Destination
Ipoh
The story
Nasi lemak bungkus ("wrapped nasi lemak") is Malaysia's national breakfast in individual-portion form: fragrant coconut rice cooked with pandan and a pinch of salt, wrapped in a triangular banana-leaf parcel with a spoon of sambal (sweet-hot chilli paste), a handful of ikan bilis (crispy fried anchovies), toasted peanuts, half a hard-boiled egg and slices of cucumber. Sold from tiny stalls set up on street corners and outside offices before dawn, wrapped by hand at speed and passed to commuters at 6am for a couple of ringgit. Unwrap at your desk, eat with your fingers, done.
Method
Combine the rinsed rice, coconut milk, water, salt, pandan leaves and ginger slices in a rice cooker or heavy saucepan. Cook by the standard rice method (rice cooker or 12 minutes covered on low + 10 minutes rest). Fluff with a fork; remove pandan and ginger.
Heat the oil in a wide pan to 170°C (340°F). Fry the peanuts for 3 to 4 minutes until deep golden. Lift out onto kitchen paper. Fry the anchovies in the same oil for 90 seconds until crispy. Lift out. Reserve.
Warm 4 tbsp oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Fry the sliced onion 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and blended dried chilli paste. Cook 5 minutes, stirring, until the paste darkens and the oil separates around the edges. Add the fresh chillies, tamarind, palm sugar, belacan, fish sauce, salt and water. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until glossy and thick.
Stir most of the fried ikan bilis into the sambal (save a small handful for scattering on top of the wrapped parcels). Taste and adjust; the sambal should be salty-sweet-hot-sour all at once.
Have your banana leaf squares, cooked rice, sambal, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber slices, extra ikan bilis and fried peanuts all lined up.
Place a banana leaf shiny-side up. In the centre, mound about 4 tablespoons of coconut rice. Top with 2 tbsp sambal, a small scatter of extra crispy ikan bilis, a small scatter of fried peanuts, half a hard-boiled egg and 3 slices of cucumber.
Fold two opposite corners of the leaf up over the filling to meet in the middle. Then fold the other two corners in to form a triangular parcel. Tuck the last corner underneath, or tie with string if you prefer.
Serve at room temperature or slightly warm. Each person unwraps their own bungkus and eats with their fingers.
Tips
- Full-fat coconut milk for the rice. Light coconut milk gives you plain rice with a hint of coconut. Full-fat is what makes the rice fragrant, slightly rich and unmistakably nasi lemak.
- Fry the sambal until the oil separates. This is the Malaysian visual cue for a properly cooked sambal. Under-cooked sambal is raw-tasting and thin; properly cooked sambal is deep, glossy and integrated.
- Ikan bilis must be crispy. Under-fried anchovies are soft and fishy; properly fried are shatter-crisp with a specific savoury depth. 90 seconds in 170°C oil is the target.
- Banana leaves add perfume. If you can find frozen banana leaves at an Asian grocer, use them. Baking paper is a functional substitute but doesn't add the specific aroma that makes nasi lemak bungkus.
- Best at room temperature. Nasi lemak bungkus is meant to be eaten at room temperature (or slightly warm), not piping hot. This is how it's sold from stalls; the rice tastes better after the coconut has had time to settle into the grains.
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