Nasi Lemak 4Iftar

Almost three decades ...

    Nasi Lemak 4U @Iftar ;))

For someone who doesn't know how to cook, it will be a great achievement if  she  could serve her Mr Right even if it is a very simple dish like nasi lemak or coconut rice which is one of the most popular foods in a place where I come from - Malaysia Truly Asia :)

Especially during Iftar, as a DS in a foreign land where sometimes we crave for something which we are familiar with back home and instead we are in a place far away from home where the dish is not easily available here unless home-cooked or some friends cooked the dish and we are invited to their homes and later went home smiling with full and heavy bellies LOL!

So, this evening @Iftar, I surprised my better half with homemade nasi lemak or coconut rice. For most housewives, this is a very simple dish where we have a saying in my language "Tutup Mata pun Boleh Masak" which means for most ordinary housewives they could just cook this dish even with their eyes closed :))

However, as for me - I have to learn from scratch only after almost three decades. It is because I have no choice but to learn how to do it myself since our foods are not easily available here. It does not mean that I like cooking. It is still a Big No for I have no passion on cooking :( But I have too, and for that I have to cook the best I could ... Hu Hu Hu :D Also, I have to improvise the recipe or the condiments with ingredients that are available here.

First, I started with cooking the coconut rice in a rice cooker. It was truly a very simplistic way of making coconut rice. The procedures which I implemented were among   others: I washed 3 small cups of long grain Jasmine rice in a cooking pot. Once thoroughly washed I added into it 6 cups of water+coconut milk. Since, my better half does not wish to have too 'rich' coconut rice, so I only used half canned of coconut milk! 

Before I put it to boil or switch on the rice cooker, I added to the 'coconut milk + water' a pinch of salt, two small slices of ginger, one piece of cut onion, half tea spoon of fenugreek seeds and two pandan leaves. Indeed, all these ingredients give beautiful scents or refreshing aroma to the coconut rice! Then I left it to be cooked automatically in a rice cooker. Wallah! It's done :D

Now, to cook the sambal sotong. I chose to cook with squids instead of ikan bilis because Mr Right always prefers sotong! But we don't have sotong kering here, so I used fresh squids instead. Once the rounded cut squids were washed I left it for a while so as to drain the water. 

To make the sambal my helper P assisted me by cutting the two Bombay onions into round slices and three pieces of galic. She also pounded some buah keras or kermiri and prepared a quarter bowl of tamarind juice. But, I have already prepared the red chilli which was blended earlier on. Once these ingredients were ready, I placed a work on the stove and added some cooking oil. Then stir fried the onions and garlic until we could smell the beautiful aroma :D

Then I poured in the fresh blended red chilies into the wok and stirred for a little while before I added some water with the tamarind juice. Next, I put in the squids and I continued to stir and later added the kemiri which is one of the important ingredients to make sambal. Also a pinch of salt and brown sugar for taste. But the sambal must be properly cooked until the oil comes out or in my language 'masak sampai minyak keluar' or else we could easily get stomachache if the sambal is not properly cooked! Wow ;) that's the tip from my beloved Mak @Mrs HRHR. And also she advised me to always cook sambal over a slow fire ...

Once sambal was done, I cooked the other condiments namely deep fried ikan bilis and ground nuts. Also I boiled some eggs and made stir fry bean sprouts instead of kangkong. The reason is during this summer season kangkong is quite difficult to grow :( but taugeh or bean spouts may be harvested from  'supermarkets' like Carrefour or Sultan Centre Hi Hi Hi ... Also I should add some sliced cucumber, but my Mr Right less fancy them, so I do away with it :)) Another side dish was deep fried King prawns using tempura flour instead of ayam goreng berempah for a change.

When the Azan for Iftar was heard from the nearby mosque and Mr Right saw the special dish on the table, indeed he was quite impressed with my 'excellent performance' after nearly three decades of waiting to be served with home cooked foods by wifey Hu Hu Hu ...

To my Mr Right, the 'table' is yours to 'eat' ;) 

Well, just before we went to bed my Mr Right uttered to Yours Truly Mrs Right it was indeed worth while to wait for the 'air tangan nasi lemak' even though both Mr Right and Yours Truly Mrs Right black hairs are now turning to grayish. LOL!