Shixcooks: Nasi Lemak (Savoury Rice)

So today my sister wanted Nasi Lemak (savoury rice) as her welcome back meal so I made these sides to go with this versatile meal.

Coconut rice (not pictured)

Prep time: 5mins
Cook time 30 mins
Special Equipment: rice cooker

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of rice
• 2.5 cups of water
• 3 tbsp coconut cream/milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 inch ginger 
• 3 cloves garlic 
• 4 tbsp oil (some prefer margarine or butter)

Method: 

1. Wash the rice in a pot and once done add in the water.
2. Add in the oil, coconut cream and salt and mix well
3. Bruise the garlic and ginger and add into the pot. Bury them well so that they perfume the rice.
4. Let it cook.

Note: Being a rice eater, my rice is cooked in the rice cooker. If you don't have one, cook it in the pot at medium heat until water boils then cover and use extremely low heat under water dries up.
At this point, mix it and turn off the flame and leave the steam to do the work for the next 15 min

Rice Variation

Garlic and ginger are used here as aromatics. This is the way mu mum does it. There are other variations that people normally use which are written below:

1. Omit the ginger and garlic and use 3 pandan leaves instead. Wash them and tie into a knot before adding them in step 3. (Most common)

2. If you would like green rice, replace the ginger and garlic with 5 pieces of pandan leaf. Grind the Pandan leaf into a paste, sieve out the paste to remove the fibres and let the rice be coloured and fragrances by the juice collected.

3. Omit the garlic and use 2 sticks of lemongrass instead.

Side Dishes

I've cooked the rice with grilled fish and kangkong belacan. Usually, it's cooked with other proteins and vegetables like:

1. Fried yellowstriped scad/trevally

2. Omelette

3. sliced cucumber

4. fried peanuts

5. fried dried anchovies

6. Sweet sambal

7. Otak-otak (grilled spiced fish paste)

8. Fried chicken

9. Fishballs

10. Sausages

Do try out these recipes. It's really easy and cheap too!

Shix cooks: Fried fish soup

Today's rainy day deserves a nice warm soothing meal

Prep time: 1h 10min

Cooking time: 1h 15min 

Warning: prep and cooking times overlap! It only takes a little over an hr to prepare ahahah

Ingredients:

Fried fish

Part 1:

2 pcs White fish fillet cut into bite-sized cubes

2 tsp cornflour

1tsp salt

1 tsp seseme seed oil

1tsp tumeric powder

Part 2:

Oil for frying

2 tbsp cornflour

1 egg

1/4 cup water

Soup

Part 3:

1.5 litres water

1 handful anchovies ground

1 handful soy beans

1 inch ginger bruised

Dash of fish sauce (optional)

Salt to taste 

Optional:

2 tomatoes quartered

2 handfuls leafy greens

Condiment (optional)

Part 4:

1 handful Birdseye chilli 

1/2 cup light soy sauce

To serve:

White rice

Blanched noodles

Method:

1. Mix up part 1 then leave it to marinate in the fridge for an hour. 

2. Put items in part 3 in a pot and leave it to simmer for an hour. 

3. If you like it hot, prepare the chilli condiment by mixing items in part 4 together and leave it to stand for a while. Do not store in a metal container. 

4. Heat up the oil for frying. 

5. Mix up the other ingredients in part 2. Dip the marinated fish into cornflour mixture and fry. 

6. Once the soup has simmered for an hour turn off the flame. 

7. If you want, you can blanch the vegetables in the hot soup. 

8. To serve, put a serving of white rice or rice noodles in a bowl followed by the soup, veges, fish and chilli and it's ready!

Baked Lemon Butter Fish

 

I baked some fish today. It wasn't perfect but it was really nice. Even my mum gave her stamp of approval. I paired it with herbed garlic butter rice and greens.

I got inspired after watching "Cooking for Real" on AFC. The original recipe is as follows http://www.foodnetworkasia.com/recipes/baked-lemon-sole-with-sauteed-swiss-chard-6716.html

I would think that any flaky fish fillet would work. I also cheated and used panko instead of white bread. Do watch the amount of lemon butter you pour in. Too much and the breaded layer would be soggy. The lemon zest was what won my mum over. I'd add some paprika to the breading next time.