← Nouns Cooking · Indonesian & Filipino

Ingredients

• 400 g Jasmine rice, washed until the water runs almost clear
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 50 g small dried anchovies (ikan teri), rinsed and patted dry
• 4 Shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 Lemongrass, bruised and halved
• 3 cm piece Galangal, sliced
• 3 Indonesian bay leaves (daun salam) or bay leaves
• 3 Makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, torn
• 1 pandan leaf, knotted (optional)
• 100 ml Coconut milk
• 450 ml Water
• ¾ tsp Salt
• 6 whole bird's eye or small red chillies (optional)
• 1 handful lemon basil (kemangi) or Thai basil (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the anchovies for 3–4 min, stirring, until golden and crisp. Lift them out onto kitchen paper.
2. In the same oil, fry the shallots and garlic for 2–3 min until soft and just turning golden. Add the lemongrass, galangal, bay and lime leaves and stir for 1 minute until fragrant.
3. Tip the drained rice into a heavy pot or rice cooker with the fried aromatics and their oil, the coconut milk, water, salt, pandan and whole chillies (if using). Stir once.
4. Rice cooker: cook as normal. Pot: bring to the boil, stir once, then cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for 15 min.
5. Leave the rice covered off the heat for 10 min, then fluff it up, picking out the lemongrass, galangal and leaves. Fold in half the anchovies.
6. Serve topped with the remaining anchovies and the basil, with fried chicken, tofu, tempeh and sambal on the side.

Tips

• For a vegetarian version, leave out the anchovies and top with fried tofu or tempeh instead.
• Cool leftover rice quickly and keep it in the fridge for no more than a day before reheating until piping hot.

Sources

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

Daily Cooking Quest What To Cook Today