, hard boiled egg, ikan bilis (dried anchovy) and sambal. It can still be bought from street vendors wrapped in banana leaf for less than $1.00.

It has slowly evolved into a more elaborated dish and is now served in restaurants and hotels with rendang, curry, achar, some even with satay on top of the condiments mentioned above. Although this is traditionally a breakfast dish, it can also be served as lunch or dinner.

The recipe I have posted today is the back-to-basics version of Nasi Lemak. You can add beef rendang, chicken curry, crispy fried fish, achar or satay to come up with a more extravagant version that is perfect for a Malaysian dinner party.

Nasi Lemak Recipe

There are different methods to cook rice - rice cooker, absorption method or steaming. All methods can be used to make nasi lemak. The basic rule is to replace half of the amount of water you usually use to cook rice with coconut milk. Add 2 pandan leaves (tied up together in a knot) for every cup of rice used and a pinch of salt.

Sambal Ikan Bilis

Ingredients 

1/2 cup dried anchovies (ikan bilis), rinsed and dried with paper towel
4 fresh red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
8 (100 g) small Asian shallots
3 garlic
1/2 tbsp shrimp paste, toasted
2 candlenuts or macadamia nuts
4 tbsp oil
1 tbsp tamarind pulp + 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 small brown onion, thinly sliced

Method

1. Deep fry the ikan bilis in hot oil until golden brown and crisp.
2. Mix the tamarind pulp with water. Squeeze out the tamarind juice from the pulp and discard the seeds. Strain through a fine sieve. Set aside until needed.
3. Combine fresh red chilli, bird's eye chilli, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste and candlenuts together in a mortar and pestle or a food process and pound or whiz until it forms a fine paste.
4. Heat oil in a wok, add the paste and fry under low heat until it's aromatic, about 8-10 minutes.
5. Add the tamarind juice to the paste together with sugar and salt. Stir and mix well.
6. Add brown onion and continue to stir fry until the onion has soften a little but still have slight texture, around 2-3 minutes.
7. Add the ikan bilis and give it a good stir. This sambal can be served hot or room temperature.

* Note: you can serve the sambal and ikan bilis separately or together. Some prefer the ikan bilis to be crisp. Some prefer the ikan bilis to be mixed in the sambal.

Other Condiments

Hard boiled eggs
Thinly sliced cucumber
Roasted peanuts

* Tips: Use a fork to create patterns before slicing the cucumber.