Nasi Lemak

Hi, today we got one more Malaysian dish for you. It is called Nasi Lemak or if we directly translate it to English it is called "FAT RICE". Hahaha.... 

We don't know what Nasi Lemak called in English, but it is basically a dish that contain fragrant coconut rice accompanied by an ensemble of sambal, peanuts, crispy anchovies, cucumber and hard-boiled egg. It is highly unlikely you will get fat if you eat it. Well, maybe you will get fat if you consume it in a large amount. ; p

Regardless how bad it is sound in English, Nasi Lemak is still a nice dish. Usually in Malaysia, we consume it as breakfast. However, this food is so popular, that now we can get it anytime. So, if you want to try this Nasi Lemak, the nearest you can get is at Mamak Restaurant, Sydney or, you can do it by yourself. Here is the recipe on how to do Nasi Lemak. 

Ingredients:

Coconut Milk Steamed Rice
2 cups of rice
3 screw pine leaves (tie them into a knot- does not matter if you do not have it)
Salt
1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 oz size)
Some water

Tamarind Juice
1 cup of water
Tamarind pulp

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried anchovies sambal)

1/2 red onion
1 cup dried anchovies
1 clove garlic
4 shallots
10 dried chillies
1 teaspoon of belacan (prawn paste)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar

Other ingredients

2 hard boiled eggs (cut into half)
1 small cucumber (cut into slices and then quartered)

Method:

1. Just like making steamed rice, rinse your rice and drain. Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt, and some water. Add the screw pine leaves(if you have) into the rice and cook your rice.
2. Rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water. Fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.
3. Pound the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies with a mortar and pestle. You can also grind them with a food processor.
4. Slice the red onion into rings.
5. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
6. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the spice paste until fragrant.
7. Add in the onion rings.
8. Add in the dried anchovies and stir well.
9. Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar.
10. Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.
11. Cut the cucumber into slices and then quartered into four small pieces.
12. Dish up the steamed coconut milk rice and pour some sambal ikan bilis on top of the rice.
13. Serve with cucumber slices, and hard-boiled eggs.
14. And voila, we get a dish of Nasi Lemak.  

So, here is the brief recipe on how to do a Nasi Lemak.  Hope you enjoy the dish and enjoy our post on this topic. Feel free to comment. Ok, until the next post. See you again