The Food Canon

Cook a pot of good rice.
Prepare some delicious sambal.
Fry some ikan bilis and peanuts.
Make some hard-boiled eggs.
Cut some fresh cucumbers.

1.  Wash the rice 2-3 times and drain.
2.  Add equivalent amount of water (5 cups) and salt.
3.  Start cooking the rice.
4.  When the rice has risen (button on rice cooker turns to "warm”), add the coconut milk and knotted pandan leaves.
5.  Stir and mix the rice and milk. Keep the rice warm till you serve.

Notes: Basmati is forgiving and stays separated and less likely to be mushed up when cooking in a rice cooker cf to jasmine rice. It is also lighter than jasmine rice. Don't cook rice with coconut milk at the start. It will end up looking like chicken rice with the oil soaked through. Jasmine or regular Malaysian rice has a fluffiness which you can’t find in Basmati. You can still make good NL rice with  it (my Mum uses Jasmine rice) but sticks strictly to a 1:1 water:rice ratio. See this post for some tips when using Jasmine rice.

As for coconut milk, any kind will do. If you are squeezing your own coconut milk, the steps are different as spelt out here.

1.  Blend or dice 2 onions.
2.  Slice 2 onions and set aside.
3.  Blend the chilli into a paste.
4.  Heat up the oil in a wok on low fire.
5.  Add the blended/diced onions. Simmer for 15 minutes.
6.  Add the chilli paste, water, sugar and simmer for 10 minutes.
7.  Add the fried ikan bilis and sliced onions. Stir and mix.
8.  After 2 minutes, the sambal is done.

Fried Assam Prawns: Marinate in tamarind sauce, pepper, salt and dark sauce. Pan-sear each side for 2 minutes.

Dinner Spread.

I will blog my cooking notes here on a recent batch of Nasi lemak Sambal which turned out very well.

As I have said elsewhere, my idea of a good Nasi Lemak Sambal is:

1. It should be on the sweet side, complimenting the savoury nasi (coconut rice), ikan bilis (fried anchovies) and other ingredients on the plate. 
2. It's spiciness should be average so that the diner can eat more of the sambal along with the rice. 
3. I like texture in the sambal and I get this by adding slices of large red onions and fried ikan bilis towards the end. 
4. The sambal needs to have enough oil for the mouthfeel and for some of it to soak into and color the rice. 

Method

1. Blend the peeled shallots and chillies.  
2. Fry the ikan bilis in the oil. About 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
3. Using the oil leftover from frying the ikan bilis, heat it up in a wok and add the shallot paste. Gently fry for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the chilli paste.
5. Add the sugar, gula melaka, assam paste and salt along the way, adjusting the taste if you need to to find a good balance..
6. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Adjust the taste if needed. Do remember that when you add ikan bilis, the sambal will be saltier. Go easy on salt. You can even omit salt it the sambal is sufficiently savoury after you add ikan bilis. 
7. Add the slices of large onions and the fried ikan bills. Cook for another 5 minutes and switch off the fire.

Yumms....

I use to think that the electric cooker messes up the nasi for Nasi Lemak.

I have most of the time gravitated to steaming the rice as one way to ensure that the rice is separated and fluffy. I have done up many posts about it here. Indeed the steaming method is a good one, albeit more troublesome and not always practical if you are cooking a small batch.

I have since learned that with care, an electric cooker, even a very large one can be use to make good nasi. The basic principles I adhere too is this:

1. When I am cooking the rice, I do not want to cook it in oil. The texture for Nasi Lemak should be different from Chicken Rice, which is cooked with oil added. It should look like plain rice (white and opaque) and yet, has the unmistakable flavour and fragrance of Nasi Lemak.

2. To ensure that the rice will not end up mushy, I use the 1:1 rice/water ratio.

3. It is after the rice is cooked that I flavour the rice with the coconut cream or thick milk and pandan leaves.

When I am cooking the rice, I minimise or omit together any oil.

When I am flavoring the rice with coconut milk, I keep the liquid (water) to the minimum and ensure thick coconut cream is used. If you add too much water after the rice is cooked, it won't turn mushy but soggy. You won't want this either.

In this recipe, I will give the proportions but you are free to adjust i.e. add more coconut cream or pandan leaves. As long as you don't cook the rice in the oil, you will get the end result that I seek for in a good nasi. And yes, salt is important or else the rice will be tasteless.


Nasi for  10 pax

5 cups of jasmine rice
5 cups of water
1 Tbp of table salt or 2 tsp of cooking salt
Cream from one coconut
10 pieces of Pandan leaves

Add the rice, water and salt into the rice cooker. Start the cooking

When the button turns to "warm", pour in the coconut cream and stir gently. Tie up the pandan leaves and add to the rice. It is important to fluff and stir the rice as the way the electric cooke ris designed, the rice eat bottom is often more cooked that this eat the surface. Close the cooker and keep cooking it. After about 5-10 minutes or so, the button will turn back to warm (because of the internal heat). The rice will be ready to serve by now. You can keep it at warm mode for another half an hour if you wish.

If you are serving the rice much later, it will be better to switch off the rice cooker. Depending on the rice cooker you are using, even in warm mode, sometimes it is hot enough for the rice to keep cooking. Here is where it could turn mushy.

It is actually quite simple. Experiment for yourself and once you understand how to do it, you will be encouraged to cook Nasi lemak more often as the electric cooker is convenient to use.

Photo credit: Joyce Ho

It has been proofread many time over but *groan*, there are still some typos, most which are minor.

But this addendum is important for the Nasi Lemak Recipe.

At the bottom of page 201, which has been cut off:

"If you do not have a suitable steamer, you can still cook the rice well in an electric rice cooker. Add the thin coconut milk into the water (remember to keep the 1:1 liquid-rice ratio). Include the salt and pandan leaves. When the rice has cooked, switch the cooker to ‘warm’ mode. Add the coconut cream, more pandan leaves and stir gently. Then let it stay in warm mode for another 15 minutes."

"A good plate of Nasi Lemak is about getting the basics right. It is not about adding good side-dishes or adding expensive gourmet ingredients."

This is one of those "public cooking notes," where I had to jot down notes after cooking a good dish and you get to read it.

It was a wonderful day of celebrating the 50th birthday of our nation. Being a Sunday, it started with worship in church where we prayed together a prayer of thanksgiving. Then families gathered to watch the NDP together in the evening. What should we serve for dinner?

We decided on Nasi Lemak and indeed, it was the right choice.

Both Malay and Nonya at the same time, this dish which originated in Malay seaside villages has evolved in our multicultural city to what it is today. In fact, there are many versions of it, from the simple and essential, to those that come served with many side dishes.

I have been cooking various types of Sambal chilli for Nasi Lemak and I have settled on this recipe which I like the most. And trust me, making a good sambal is not difficult.

Slices of large red onions and fried ikan bills is added towards the end. The onions introduce texture and the ikan bilis adds salty and umami flavours to the sambal.

Just when you think you have the recipes and techniques all wrapped up, there comes along another tip or idea. And sometimes it will not only improve the recipe but simplifies it.

My favourite cooking companion, Auntie Lucy and myself have been fastidious in trying to improve on the rice of our Nasi Lemak recipe. Our favourite approach is to cook it in the rice cooker before steaming it in a steamer. It is definitely better than just cooking it in the rice cooker as the rice turns out fluffy. However, when you are cooking a big pot of rice in the rice cooker, inevitably some of the rice will stick together as the cooker cooks unevenly.

I have here a version of rempah fried chicken the Malay way which has pleased many of my guests. It is actually quite simple to make. And it goes very well with nasi lemak.

The first step involved is marinating it. Use ground spices and the fresher they are, the better. Buy fresh grounded ones or use seeds and grind them. Like coffee beans, spice seeds just keep the flavours better, especially in our humid tropical weather.

As for the chicken, cut into larger pieces. The drumsticks and wings should be kept whole. Larger cuts help to keep the meat moist inside with a crisp exterior as you deep fry.

I am logging in this recipe for my friends in Toronto. It is also helpful for me as there are things I learn each time I cook a dish.

After a week of mostly non-Asian food and in the cold winter of Toronto, Nasi Lemak makes for a very satisfying Sunday dinner with good company to boot.  

This can be seen as a "simplified" Nasi Lemak recipe as being overseas and without access to the usual ingredients meant that there was a need to adapt.

I will start with the rice.

I thought this sign gave the event a casual restaurant feel.

It was fun to serve almost 200 diners a plate of home-made Nasi Lemak at St James' Church last Wednesday evening. There was a nice home-restaurant atmosphere.

It is the largest group we have cooked for thus far. I am glad to observe that the team worked well together to ensure a wonderful dinner and evening for all. Earlier, we were expecting to cater to a crowd of 120-150. As it neared 200 the day before, we switched some plans to better cater for this increase.

This is a pictorial post and I will let the photos and captions speak for themselves. There are some food and party tips in the captions.

One of my favourite ways of eating prawns is the fried assam way.

The prawns are marinated in sugar, salt, dark sauce and assam paste (tamarind sauce). And then pan seared in a shallow layer of oil. The prawn is enjoyed with shells on. This way of cooking utilises the flavours in the shell to enhance the dish.

Note: If you like to attend an Alpha Course, check out the details here .

With bits of a spoon-carved hard-boiled egg, rice, sambal and anchovies, the first bite of the Nasi Lemak last night was nothing short of astounding.

And I am still thinking about it.

I  think it was better than the version made by my mum (Auntie Ruby). That is saying a lot. From now, if possible, every lot Nasi Lemak I make has to be done this way. The rice was so good that the prawns, chicken all became secondary though they were delicious in their own right.

I have just turned 50. Many things in life get better with time. Some say you go downhill after 50. I think I will stay on top for a while and enjoy the view.

My Mum's Nasi Lemak recipe gets better with time, it seems. I did one party for more than 50 pax recently. The good thing about repeating recipes - Nasi Lemak is such a great party dish - is that you get to improve them. Good as my Mum's recipe is, she will be the first to tell you that hers can be improved on. The last party one would have made her proud and I wished she was around.

The "Essential" Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak is the national dish of my country of birth.

It was also my Mum's favourite party spread.

If you have 10 guests or more and you are thinking of a buffet approach, Nasi Lemak never fails to please. Except for the rice, everything else can be served at room temperature. Most of the dishes can be made well in advance. This will help you avoid the last minute rush to get the food ready. 

If cooked as it should be (not with luncheon meat!), it can compete with other popular international fare. It can be plated the fine dining way (looks gorgeous), lined as a buffet or served cheaply but deliciously as a banana leaf wrapped breakfast meal.