Nasi Lemak is another Malaysian delicacy. You can find it in most Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne. It's basically coconut rice serve with sambal, fried ikan bilis (dried anchovies), peanuts, cucumbers, egg accompanied by a protein dish such as fried chicken, fried fish or curry chicken. Do you know that the recent winner of UK Masterchef 2014, Ping Coombes, actually won the title by serving this dish? Naturally, she brought this dish to the next level. Her Nasi Lemak was very pretty.
To really cook this dish with all the side dishes from scratch is very time consuming. I called it an easy recipe because I am using some ready made ingredients which I think is just as good if not better! More importantly, it saves a lot of time if you're a busy bee like me.
Well, first of all I use a ready made sambal. After trying a few brands, I reckon Singlong brand Nasi Lemak sambal chilli is the best. It is available at Laguna at QV and Hometown Asian supermarket on Elizabeth Street in the city.
Instead of making my own chicken dish, I choose Lilydale's free range chicken wing nibbles. They're marinated with lemongrass and ginger. The flavour is very suitable to eat with Nasi Lemak. Besides that, it's grilled instead of fried which is much healthier. Moreover, it is super tasty!
Besides that, the ikan bilis is baked in the oven rather than fried. It is again healthier and oil free. You can always bake the crispy ikan bilis in advance and store it in a jar. It comes in handy when you need it later as it can be used for garnishing on other dishes too such as pan mee or mee hoon kueh.
Recipe:
(4-6 servings)
For the rice:
3 cups rice
3 pandan leaves
1 box of 200ml coconut milk
Water
Salt to taste
Side dishes:
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion
2/3 jar of Singlong brand Nasi Lemak sambal chilli
Handful of Ikan bilis
1 Cucumber
4 eggs
1 packet Lilydale free range chicken wing nibbles
1. Wash the rice and put it in the rice pot. Add coconut milk, follow by water until it reaches the level for 3 cups of rice as indicated on the rice pot. Add pandan leaves and salt to taste. Cook the rice using the normal rice setting.
2. Boil eggs in the water until hard boiled. Removed the shells when cooled and leave them aside.
3. Wash ikan bilis and pat dry them using paper towel. Spread them evenly on a baking tray. Bake at 180c for about 10-15mins or until brown. Leave it aside.
4. Slice cucumber and leave it aside.
5. Slice onion. Heat oil on frying pan. Stir fry onion until slightly soft. Add in Singlong Nasi Lemak sambal chilli, mix well and cook until the onion is cooked. Leave it aside.
6. Follow the instruction on the packaging and oven grill the Lilydale chicken wing nibbles.
7. Assemble the rice and all the side dishes (sambal with onion, ikan bilis, egg, cucumber and chicken) on a plate and serve.
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