Nasi Lemak 🌶 🇲🇾

'Nasi lemak' has been called Malaysia's national dish, and I couldn't have enough of it during my previous work trips to beautiful Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory located 2600 km across the Indian Ocean from Perth, 360 km south of Java.  Each morning, I would make my way to the Muslim cafe in the Malay community to enjoy a 'nasi lemak' for breakfast before anything else.  Wrapped in banana leaf or brown paper into a neat pyramid, it is meant to be eaten with your hands (perfect for a picnic lunch).  Inside, you'd find a scoop of fragrant coconut rice, a spicy 'sambal ikan bilis' (chilli paste with crispy fried anchovies), roasted peanuts, a piece of omelette or hardboiled egg and a slice of cucumber.  An unusual combination of ingredients you might say, but they all work together to create a tropical taste sensation.  

To make the nasi lemak, you will need the followings:

• coconut rice 
• sambal ikan bilis (chilli paste with fried anchovies)
• roasted unsalted peanuts
• 2 hard boiled eggs, halved
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced diagonally into small sections 

Serves 4

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Coconut Rice

Rice cooked in coconut milk is creamy, light and flavourful, a great accompaniment to many south east Asian dishes.  The use of pandan leaves to infuse the rice gives it a unique sweet-scented aroma.  You can find long blades of pandan leaves fresh or frozen from Asian grocery stores.  They are used to flavour curries and Asian desserts as well, so it is handy to have a packet of them in your freezer.     

INGREDIENTS

• 200g / 7oz long grain (jasmine) rice
• 200ml / 7 fl oz coconut milk
• 250ml / 8½ fl oz water
• a few pandan leaves

METHOD

1. Fill a large bowl with rice and enough cold water to completely submerge.  Use your hand to gently swirl the rice around to rinse.  Pour off the starchy water.  Repeat two or three times until the water runs clear.  
2. Place rice in a medium saucepan and add the coconut milk and water.  Tie pandan leaves into a knot and place them on top of the rice.  Bring it to a gentle boil over medium heat for a few minutes.  
3. When the bubbles on the surface of the rice have disappeared and most of the liquid has been evaporated, cover and reduce heat to low.  Let the rice simmer for about 5 minutes until tender and all the liquid has been absorbed.
4. Remove from heat and let the rice rest in the covered pan for another 5 minutes.
5. Use a fork to gently fluff up the rice before serving.

 Bringing coconut rice to a gentle boil.

          Rice ready to be simmered with lid on.                       Fluff cooked rice with a fork.

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Sambal Ikan Bilis

'Sambal ikan bilis' or chilli paste with fried anchovies is known to be the soul of 'nasi lemak',  binding everything together to give you those delicious mouthfuls.  One ingredient, 'balacan' or fermented shrimp paste warrants a little discussion.  The Malaysian-style shrimp paste comes in a block (see picture below).   Used widely as a base ingredient for curries, a little of it goes a long way with its distinctive pungent flavour.  The block should be wrapped up in plastic and kept in the fridge once the package is opened.  You will find 'balacan', dried anchovies and large dried red chillies in Asian grocery stores.  Once the sambal is made, it can be kept in a lidded jar for up to a few days. 

Makes above 1½ cup

INGREDIENTS

• 10 x large dried red chillies or Kashmiri chillies 
• 2 x fresh red cayenne chillies  
• 2 x purple Asian shallots, peeled and roughly chopped.
• 2 x garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• 90g / 3oz red onion, sliced into rings
• 1 teaspoon 'balacan' or fermented shrimp paste 
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 cup 'ikan bilis' or dried anchovies

METHOD

1. With a pair of kitchen scissors, cut dried chillies into 2-3 sections.  If you don't want your sambal to be too spicy hot, shake out and discard some of the seeds.  Soak them in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes to soften.  Drain and reserve the soaking liquid.
2. Again, if you would like to tone down the heat of the paste, slit the fresh chillies with a knife and remove their seeds and membrane before chopping them up roughly.  (Use gloves for this operation to protect your fingers from burning afterwards.)
3. Place the soaked chillies, fresh chillies, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste into the bowl of a stick or mini processor.  Process them into a coarse paste.
4. Heat the oil in a wok on medium high.  Add the anchovies and fry them, stirring, for 1-2 minutes until crisp but not burnt.   Remove them with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
5. Add the onion rings into the same wok.  Sauté until softened.  Remove from the wok to another plate.
6. Add the chilli paste into the wok.  Reduce heat to low.  Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes or until the oil separates from the ingredients.  Add the sugar, tamarind and 2 tablespoons of the chilli soaking liquid.  Simmer for another few minutes until the paste is thickened slightly.  Stir in the onions and half of the fried anchovies, reserving the other half to serve.  Transfer the sambal to a bowl.

 

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To serve

Pack rice into a small bowl and invert it onto a plate.  Arrange 2 tablespoons of sambal, a few reserved fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, sliced cucumbers and half of an hard boiled egg around the rice.

Source (with adaptations): Marion's Kitchen