Malaysian Nasi Lemak Recipe

Hello ! Dear Friends,

Well I am back again with one of my favourite recipe of school days.  While on the way to school we look would forward to seeing the hawker with his two baskets hung from a rod on his shoulder and shouting for customers to buy the Nasi Lemak as Malaysians like to have this for breakfast. Plus other Malaysian food and sweetmeats.  Well we would buy it for our tiffin time in school.  You will be shocked if I tell you how much it was in those days i.e. ‘in the 60’s 25 cents (Malaysian) for a packet of Nasi Lemak. Nasi means rice and Lemak is a Malay word that describes the creaminess of coconut, it also means rich. (Delicious Malaysian coconut rice, served with crisp fried fish and prawns added in hot chilli sauce - Sambal) ….. Wow very very delicious.

So let’s try making it ……….

Malaysian Nasi Lemak Recipe

"Delicious Malaysian coconut rice, served with anchovy hot chile sauce, fried anchovies, (anchovy is a small, common saltwater fish of the family Engraulidae - salmon, herring, sardines), or instead you can use prawns, (both also can be used if you wish to have them), fried peanut, sliced cucumber and hard-boiled egg (Optional). If you do not have tamarind juice, substitute with same amount of lemon juice.

8 servings

Ingredients

For the rice:

2 cups coconut milk

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 (1/2 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

salt to taste

1 whole bay leaf

2 cups long grain rice, rinsed and drained

For the garnish:

4 eggs (optional)

1 cucumber

1 cup oil for frying

1 cup raw peanuts

1 cup fried small fish

For the sauce

6 shallots, chopped

15 dried red chile peppers, or to taste

1 (1/2 inch) piece fresh ginger, minced

1 tablespoon dried salted shrimp or dried salted small fish

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 cup tamarind juice

salt to taste (please use salt accordingly as the shrip and fise used in the sambal is salted)

1 onion, sliced

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined or you can use anchovies (salted fish) or sardine

(basically small sized fish)

Add all ingredients to list

Directions

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together coconut milk, water, ground ginger, ginger root, salt, bay leaf, and rice.  For the rice, do add one stalk of crushed lemongrass. it enhances the flavor and aroma. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until done.
• Place eggs in a saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove eggs from hot water, cool, peel and slice in half. Slice cucumber.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet or wok, heat 1 cup vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Stir in peanuts and cook briefly, until lightly browned. Remove peanuts with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel to soak up excess grease. In the same way fry the small fish till slightly crisp and place it on paper towel to soak up excess grease. Return skillet to stove.

Meanwhile, place the chopped shallots, dried chile peppers, minced ginger, and shrimp paste or salted dried fish in a blender and process to a thick paste.

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir chile paste until fragrant. Stir in sugar, tamarind juice, and salt, then toss in onion and shrimp and simmer until shrimp are bright pink on the outside and the meat is no longer transparent in the center, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the paste and cook until fragrant, about 1 or 2 minutes. First, saute ...Mix in the chile paste, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the chile paste is too dry, add a small amount of water. Stir in remaining crisp fried anchovies / Prawns ; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in salt, sugar, and tamarind juice; We substituted lemon juice for the tamarind, and it turned out great simmer until sauce is thick, about 5 minutes.  If you want to have the fried fish separately you can do so and not add it to the sauce.
3. Serve the onion and garlic sauce over the warm rice, and top with peanuts, fried anchovies (optional), cucumbers, and eggs.

Use salt accordingly as in the sauce you will be using salted dried shrimps or small fish.

The recipe is a little complicated, but it's worth it!  Enjoy yourself.

Parsan Narang

2nd June 2016