Monday, February 25, 2008

Nasi Lemak

Back in Singapore and Malaysia, a good packet of nasi lemak always get my appetite going. The fragrant coconut rice with peanuts, fried anchovies, side dish of spicy squid/fish/chicken wing and killer hot chili sambal makes a wonderful breakfast or lunch.

Much as I enjoy this dish, I restrict myself from having this too often. The high calorie, carbo, fat and cholesterol combination makes me shudder. It doesn't stop me from eating it once in a while and savor every bite though. In fact, because it's eaten so rarely, every bite is taken seriously. The feel of the coconut flavors dancing in your mouth with the hot sambal is really too hard to resist.


Obviously my version of nasi lemak is far from the authentic one. As a kid, it was a common sight seeing freshly shredded coconut in markets. Housewives buy those freshly shredded coconut and squeeze the liquid out of it to make coconut milk/cream. This fresh coconut milk/cream is then used to cook the rice together with pandan leaves.

It's nearly impossible to buy coconuts in Australia (for shredding I mean, drinking coconuts are available in markets). Needless to say shredding them with your bare hands and then spending hours in the kitchen squeezing the life out of those coconuts is impossible (for me at least). The not-as-good but it-will-do version means using a can or packet of coconut milk instead.

Lucky me, I spotted a box of peanuts with fried anchovies in an oriental store. That saves time! Well, it isn't hard frying anchovies and peanuts but it's much easier to put your spoon into that box and plating it.

I stirfried the kangkong in garlic and soya. Usually I would fry this with sambal but since we were going to have the spicy squid and hot sambal chili, simple garlic and soya would do.


The squid was easy. A tablespoon of of hot chili and quick toss in the wok and it was done.


oh! and how can we have nasi lemak without chili? Mmmm.. a satisfying meal. =)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic effort!

Anonymous said...

Hey, hey, it's my favourite too...But this is the first time I saw ppl eating nasi lemak with "kang kung" ler...Normally ppl use cucumber.

Red Devil said...

Yums yums! I think I'll have nasik lemak for lunch today ;)

Daph, ever thought about opening up your own asian restaurant there? I heard the Aussies lurrrrrve laksa ;)

I'll be more than happy to be your food taster hihihihi

SIG said...

That looks really good. :)

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

thats good for a home made version although we take the easier way out with the Rm1 packets

tigerfish said...

How long did you take making this complete set? I usually do mine with cucumber, hard-boiled eggs, chicken wings or otah!

Wow, you are able to find ready-made fried anchovies with peanuts. So lucky.

Sedap!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Yummy Yum Yum! I'm a sucker for nasi lemak too, like you said, how can one resist? But I also make this in moderation because of the high fat content. :)

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Love nasi lemak, and yours looks yummy!

daphne said...

lyrical lemongrass- thanks! Not as good as those in Malaysia I'm sure but it will do for the time being.

celine-ya! usually cucumber but I wanted more veges so decided to use kangkong instead.

red devil-my parents will kill me after sending me to uni for 8 yrs. =) Australians do like chinese food but the laksa here is SWEET!

singairishgirl-thank you babe.

joe-of course la! U have 1RM packet there, we have like overpriced nasi lemak here.... =(

tigerfish- about 30 minutes. While the rice is cooking, I cooked the kangkong, squid and boil and egg. It doesn't take long to plate it up. Yours sound great too.

little corner-yay! we are the nasi lemak gang. =)

east meets west kitchen- thanks!i feel like having one now...

Unknown said...

hey daphne, nice blog! i lovee nasi lemak, in indonesia, we have nasi uduk...super duper similar hehe. hmm in hong kong i've only tried making 'garlic and butter rice' which involved no coconut milk, but turned out to be as tasty, will share the recipe with you later..and have fun preparing your wedding! congratss!

Retno Prihadana said...

I love this dish very much! My mother used to make this for the family, we call nasi lemak too or Nasi Uduk.

Piggy said...

the squid looks yummy... !! i suddenly crave for sambal squid now... :-P

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