Nasi Lemak Special Recipes

MALAYSIAN NASI LEMAK

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together coconut milk, water, ground ginger, ginger root, salt, bay leaf, and rice. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until done.
• Place eggs in a saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove eggs from hot water, cool, peel and slice in half. Slice cucumber.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet or wok, heat 1 cup vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Stir in peanuts and cook briefly, until lightly browned. Remove peanuts with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to soak up excess grease. Return skillet to stove. Stir in the contents of one package anchovies; cook briefly, turning, until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels. Discard oil. Wipe out skillet.
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet. Stir in the onion, garlic, and shallots; cook until fragrant, about 1 or 2 minutes. Mix in the chile paste, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the chile paste is too dry, add a small amount of water. Stir in remaining anchovies; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in salt, sugar, and tamarind juice; simmer until sauce is thick, about 5 minutes.
• Serve the onion and garlic sauce over the warm rice, and top with peanuts, fried anchovies, cucumbers, and eggs.

NASI LEMAK

Steps:

• Sambal Ikan Bilis:
• Chop paper lantern chiles into ½" pieces, discarding most of the seeds that fall out. Place in a small bowl and pour in boiling water to cover. Let sit 30 minutes to soften, then drain.
• Meanwhile, bring oil and peanuts to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook, adjusting heat as needed, until peanuts are golden brown, 6-8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer nuts to paper towels to drain; set aside for serving. Immediately add anchovies to oil and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes. Transfer to fresh paper towels; let cool. Set ¼ cup oil aside.
• Pulse shallots, garlic, and ¼ cup fried anchovies (save remaining anchovies for serving) in a food processor until a smooth paste forms. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add paper lantern and Holland chiles to food processor (no need to clean) and pulse until very smooth and no visible pieces of dried chile remain. Transfer chile purée to a small bowl.
• Heat reserved oil in a medium skillet over medium-high until shimmering. Add shallot mixture and cook, stirring, until slightly darkened in color and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Mix in chile purée and cook, stirring often, until it starts to stick to bottom of skillet, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add sugar, tamarind concentrate, and ¼ cup water and cook, stirring often, until sambal is much darker in color and thickened, 25-35 minutes.
• Do Ahead: Sambal ikan bilis can be made 1 week ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
• Rice and assembly:
• Place rice in a medium saucepan and pour in cold water to cover; swirl with your hands to rinse away some of the starch. Drain and repeat process 2 more times. Water should be just slightly cloudy at this point. Place rinsed rice back into saucepan and cover with 2½ cups cold water; stir in salt. Gather pandan leaves (if using) together and tie into a knot; add to pan. Bring rice to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover pan and reduce heat to low; cook 18 minutes. Remove lid and stir in coconut milk. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Carefully lower eggs into water. Cook 10 minutes, then transfer to a bowl of ice water and let cool. Peel eggs and cut in half lengthwise.
• Combine sambal ikan bilis, reserved fried peanuts, and reserved fried anchovies in a medium bowl and toss to evenly coat. Scoop a generous ½ cup sambal mixture into a 12-oz. bowl. Top with 1½ cups rice and pack into bowl with a rubber spatula to compress. The bowl should be filled to the rim. Place a slightly larger bowl upside down over bowl of rice. Invert so larger bowl is now on the bottom; lift off smaller bowl. You should have a dome of rice and anchovy mixture nestled in the center of the larger bowl. Arrange 8 cucumber slices around rice dome, overlapping slightly to make a semicircle. Add 2 egg halves to side of rice with no cucumber slices; season yolks lightly with soy sauce. Repeat with remaining rice, sambal mixture, cucumbers, and eggs to make 3 more bowls.

NASI LEMAK

Steps:

• First, to prepare the rice, wash thoroughly in a sieve until the water runs clear. If you're using a rice cooker, put all the ingredients for the coconut rice in along with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and 350ml water. When the rice is ready, leave the lid on for 10 mins before opening, then fluff the rice with a fork. If you're cooking rice on the hob, use a pan with a lid. Put all the ingredients for the rice in with 450ml water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar on a high heat, bring to the boil, then cover. Simmer on a low heat for 10 mins, or until the liquid has evaporated. Let the rice sit with the lid on for another 10 mins. You should be able to see the individual rice grains. If the rice looks a bit wet, spread it out on a tray or into a colander to dry out before serving.
• To make the sambal, tip all the ingredients, except the tamarind paste, with a big pinch of salt in a food processor, then blitz to a paste.
• Stir-fry the sambal paste over a medium-high heat for 10-15 mins. The colour of the paste will darken and the oil will separate. Stir in the tamarind paste, and season to taste with salt and sugar. Leave to cool.
• Heat enough oil in a pan to coat the base, then fry the peanuts until brown, and the dried anchovies until crisp. (You can also use roasted peanuts and skip frying them, if you like.) Remove the nuts and anchovies from the pan, then fry the eggs to your liking.
• Divide the rice between plates - you can simply spoon it on, or fill a small bowl with a portion, then turn it out onto each plate. Top with the anchovies, peanuts, sliced cucumber, fried eggs and sambal.

MALAYSIAN NASI LEMAK

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together coconut milk, water, ground ginger, ginger root, salt, bay leaf, and rice. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until done.
• Place eggs in a saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove eggs from hot water, cool, peel and slice in half. Slice cucumber.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet or wok, heat 1 cup vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Stir in peanuts and cook briefly, until lightly browned. Remove peanuts with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to soak up excess grease. Return skillet to stove. Stir in the contents of one package anchovies; cook briefly, turning, until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels. Discard oil. Wipe out skillet.
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet. Stir in the onion, garlic, and shallots; cook until fragrant, about 1 or 2 minutes. Mix in the chile paste, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the chile paste is too dry, add a small amount of water. Stir in remaining anchovies; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in salt, sugar, and tamarind juice; simmer until sauce is thick, about 5 minutes.
• Serve the onion and garlic sauce over the warm rice, and top with peanuts, fried anchovies, cucumbers, and eggs.

NASI LEMAK

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, combine the rice with the coconut milk, ginger, salt, and cinnamon and add enough water (probably only 1/4 cup or so) to cover the rice with liquid. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn the heat to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Serve or keep warm over absolutely minimal heat for up to 15 minutes.
• Serve a pile of coconut rice in the center of each plate, flanked by wedges of hard-cooked eggs, sliced cucumber, and any or all of the other accompaniments.