Nasi Lemak Under $2??
where can find $2 Nasi Lemak nowadays???!
With Singapore’s cost of living constantly on a rise, even a simple Nasi Lemak that was once $2.50, can now go up to a whopping $20! So sometimes turning back to our kitchen and cooking up a meal for ourselves might just save us from breaking our banks in the long run.
In this episode of budget meals, Gurmit Singh challenged us to cook up a substantial nasi lemak with just $2! To add on, he listed a few guidelines of how he prefers his nasi lemak, reminiscent of his childhood days. He was looking for:
- a super lemak and fluffy rice, filled with coconut milk
- a crispy, deep fried selar fish
- a super spicy, aromatic sambal chili
The finishing touch is to wrap the nasi lemak in a banana leaf. This will add an extra hint of fragrance to the rice when you unwrap your meal.
So if you resonate with Gurmit, and these are what you look out for in your nasi lemak, then you gotta give this recipe a try!
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Nasi Lemak Recipe
coconut rice:
3 cups jasmine rice, washed and drained
2 cups coconut milk (fresh coconut milk is best)
2 cups water
3 shallots, sliced thin
1 inch galangal, bruised
5 pandan leaves, knotted
2 tsp salt
sambal:
10-12 shallots
5 cloves garlic
30 pcs dried chillies, deseeded and soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
3-5 bird’s eye chillies (optional)
2 medium onion, thinly sliced
100g dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
1 tbsp belachan, lightly toasted
30g tamarind pulp
3 tbsp brown sugar / gula melaka
Salt, to taste
2 cups oil
fried fish:
6 selar fish, gutted and cleaned
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt, to taste
other accompaniments:
1 cup fried anchovies
1 cup fried peanuts
1 cucumber, sliced
omelette
directions:
combine all the ingredients for the nasi lemak in a rice cooker and cook. halfway through the cooking, fold the grains of rice to mix everything together to redistribute the coconut milk.
to make the sambal, blended the shallots, garlic and softened red chillies. use just enough of the chilli-soaking water to help with the blending. heat oil in a hot wok / pan on medium heat. add the anchovies and fry for 2-3 minutes until golden. add the sliced onions and fry until translucent.
add in the blended paste and stir well. bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly. the sambal is ready when the oil splits from the paste.
add in the belachan and tamarind pulp. use the back of a spatula to break down the belachan and dissolve it into the sambal.
simmer for 10 more minutes, adding water if needed.
season with sugar and salt, to taste
for the fish, marinade the fish with a coating of turmeric and salt for at least 30 minutes
heat oil for deep-frying and fry the selar fish on both sides until crispy.
assemble the rice, sambal, selar fish, omelette, cucumbers, peanuts and ikan bilis on a banana leaf and serve!