The Most Unlikely Start

As mentioned before, I don’t know exactly when my fixation with “nasi lemak” began. The most probable time I can think of was when I was in University where I accidentally discovered how to cook it. I guess that doesn’t sound very comforting to those who have never tasted my delicious version of this wonderful meal. I mean, how do you accidentally discover how to cook something?

Well, that time, it was the first time I had to actually fend for myself. I spent most of my teenage years away from my parents in a boarding school. But there you don’t have to cook for yourself. Everything is prepared for you. So prior to going to university, I was literally fed with everything I needed (although there were times I felt like I could do without some of the things they served in boarding school).

Life in university was completely different. I had to learn how to cook for myself and I had to learn quick. How long can you survive on a diet of toast and cereals for almost every meal? So I started off with the simple stuff like fried eggs, baked beans sometimes pancakes and my favorite “cucur ikan bilis”. Sometimes I’d marinate a chicken in whatever sauce I could find and stick it in the microwave. Without any prior experience, I never attempted to cook rice that was until I had to.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when the Malaysian Student Society at my university decided to serve “nasi lemak” and “satay” for one of their functions and since we had a very small number of female Malay students, the boys were given the responsibility to cook the meals. Somehow, I was volunteered to take charge of this endeavor for 300 of my fellow students.

Before this, my cooking experience was very limited. I did have some knowledge of cooking Malay dishes, but all that was only in my head. Theoretically, I knew how to cook “nasi lemak” and “satay. I knew all the ingredients that I had to put in the dish, well most of them anyway. In fact, when I think back about it, I had never tried to cook rice prior to that. In theory, I knew how much water to put into the rice, but I had never actually done it before.

Needless to say, my “nasi lemak” barely passed the test i.e. nobody had food poisoning from wating it. For the 250 or so non-Malaysians (who didn’t know better)  attending the function, it was absolutely delicious. As for my fellow Malaysian who became my first guinea pigs in my experimentation with “nasi lemak”, it was nothing spectacular, it had the look, the taste and the smell, but it wasn’t great.

I have since perfected my technique in cooking “nasi lemak”. Nowadays, I can rustle up a full meal in under an hour. For the last 20 years, I’ve been serving my “nasi lemak” to friends and family without much complaint and I hope my friends and family will continue to enjoy my “nasi lemak”.

The Nasi Lemak Saga Begins

To be honest, I’m not sure when my fixation for “nasi lemak” began. Throughout my childhood, I was always indifferent towards this delicious meal. I grew up in Terengganu, where the lure of “nasi dagang”, a mouthwatering mixture of rice and glutinous rice cooked to perfection in herbs and then mixed with coconut milk, served with a spicy fish gravy,  has always been more overwhelming to the locals compared to “nasi lemak”. Those days, I always preferred the eye popping sweetness of the “pulut cawan” for breakfast, the sweet glutinous rice balls rolled around in salted desiccated coconut, savored with either dried fish or my favorite fish crackers, the “keropok”.

For the uninitiated, “nasi lemak” is originally a breakfast meal (Well that was the case when I was growing up. Nowadays it can be eaten at any time of the day). The rice mixed with some onions and ginger, is cooked in coconut milk. In most cases, it is served with “sambal ikan bilis”, dried anchovies cooked in chilli gravy hot enough to light a fire in your belly and accompanied by the usual condiments such as boiled eggs, some peanuts and sliced cucumber. I suppose this was the original combination. However, in Terengganu, instead of the dried anchovies in our “sambal” we used to have pieces of “ïkan aya” or more commonly known as “ikan tongkol” or tuna fish.

Over the years, my favorite dish has evolved. The choice of condiments has increased and so have the accompaniments. Nowadays you can get virtually anything with your “Nasi Lemak”. You can have it with fried chicken or chicken “rendang”, instead of “sambal ikan bilis”, you can have it with either “sambal udang”, “sambal telur” or even “sambal sotong”. Whatever catches your fancy.

Anyway, this blog is about my experience with “nasi lemak”, starting off with my own home cooked version containing secret ingredients that very few people know about, to the ones cooked by my friends and ones that I eat at the stalls and restaurants. I’m not really looking for the perfect “nasi lemak” as I have this belief that my version is the best. I just want to share my experience of having other people’s version of what I believe to be Malaysia’s favorite dish.