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Sunday, November 16, 2008

Nasi Lemak (Coconut Cream Rice)

Nasi Lemak is a one dish meal that is eaten by many Malaysians. Primarily this is eaten for breakfast, but this is served through out the day by many restaurants here.

I must admit that when it comes to nasi lemak I am really hopeless. My last attempt ended with a pot rice with floating coconut cream. By right it should coconut cream infused rice. Since then I have given up trying.

Recently, we had a DeepaRaya (short for Deepavali and Hari Raya) celebration in the office and one of my colleagues cooked a pot of heavenly tasting nasi lemak. From her explanation, the process doesn't seem so difficult. Therefore, I brace myself for another attempt of nasi lemak. Though the outcome is not as good as my colleague's but I am quite happy with it.

Ingredients for Nasi Lemak
4 cups of rice
200 ml of coconut milk (I used the Ayam Brand coconut milk as shown below)
1 tsp salt
4-5 screw pine leaves (pandan leaves)
4 slices of ginger
water


1. Wash rice and place it together with ginger, screw pine leaves and salt in electric rice pot.
2. Pour 50ml of coconut milk on to rice and top up with enough water (as per manufacturer's instruction).
3. Set rice to cook.
4. Once all the liquid is fully absorb, stir in the remaining coconut milk.
5. Leave rice to continue cooking until the cooking cycle is completed.
6. Fluff rice with a pair of chopstick before serving.

No nasi lemak is complete without Sambal Ikan Bilis (anchovies). Here is a recipe I learnt from another colleague who cooks fantastic tasting sambal.

Ingredients
100g dried chillies,
2 medium size bombay onions, blended
1 medium size bombay onions, sliced
1/2 square inch belacan (shrimp paste)
2 tbsp tamarind pulp diluted with 1/4 cup water, strained
2 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup of fried ikan bilis (anchovies)

1. Cut dried chillies into 2 cm length and boil them in a pot of water for 15 minutes.
2. Drained chillies and blend.
3. Heat oil and fry blended onions until lightly brown.
4. Add in blended chillies, sliced bombay onions and shrimp paste, fry till oil floated to the top of chilli mixture.
5. Add in fried anchovies, tamarind juice, sugar and salt.
6. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Besides Sambal Ikan Bilis, I serve my nasi lemak with Spicy Fried Chicken, hard boiled eggs, fried peanuts, fried anchovies and sliced cucumber.

11 comments:

jadepearl said...

So sedap! Nasi Lemak is one of our fav one meal. We have to eat it at least 2-3 times a month.

Ling's Passion said...

jadepearl : Good to hear from you. Haven't got a chance to visit your blog since it is only open to invitees. Can I be invited.....(think skin)

Little Corner of Mine said...

My favorite!! This is the one thing I must eat whenever I am back in M'sia。

The Caked Crusader said...

What an interesting dish! I love that you use ingredients I am not au fait with (or have often even heard of!)

Beachlover said...

oh! My comfort food!! I can eat it lunch,dinner and breakfast!!

Family First said...

This is one magic dish that can be eaten anytime of the day, even if it is just plain nasi lemak!

jadepearl said...

So happy to hear that you want to read my blog. I really paiseh to invite coz my blog only have silly stuff. Err.. I need your e-mail address pls.
Thanks!

Ling's Passion said...

little corner : My favourite, too.

caked crusader : Some of your ingredients are new to me too. That's why I often pop by your blog to check what's new.

beachlover : Ya, me too. Will crave for it when I don't eat it after sometime.

family first : *sob-sob* my rice still not so nice yet as to be able to eat by itself.

jadepearl : Honour that you will allow me to read your blog. My email address is beeling06@hotmail.com

ganache-ganache said...

Hi, you've been tagged ! Check out my blog for details.

:) said...

hi there
may i know is the sambal very spicy type...??
My family cant take too spicy's sambal :)

Ling's Passion said...

My@addiction : Hi, thanks for dropping by. The sambal is not that spicy by Malaysian standard. But if your family really can't take spicy food then you may want to cut down on the chilli.