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.

Pineapple & Prawns Fried Rice

Despite me being a pineapple lover, i'm pretty picky and will only devour those that are sweet and juicy. Too bad for me the pineapple i bought earlier isnt that juicy and sweet so instead of whipping up the same thing again (Prawns with Pineapple in Sweet Sour Sauce) i cooked it together with the left over rice from the night before.

INGREDIENTS
* rice
* finely chopped garlic
* sliced onions
* shredded carrots
* chopped coriander
* prawns (shelled & deveined)
* pinapples (cubes)
* light soy sauce
* egg
* salt
* pepper
* brown sugar

Method
1) Saute the garlic and onions
2) Add the shredded carrots and pineapples
3) Next, add the prawns. I seasoned the prawns with salt and pepper 30mins ahead.
4) Add the rice and season with light soy sauce.
5) Make a well in the middle and break the egg into in and add in pepper and light soy sauce and stir till its cooked and fold the rice over it
6) Salt and sugar to taste
7) Add the chopped coriander before you serve.

Leftover rice from the night before is ideal for fried rice. The freshly cooked rice will somewhat make the fried rice rather soggy. I'm not sure bout others but i know i dont fancy soggy fried rice. If there's no leftover then cook the rice for fried rice with a lil less water than the usual, that should do the tricks