Nasi Lemak ( Rice in Coconut Milk )

Nasi Lemak literally means rice in cream, adopted from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in coconut milk/cream and then the mixture is steamed. This is my first time tryin my hands on cooking this particular dish. When i was growing up, whenever we have Nasi Lemak served at home , I'd get excited cause i can put as much gravy as i want on my rice unlike the store bought ones, dry without much gravy.

Usually Nasi Lemak would be served with spicy anchovies and since i don't have any at home, i substituted it with spicy prawns (sambal udang). You may also serve this dish with fried fish (sardine, mackerel, etc), peanuts and just bout anything that you desire. I don't quite fancy peanuts, therefore i excluded it.

Ingredients

RICE

* 3 cups rice

* 4 cups of water

* 1/2 cups of coconut milk

* 3 screwpine leaves (knotted)

* 3 shallots (thinly sliced)

* 1/2 inch ginger (thinly sliced)

* A pinch of salt

Method :

1) Wash and rinse the long grain rice for at least 5 times to get rid of the starch and also any particles in the rice.

2) Add in the rest of the ingredients in the rice cooker and let it cook.

3) After 10 minutes or so, stir the rice so that the remaining ingredients will be well blended with your rice.

4) Once the rice cooker's "keep warm" indicator is on , fluff up the rice with your fork and cover it up with the lit and let it sit approximately 15mins before serving.

SPICY PRAWNS

* 800g-1kg prawns (shelled and deveined)

* Tamarind juice to taste

* Salt and sugar to taste

* Olive oil

Spice Paste

* 3 medium red onions

* 3cm ginger

* 5 cloves garlic

* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder

* 5 candle nuts

* 5 tbsp chilli paste

Method:

1) You can either blend or pound all the ingredients for the spice paste.

2) Fry your prawns with a little bit of oil for less than a minute and dish out.

3) Heat up your work and add olive oil and stir fry the spice paste until fragrant.

4) Season with salt and sugar to taste and finally add in your tamarind juice until it reaches the consistency you desire.

5) Taste again and season accordingly if you need to.

6) Add in the prawns and simmer for less than 5 minutes otherwise the prawns will turn hard and rubbery.

Note:

If you like the gravy to be more spicy, adjust the amount of chilli paste you included in your spice paste.