Nasi Lemak « House of Spices

Many of my Malaysian friends often ask me when will I post a Nasi Lemak recipe. I keep saying I will, I am too particular about nasi lemak I guess. I just want to wait for that right recipe, one that I truly enjoy and will do it again and again.

Here it comes the nasi lemak that I simply LOVE!

Ingredients：

For coconut rice：

Basmati rice 1 1/2 cups
Shredded old coconut 1 cup
Screwpine leave、Pandan leave 3
Lemon Grass 1 stalk
Ginger 1 inch
2 cloves of garlic

For Sambal：

Dried chilies 20
Shallo 4
Garlic 2 cloves
Belachan 1 tbsp
Dried shrimp 1 tbsp
Raisin 1/4 cup
Palm sugar or brown sugar 1 tbp
Tamarind juice 1 tsps (dilute in a cupfull of water)
Salt to taste
Bombay onion 1
20 shrimps or 1/4 cups of Ikan bilis (Anchovies)

I started with the rice..

Soaked rice for 20 minutes, wash and drain it well, tied Pandan leaves into knot, smash ginger, and root part of lemon grass.

Add 3 cups of water to shredded coconut, a pinch of salt, evenly squeeze the coconut before extracting 3 cups of coconut milk.

In a steamer, add rice, pandan leaves, ginger, lemongrass and Garlic with about 1/2 tsp of salt, pour in 3 cups of coconut milk, steam cook it, a good nasi lemak are normally steamed (kukus).

When it is done, you will see a layer of coconut cream on top of the rice, lightly mixed the rice with a fork, and set aside.

Prepare sambal while steaming rice

On a cast iron pan, lightly toast the belachan until fragrance. Soaked dried chilies in hot water, slice onion into ring, soaked dried shrimp in hot water, shelled prawn, and dilute tamarind into one cup of water.

Blend together dried chilies, shallot, garlic, belachan, dried shrimp and raisin in a mixer, it should form a consistent paste.

In a wok, add 2 tbsp of oil, cook the sambal paste till oil appears at edges, add palm sugar and tamarind juice, cook again till oil appears, add salt to taste.