← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 400 g Jasmine rice
• 300 ml Coconut milk
• 300 ml Water
• 2 Pandan leaves, tied in a knot
• 2 cm piece Ginger, sliced and bruised
• 1 Lemongrass, bruised (optional)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 15 Dried chillies, snipped, seeds shaken out
• 2 Red chilli, roughly chopped
• 8 Shallot, peeled
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 Lemongrass, white part only, sliced
• 1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste), toasted
• 80 ml Vegetable oil
• 1 Red onion, sliced into rings
• 1½ tbsp Tamarind paste, mixed with 100 ml water
• 2 tbsp gula melaka or palm sugar, grated
• ½ tsp Salt
• 150 g Dried anchovies (ikan bilis), heads and guts removed, rinsed and patted dry
• 100 g raw peanuts, skin on
• 4 Eggs
• 1 Cucumber, thickly sliced
• vegetable oil, for frying
• 4 pieces banana leaf squares, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Pour boiling water over the dried chillies and leave them to soften for 15 min. Meanwhile rinse the rice in a few changes of water until it runs almost clear, then drain well.
2. Put the rice, coconut milk, water, salt, pandan knot, ginger and lemongrass in a rice cooker and switch it on. Or, in a pot, bring it to the boil, stir once, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 min, then leave it covered off the heat for 10 min before fluffing with a fork.
3. Heat 2 cm of oil in a wok over medium heat. Fry the peanuts for 4–5 min, stirring, until golden (they keep darkening once out), then scoop out. Fry the ikan bilis in batches for 2–3 min until crisp and pale gold, and drain on paper. Set aside a third of the anchovies for the sambal.
4. Drain the chillies and blend them with the fresh chillies, shallots, garlic, sliced lemongrass and belacan, adding a splash of water, until you have a smooth red paste.
5. Heat the 80 ml oil in a clean wok over medium-low heat and fry the paste, stirring often, for 15–20 min. It is ready when it turns a deep brick red, smells sweet rather than raw, and the oil separates out around the edges (pecah minyak).
6. Add the onion rings, tamarind water, palm sugar and salt and simmer for 5 min until the onion softens and the sambal is thick and glossy. Stir in the reserved anchovies and taste: it should be hot, sweet and tangy all at once.
7. Boil the eggs for 8 min for just-set yolks (or fry them sunny side up with crispy edges), then cool and halve.
8. Pack a cup of rice into a bowl and turn it out onto a plate or banana leaf. Add a big spoonful of sambal, a pile of peanuts and anchovies, an egg and cucumber slices, and eat straight away.

Tips

• The sambal keeps for a week in the fridge and freezes well, so make a double batch. It contains shrimp paste and is served with peanuts, so warn anyone with shellfish or peanut allergies.
• Cool leftover coconut rice quickly and refrigerate it within an hour; it spoils faster than plain rice.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Malaysian Chinese Kitchen BBC Good Food Andy Cooks