One of my favourite foods from Malaysia! I have developed my own, which I think is actually pretty close to the authentic Malaysian dish. It is extremely tasty and equally good served hot or cold.
Favourite Memory of eating Nasi Lemak: Silverstone F1Grand Prix in 2008 (6 months pregnant!)
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 can of coconut milk
4 cups Basmati rice
1 piece dried galangal
8 Shallots
1 large garlic clove
3 dried red chillis (soaked for 1 hour in boiling water)
3 fresh red chillis (medium heat)
2 tsp sambal belacan (can be found in most oriental grocery shops)
1-2 tsp tamarind (available in most supermarkets)
2 large handfuls of Ikan Bilis (dried small fish similar to anchovies)
6 hard boiled eggs (sliced in half)
1 cucumber thinly sliced
unsalted roasted peanuts (optional)
Method
- Wash the rice with cold water until water becomes clear. Cook the rice with the coconut milk and added water (if needed), and the galangal. I use a rice cooker but steaming in a saucepan or cooking in the microwave is also fine.
- Thinly slice the shallots & gently fry in 1 tbsp cooking oil on a low heat for about 10 minutes, until the shallots become soft. Turn off heat.
- Thinly slice all of the chillis (fresh & dried) and grate the garlic clove finely.
- Pound the garlic, chillis and sambal belacan with a pestle & mortar for approx. 10 minutes until it becomes a rough pulp. Add 1 tbsp water to this pulp.
- Re-heat the shallots gently and add the chilli pulp. Fry for 2-3 minutes on a very low heat. Stir in the tamarind.
- In a separate pan, heat 1 tbsp cooking oil and gently fry the ikan bilis for 2 minutes and transfer the ikan bilis to the chilli mixture - stir together and keep warm on a low heat.
- Serve the coconut rice, with some chilli/ikan bilis mixture on the side, along with the sliced cucumber, hard boiled eggs & peanuts.
- You will only need a small amount of the chilli/ikan bilis mixture as it will be hot!
Comments