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Nasi Lemak or Coconut Milk Rice wrapped in banana leaf is an all time Malaysian favorite dish. The traditional Nasi Lemak basically comes with a handful of fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, cucumbers and Sambal Egg. The dish sounds really simple, but we could just gobble down and be satisfied with a plain Nasi Lemak and lots of Sambal. Yes, the key ingredient to one great Nasi Lemak is of course the Sambal.

Sambal or Grounded Red Chili is one of the important components in traditional Malay cooking. The basic ingredient is just the fresh red chilies, then you start adding a little bit here and there of garlic, shallot, ginger, tamarind or others for a more robust flavored  Sambal. Once you do a couple of try outs in making your own Sambal, you can always prepare a full list of scrumptious Sambal dishes, such as Sambal Okra, Sambal Sotong, Sambal Asparagus with Shrimp, Vegetable Curry and etc.

This time I’ve prepared the Sambal Egg, or so called Sambal Telur in Malay. You can choose to use the white hard boiled eggs. Or the other option is to deep fry or pan fry the hard boiled eggs till golden brown.  I  chose to pan fry the hard boiled eggs so not to use so much oil, but make sure to fry the eggs on all surfaces, so they will turn  golden brown evenly. They look such adorable fried eggs (炸蛋).  Once you’ve prepared and toasted the Sambal (without onion rings), you can set them aside and decide how much you want to use for the eggs. If you have enough, you can save the rest in a glass bottle into the fridge. It can be used for other vegetables or just as a condiment on the rice or noodle.

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs

Ground Sambal

10 dried chilies (soaked till soft)
4 fresh red chilies (seeded)
1 tsp Belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)
4 small shallots
4 garlic
1 tsp tamarind puree (add 1 -2 tsp water to smooth tamarind to paste, remove the pulps)
1 tbsp sugar or palm sugar (to taste)
1/4 tsp salt (to taste)
2 tbsp oil
1 red onion (cut into rings)
2-3 tbsp water
2-3 tbsp oil

Cooking Method:

1. Prepare the sambal, blend the chilies, shallots, garlic, belacan in a food processor.
2. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in pan or wok on low heat, toast the sambal paste until the oil separates from the sambal. Add in the tamarind juice, then add in the seasoning of salt, sugar, taste and adjust if necessary.
3. Add in onion rings, stir fry till tender. Add enough water to make a sauce like consistency. Dish up the sambal and set aside.
4. Bring a pot of water to boil, boil the eggs till cooked. Let it cool and peel off the shells.
5. In a small pan, pan fry the eggs on all sides until golden. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel.
6. Return eggs to pan, add in sufficient cooked sambal paste about 3-4 tbsp, simmer until the eggs are well coated. Serve with Nasi Lemak or plain white rice.

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We went to the market and wanted to get some fresh fishes, somehow the fresh cuttlefish laying on the seafood ice counter looked so tempting that attracted us so much to get it. I picked up a whole nice and big cuttlefish. So it was for the dinner, Sambal Cuttlefish or so called  Sambal Sotong.

The Sambal Sotong is usually served with Nasi Lemak (Malay Style Coconut fragrant steamed rice) or Nasi Bungkus (Pre-packed Coconut Rice) you can find in any Malay stalls. As previously mentioned, Sambal is a chili based paste used widely in cooking for Malay cuisine. Sambal is prepared from scratch with dried chilies, fresh chilies, garlic, ginger, shallots and other ingredients, grounded into paste. One important cooking tip is to cook the chili paste with oil on low heat until the oil oozes from the paste, or separated from each others.  The chili will turn into deep red in color, add some seasoning to taste.

Once you’ve learned to prepare Sambal, you can substitute with other ingredients. Check out our other posts for Sambal recipes, Sambal Okra, Sambal Belacan Asparagus, Rojak, Sambal Kangkung.

Ingredients:

1 fresh whole Cuttlefish (cut into 2″ strips, cut checkers patterns on bigger strips)

Ground Spice:
15 dried chilies
5 fresh red chilies
8 small shallots
1 inch ginger
4 cloves garlic

Seasoning:
1 tbsp Tamarind juices (soak 1 tbsp tamarind paste in warm water, discard pulp)
1 tsp belacan
1 tbsp sugar
Few dashes salt to taste

Cooking Method:

1. Ground all the ingredients in food processor into paste.
2. Heats 2 tbsp oil on low heat, stir fry the paste until the oil oozes from the paste, separated from oil.
3. Add in belacan, stir well.
4. Add in cuttlefish strips, stir fry till cook, about 1-2 minutes.
5. Add tamarind juice, sugar and salt, adjust to desired taste. Stir well and combined. Serve.

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We always cook Curry Chicken and never really try on Curry Vegetable. I guess it is more troublesome by just to prepare different types of vegetables, rinse, cut and pre-cook in order to make the dish. However I’ve decided to give it a try as a challenge and great to consume more vegetables too.

Below is just a simple guideline on the types of vegetables to be prepared for this dish. You can always opt in or out on the varieties based on your preference. The most important is actually to make the ground spice from scratch and to adjust the right taste during cooking. You need to adjust the seasoning when cooking. This is a Malay style Curry Vegetable or so called Sayur Lodeh, Curry Vegetable Stew.  Since this was my first time of making the Curry Vegetable, I gave it 3.5 out of 5 difficulty level. If you think this is too complicated, you can always use the easy ready made vegetable/ chicken curry paste available in the Asian market. Next time I will try it out for a simpler and quicker version.

This time I’ve put too much of dried shrimps and belacan into the curry, so I have cut down the amount in the recipe. The first night when we had the Curry Vegetable it felt too watery, personally I like thicker sauce curry, nonetheless it was tasted great with rice. After reheating for the next day, the Curry Vegetable actually got even more flavorful, plus the potatoes turned mushy and thickened the sauce, that made it an even superb thicker sauce version of Curry Vegetable. Love it!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup french beans (cut into 2″)
1 1/2 cup of chopped cabbage (cut into 1″ pieces)
2-3 carrots (diagonally cut into chunky pieces)
2 -3 medium potatoes  (cut into 1″ pieces)
4 tomatoes (cut into chunky pieces)
1 egg plant (cut into chunky pieces)
1 packet tofu puffs
1 cup okra (blanched in boiling water and rinse in cold water)
15 curry leaves
2 tbsp curry or chili powder
1 1/2 cup coconut milk

Ground Spice
15 dried red chillies (soak in water to softened)
5 fresh red chillies
2 medium red onions or 10 small shallots
8 whole  garlic
1″ galangal (young ginger)
1″ ginger
2 stalk lemon grass (bottom white part only)
15 dried shrimps (soak into water to softened)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp belacan

Seasoning: (Adjust till desired)
1  tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Serve for 4-6 people

Cooking Methods:

1. Ground the ingredients of red chillies, onions, garlic, galangal, ginger, lemon grass and dried shrimps into a paste. Add in coriander powder, turmeric powder, belacan and chili powder, mix and combine.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pot over medium low, add blended spices, stir fry until the paste toast and oil started to ooze from the paste.
3. Add in water 1 cup at one time (suggest to add more if needed later).  Add in 1 1/2 cup coconut milk and curry leaves. Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the flavor. Add salt and sugar for seasoning.
4. Add in the vegetables starting from carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, let it cook for 10-15 minutes till slight softened. Add the other vegetables such as eggplant, french beans, cabbage and tofu puffs. (Note: Put the blanched okra before serving because it is already blanched). Bring to boil and turn heat to low, simmer until vegetables are tender but not overcooked.
5. Again, taste the soup and adjust for flavor. Add some ready made chili paste if not hot enough. Add in more seasoning if needed to adjust to desired taste.
6. Serve hot.

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I just picked up a bunch of fresh KangKung, which is water spinach or water convolvulus (空心菜) from the Asian market. It’s been some time we didn’t cook this. Bel and I love this vegetable dish especially when it is cooked with Sambal Belacan. Again? Yes! In fact Kangkung Belacan is a signature dish in Malay recipes and yet  it is another must-order-dish when you visit Malaysian restaurant. In Chinese translation, this dish is a representation of Malaysian style cuisine (馬來風光).

Cooking with Sambal Belacan is indeed an unique style of cooking in Malay cuisine.  Some people might not like the fishy smell from the Belacan or shrimp paste, but once you have tried the prepared dish you will love it. The Belacan brings out the fresh and sweetness of the dish and gives a pungent aroma that you can’t resist. There are so many dishes that you can incorporate with these two main ingredients. See Bel’s other related posts such as the Sambal Okra, Sambal Belacan Asparagus, Rojak, Indonesian Fried Rice for more cooking with Sambal Belacan.

Ingredients:
1/2 pack of fresh Kangkung or Water Spinach (washed, trimmed bottom, cut into 2″ pieces)
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chili paste (Sambal Oelek)
2 cm Belacan (dissolve with some water to smooth into paste)
20 or more dried shrimps (soaked in water, reserved liquid, chopped)
Salt to taste

Cooking Method:

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok over medium, add garlic stir fry till slight golden.
2. Reduce heat to low, add in dried shrimp, chili or Sambal paste, Belacan and stir-fry paste till toasted.
3. Turn to high heat, add Kangkung and the reserved liquid, stir fry for 2-3 minutes till cook, Careful do not overcook for it will be too old.
4. Dish out and serve.

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I went to the market to get breakfast and saw the asparagus was on sale, immediately I picked up a bunch home.  On Sunday I was thinking to make the asparagus and shrimp combination with Sambal Belacan. Previously I’ve made the Stir Fry Asparagus with Clam in white sauce. If you want something more exotic, you definitely have to try this. But my roommate had reminded me I cannot eat spicy food because I just had my upper wisdom teeth removed last Friday. No spicy food, no solid food, no drinking from straw, no alcohol …. and so forth of restrictions from my dentist. I guess there is nothing but liquids, porridge and soup for me this week.

Anyway, I still ended up cooking the Malaysian style Sambal Belacan Asparagus with Shrimp as this looks far more tempting, so all of these go to Eric as he loves spicy food. I used a super easy and lazy way of making the Sambal Belacan and it came out just great. I used the pre-made Sambal Oelek bought from the Asian market, it is grounded red chili and garlic, stored in a clear round plastic bottle with a green lid, and a chicken symbol in the front. Don’t confuse with Siriracha which is a chili paste. This Sambal Oelek you can still see the chili seeds, sometimes I use it for dipping sauce too.

To make Sambal from scratch check on the Sambal Okra for the preparation of  it.

Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh asparagus (trim the bottom off about 1.5″, then cut into 2″ pieces)
12-15 shrimps (deveined, shelled)
12-15 tiny dried shrimps (roughly 2 tsp soaked and chopped)
2 garlic cloves (peeled, minced)
1-2 tsp pre-made Sambal (depends on spiciness)
1 tsp Belacan (dissolve with some water)
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp water

Cooking Method:

1. Heat 2 tablespoon oil over medium, stir fry the chopped dried shrimp until fragrant, add in minced garlic and stir fry till golden brown.
2. Turn heat to low, add in Sambal (depends on spiciness preferred) and belacan, let the paste cook till it surface from the oil.
3. Add the shrimps and give a quick few stir, then add in the asparagus.
4. Add in sugar, salt and some water. Continue to cook until asparagus and shrimps are cooked but not overcooked.

Serve hot.