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Saturday, July 14, 2007

CULTURAL ICON: Malaysia's Nasi Lemak







I just figured out what Sofia was up to, here in Kuala Lumpur. She brings home less shopping bags, less shoes and less trips to KLCC. Very unlikely of her.

A friend called up just now asking if Sofia had tried cooking for me yet. I asked why. She said Sofia has been hanging around her house practicing to cook Nasi Lemakmy ultimate favorite food. *me staring blankly*

Malaysia doesn’t actually have a national food. But if one would be officially chosen, it has to be the glorious Nasi Lemak (“Nasi” means rice and “Lemak” means fat).

Nasi Lemak, when served, looks like it’s hard to prepare. But actually it is not. The rice is cooked with coconut milk and pandanus leaves, lemongrass, ginger and voila! – food from heaven! It’s served with fried anchovies, peanuts, boiled eggs, cucumber and a special chili sauce they call “sambal”.

Available in just about any corner of the country– it’s served in restaurants, mamak stalls and food peddlers for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime you wish – on a plate or wrapped in banana leaves -- A la carte or "bungkus" (take away). It's even available in 7-11!

This is just about the only food (aside from BigMac) that I can eat every minute of the day and I eat it with Randang! *yum yum* Thank heavens for my high metabolic rate! Wooohooo!

You never been to Malaysia if you didn’t try this.

Nasi Lemak is absolutely SE Asia’s culinary treasure.

I’m just wondering why Sofia haven’t served me yet.
I’ll ask her later.


See the recipe here.


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13 Comments:

Sanne Dee said...

YUM!! Sambal and fried Ikan Bilis is a must on Nasi Lemak!! Lucky you, Pisanu!!
85454

Pisanu for BISEAN said...

Sanne, I think they serve it at McLucksa yeah? There in Sydney. McLucksa still up?

Anonymous said...

Pisanu, the rice sounds Scrummy, but I'd have to skip the other bits.

Anonymous said...

I've always been wondering the origin of this what so called "nasi lemak"... does it have anything to do with "nasi uduk" from Indonesia?

Pisanu for BISEAN said...

@ Arch, hello dude! Thanks for the first comment. I hope you come by here often.

Nasi Lemak and Nasi Uduk are similar dishes. As we all know, Malaysia and Indonesia has similar language but other words are quite different.

Nasi Lemak is the preferred term by Malays. And Nasi Uduk (which is from Jakarta) is the preferred term of our Indonesian brothers.

Dish-wise, the ingredients and the way it is cooked is almost the same.

Anonymous said...

'nasi' is also rice in our language.

they say that we kapampangans are originated from a javanese kingdom name majapahit. and our language is much more related to bahasa indonesia and bahasa malaysia than tagalog

Pisanu for BISEAN said...

EYRON! You're from Pampanga?!!! WHOA! That's why somehow I felt an affinity for you although we neve met. When I was a kid, we stayed in Angeles City for 6 months (around Balibago). I had so much friends my mom had to ask them to go back home at night! Because I wanted all of them to stay in our house. Hahahaha. That was a wonderful memory.

Jake said...

@Eyron...I'm gonna spend X'mas at Balibago. We have a house there! Meet up! Meet up! :)

Anonymous said...

Just want to let you know that you guys have done a great job with this blog site. I stumbled upon it only last week and have been reading your entries since.

Nasi Lemak is indeed called Nasi Lemak in the Indonesian provinces of North Sumatra and Riau and there is a slight difference in terms of toppings to Nasi Uduk from Jakarta.

Fried chicken, Fried tofu, Fried tempe and sambal are the usual toppings for Nasi Uduk.

Anonymous said...

yeah
there were a slightly differences between nasi lemak and nasi uduk. the toppings are different. but both were delicious!
=)

Anonymous said...

@eyron and jake

omg pampangenos. can't speak th language except for mekeni and kaluguran daka but my lola is a mexican... mexico pampanga. lol.

Anonymous said...

dude
next time when u in kl
call me ok
i'll bring u to have the authentic nasi lemak in the kampung
u gonna love it
trust me

and if sofia cook nasi lemak..dont forget to invite me..LOL

moris

ryne said...

if u come 2 malaysia.. better to try nasi lemak antarabangsa[international nasi lemak] or u can try nasi lemak kampung baru[nasi lemak sold in a village middle of kl city.. big size enough for 2 people, quite popular] or i can cook for ur guys...[don't blame me if u guys get into hospital for food poisonous]

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