Nasi lemak or Coconut Milk Steamed Rice

 

This is the nasi lemak I cooked this week. I cook nasi lemak because it is easy to prepare. If I have coconut milk in the fridge, nasi lemak will be the menu that I will be cooking. Here's the recipe to cook nasi lemak.

Ingredients to cook rice: 

1. 2 cups of rice
2. 3 screwpine leaves (tie them into a knot as shown above)
3. Salt to taste
4. 1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 oz size)
5. Some water

For Tamarind Juice

1. 1 cup of water
2. Tamarind pulp

Ingredients to cookd Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried anchovies sambal)

1. 1/2 red onion
2. 1 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
3. 1 clove garlic
4. 4 shallots
5. 10 dried chillies
6. 1 teaspoon of belacan (prawn paste)
7. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
8. 1 tablespoon of sugar

Other ingredients

1. 2 hard boiled eggs (cut into half)
2. 3 small fish (sardines or smelt fish)
3. 1 small cucumber (cut into slices)

Method:

1. Rinse your rice and drain. Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt, and some water. Add the pandan leaves into the rice and cook your rice.
2. Rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water. Fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.
3. Pound the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies with a mortar and pestle. You can also grind them with a food processor.
4. Slice the red onion into rings.
5. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
6. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the spice paste until fragrant.
7. Add in the onion rings.
8. Add in the ikan bilis and stir well.
9. Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar.
10. Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.
11. Clean the small fish, cut them into half and season with salt. Deep fry.
12. Cut the cucumber into slices.
13. Serve with fried fish, cucumber slices, and hard-boiled eggs onto the nasi lemak.

Do try them. It's easy! For tastier nasi lemak add 3/4 oil in the pot. The rice will looks shinier (glassy?).