Nasi Lemak - Prawn Sambal

We prepared this a few times over the last few weeks. Relatives coming over for a homemade Nasi Lemak lunch. Nasi Lemak made at home just taste extra good. You know the ingredients are fresh and there is no additives. The rice, fragrant and steaming hot right out of the rice cooker gives it an extra uumph!

Cooking at home the last 6 months has been easy because we no longer have to wash dishes. We got that part out by not getting a maid, but a dishwasher! Yup, it saves us water too! We no longer squabble over who shall do the dishes. Now, we have strong opinions on how things are to be stacked. Oh well, quarrels don't stop. LOL.

It was early Saturday morning. Mum and Aunt made an appointment to meet at the market to buy ingredients. I followed them to be their 'Siri'. Siri, please carry this. Siri, please collect this and that from who and who. Siri please pay for this.



This was the Nasi Lemak! 
I decided to document the prawn sambal cooking process and share with you all!




We had 1/2 kilo of fresh prawns. Get small to medium size ones. Too big and the sambal won't look correct. Mum don't want to get the smaller ones, so she does not need to peel so many prawns!



Two onions.



Chilli Boh. We just got the freshly made ones from the fresh food market. To simplify the process.

If you are up to it, you can soak dried chilli a day ahead, clean them and mix them with fresh chilli and other spices to make your own chilli boh.





Mum's recipe does not only have Chilli Boh, she adds in Chilli Powder too.
This is to make it extra spicy!




Heat your kuali. Add enough oil, usually 4 to 5 tablespoons of oil. You need enough oil to bring out the fragrance. It's called 'naik minyak' in Malay.

Fry the Chilli boh first for a few minutes. On medium high to high heat. I assure you, you will choke and cough when you do this! The spiciness will fill the air. Keep stirring before it chars! Around 5 minutes of so, add in 2 to 3 tablespoons of the chilli powder. Fry it a while more and the mixture becomes like a lump. It will smell superb!




Add in the onions!



Looking good eh?




Next we got to add in the Assam Water.

This was about a 2 tablespoon of Assam and we add it into a bowl of water to dissolve it and get the Assam Juice.




Pour it in and the whole mixture turns even more fragrant!




Don't you think it is looking so delicious already?
Mum prefers a dryer version, but I like a wetter version. So we compromised and we settled on this! It's really up to you!

Add in some probably around 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar.



Add in the prawns!



Simmer it for a few minutes, you get the prawn sambal!



After cooking it, you can't wait to have lunch!
We had to wait for 2 hours until lunch time when our guests arrived.

Mum prepared the cucumbers and the hard boiled eggs.
Aunt came over with prawn and fish keropok, fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and fried peanuts that she prepared at her home.



Tempting?



We have been quite busy and for those friends who are asking when are we having the house warming? The answer is "soon". This is a preview of what we will serve!