Nasi lemak can be regarded as
Malaysia’s ‘national treasure’ dish. Every morning, you can easily find Nasi
Lemak in those Mamak stalls, Chinese coffee shops, on the roadside or even in a
5 Star hotel.
You can eat it for Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Mid Meal or otherwise. Some are ready wrapped with banana leaves and grease proof paper. You can have a basic version, and you can have various condiments to go along with it.
This dish is normally added with a
hot spicy sauce (sambal) and various garnishes, including fresh cucumber
slices, small fried anchovies (ikan bilis), roasted peanuts, and hard-boiled or
fried eggs. And sometimes it also serves with sambal squid, curry chicken, beef
rendang, fried fish, stir-fried vegetables.
When talking about nasi lemak, that
hot spicy sauce (sambal) is a must. It is the soul of Nasi Lemak. A plate of
nasi lemak without sambal will not have the taste that nasi lemak should have. As
well as the rice must taste with coconut flavor. That’s the perfect combination.
I am using three types of dried chilies for making the sambal which are lightly pungent, spicy and smokey. Although I love spicy food, I personally prefer sweeter sambal. This way, your tongue will not be unable to taste the unique aroma of nasi lemak due to the pungent feeling.
Preparing Nasi Lemak is not
complicated. Just prepare all the side dishes and put them together when
serving. However, it does take some time to prepare the side dishes. Fried
peanuts, anchovies, and fried sambal all require absolute patience. If you do
not want to be in a hurry, it is recommended that you prepare them one day in
advance so that you don’t have to rush around. Anyway, I am going to pair my
Nasi Lemak with fried chicken thigh. It’s optional. You can pair with any meat
dish as you like.
INGREDIENTS
Coconut rice
2 cups jasmine rice
2 cups water
1 tbsp
1 tbsp coconut milk
2 pandan leaves
½ tsp salt
2 slices ginger
METHOD
1.Combine the wash rice, water,
ginger, pandan leaves and coconut milk in a round pan. Stir to combine.
2. Put the rice into the steamer (you can cook in a rice cooker) bring
it to a boil over medium heat, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Let the rice simmer for 15
to 20 minutes until tender and the water is absorbed.
Side dishes
1 cup peanuts
1 cup anchovies
3 chicken thighs
Some cucumber slices
Some hot boiled eggs
Some corn starch for coating the chicken
Some cooking oil
Marinade for the chicken thighs
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
Some white pepper
METHOD
1. Marinade the chicken thighs with
oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce, and white pepper for 2 hours or overnight.
Coated with corn starch.
2. Deep fried one cup of peanuts with
cold oil and LOW heat throughout the process. Until the peanuts turn red and
golden brown. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat up the oil in the wok. Place
in the chicken thigh, deep fried until both sides are golden brown. Double fry
will make the chicken thigh extra crispy. Remove and set aside.
4. With the remaining oil from frying
the chicken thighs, deep fry 1 cup of anchovies until golden brown. Remove and
keep aside for later serve with nasi lemak.
Sweet sambal
15g dried chilies
2 fresh chilies
3 large onions
A small knob of shrimp paste
(belacan)
50g Gula Melaka
2 pc tamarind
1 cup cooking oil
½ cup water
Salt to taste
METHOD
1. Trim and cut the dried chilies into short length and boil in
hot water until soft and drained.
2. Blend dried chilies, fresh red
chilies, onions and belacan (with little water) till fine paste.
3. Heat up the cooking oil in a wok
over medium heat, add in the blended chili paste, sauté
till aroma. Add gula Melaka, tamarind peel and salt, continue to sauté over low
heat for 30 minutes. Stirring constantly. Thicken the paste to a desired
consistency. Halfway cook, if the paste becomes too thick, add in water and
continue to cook. Taste and adjust with additional salt and Gula Melaka.
6. Serve with coconut rice, cucumber slices,
fried anchovies, peanuts, hard-boiled eggs, and fried chicken thigh.
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