Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice Meal with Sambal)

JS:
A while back, we had a spectacular Alaskan King Crab dinner with Ben and Suanne of Chowtimes and ET and Christina of Doesn't Tazte Like Chicken.

Being the generous and gracious people that they are, both Ben and Suanne and ET and Christina gave us some food items to take home.

Thanks, guys!


peanuts and anchovies

JS:
Suanne and Ben gave us a jar of their homemade sambal belacan, a jar of sambal ikan bilis, as well as a packet of peanuts and ikan bilis (dried anchovies) straight from Malaysia.


left: homemade sambal belacan; right: sambal ikan bilis

Wikipedia: Malaysian Sambal

Naturally, we thought to use these products to make nasi lemak.



TS:
Nasi Lemak means "rice in cream". In this case, the cream is coconut cream (or milk). Besides the coconut rice, nasi lemak usually comes with cucumber slices, dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, egg, and sambal.

Let's get to work.

Coconut Rice


TS:
Of course, I simply used the rice cooker. For this attempt of mine, since I didn't exactly know how coconut-ty we wanted the rice, I used half coconut milk and half water for my liquid. I added a knot of pandan (screwpine) leaf to the rice while cooking.

The rice was extremely fragrant. Mmm.

Roasted Peanuts


TS:
I toasted the peanuts on the stovetop.

Sambal, Ikan Bilis, and Onions


TS:
Actually, instead of frying up the sambal with the dried anchovies (for sambal ikan bilis), I followed Suanne's suggestion of simply caramelizing some onions and adding the sambal, without adding the anchovies.



TS:
That way, the dried anchovies will remain crispy and give us some nice textural contrast. Besides, we have that jar of prepared sambal ikan bilis anyway.



TS:
We also happened to have recently purchased a bag of fried shallots (or actually, small red onions that I haven't seen in Vancouver). Why not have contrasting onions as well?

Fried Egg
TS:
Instead of hard-boiled eggs, I fried mine up. I can't resist egg yolk ooze, after all. It's so much better than hard-boiled eggs!

Nasi Lemak


TS:
So, there's our nasi lemak plate! Here's what we have on there.


Sautéed Onions with Suanne's Homemade Sambal Belacan.
Sliced Cucumbers (in the background).


Sambal Ikan Bilis and Ikan Bilis (dried anchovies).


Pan-roasted Peanuts and Fried Egg.
Fried Shallots/Small Red Onions (see below).



TS:
What's great about this is that one doesn't even really need a recipe. It's assembly work! Yet, the result is fantastic. The whole meal is so savory and hearty, and that fragrant rice is quite something else.

Of course, our version is a bare-bones version. All sorts of accompaniments (or ulam, as we would call it) can be added: fried fish, beef rendang, chicken dishes, seafood... I think a trip to Malaysia is in order to sample all the possible different combinations or nasi lemak plates!

Wikipedia: Nasi Lemak

other Nasi Lemak recipes/how-to
Chowtimes.com
Rasa Malaysia
MalaysianFood.net

Enjoyed this post? Why not subscribe to our blog? Subscribe via reader or subscribe via email. Thank you!

eatingclub vancouver Malaysian
Sambal Mini Eggplants with Campari Tomatoes
Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice Meal with Sambal)

Some eggy eatingclub dishes
Tarragon-Carrot Deviled Eggs
Golden Egg Torta
Hunanese Stir-fried Eggs with Green Peppers
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Piedmont Marinated Eggs
Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes
Stir-fried Egg and Tomato
Oyster Torta
Torta with Pork and Kecap Manis
Curried (Easter) Egg Salad
Taiwanese Stewed Eggs (滷蛋) with Stewed Minced Pork (魯肉 or 肉燥)
Longsilog (Longganisa + Sinangag + Itlog)
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu
Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice Meal with Sambal)
Home-style Chinese Steamed Egg with Pork
Golden Shrimp Torta (Philippine Shrimp Omelette)