Looking for nasi lemak recipe, can you help?

[Tepee]

Hey Tepee,

Whereabouts is this fried chicken stall? Mmm... must try it.

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Hey, JC. Haven't seen you around for some time. Hope to see you on Aug 31!

This gerai is in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong. At first, there was this one stall operated by 2 guys at BK5, at the corner of the turning into BK5/2. They only open after 6.15pm.

Then, I stumbled on another similar chicken stall in BK4, operated by a husband and wife team, from the back of a van. They open at around 5.30 pm. I wonder if it comes from the same supplier, but they do fry it on the spot.

Most ayam goreng is fried dry to the bones and there isn't much meat to the chicken to begin with. But, theirs are decent pieces and the meat is still succulent. I wonder if they add the whatchamaccalit mamak herb which is addictive, because we are really addicted to it. RM2 per piece.

[JC]

Thanks for the location. I've a cousin living in that area, will try to look for the gerai/van the next time I visit him.

Yeah, hope to meet up with everyone on Aug 31!

[Tepee]

Great, got your email.

BTW, the van parks outside the stationery shop back-2-back with the 7-11 store at BK4. And, oh, tomorrow's fried chicken rice day ... duh, maybe not, with the #@%! haze.

Edited August 10, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Tepee]

Haze or no haze, I gotta have my ayam berempah (ayam=chicken, berempah=spiced).

Close-up

Note: A thousand apologies for swinging this thread off tangent.

Edited August 11, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[trillium]

That looks a lot like the fried chicken we ate in southern Thailand with sticky rice and som tom. We've been trying to figure out how to make it at home, but can't find many recipes... is there any way we can convince you to translate some of the Malay recipes out there, since you were so cruel as to show us these photos?

regards,

trillium

[AmyDaniel]

After re-reading Laksa's awesome foodblog, I'm wondering - if one can't procure fresh coconut milk, can one soak dessicated coconut in water overnight and use the liquid for making nasi lemak with success?

And another question - is home preparation of santan still common in Malaysia? My siblings and I used to pore over my mom's Malaysian cookery book that she used in school during the '60s; preparing santan wasn't even explained, as I think it was assumed every girl in the country knew how to do it already.

[Tepee]

After re-reading Laksa's awesome foodblog, I'm wondering - if one can't procure fresh coconut milk, can one soak dessicated coconut in water overnight and use the liquid for making nasi lemak with success?

Gosh, I've never done that before..perhaps, Laksa can chip in on the taste. I'm sure it will not have the same oomph as the fresh stuff, though.

And another question - is home preparation of santan still common in Malaysia?  My siblings and I used to pore over my mom's Malaysian cookery book that she used in school during the '60s; preparing santan wasn't even explained, as I think it was assumed every girl in the country knew how to do it already.   

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When we need santan, we just go to the market/grocer and ask for 1 coconut (for 250 ml of first-squeezed santan) or more. Then they'll do the grating for you. Clicky.Some markets even sell squeezed fresh milk. We just put this finely-grated coconut into a muslin bag and squeeeeeeeeeeze.

Edited August 12, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Tepee]

We've been trying to figure out how to make it at home, but can't find many recipes... is there any way we can convince you to translate some of the Malay recipes out there, since you were so cruel as to show us these photos?

regards,

trillium

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I'm pretty busy at the moment...but if you can wait, I'll snoop out the recipes later. We (um...the Msians) will be glad to translate any recipes you're interested, though.

[AmyDaniel]

When we need santan, we just go to the market/grocer and ask for 1 coconut (for 250 ml of first-squeezed santan) or more. Then they'll do the grating for you. Clicky.Some markets even sell squeezed fresh milk. We just put this finely-grated coconut into a muslin bag and squeeeeeeeeeeze.

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Thanks for that, Tepee! We don't use coconut for our home (Indian) cooking, so I've never seen home graters like that - what a fantastic idea, though! It'd be so, so cool to make homemade santan...but then again, you can't get coconuts around every corner here.

[Laksa]

I've never tried using dessicated coconut to make santan so I can't vouch for the taste. My opinion of canned coconut milk has deflated lately. It falls far too short of the fresh stuff in fragrance and flavor.

The Indian grocer near my work stocks frozen grated coconut. If that can be had in Poughkeepsie, it surely must be available in NYC. Why don't you give that a try?

[trillium]

Have you tried the new green "natural taste" can from Chaokok? It's not bad. Not fresh, but not bad. The canned stuff from Thailand suffered some quality issues in the last year, but I think they're better now. The frozen coconut available around here is a Filipino product that is also ground with sugar. Very disappointing. All the times we've tried to make our own coconut milk here in the US (San Francisco, Portland, Chicago) we go to a lot of effort and end up with inferior, flavorless milk. The coconuts here are just not good enough.

regards,

trillium

[AmyDaniel]

I've never tried using dessicated coconut to make santan so I can't vouch for the taste.  My opinion of canned coconut milk has deflated lately.  It falls far too short of the fresh stuff in fragrance and flavor.

The Indian grocer near my work stocks frozen grated coconut.  If that can be had in Poughkeepsie, it surely must be available in NYC.  Why don't you give that a try?

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I'm going to; I also want to really start cooking more Malaysian food, and will also look for things like kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, limau kasturi (kalamansi lime), stuff like that. Do you (or anyone) know of any places in the city where I can go? I'm guessing Chinatown is the best bet, but anything more specific?

[JustKay]

Whatever you do DO NOT use pandan essence to sub for pandan leaves when making Nasi lemak. Eeewwww ... I can't even imagine it.

So far, the best brand of packaged santan (coconut milk) is the Kara brand from Indonesia. I don't like the taste of powdered santan and the canned ones tastes too 'metallic' to me.

If you absolutely cannot find pandan leaves I suggest you add a couple stalks of lemongrass (bruised) to the rice and then serve the rice on banana leaves. After all, the pandan leaves do not lend any taste but is used for its aromatic properties.

p.s. lemongrass do not smell like pandan but adding lemongrass when cooking nasi lemak will make it more aromatic so one out of two is better than nothing.

Edited August 17, 2005 by JustKay (log)

[Pan]

I'm going to; I also want to really start cooking more Malaysian food, and will also look for things like kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, limau kasturi (kalamansi lime), stuff like that.  Do you (or anyone) know of any places in the city where I can go?  I'm guessing Chinatown is the best bet, but anything more specific?

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Perhaps it's most useful to discuss this in the New York forum, but in any case, the usual suspects in Manhattan are Udon's Thai-Indonesian Store on Bayard St., the Thai store on Mosco, and the Vietnamese store on the west side of Mulberry between Bayard and Canal.

Have any of you had success in using coconut cream reduced with some water to approximate santan? I think it's not bad.

[PCL]

I agree. It's not bad.

Only one more sleep till KL.

MAKAN TIME BABY YEAH YEAH YEAH

[AmyDaniel]

I'm going to; I also want to really start cooking more Malaysian food, and will also look for things like kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, limau kasturi (kalamansi lime), stuff like that.  Do you (or anyone) know of any places in the city where I can go?  I'm guessing Chinatown is the best bet, but anything more specific?

←

Perhaps it's most useful to discuss this in the New York forum, but in any case, the usual suspects in Manhattan are Udon's Thai-Indonesian Store on Bayard St., the Thai store on Mosco, and the Vietnamese store on the west side of Mulberry between Bayard and Canal.

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Thank you, THANK YOU, Pan: yes, I did intend to post this request in the New York forum, but I caught the laziness bug. I think I'll link to this post in a new topic in the NY forum, but thanks so much for the suggestions! I've not been to these stores, so I'll definitely check them out.