We made it our resolution this year to try every country’s national dish. Not that we weren’t already, we’ve been doing that but we wanted to make it a more formal category of this blog by sharing and presenting our experiences in an easier-to-digest format, hence our National Dish Quest.
Most people probably don’t know this but Will Fly for Food actually started off as a food and recipe blog. Ren’s a fantastic cook so for several years I had been building a database of her recipes in the Reneelicious Recipes section of this blog. We’ve shifted focus since then and Ren’s taken on other responsibilities which keep her from cooking as often, but it’s something we’d like to revisit. Ren frequently gets inspired by travel food shows so what better way to revive this part of our blog than to recreate and share recipes of all the national dishes we eat on our travels? So excited was Ren about the idea that she decided to recreate the beautiful nasi lemak dish we had (several times) in Malaysia a few years ago.
Some countries have more than one national dish so we’ll create a dedicated post for each. As much as possible, each will have a recipe as well as pictures, videos, and stories about our experience. 🙂
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Photo by Faixal via Pixabay
Nasi lemak is one of my absolute favorite things to eat in Malaysia. I just love all its different flavors and textures, especially that spicy sambal! If you’ve never had nasi lemak before, it’s basically a breakfast dish consisting of fragrant rice served with chicken, fried ikan bilis (small anchovies), roasted peanuts, cucumber slices, sambal, and a hard-boiled egg. Though traditionally a breakfast meal, it’s now commonly eaten throughout the day. The term nasi lemak literally translates to “fatty rice”, and is in reference to the richness of the rice cooked in coconut milk.
We visited Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi in 2013 and I had this on three separate occasions if I remember correctly. This plate in particular was served at the Central Market food court in Kuala Lumpur.
This one I had at the airport in Langkawi while waiting to board our plane back to KL. If you compare it to the previous picture, you’ll see that all the components are the same. I didn’t take a picture of it but I had it once more at the KL airport before flying back to Manila. It was at a Malaysian fast food chain called Marry Brown that specialized in nasi lemak!
Nasi lemak may be Malaysia’s national dish but it’s also popular in neighboring areas such as Singapore, Riau Islands, Brunei, and Southern Thailand. I’ve never had it here but it can apparently be found in my native Philippines as well, in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao!
We had the version you see below in Singapore at a restaurant called Nasi Lemak Kukus. The sambal in Singaporean nasi lemak tends to be on the sweet and spicy side but this restaurant offers the traditionally spicy kind as well. You can see the two types of sambal on our plate below. It’s interesting to note that there’s a Chinese version of Singaporean nasi lemak as well. It’s served with a variety of sides like deep-fried chicken drumsticks, chicken franks, fish cakes, curried vegetables, and tongsan luncheon meat. At Nasi Lemak Kukus, each side is individually priced so diners can customize their plates. They didn’t have it there but I read that the rice in Chinese-Singaporean nasi lemak can sometimes be colored emerald green as well using pandan leaves.
INGREDIENTS
For Coconut Milk Steamed Rice
2 cups rice
3 pandan (screwpine) leaves (tied into knot)
Salt to taste
1 small can coconut milk (5.6 oz size)
Some water
For Tamarind Juice
1 cup water
Tamarind pulp (size of small ping pong ball)
For Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovies Sambal)
1/2 red onion
1 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
1 clove garlic
4 shallots
10 dried chillies
1 tsp of belacan (prawn paste)
1/4 tsp of salt
1 Tbsp of sugar
OTHER INGREDIENTS (Optional)
2 hard boiled eggs (cut into half)
3 small fish (sardines or smelt fish)
Fried chicken
Dry, roasted peanuts
1 small cucumber (cut into slices and then quartered)
DIRECTIONS
Rinse rice and drain. Add coconut milk, pinch of salt, and some water. Add pandan leaves into rice, then cook rice.
Rinse dried anchovies then drain water. Fry anchovies until light brown, then set aside.
Pound prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies with mortar and pestle. You can also grind them with food processor.
Slice red onion into rings.
Soak tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze tamarind constantly to extract flavor into water. Drain pulp and save tamarind juice.
Heat some oil in pan and fry spice paste until fragrant. Add in onion rings. Add in ikan bilis and stir well. Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar. Simmer on low heat until gravy thickens, then set aside.
Clean small fishes, cut into halves, and season with salt, then deep fry.
Cut cucumber into slices, and then quartered into four small pieces.
Dish up steamed coconut milk rice and pour some sambal ikan bilis on top of rice. Serve with fried fish, cucumber slices, hard-boiled eggs, peanuts, and fried chicken.
* * * * *
Now that you’ve seen Malaysian and Singaporean nasi lemak, it’s time to feast your eyes on Reneelicious nasi lemak! Doesn’t it look fantastic?! Trust me, it tastes every bit as good as it looks. I’ve been having it for the last two days! 😀 If you follow Ren’s recipe above, then you can have a delicious plate of nasi lemak just like this. Try it!
Instead of regular fried chicken, Ren made hers with chicken lollipops. She even threw in a few pieces of fried biya (dried, butterflied goby fish) from Pangasinan. How lucky am I?! 😀
If you do decide to try this recipe, then please let us know in the comments section below how it turned out. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks! 😀
The coconut flavour is complemented by the dish's spicy sambal – a chilli paste made from dried chilies, garlic, shallots, and belacan (shrimp paste). In the 1970s, nasi lemak was sold in small packets of rice wrapped in banana leaves for just 30 cents, peddled door-to-door by vendors travelling from house to house.
In Singapore, nasi lemak is a notable Malay dish, and is acknowledged as an important part of Singapore's food heritage. The dish is sold across Singapore, and some people cook it at home as well. Although traditionally consumed during breakfast, the dish is now eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper.
In Indonesia, nasi goreng is a breakfast dish. This is why the Indonesian version is lighter, has fewer ingredients and is almost always topped with a fried egg. In Malaysia, nasi lemak takes pole position as a rice dish for breakfast. Nasi goreng is a very popular standalone meal for lunch or a simple dinner.
Nasi lemak was mentioned in a book The Circ*mstances of Malay Life, written by Sir Richard Olof Winstedt in 1909. With roots in Malay culture and Malay cuisine, its name in Malay literally means "fat rice", but is taken in this context to mean "rich" or "creamy".
Ironically, Nasi Lemak actually translates into “Fatty/Oily Rice” but its meaning relates along the lines of “creamy rice”. TIME Magazine had described the dish as “supremely delicious”, while stating Nasi Lemak was balanced with manganese, protein and carbs.
Although lemak in the Malay language is a general-purpose word for fat (lemak babi translates to pork lard), in a culinary context the term refers exclusively to the coconut milk creaminess in dishes like nasi lemak and laksa lemak, or Malay and Nyonya kuehs.
Eating nasi lemak on a regular basis will put an additional strain on your cardiovascular system (blood, heart and blood vessels) and cerebrovascular system (blood vessels that transport blood to and from the brain). It can also elevate blood pressure, increasing your vulnerability to conditions such as: Stroke.
"The popular dishes, like nasi lemak, mee goreng (fried yellow noodles), char kway teow and all these – they are usually high in fat, high in calories," she said, adding these dishes were many of her patients' favourites. Healthy options include soups and foods that are steamed, boiled or grilled.
Nasi lemak is a diverse of flavour profiles coming together. Fragrant rice enriched with coconut milk with knots of pandan leaves gives the rice that rich flavour while the spicy sambal adds a punch to it.
Hainanese chicken rice (海南鸡饭; Hǎinán jī fàn) is based on the Hainanese dish Wenchang chicken. It is considered Singapore's national dish. Hainanese curry rice is a dish consisting of steamed white rice smothered in a mess of curries and braised gravy.
Comment: Although this dish is a good source of protein and dietary fibre, it should be consumed occasionally as this dish alone exceeds the saturated fat allowance and almost all of the cholesterol and sodium allowance an adult should consume in a day.
This is the fish which is widely used in the local delicacy called Nasi Lemak. It can be steamed as well and the flesh is hand peeled to ensure no bones before feeding to young children. Ikan Kunning is usually fried after coating with turmeric powder or some light flavouring and seasoning.
Nasi Lemak has got to be one of Singapore's most popular foods. But, unfortunately, this local favourite happens to be one of the worst foods for you if you have diabetes. Worse still, the rice is cooked with coconut milk, which is high in saturated fat that can raise LDL levels ('bad') cholesterol.
Even a tiny amount of harmful bacteria can be dangerous when we eat leftover food. While that packet of nasi lemak bought earlier in the morning might still seemingly smell and taste fine later in the day, it might have already harboured enough toxic pathogens to leave you feeling nauseated and ill.
For a heavier meal, there are a variety of side dishes that nasi lemak can be paired up with. Some options include: fried chicken, sambal udang (prawn), sambal sotong (squid), sambal potatoes, beef rendang, and fried eggs.
Nasi lemak, a spicy coconut rice, is the national dish of Malaysia, where it is eaten for breakfast. If that is a little too adventurous, it makes a great weekend dinner for friends.
Nasi lemak, or fragrant coconut rice, is known for the aromatic smell of fresh, green pandan leaves and the light flavor of sweet and creamy coconut milk. For those who never heard of pandan leaves, they are used for coloring and flavoring in Southeast Asian cooking.
It gets most of its flavour from garlic, shallots and sweet soy sauce. People often add other condiments and spices such as turmeric, shrimp paste, fish sauce, chilli, sambal or bumbu paste. People often add egg omelette to the dish and fried shallots for extra texture.
In English, a direct translation of Nasi Lemak is creamy rice, and 'creamy' refers to a creamy texture of the coconut milk which is the main ingredient for this cuisine. The rice is cooked and sometimes steamed with coconut milk. Another main ingredient is the sambal or sauce which ranges in terms of its spiciness.
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