Nasi Lemak Debut

I recently came across this Nasi Lemak Recipe, and I had to give it a try. (Cherie's photos are just mouthwateringly gorgeous! When reading her site, I sometimes feel like licking the screen. Haha!)

My husband comes from one of those Peranakan families where good food (and cooks) abound. I often dream of being able to cook like the women in his family, and concede that I have a long way to go, if I ever get there, that is.

Still, I do have a desire to be able to whip up a few dishes that I know he will like and appreciate. It is not like I am short of recipes, but I only dare try those that 1) Don't require too much time, 2) Require ingredients that I actually know of! (And err, not many family recipes meet these criteria)

Anyway, here is the 'before' version of the rice. I only had to put in the coconut milk and salt before popping this into the rice-cooker. (This is a short-cut method by the way. My mother-in-law has this recipe for steaming the rice etc etc)

I already had chicken curry that I cooked earlier in the week in the freezer, so I just wanted to cook one more dish to go with the rice. 

The initial plan was to go simple and do a Sambal Ikan Bilis, some hardboiled eggs and cucumbers. However, my plans were thwarted because I just could not find Ikan Bilis in the 2 supermarkets I had time for.

So, after 'wasting' all that time, I cheated and bought this chilli sauce:

I fried up some onions, threw in tiger prawns, added this chilli sauce and some sugar. Tadah! Sambal Prawns. Hee hee.

I didn't take any more photos of the cooking process as I was trying to cook as fast as possible while Bubbles napped. I thought I would have beautiful 'after' pics to show.

Unfortunately, I was SO excited about presenting the food that I dropped and broke a big plate :( So, between calling for the husband to help pick up the (many) pieces that found their way into the nooks and crannies of the kitchen, and making sure that Bubbles didn't step on any, I totally forgot about photos! Boo

The good news is that the man whom I cooked for declared it very nice, 'repeatable' and good for 'when guests come' :) That to me, is a better result than any ole photo.

Yay :)