Malaysia

 Welcome to Malaysia!  All the pictures say that this is a beautiful country.  Would I like to visit?  Probably?  But I know that it would be very hot and very sticky, no matter when you go.  I could probably handle the heat for a bit, right?  Malaysia has more kilometers of highway than the circumference of the world!  According to Google, the population is 33.94 million people and the capitol is the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.  Their national dish is...

 

Nasi Lemak

It's a rice dish cooked with some additional ingredients.  To go with Nasi Lemak, I made Chicken Rendang and Rojak.  Sounds simple, right?  A rice dish, chicken dish and a salad?  No.  It wasn't simple.  It took about three hours to complete with all the chopping and cooking!  This should have been a Saturday meal, not a weeknight meal.  So, if you choose to make this dish, make sure you plan ahead!  Here's what I did.

NASI LEMAK

Nasi Lemak (rice)
2 C rice
1 C coconut milk, divided
2 1/2 C water
2 pandan screwpine leaves, tied into a knot
1 knob ginger, 1-2 inches
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Sambal
10 – 15 dried red chilies
1 tbsp tamarind paste
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 tbsp avocado oil
1/2 onion, sliced
1 tbsp brown sugar

GARNISHES
2 eggs hard-boiled (sliced)
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1 cup raw red skin peanuts
1/2 tsp salt
1 C dried anchovies
Cooking oil for deep-frying 

1. Nasi Lemak (rice)
2. Rinse the rice 3 – 4 times or until the water is less murky.
3. Add the rice to a pot and pour 1/2 cup coconut milk over the rice.
4. Add the water to the pot with rice and coconut milk.
5. Add pandan leaves, ginger and salt to the pot.
6. Place the pot on the stove over high heat to bring it to a boil (uncovered).
7. When it is at a rolling boil, reduce the heat to medium to bring it down to a simmer.  
8. When you can see that the water has absorbed just past the surface of the rice and little “craters” have formed on the rice surface, place the lid on the pot.
9. Allow it to boil for a few more seconds with the lid on, then turn off the heat.
10. Leave the lid on to allow the rice to continue to cook for about 15 minutes. No peeking!
11. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut milk and sugar over the rice. 
12. Mix well, then cover the pot again.
13. Sambal
14. Remove the seeds from the dried red chili. 
15. Rinse, then soak the chilies for about 15 minutes.
16. Soak the tamarind paste in 1 1/2 cups of warm water for 15 minutes.
17. Place the drained chilies, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste in a food processor.
18. Use your fingers to gently press the tamarind pulp to release the tamarind juice. 
19. Pour the tamarind water into the food processor through a sieve. 
20. Use a small spoon to press as much of the juice as possible from the tamarind pulp. Discard the pulp.
21. Blend the sambal ingredients to a puree.
22. Heat cooking oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté onions until soft.
23. Add the sambal puree to the pan, followed by brown sugar.  Do a quick taste test. If too spicy, add more sugar.
24. Allow the sambal to simmer until it has thickened. This will take several minutes.
25. Fried Peanuts
26. Heat up cooking oil for deep-frying.
27. When the oil is hot, add peanuts.
28. Allow the peanuts to fry for about 2 minutes, then remove them from the oil. Place the peanuts on paper towels to drain and sprinkle salt over the peanuts.
29. Crispy anchovies
30. Deep fry the dried anchovies for about 2 minutes or until crispy. They should be a very light golden brown color.
31. Remove the fried anchovies from the oil.
32. Spread the crispy anchovies over paper towels.
33. Arrange everything on the plate (including cucumber and hard boiled eggs, all separate. 
34. Enjoy!

(Source: Nasi Lemak)

 

RENDANG

1 1/2 lbs. boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1/3 C avocado oil
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves

3 star anise
3 cardamom pods
1 lemongrass, white part only, pounded and cut into strips

1 C coconut milk
1 C water
5 kaffir lime leaves, bruised (I didn't have this so I used one stalk of lemongrass and zest of a lime)
5 tbsp toasted grated coconut
1 tbsp sugar
Salt, to taste

Spice Paste
2 shallots

1 inch galangal
3 stalks lemongrass, white part only
4 cloves garlic
1- inch piece ginger, peeled
10 dried chilies (chili arbol), seeded

1.  Put all the ingredients of the Spice Paste in a food processor. Blend well.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the Spice Paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom pods and stir-fry them until aromatic. 
3. Add the chicken and lemongrass, stir to combine well with the spices.
4. Add the coconut milk and water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the chicken is almost cooked.
5. Add the kaffir lime leaves (or lemongrass and lime zest) and toasted coconut, stir to blend well with the chicken. 
6. Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and slowly simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the liquid has dried up. 
7. Add more sugar and salt to taste to taste. 
8. Serve immediately.

(Source: Chicken  Rendang)
 

ROJAK

2 cucumbers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 jicama, julienned
1 green mango, julienned
1 green papaya, shredded
½ pineapple, cored, cut into thin wedges
½ cup each Thai basil and cilantro, coarsely torn (loosely packed)
Peanuts, to taste, as a topper
Sesame seeds, to taste, as a topper

 

Chili and Tamarind Dressing

1/2 C sugar
1 small red chili, finely chopped
2 tbsp tamarind liquid
1 tbsp shrimp paste
Juice of 1 lime

1. For chili and tamarind dressing, combine all the ingredients in a food processor until a dressing-like consistency (the dressing should taste spicy, sour, salty and sweet).
2. Combine vegetables, fruits and herbs in a bowl.
3. Dish out the salad and top with dressing, peanuts, and sesame seeds.
4. Enjoy!

(Source: Rojak)

 

 

 

 

The verdict?  We thought we would enjoy this meal a lot more than we did.  Like I said, it took a long time to make, and I am not sure that the meal was worth the effort.  The Nasi Lemak was OK.  It wasn't anything special.  The rice had great flavor (we are making that again for dinner tonight!) and the sauce was VERY spicy.  The anchovies were good for the first three bites, and then it got to be too much for me.  The peanuts were peanuts - nothing special there.  If you choose to make this, I encourage you to go to the source website - they have the order in which to make things mapped out, which was really helpful!  The chicken rendang wasn't great, and did not look at all like the picture did!  We renamed it to be lemongrass chicken.  The lemongrass flavor was so strong that it really took over the taste of the rest of it.  It wasn't super spicy the first night, but let me tell you, leftovers were very spicy!  The rojak was OK - nothing special.  We didn't add all the dressing to the big bowl of salad (this recipe makes a TON of salad!), and we are thankful.  The dressing was just too strange and shrimpy for our taste.  We have a tropical salad dressing we like much better with it!  All in all, we were a bit disappointed in this meal.

ME

Taste of Nasi Lemak with Sambal sauce (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 8

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Nasi Lemak with Sambal sauce (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable):6

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

ME

Taste of Chicken Rendang (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 4

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 7

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Chicken Rendang (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable):4

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

ME

Taste of Rojak (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Rojak (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor):6

 

Hope you enjoyed Malaysia!  Join us next time at the Holy See!