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Homemade Nasi Lemak (椰浆饭）

 



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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