Nasi Lemak

If I am still living in Malaysia, the thought of cooking nasi lemak will never cross my mind. After all nasi lemak is the national dish of Malaysia, maybe unofficially. Nevertheless, you can find it everywhere - mamak stalls, road side peddlers, coffee shops, pasar malam or even higher end restaurants serving Malaysian food.

Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of walking down to the nearest mamak stall and get my dose of nasi lemak now. Also somehow most of the sambal on offer in Melbourne are on the sweeter side. I decided that I will learn to cook nasi lemak and have tried many different sambal recipe. My most trusted food taster gave the highest review to this version of sambal, the recipe by Adam Liaw.

Usually I serve the nasi lemak with prawn sambal (and other usual condiments) but I wanted to make the chicken rendang this round. Serving it together with prawn sambal seems too much protein so I throw in begedil. To be honest, I much prefer serving it with prawn sambal but long story short I cooked this as a 'peace offering' and the person who is eating it likes rendang better I think.

Anyway, here goes...

(A) Coconut rice:
I used Adam Liaw's recipe as well for the coconut rice.

Ingredients:

450 g jasmine rice --> I cooked 300 g (approximately 2 1/2 rice cup)
180 ml coconut cream --> 120 ml coconut milk (I bought coconut milk for the chicken rendang)
1/2 tsp salt --> 1/4 tsp salt
3 pandan leaves, tied together into a knot --> 2 pandan leaves

Method:

1. Wash the rice as how you usually do. 
2. Add coconut milk, salt and pandan leaves.
3. Top up with water to the usual level for cooking rice in rice cooker
   **Adam Liaw's recipe steam the rice, of course I cheated and use the rice cooker. 

(B) Sambal
Also from Adam Liaw's Two Asian Kitchen, said makes 300-350 ml (I never measure so I can't tell for sure)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp tamarind pulp
10 eschalots, roughly chopped
10 red chillies (any variety you like) --> I usually put more birds-eye but will include some large red chillies for colour. I once used habanero because I can't find birds-eye...
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
100 ml neutral-flavoured oil --> I usually only use a bit, just enough to coat the pan)
60 g palm sugar, roughly chopped --> on hardworking days I use palm sugar because it took me ages to chop them, else I just substitute with raw sugar or brown sugar. I don't put 60 g palm sugar at one go but a little by little and taste as I go because I prefer my sambal less sweet)
5 g sea salt flakes --> salt to taste because I don't weigh this either
1 tsp belacan (dried shrimp paste), optional --> depending on who I serve the sambal too, if they are Malaysians I do include toasted belacan (I usually wrap up the belacan in aluminium foil and toast them on a pan till fragrant)

Method:

1. Put tamarind pulp in heatproof bowl and add 250 ml boiling water. Stir occasionally and leave to cool for about 10 minutes or till it is cool enough to handle. Strain and press the solids with the back of the spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. 
2. Add eschalots, chillies and garlic in a food processor and process to a rough paste. 
3. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the paste and reduce heat to low. 
4. Cook the paste for 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly until much of the moisture has evaporated and mixture is fragrant. 
5. Add tamarind liquid, sugar, salt and belacan (if using). Cook, stirring occasionally for 10-15 mixture until red oil separates from the mixture. Taste and adjust to your liking. 

(C) Crispy ikan bilis (anchovies)

Ingredients:

Ikan bilis (anchovies) ---> unlike the two cooks in the links below, I don't weigh my ikan bilis either. Just grab enough to serve. 

(i) Oven baked option - recipe from here and here. 
Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Wash and clean the ikan bilis (anchovies)
3. Pat dry on paper towel and lay flat on one layer on baking tray
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes, toss and spread them evenly halfway through baking
5. Increase oven to 200°C and bake for another 5-10 minutes or till ikan bilis are golden brown and crispy. 
6. Cool completely and store

(ii) Microwave option
Method:

1. Wash and clean the ikan bilis (anchovies)
2. Lay them on microwavable plate and zap them on 40-50 seconds rounds till they are dry and crispy.
   Note: My friend zap them on 1 minute round but I have just tried this option and didn't want to burn my ikan bilis. She does the whole process on microwave but I finished it in oven at 200°C for 5 minutes. 

(D) Peanuts
Ha - I just use whatever nuts I have at home. If I don't have any, I usually buy beer nuts.

(E) Eggs
If I eat it right after I eat, I usually do a sunny side up but I'm bringing this to work tomorrow so they are boiled. The egg in the photo above is actually a duck egg boiled in rolling boil for 8 1/2 minutes. (can you tell it is duck egg?)

(F) Cucumber
I use continental cucumber. Peeled and thinly sliced. If you want, you can scratch the side vertically a few times with a fork for some visual presentation.

(G) Chicken Rendang - I used recipe from here (will do another post for this, just because I am paranoid that the blogger will take down her blog as there have been no updates for awhile :|

(H) Begedil (Potato patties) - I used recipe from here with some variation (will blog up later)