Nasi Kerabu ( Rice Salad )

Nasi Kerabu literally means "rice salad". Kelantan has a variety of Nasi Kerabu. Nasi kerabu biasa (normal) or nasi kerabu putih (white) which comes with its own sambal tumis (a special coconut milk based gravy with local herbs and spices, with a hint of chillies) or Nasi kerabu Hitam (black) though the actual color is blue (after the rice is soaked and cooked with a local flower although some people use artificial equivalents) and nasi kerabu kuning (yellow) which use tumeric in the preparation of the rice. Nasi Kerabu Hitan and Kuning does not require a sambal tumis, instead, it has a watery chilly sauce which makes it slightly hotter. The “kerabu” (salad) could be any vegetables or edible leaves though the more or less standard version will have daun kesum, taugeh (bean sprout), thinly cut; long green beans, bunga kantan, cucumber (connoisseurs will insist “seeded”), and daun kadok. Apart from that it is also served with fried breaded fish, keropok keping, salted egg, "solok lada" (fish fillet and coconut-stuffed chillis), and pickled garlic (local gherkins)

Ingredients

5 tenggiri steaks
1kg rice

Ulam to cook with rice:
2 turmeric leaves
2 torch ginger leaves
2 stalks daun kesum
2 cekur leaves
2 na dam leaves
2 daun kentut
2 daun kudu
2 stalks curry leaves
2cm fresh turmeric
2 stalks lemon grass
(You can omit or add the ulam listed subject to availability)
2 pandanus leaves
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 tablespoon palm sugar

Garnishing:
1 cucumber, pared and julienned
1 onion, finely sliced
15 stalks of polygonum leaves, finely cut
10 long beans, finely sliced
1 bunga kantan, finely cut
3 stalks of lemongrass, finely sliced

Fried grated coconut:
1/2 a coconut, finely grated
8 shallots, finely sliced
2cm ginger, sliced
Palm sugar and salt to taste

Sambal Belacan:
15 chillies
5 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
Budu
4 bird’s eye chilli
Lime juice, to taste
Fish crackers

Method
Slice all the ulam leaves and either blend or pound finely. Add 2 glasses water to leaves and extract the juice. Sieve and repeat with another glass of water.

Wash rice. Add ulam juice to the rice. Add three pieces of pandan leaves and kaffir lime leaves, and 1/2 a block of palm sugar. Cook in a rice cooker.

Rub some salt on the fish and grill over a low fire. When cooked, let it cool and then break into flakes.

Dry fry the grated coconut with sliced shallots, ginger, palm sugar and salt over a low fire. When the mixture turns fragrant, lightly flatten the grated coconut with the back of your spatula.

Dry fry belacan with shallots and garlic over a low fire until fragrant. Blend this mixture with chilli to make the sambal belacan.

Mix some budu with limau kerat lintang and bird’s eye chilli.

Serve the rice with the grilled fish, finely sliced garnishings, sambal belacan, budu and fish crackers.

Grilled Fish With Banana Leaf Recipe

Here i show you how to make Grilled fish with banana leaf..its delicous...

GRILLED FISH WITH BANANA LEAF RECIPE


INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. red snapper (cleaned and scales removed)
A few sheets banana leaf (rinsed with water thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels)

GRILLED FISH SAMBAL:

6 oz. fresh red chilies (seeded and cut into small pieces)
1 tablespoon toasted belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)
4 oz. shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
1/2 lime (extract juice)
2 lemongrass (cut into thin slices)
4 tablespoons oil

SAMBAL BELACAN AND SLICED SHALLOTS CONDIMENT:

3 red chilies (seeded)
2 bird’s eye chilies (seeded) – optional
1 teaspoon of toasted belacan
2 shallots (thinly sliced)
1/8 teaspoon of sugar
Salt to taste
8 tablespoons of water + tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)

METHOD:

GRILLED FISH SAMBAL

Prepare the sambal by grinding chilies, shallots, belacan and lemongrass in a food processor. Make sure the sambal paste is well blended and smooth.

Heat up a wok and “tumis” (stir-fry) the sambal paste until aromatic or when the oil separates from the sambal paste. Add the seasonings: salt, sugar, and fish sauce and do a quick stir, dish out and set aside.

SAMBAL BELACAN AND SLICED SHALLOTS CONDIMENT

Soak the tamarind pulp with water for 15 minutes and extract the juice. In a mortar and pestle or food processor, pound/blend the red chilies, bird’s eye chilies, and toasted belacan. Add tamarind juice, sugar, salt, and sliced shallots to the sambal. Stir well and set aside.

GRILLED FISH WITH BANANA LEAF

Grease a flat pan (I used a Japanese tamagoyaki pan) and then lay a few sheets of banana leaves in the pan. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil on top of the banana leaves and spread the oil evenly. Lay the fish on top of the banana leaves and add 3 tablespoons of sambal on top of the fish. Heat up the pan on your stove top over medium heat and cover it with a lid. (Use a towel to cover the corners of the pan in case the lid is too small to completely cover the pan. This will ensure the heat traps inside the pan during the grilling process.) Wait for 8 minutes or so and flip the fish over to the other side. Add 3 more tablespoons of sambal on the other side. Cook for another 8 minutes or so. By then, you can smell the sweet aroma of burnt banana leaves and grilled fish. Dish out and serve immediately with sambal belacan and sliced shallots condiment.

Nasi dagang

Nasi dagang is a Malaysian dish consisting of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry and extra ingredients such as fried shaved coconut, hard-boiled eggs and vegetable pickles. Nasi Dagang literally means "Trading Rice". It is a well-known breakfast food in the states on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, such as Terengganu and Kelantan. The most famous Nasi dagang of Terengganu comes from Kampung Ladang, an area within the Kuala Terengganu district. Nasi Dagang can also be considered as a festive dish in Kelantan because it is prepared at home for the morning of Eid ul-Fitr, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, to be eaten as a breakfast before or after the Eid prayers in the mosque.

This is a mix of white rice and brown glutinous rice (special glutinous rice) which is cooked with coconut milk (santan), blended onions and garlic and some spices (such as fenugreek) (Malay: halba). Fish or chicken curry comes as an add-on to complete the dishes together with mildly brown sugared sambal (chili paste), so it's recommended to take only a small portion as it is extremely filling. The Nasi Dagang is one of the tastiest dishes in Kelantan and goes well with fish curry, pickle, hard-boiled eggs.

Ingredients
300g nasi dagang rice or substitute with 200g
good grade Siamese rice mixed with 100g glutinous rice
1 grated coconut to extract 3/4 cup thick coconut milk and 3/4 cup thin coconut milk
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds ( halba )
2 cloves garlic, sliced finely
3 shallots, sliced finely
2cm young ginger, sliced finely
1/2 tsp salt

Method


Wash rice well and soak for five to six hours. Drain well, then steam rice for 20 to 25 minutes or until half-cooked.

Stir in thin coconut milk and continue steaming for 15 minutes until rice is nearly cooked.

Combine thick coconut milk, shallots, garlic, ginger, fenugreek and salt. Stir into the cooked rice then steam once more for 10 to 15 minutes or until rice is properly cooked.

Serve rice with kari ikan tongkol.

Note
Nasi dagang is a special type of reddish brown glutinous rice. If it is not available, substitute with Siamese rice and glutinous rice mixture as per recipe.

Nasi Kandar Fish Curry

What is Nasi Kandar?

Nasi Kandar is a popular northern Malaysian dish, which originates from Penang. It is a meal of steamed rice which can be plain or mildly flavored, and served with a variety of curries and side dishes.
The word Nasi Kandar, came about from a time when nasi [rice] hawkers or vendors would kandar [balance] a pole on the shoulder with two huge containers of rice meals. The name has remained and today the word Nasi Kandar is seen on most Tamil Muslim or "Malaysian Mamak" restaurants and Indian-Muslim stall meals.
The rice for a nasi kandar dish is often placed in a wooden container about three feet high, giving it a distinctive aroma. The rice is accompanied by side dishes such as fried chicken, curried spleen, cubed beef, fish roe, fried prawns or fried squid. The vegetable dish would usually be brinjal (aubergine), okra (lady fingers or "bendi") or bitter gourd. A mixture of curry sauces is poured on the rice. This is called 'banjir' (flooding) and imparts a diverse taste to the rice.
Traditionally, nasi kandar is always served with its side dishes on a single plate. Nowadays, small melamine bowls are used for the side dishes. Nevertheless, the curry sauce mix is always poured directly onto the rice.

Now i give you Nasi Kandar Fish Curry...hope you happy with the recipe.

Ingredients
8 – 10 slices of tenggiri (mackerel fish)
1 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp tamarind paste (soaked in 3 Tbsp hot water)
1 Tbsp turmeric powder
5 Tbsp grapeseed oil for frying fish
5 slices old ginger

Vegetables
10 lady fingers (washed and the top trimmed)
3 large ripe red tomatoes (cut into quarters)
5 small aubergines (cut into 2)

Aromatic herbs
2 Tbsp ‘rempah ratus’ spices
2 dried chili (washed and seeded)
4 sprigs of curry leaves (bruised)
1 Tbsp traditionally handmade coconut oil

Spices
10 shallots (peeled and sliced)
5 cloves garlic (peeled and sliced)
1 inch old ginger (sliced)
5 large dried chili (soaked and seeded)

Blend or pound all the above spices
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp fennel (jintan manis)
1 Tbsp cumin (jintan putih)
5 Tbsp Baba’s meat curry powder
100 ml traditionally handmade coconut oil
1 Tbsp castor sugar
800 ml filtered water
1 Tbsp tamarind paste (soaked in 100 ml water and drained, discard the seeds retain the water)
sea salt to taste
100 ml thick coconut milk or santan

Method

Marinate the fish slices in the tamarind paste, turmeric powder and salt for about 1 hour. Heat a non-stick pan and drizzle in the grapeseed oil. Pan fry the fish slices till slightly golden brown on the outside.
Remove from heat and set aside on some paper towels to absorb oil.
Set a large curry pot on the stove. Heat it up and drizzle in the 100ml coconut oil. Add in the blended spices, powdered spices, curry powder and ‘tumis’ or lightly fry until fragrant. Add sugar and keep stirring to avoid the spices from burning. Burnt spices have to be discarded as they will taste bitter.
Slowly add filtered water and let the spice paste simmer. Add the tamarind water and all the vegetables. Pour in the rest of the filtered water and simmer over low heat until vegetables are all tender. Put in the fish slices, coconut milk and sea salt to taste.
Fry aromatics in the used non stick pan by adding 1 Tbsp coconut oil to the pan. Fry over low heat until fragrant. Add to simmering curry and simmer for another 3 minutes. Cut off heat, curry ready to be served.

Penang Laksa

Penang laksa (Malay: Laksa Pulau Pinang), also known as asam laksa from the Malay for tamarind, comes from the Malaysian island of Penang. It is made with mackerel (ikan kembung) soup and its main distinguishing feature is the asam or tamarind which gives the soup a sour taste. The fish is poached and then flaked. Other ingredients that give Penang laksa its distinctive flavour include lemongrass, galangal (lengkuas) and chilli. Typical garnishes include mint, pineapple slices, thinly sliced onion, hε-ko, a thick sweet prawn paste and use of torch ginger flower. This, and not 'curry mee' is the usual 'laksa' one gets in Penang.

Ingredients
600g laksa noodles (you can get it easily from supermarkets), scald in hot water and drain

(A):
lkg flaked ikan kembong or ikan parang
A pinch of salt
2000ml water

(B) Spices to grind finely:
6-7 fresh chillies
4-5 dried chillies
1 small piece lengkuas
2cm fresh turmeric
20 shallots
2 cloves garlic
6 candlenuts (buah keras)

(C):
5 stalks daun kesom
1 bunga kantan, cut lengthwise
5-4 stalks serai, smashed

Mix and strain:
50g tamarind (assam jawa)
250ml water
4 pieces asam keping
1 tbsp Maggi Belacan powder (it’s so convenient to use this, instead of roasting a piece of belacan)
Salt and monosodium glutamate to taste

(D) Garnishing:
Slice thinly:
100g pineapple
1 cucumber
2 bunga kantan
3 red chillies
2 big onions
200g lettuce
Mint leaves

Enough sticky black prawn paste (hayko) - dissolve in a little hot water

Method
Boil fish with the water. When fish is cooked remove it from the stock and flake it. Leave water (fish stock) in the pot.

Add (B) and (C) in the fish stock and simmer until it reaches the desired consistency. Put in flaked fish meat and keep the laksa gravy over a moderate heat.

Put laksa noodles into serving bowls. Spoon the laksa gravy over and garnish with (D). Serve hot with a little prawn paste.

Kelantan Laksa

Kelantan laksa (Malay: Laksa Kelantan) is the easiest laksa recipe that is famous among peoples from the town of Kota Bharu of the Kelantan state, located at the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The main ingredient of Kelantan Laksa's sauce is 'ikan kembong' or round scad mackerel that are boiled and minced. The minced fish are fried with onions, garlic, ginger, datil pepper, belacan, 'kantan' flower, Vietnamese coriander or 'daun kesum', lemon grass and dried tamarind slice. Coconut milk will then be added as the final ingredient and stirred until it all mixed up and become thick. Kelantan Laksa is served just like the Italian spaghetti by adding 'ulam' (raw vegetables) and blended chili on the side. Another variable of Kelantan Laksa is 'Laksam'. The sauce's recipe are exactly the same but the noodles are a bit bigger and flat.

Ingredients
3kg laksa noodles
1kg ikan kembung
1kg thick coconut milk
3 stalks lemongrass
15 shallots
3 cloves garlic
3 slices dried tamarind
palm sugar and salt to taste

Garnishing:
1 cucumber, pared and julienned
300g beansprout
2 onions, finely sliced
2 bunga kantan, finely cut
15 stalks daun kesum, finely cut

Method
Boil fish with two bowls of water, dried tamarind slice (to remove the fishy odour) and 1 teaspoon salt. Let cool, debone and flake the fish. Pound it.

Blend the lemongrass, shallots and garlic finely.

Add 1 bowl of thick coconut milk to 3 bowls of water. Boil the mixture with the blended ingredients and two slices of dried tamarind over a low fire, stirring constantly. When a layer of oil surfaces, add pounded fish with salt and palm sugar. Continue to stir. Add thick coconut milk slowly until required thickness is achieved. To serve, pour the laksa gravy over the noodles and garnish with the sliced vegetables.

ICE KACANG (ABC) / MALAYSIAN SHAVED ICE RECIPE

ICE KACANG (ABC) / MALAYSIAN SHAVED ICE RECIPE

2 cups ice cubes or crushed ice

SYRUP
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup water
3 drops red coloring, optional

TOPPINGS:

2 tablespoons condensed milk or evaporated milk
2 tablespoons canned red beans, in kernels
2 tablespoons canned sweet corn, cream-style
2 tablespoons grass jelly pieces
Attap chee (palm nuts), optional

METHOD:

1. Add all the ingredients in the Syrup in a small sauce pan. Heat it up over medium heat. As soon as the sugar melts and the syrup starts to bubble, turn off the heat. Set aside and let cool.
2. Prepare the shaved ice by using a blender. Make sure the ice is completely shaved.
3. Transfer the shaved ice to a bowl and add 2 tablespoons syrup, follow by all the ingredients in the toppings. Serve immediately.

COOK’S NOTE:

1. The syrup is enough for two servings of ice kacang.
2. Every country in Asia seems to have their own version of shaved ice. This is the version I grew up eating in Penang, Malaysia.

Mee Udang (Malay Prawn Noodle)

Mee Udang (Malay Prawn Noodle)

Ingredients:

250-300gm yellow noodle
600gm of big-sized sea prawns (I got 8 big prawns)
5 tbsp of tomato sauce
200gm of tomatoes, diced
400ml of water
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
6 shallots, peeled and sliced
Cooking oil
2 tbsp of sugar
1 ½ tbsp of chili paste
Light soy sauce to taste

Garnishing:

3 leaves of lettuce, thinly sliced
2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and halved
2 calamansi lime, halved
1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
1/4 of onion, thinly sliced
Fried crispy shallot

Method:

1. Blend the diced tomatoes with 400ml of water. Set aside.
2. Blanch the yellow noodle and set aside.
3. Heat enough oil in a wok, deep fried sliced shallot till golden brown, set aside.
4. Leave about 2 tbsp of oil in the wok, saute garlic till fragrant. Add prawns and stir fry with 1 tbsp of light soy sauce for 1 minute.
5. Pour in the tomato puree. Add tomato sauce and chili paste. Bring the gravy to simmer under medium heat. Add sugar and light soy sauce to taste.
6. Add in the yellow noodle to the simmering gravy. Mix well.
7. Serve up and garnish with onion, spring onion, egg, lettuce, calamansi lime and fried shallot.

Nasi Lemak Recipe(Malaysian Coconut Milk Rice)

Recipe: Nasi Lemak
Ingredients:

Coconut Milk Steamed Rice
2 cups of rice
3 screwpine leaves (tie them into a knot as shown above)
Salt to taste
1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 oz size)
Some water

Tamarind Juice
1 cup of water
Tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried anchovies sambal)
1/2 red onion
1 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
1 clove garlic
4 shallots
10 dried chillies
1 teaspoon of belacan (prawn paste)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar

Other ingredients
2 hard boiled eggs (cut into half)
3 small fish (sardines or smelt fish)
1 small cucumber (cut into slices and then quartered)

Method:

1.Just like making steamed rice, rinse your rice and drain. Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt, and some water. Add the pandan leaves into the rice and cook your rice.
2.Rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water. Fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.
3.Pound the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies with a mortar and pestle. You can also grind them with a food processor.
4.Slice the red onion into rings.
5.Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
6.Heat some oil in a pan and fry the spice paste until fragrant.
7.Add in the onion rings.
8.Add in the ikan bilis and stir well.
9.Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar.
10.Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.
11.Clean the small fish, cut them into half and season with salt. Deep fry.
12.Cut the cucumber into slices and then quartered into four small pieces.
13.Dish up the steamed coconut milk rice and pour some sambal ikan bilis on top of the rice.
14.Serve with fried fish, cucumber slices, and hard-boiled eggs.