Nasi Lemak

This dish is a very popular breakfast meal in malaysia. Traditionally the rice and accompaniments are wrapped in banana leaves and the accompaniments are simple with just Sambal Ikan bilis, hard boil egg and slices of cucumber. Nowadays, city folks are affluent and the accompaniments are limitless. to mention a few, beef or chicken rendang, fried chicken, sambal sotong/kerang(cockles). As this meal was our dinner i had to prepare it more substantially so i cooked sambal sotong and fried chicken besides the usual accompaniments.



Ingredients:
(A)
300 gm fragrant jasmine rice, washed
450 ml coconut milk
1 tsp salt
5 thin slices of ginger
1/4 of an onion, sliced thinly

4 tbsp oil
300 gm of fresh sotong, clean and cut into bite size
1 big onion
1 tsp asam jawa(tamarind) mixed with 2 tbsp water, squeeze and strain
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt to taste

Sambal(pounded)

5 dried chillies, soaked
3 red chillies
6 shallots
2 pips garlic
1 stalk serai(lemongrass) sliced
1 tsp belachan powder

Accompaniments

Fried Chicken
3 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 cucumber, sliced
Fried peanuts


Method:

1. Put all ingredients (A) into a steaming tray and steam overe high heat until rice is cooked and dry. Stand for 15 minutes before fluffing up with fork or chopsticks.
2. Heat oil and saute pounded ingredients until fragrant and oil is separated from the sambal. Add in the sliced onions and cook until onions are soft. Add in the asam jawa juice, sugar and salt to taste. Lastly add in the sotong and saute sotong until cooked and this will be a short while as sotong cooks very fast. They are cooked when they are curled.
3. Dish out and serve.

Notes:

I like to fry the ikan bilis in the microwave as it is easy and it will not stench the whole house.

Wash the ikan bilis and drain dry with a kitchen towel. Put into a plate and mix with 1 tsp of cooking oil(it does not require alot of oil to get it crispy). Microwave on high for 2 mins the first time, stir and microwave for a minute at a time until the degree of crispiness desired. Sprinkle with salt.

The peanuts can be cooked in the microwave or the oven without oil but i prefer to fry the peanuts in oil as it tasted better. sprinkle with salt when it is still hot.

Replaced the sotong with fried ikan bilis in the sambal which is authentically right.

Serves