Homecooked Nasi Lemak

So I got up one morning and felt like cooking nasi lemak (Coconut milk rice) for the first time. Always wanted to try but just the thought of having to go to the market to buy these ingredients got me lazy. It's actually quite easy to make, but there are actually quite a lot of things you need to buy, if you're making everything from scratch.

That evening, I invited my cousins over to try my first-time nasi lemak. I actually also made some "Ayam Masak Merah" but it was odd-tasting according to them. So I shall not include the recipe here, yah? :D Haven't mastered that dish yet. However, the coconut milk rice and the kunyit fried chicken was good according to them. The sambal sotong was easy because I got the ready packed sambal from the market, I only had to add a little salt, big onions and sliced squid (sotong) and stir fry till fragrant. As for the peanuts and anchovies, I did not get the ready fried ones, I got them uncooked and fried them myself. Much fresher that way.

Nasi Lemak

Ingredients
1. Rice
2. Fresh Coconut Milk (Santan)
3. Pandan Leaves (Knotted)
4. Salt
5. Ginger
6. Shallots
7. Peanuts
8. Anchovies (Ikan Bilis)
9. Cucumber
10. Chicken
11. Turmeric Powder (Kunyit Powder)

Coconut milk rice

1. Wash the rice
2. Cook rice together with knotted pandan leaves, a pinch of salt, sliced shallots, and chunks of ginger in a rice cooker.
3. When rice is half cooked, pour in desired amount of coconut milk (depends on how much rice you cook)

Peanuts, Anchovies
1. Get unroasted peanuts (with skin) from the market. Tell them it's for frying, not for soup. The colour of the unroasted peanut should be light brown.
2. Heat up enough oil in a frying pan and fry peanuts in medium fire.
3. Keep tossing until peanuts turn to a slightly darker shade of brown, and then switch off fire.
4. Do not fry the peanuts in high fire as it'll most likely become burnt.

1. Peel anchovies or simply get peeled anchovies from the market.
2. Wash anchovies and drain them dry.
3. Fry anchovies in oil, also in low fire.
4. Patiently stir until anchovies turn golden brown.
5. Quickly turn off the fire and remove anchovies from hot oil. It may not seem crispy at this moment, but they will eventually become crispy once u leave it to cool on a plate.

Fried Kunyit Chicken
1. Marinate chicken with turmeric powder for about 1-2 hours.
2. Deep fry in oil, make sure that the fire is put to medium as to avoid burnt but uncooked chicken.

Lastly, cup the coconut rice in a bowl and place on a plate, fry a sunny side-up, slice some cucumbers and serve with fried kunyit chicken, peanuts, anchovies and sambal sotong.






Next post - Claypot Chicken Rice!! This one's a little tricky. Learnt how to cook this myself. Super delish according to those who tried. :D

Homemade Chicken Rice

We all love chicken rice, don't we? It is something most people wouldn't say no to. The question is, how do you judge a nice tasting chicken rice? The chicken? The rice? Or the chili sauce? Personally, I always taste and judge the rice first, then the chicken and chili sauce. I love chicken rice's rice. It is very important to have fragrant enough rice to go with your bak cham kai (Steamed Chicken) or siew kai (Roasted Chicken). Some places are famous for their Nga Choi Kai(Taugeh/bean sprouts Chicken). In this post I'm going to include a simple dish of bean sprouts too. It is a shame to say though, that I haven't tried making the chili sauce for my chicken rice...

The actual way of cooking chicken rice actually requires a lot of steps, which is basically not practical if you are only cooking for 2 or 3 persons, or if you are simply a newbie in cooking. We want fast, easy and equally as delicious food! That is what my blog is all about.


Homemade Chicken Rice

Ingredients

1. Rice
2. Chicken stock cubes
3. Minced garlic
4. Ginger
5. Chicken thigh
6. Japanese cucumber
7. Chicken fats
8. Taugeh/Bean Sprouts



How to make the chicken

1. Cut off fats from chicken thigh, keep fats aside to be used later on.
2. Clean chicken thighs and marinate with salt for 1-2 hours.
3. Steam chicken in a wok/steamer for about half an hour.
4. Poke chicken using a fork to ensure that it is well cooked.



How to make the bean sprouts

1. Wash bean spouts thoroughly.
2. In a pot of boiling water, put in bean sprouts and let it boil for about 10 seconds then quickly drain bean sprouts. Overcooked beansprouts will lose its crunchiness.
3. Add some oyster sauce and fried onion/garlic on top of beansprouts and serve.



How to make the rice

1. Wash rice and drain off the water.
2. In a wok, add 2 tablespoons of oil/chicken fats. Saute minced garlic till fragrant, then add in chicken stock cubes and chunks of ginger.
2. Add in washed but uncooked rice, and stir fry for 3mins or until rice turns golden brown.
3. Boil the rice in a rice cooker.

Serve chicken rice with sliced Japanese cucumber and chili sauce.



You can also saute some minced garlic and serve in a saucer together with some oyster sauce in it. Goes very well with the steamed chicken.



Stay tuned for the next recipe that I am going to share - Nasi Lemak.