I lived in Malaysia for seven years and I came to LOVE Malaysian food despite being a vegetarian who gradually started to eat fish because of the dietary limitations! One of my favourite dishes came to be ‘Nasi’ Lemak. It literally means ‘fatty rice’ in Malay because the rice is cooked in coconut and pandan leaves for its rich flavour and fragrant smell.
I wanted to find a way to make this dish and stay true to the foods I eat. As I don’t eat rice, peanuts, eggs or excessive fats, I substituted some ingredients and used alternative cooking methods to come up with a dish close enough to enjoy the delicious flavours without the excessive fat, sugar or unwanted ingredients!
I make the sambal and I usually reduce the oil and sweeten it with fresh dates. I substitute activated cashew for fried peanuts, bake dried anchovies (ikan bills) rather than fry them in oil to give them a delightful crunch and I use steam potatoes instead of boiled eggs.
This ‘Nasi’ Lemak is made from cauliflower ‘rice,’ cucumber slices, activated cashews, baked dried achovies (see blog dated 19 january 2022) and sambal assembled on a plate. The dried anchovies (called ‘ikan bills’ from Malaysia containing achovies and salt) are thoroughly rinsed and spread out on a baking sheet and baked at 100c for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes and cooling completely in the oven once it is turned off. Once they are completely cooled and crunchy, I store them in an airtight jar. The sambal recipe below can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container until you are ready to use. The cauliflower ‘rice’ is made by putting cauliflower florets in a food processor and running until you have a rice like consistency. Then stir fry with a pinch of salt on a ceramic non stick pan until it is hot and just starting to brown. While the cauliflower rice is cooking, scrub and steam a potato cut into quarters or eighths. When you have all your ingredients ready, arrange the cauliflower rice, a few steamed potatoes, a handful each of cashews and anchovies with a generous spoonful of sambal and enjoy!
Sambal (for ‘Nasi ‘Lemak)
Ingredients
50g dried chillies, soaked in hot water (just covered)
1 large red onion
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 stalks Lemongrass, inner core, sliced
1 tbsp Trachang shrimp paste, toasted
2 tbsps of Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovies), baked
2-4 tbs avocado oil
1 tbsp Tamarind Paste, diluted in 2-3 tbs filtered water
50 grams fresh dates, pitted and decapped
Method
Cut the stems off the dry chillies if necessary and soak in hot water just covering the chillies. Set aside.
Dry toast the shrimp paste on a frying pan for several minutes .
Add all of the ingredients (except for the tamarind paste) in a blender and make a paste.
Heat a pan over low to medium heat. When hot, pour in the blended sambal paste.
Stir constantly over the low to medium heat so it does not burn. Continue to stir until the sambal sauce emulsifies and the oil floats to the top..
Once it reaches this stage, add the tamarind paste and salt, if needed.
Stir through and give a taste test. Sambal should taste sweet and spicy.