Nasi Lemak – Your Nice And Delicious South East Asian Dish-
This practical and original recipe of Nasi Lemak will give you an excellent and different taste of a yummy and spicy meal that you want to have it again and again. Do try!!
This typical food is called Nasi Lemak or Lemak Rice because actually Lemak means “the tasteful flavor” given by the coconut milk when the rice is cooked with it.
Nasi Lemak is a typical dish commonly found in several countries in South East Asia, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. This typical dish is well –known not only for its coconut milk rice but also for its sambal (hot spicy chili sauce) which is considered to be ”the heart” of this typical food.
Nasi lemak is generally served together with some side dishes such as toasted peanuts, fried crunchy anchovies, fried fish, hard-boiled egg, and freshly cut cucumber.
The main highlight of Nasi Lemak is the coconut milk rice and sambal (the hot spicy chili sauce). Your Nasi Lemak will not be considered original if you don’t have the coconut milk when preparing the rice. The hot spicy chili sauce is usually made from shrimp or squid and the hot spicy chili sauce is called Sambal Udang(Shrimp Hot Spicy Chili Sauce) and Sambal Cumi(Squid Hot Spicy Chili Sauce)) in Malay.
And there is an ultimate ingredient that makes your Nasi Lemak become nicer to have, that is the “Pandan Leaves”’( Screwpine Leaves) that has a strong fragrance of a floral smell that will make your Nasi Lemak very tasty and heavenly delicious! And to make it more natural, Nasi Lemak is usually served on a piece of banana leaf instead of a plate.
Nowadays, many people in South East Asia and around the world can enjoy the tasteful flavor of Nasi Lemak because Nasi Lemak is offered and sold by many restaurants, street food stalls and even street food hawkers/vendors that offer and sell Nasi Lemak with many other mouthwatering side dishes besides the ones mentioned above such as chicken satay, empal(fried beef) and fried tofu.
In some regions in Indonesia, there are some dishes similar to Nasi Lemak. For examples, it is called Nasi Uduk in the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, Nasi Liwet in Central Java Province and Nasi Perang in Medan, a city in North Sumatra. No matter what the name of the dish is, there is one thing in common for these dishes: they all use coconut milk when cooking the rice.
HOW MANY CALORIES PER SERVING?
Nasi Lemak has 338 calories preserving.
WHAT MEALS TO SERVE WITH “NASI LEMAK?”
Some other meals such as Squid Sambal (Sambal Tumis Sotong/Cumi), Prawn Sambal, Sambal Telur (Egg Sambal), and Chicken Satay can be served together with Nasi Lemak for more complete weekday or weeknight meals.
COURSE : MAIN COURSE
CUISINE : ASIAN (SOUTH EAST ASIAN)
KEYWORD : NASI LEMAK RECIPE
PREP TIME : 30 MINUTES
COOK TIME : 30 MINUTES
TOTAL TIME : 1 HOUR/60 MINUTES
SERVINGS : 3 PEOPLE
CALORIES : 338 CALORIES
INGREDIENTS :
FOR THE COCONUT MILK STEAMED RICE
- 2 cups of rice
- 3 knot tied of screwpine leaves
- 1 can of coconut milk
- Some water
- Salt to your taste
FOR THE TAMARIND JUICE
- Tamarind pulp of a size of a small table tennis ball
- 1 cup of water
FOR THE DRIED ANCHOVIES HOT CHILI SAUCE (SAMBAL IKAN TERI OR SAMBAL IKAN BILISI)
- 1 cup of dried anchovies
- 1 clove of garlic
- ½ of red onion
- 10 pieces of dried chilies
- 4 shallots
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of prawn paste
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
SOME OTHER INGREDIENTS :
- 2 hard-boiled, cut into half of egg
- 1 small , cut into slices and quartered of cucumber
- 3 small of sardines or smelt fish
INSTRUCTIONS :
- Your 2 cups of rice are cleaned up and dry them out like you usually make steamed rice. And then, the coconut milk, a little of salt, and some water are added. Put also the Pandan leaves (Screwpine leaves) into the rice and your rice is cooked.
- The dried anchovies are cleaned up and dry the water out. And then, the dried anchovies are fried until their exteriors become light brown. Put them aside.
- The prawn paste, shallots, garlic and deseeded dried chilies are pounded with a pestle and a mortar. If you want to, the prawn paste, shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies can be ground with a food processor. The red onion is sliced into rings. For 15 minutes, the tamarind pulp is soaked in water. The tamarind is squeezed consistently to extract the flavor into the water. Dry out the pulp and the tamarind juice is saved.
- Prepare a frying pan. And then, some cooking oil is heated and the spice paste is fried until you smell a nice aroma. The onion rings are also put into the frying pan. The fried anchovies are put into the frying pan and they are stirred properly. Put the tamarind juice, salt and sugar into the frying pan. On low heat, all of them are simmered until the gravy becomes thick. Put them aside.
- The small fish are cleaned up. And then, they are cut into half and are seasoned. Next, they are deep fried. The cucumber is chopped into slices and then, is quartered into 4 small pieces. The steamed coconut milk rice is dished up and some hot spicy chili sauce (sambal ikan bilis or sambal ikan teri) is poured on top of the coconut milk rice. Now, your Nasi Lemak is ready and quickly serve Nasi Lemak with fried fish, hard-boiled eggs and slices of cucumber.