Herb Rice Salad/ Nasi Ulam

When i think about Nasi Ulam.. it always reminds me of the days during my confinement.. My mom would always make Nasi Ulam by carefully selecting herbs which their medicinal properties are well known especially for blood circulation and flatulence prevention. Long ago..where ulam is abundance and easily accessible..making nasi ulam requires 44 kinds of herbs! Now..getting even 7 types of herbs would be a challenge. A few days ago, the sight of an old man squatting by the road side selling a few types of ulam made me suddenly crave for nasi ulam. Starting from 3 types of herbs- tumeric leaves, indian pennywort and wild betel leaves., I started hunting for more fragrance ones like cekur leaves/sand ginger. I had to go from market to market just to search for these herbs and to my 'agony' for a few handful of herbs- they cost me RM10!! - and i could only manage to collect only 9 types of herbs.. crazy eh..- the things that i'd do only to have a plate of nasi ulam.. ;)

Basically the ingredients are:

A. 4 cups of plain cooked white rice.

B. Herbs:

a few sprigs of polygonum leaves, lemuni leaves, wild betel leaves, young mengkudu leaves,

cekur leaves, tumeric leaves, selom kafir lime leaves & pennywort.

 

the 9 types of leaves is rolled up tighly (so that it is easier to slice them as thinly as possible), fried salted talang fish, 1tbsp black pepper, 1 big onion, 4 shallots, 4 garlic, 3 lemon grass, 1 1/2" young galangal, 1 1/2" young ginger, 1" young tumeric roots and 

a handful of cekur roots as well (not in the pict).

 

 

Method:

 

1. Chop finely all the young roots, onion, shallots, garlic and lemongrass.

 

2. Pound black pepper first then the fried salted fish.

 

3. Mix the chopped roots, garlic, onion, shallots and garlic well with the pounded ingredients.
Basically, this is called: sambal lada.

 

4. To cut all the herbs as thinly as possible conveniently and less messy,

arrange all the herbs and roll them tightly and secure the roll with a rubber band.

 

5. Mix the thinly sliced herbs with plain cooked rice first evenly.

then, add the 'sambal lada' to the rice and mix well.

 

~ Bon Appetite ~

 

 

 

Nyonya Herb Rice Salad.. Nasi Ulam Nyonya

Ulam... as Malays refer to an assortment of edible plant shoots, leaves, flowers and roots eaten raw. There many versions of nasi ulam.. varies according to region.. I remember my mom used to make nasi ulam with various shoots, leaves that may reached up to 14 types of ulam. However.. living in Penang nowadays particularly in the island- the supplies of various ulam is quite scarce.. to have an assortment up to 14 types of ulaman could be quite a challenging task to look for it. Apart from Malays, in Penang itself.. the Nyonyas have their version of Nasi Ulam which i really like and the assortment of ulaman needed for this dish is less than the Malay Nasi Ulam.

The original version of Nyonya Nasi Ulam is to assemble everything including the sambal & toasted grated coconut. I noticed that in assembling everything together- the dish will turn out soggy and it wont last long. To have a dry & fluffy nasi ulam, i prefer mixing the ulaman with the rice and serve them with the sambal & toasted grated coconut. This dish is best eaten with boiled salted egg and prawn crackers..  :)

Ingredients:

Part 1:

Part 1 consists of 4 shallots, 1/2 big red onion, 1 garlic, 1/2 ginger torch, 2 lemon grass, 2cm young ginger, 1.5 cm young galangal, 1.5cm tumeric root. Slice shallots, garlic, ginger torch, ginger, galangal, tumeric root thinly. Chop lemon grass finely & Dice the onion.

 

Part 2:
 



Part 2 consist of 6 types of ulam - 1 tumeric leaves, about 20 leaves kesom leaves, 4 kaduk leaves, 3 lime kaffir leaves, 6 cekur leaves, 1/2 cup of grated coconut toasted and sambal belacan.
There are various ways of making sambal belacan - and mine is a combo of 2 types of chillies - red chilly and the cili padi, shrimp paste, tamarind pulp, brown sugar & salt :

 

Part 3:



Wash 1 1/2 cup of rice and cook in a cooker after adding in 1/2 tsp of tumeric powder. Once cooked, set aside to let it cool.

Part 4:



Part 4 consists of a piece of fried salted mergui / kurau, 3 tbsp of fried salted prawns and a few chunks of fried stringray meat. I choose stingray meat as it has no fishy smell when it is fried.

Method:
1. Wash all the ulam, wipe them clean. Roll up all the ulaman into one neat roll and slice them very thinly.

2. Toast grate coconut till golden brown:

Let it cool and put it in a processor - blend it till it is finely chopped

3. To make the sambal, soak the tamarind pulp in a small amount of water and mash the pulp into water to make a thick tamarind paste. Put in the chillies, shrimp paste, brown sugar, salt and tamarind juice in a food processor and blend till it's quite fine:

4. In a mincer / food processor, blend the fish, salted fish and dried prawns separately:

5. In a large bowl, mix the part 1, 2 (EXclude sambal & grated coconut) and 4 well:

6. Mix in rice bit by bit till all are mixed well. Serve with boil salted egg & prawn crackers.

Bon Appetite. :)

~ this recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel (Official) fb page on 2 October 2012:
https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/media/set/?set=a.431829733522961.92911.230144587024811&type=1

Lemon grass Rice

Living on a busy schedule - even on Sundays- has definately changed the way i prepare meals. This version of lemon grass rice only requires a few ingredients and a few minutes to prepare. I prefer to use jasmine fragrance rice as it tastes better with this recipe.

 

Ingredients:

3 cups of jasmine fragrance rice

3 lemon grass (smash/bruise the stalks with the back of yr cleaver)

a handful of coriander leaves (chopped)

1 tbsp ghee

1/4 cup of cooking oil

1tsp sea salt

1 big red onion & 5 shallots ( slice thinly, fry till golden & crispy)

 

Method:

1. Heat oil & ghee in a pot and fry lemon grass till fragrance.

2. Pour in rice and water (measured according to the volume of rice).

3. Put in sea salt & taste ( it should taste slightly salty)

4. Cook the rice with medium heat / in a rice cooker till done.

5. Once done - sprinkle chopped coriander and fried crispy onions & shallots.

6. Serve hot with dry squid sweet fried sambal, omelette and slices cucumber.

 

~ bon appetite ~

Salmon Fried Rice

I always look forward to my trips to the wet market. There will always be a thing or two that i will discover.. Goodeats with Mummy Wan today shares a simple dish using salmon.. It's a totally one-dish meal that never fail in my little kitchen.. :)
My special combo ingredients featuring in today's simple dish are...



Korean Mixed Bean Paste & Baby Chinese Leeks

Seasoned Salmon with sea salt & pepper

 

 

To make Salmon Fried Rice you'll need:
1 salmon slice
woodear fungus - soaked & sliced
6-7 garlic - sliced / chopped
2 big red onions - diced
light soya sauce
sea salt
sesame seed oil
peanut oil
2 tbsp Korean Mixed Bean Paste
2 eggs
Cooked rice (from 3 cups of rice)
pepper

Methods:
1. Seasoned salmon with sea salt & pepper. Pan fry salmon slice / put the fish in a micro on HIGH 3 mins
2. Debone the fish and make it flaky
3. In a wok, heat peanut oil & fry in garlic till golden.
4. Put in soya sauce & Korean Mixed Bean Paste- cook till frangrant and put in woodear fungus.
5. When the woodear is done, put in salmon flakes and dash in sesame seed oil.
6. Once the fish flakes done, push them aside and break in the eggs in a bowl, whisk a little- pour bit by bit to make it strands on eggs in the oil.
7. Put in the rice and diced big onions & baby chinese leeks.
8. Cook the rice in the wok till all the ingredients are mixed evenly- let it fry for a few more mins.
- like other fied rice.. they are best eaten hot.. :)

 bon appetite :)