By Muhammad Faiz
Nasi lemak is one of the famous staple Malaysian dishes for all Malaysians regardless of age and race. It is a plate that consists of coconut rice, a half-boiled egg, a slice of cucumber, a mix of anchovies and nuts with sambal paste at the side. The dish also can be served together with chicken or prawns or squid or even crab. The dish is such a flexible meal that can be put together depending for each of one’s own taste buds.
When it comes to this national dish, there are several factors determining whether it is a good dish or not. Even when it comes to the taste of the dish, whether it is delicious or not delicious. The factors determining what are the flavours, texture, quality and the whole taste of the dish, as it is a mix of several ingredients.
As a Malaysian, I understand the struggles in finding the right place to have the best nasi lemak as so many things that could go wrong. For example, the sambal paste might not taste as delicious as it should, the anchovies are not as crispy as it can and the coconut rice is not well cooked. For me, the only place I know that I can get the best nasi lemak is when it is home cooked by my mother as then I know it would be delicious every single time.
According to www.asianfoodchannel.com, below is all ingredients needed for the dish:
Traditional nasi lemak:
- 2 cups Japanese Sumo Rice
- 1 cup Coconut Milk
- 3 cups Water
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 Shallots (crushed)
- 2 Garlic (crushed)
- 3 screw Pine Leaves (tie them in a knot)
Sambal ikan bilis (anchovies):
- 50 grams Dried Anchovies
- 300 grams Onion
- 50 grams Garlic
- 40 grams Dry Chilli
- 8 pieces Red Bird Eye Chilli
- 10 grams Shrimp Paste (Belacan)
- 10 grams Tamarind Paste
- 2 tablespoons Del Monte Tomato Paste
- 2 cups Water
- 10 grams Belacan
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
Enclosed here is the recipe for nasi lemak;
Traditional nasi lemak:
- Put all the ingredients in the rice cooker & boil until it is cooked.
Sambal ikan bilis (anchovies):
- Blend onion and garlic in a food processor.
- Blend dry chilli and red birds eye chilli together, add in oil if necessary.
- While preparing the ingredients, heat up the wok on low flame for at least 20 minutes.
- Fry anchovies until crispy in a low to medium heat.
- Sieve the fried anchovies and save the remaining oil.
- Put in the shrimp paste and fry until it releases its flavour.
- Add in the blended onions and garlic.
- Stirring constantly to ensure it does not stick to the wok.
- Stir in the onion & garlic become brown & caramelised for 30 minutes.
- Add in the blended chillies.
- Keep stirring and maintain on low heat, as it will gradually dry up (approx. ten to fifteen minutes).
- When the oil starts to separate, add the tomato paste and stir for another one to two minutes.
- Add in the mixture of tamarind paste & water. Cook for another five to ten minutes.
- Season with salt and sugar. Set aside until it is cooled.
- Add in the crispy anchovies. Last, mix to combine and serve.
In Malaysia, nasi lemak has been one of the best traditional dishes that represents unity and peace. Other dishes that represent unity and peace are roti canai and dim sum. It is so obvious throughout times that nasi lemak has been one of the symbols of unity in Malaysia as we can see in the morning in Mamak stalls, people sitting around chatting happily while eating nasi lemak or roti canai regardless of their background. They are as united as one and the environment, where all people are so supportive of each other at this time more than ever.
Besides that, nasi lemak also has been modernised several times with some modern twists. Back then, it used to be either an egg, a chicken, some meats then it went on to prawns and cuttlefish. Now, we have nasi lemak ketam (crab) and even “Nasi Lemak” Burger by McDonald’s, Burgerlab and Agak Agak. Nasi lemak is that dish that people keep trying to upgrade yet most people still prefer the original dish.
Some may not realise this but the food is one of the most significant parts of everyone’s lives. Food, especially nasi lemak represents a huge chunk of someone’s life even for me. Back in high school, whenever the menu of the day is nasi lemak, it was exciting to come and eat. Everyone would look forward to the weekend when the breakfast is nasi lemak on Sunday’s every fortnight.
It does show that in this world, something as trivial as food could be considered as an important part of one’s life. Most importantly, we need to realize that food is more than something that is meant for consumption especially traditional food such as nasi lemak to be treasured as such a delicacy and national pride. ***