Resipi : Nasi Lemak

I owe this nasi lemak recipe to Lyza, a member of my breastfeeding forum. However, it has been like a year since I last cook nasi lemak. I am not sure why I don’t cook it that often ‘cos my children LURVES my homecooked nasi lemak but not those sold outside. The fragrance of the pandan leaves left them waiting for the rice cooker button to pop up to ‘Keep Warm’. 🙂

Actually, a lot of people are overly concerned with the value of coconuts. However, coconut milk is not all that bad as it is touted. Most of the bad publicities came from some foreign country who wish to promote their own soyabean and corn oil. I have a book, “Healthy Eating’ written by a doctor and he revealed that coconut oil (derived from frying grated coconut) is way better than most of the ‘synthetic’ oil. Remember that our coconuts are not genetic engineered. 😉 So, don’t be overly paranoid of coconuts but don’t binge too much too.

RESIPI NASI LEMAK

1 box of coconut milk (about 200 mls)

3 cups of rice (ideally, wash and soak the rice in the water for 2 hours before cooking so that it is easier to cook)

3 cups water (normally, I need 3.5 cups of water to cook my rice, so using 3 cups and 200mls of coconut milk is just nice)

1 teaspoon of fenugreek (biji halba)

1 tiny slice of ginger (slice finely or I just smashed it because my kids hate biting into them)

1 onion (or preferably shallots/bawang kecil)), slice finely, again, I just cut into quarters

4 pandan leaves

Half teaspoon of salt
*and a little chicken granules if you are not fanatic about NO MSG*

Just cook like you usually cook rice. However, you need to take care of them, checking if there is enough water because the coconut milk tends to turn oil and make the rice ‘sandy’. If the rice is not cooked after the button pop up, try add some water and cook again. If at all fail (I had experienced that before), then, try steaming the rice in steamer till cook.

My nasi lemak ‘project’ was a last minute thing so I don’t have any fancy cucumers and mint leaves to decorate as I have none in the house. I made do with fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and hard boiled egg.

Once you mastered cooking nasi lemak, I can guarantee you that it will be a hit with any food parties you throw. The problem is when you cook in large quantities, it is hard to get the right texture of fluffy yet creamy rice. The home-cooked nasi is sooooo delicious.

It goes well with my kari kapitan chicken. That dollop of sambal next to the hard boiled egg is a kick-ass sambal that makes the nasi lemak extra heavenly.

Coming up tomorrow – Ikan cencaru belah belakang.