Nasi Lemak 2.1 Beta

Nasi Lemak - another Malaysian's favorite. I'm very sure that everyone has eaten this at least once in their lives. Well, we love Nasi Lemak and in times when you're not in your home country, you'll miss it... alot!

Simple as it looks from the Nasi Lemak stall that we often buy our favorite food, this dish is actually quite tedious. However, some things can be prepared in advanced and one will find this whole preparation a very fulfilling and satisfying adventure : )

Here's what I've prepared for our version of nasi lemak...

Rice
Most important ingredient for a nasi lemak. Prepare your rice for your usual boiling in a rice cooker. Chop up some onion and ginger then place them into the rice cooker. Pour in coconut milk into the cooker as well. If you have some pandan leaves, get a couple of it and tie into a knot and throw in together. Last but not least, add a pinch of salt. Close the lid and start the boiling!

Ikan bilis (Anchovies) and peanuts
This is the fun part! You might be thinking that you'll need to roast them thru slow frying in a wok or using the oven. But hey! We used the microwave - one of man's creation to make our life easier and shorten preparation time. Do both ingredients separately. First, give a quick rinse on the ikan bilis. Then, without a lid, set 1 minute in the microwave and keep repeating until your ikan bilis become crispy.
Same goes for your peanut. We didn't have peanut so we made our ikan bilis only and made them a couple of days in advance ^_^

Curry
This one ah... instant curry paste! Da best! Need no says... definitely easy to cook and sure very goods! : P

Sambal 'chutney'
Hmmm... this one was kinda tricky. Well, point no. 1 - I've never cooked sambal in my life before. Whenever we cook nasi lemak, we either buy it from the nasi lemak stall or we have ready made sambal paste. Point no.2 - We don't have belacan and fresh chillis. So, I've decided to experiment with... tomatoes.
I soaked some dried chilli and serai (lemongrass) in hot water the night before. I've added in an assam keping into the bowl as well. Then, fry some onion in a pan / wok and pour in diced tomatoes and the soaked ingredients (without the water). Continue to fry on medium heat and mash up the ingredients to form into a paste. Finally, add water and season the paste with salt and sugar.

Cucumber and eggs
Simples! Cucumber - slice them up. Eggs - wash the eggs and place into the rice cooker and boil together with the rice. Hehehehe...

*Drum rolls, ends with a crash of the cymbal*

The outcome of this dish was really tasty. I added in the remaining coconut milk into the curry and it was very smooth! Mmm. The rice turned out well too! Every grain of rice was scraped from the base of the cooker : ) The sambal? Well, it sort of became a chutney because of the tomatoes. Nonetheless, it was still spicy and really complemented the rice. Something different but very refreshing for us. It was also the first condiment to finish for this meal.

TheLoyalFan says: 'I've always liked home cooked nasi lemak... it's the best! You get to customize your plate of goodness and add lots and lots of the stuff that you like. You don't have to tell the man to 'tambah nasi' because you can simply help yourself to another plate. "Relatively" healthy too! No added MSG and preservatives. Hehehehehe... somewhat lah! (trying to ease my conscience...nom nom nom)'

Oh, what a meal! I think we were so stuffed that we needed to lie down in order to 'stretch out' our stuffed tummy. 

Yummy yum yum...