Nasi lemak is special, special to the hearts of all Malaysian. Although in my household one would think my husband was an Asian in his last life, or so all my elders (family & friends) members seems to think so.

The most important expect of nasi lemak is the nasi lemak sambal. Each person seems to have his/hers own special recipe as well as each household.

One can have nasi lemak with fried fish, chicken, sardines sambal, prawns sambal, sotong sambal and for me the dreaded petai sambal. (I just cannot get on with the smell of petai!)

There are limitless types of food you can serve nasi lemak with but the old school MUST have is the sambal sauce, the cucumber, peanuts, boiled eggs, and fried crispy ikan bilis (anchovies) served with fragrant coconut and pandan leaves flavoured rice.

This is my nasi lemak sambal recipe. I have a little chat with a good friend and finally found out what I have been missing in my nasi lemak sambal kuah (sauce). I was never quite satisfied with mine till now. I have since cooked this twice to make sure. Now I am extremely satisfied and felt I can share this. I do not document food I do not like.

Put this sambal in air tight containers and vacuum sealed. I have even posted to friends who are extremely happy with it. You can absolutely freeze them for a lazy day.

In this pic you will see my nasi lemak share platter which I served with tri-coloured rice. I cooked the nasi lemak sambal the night before and on the day itself I boiled plain coconut and pandan rice with a couple slices of ginger, then I did the same with pandan juice and saffron. I like a nice presentation, yes I do. Food taste much nicer if they are pleasing to the eyes.

TIP – After I fried my ikan bilis and removed from hot oil with a sieve I like to sprinkle them with a dusting of icing sugar while still hot. This makes your ikan bilis stay crispy longer and a lot more tastier. It’s the combination of salt and sugar that is irresistible. However you do not have to do so.

p/s I am sure you do not need me to tell you how to boil nasi lemak However do not forget your liberal pinch of salt.

Update (06/09/2020) – today I added galangal as part of my ginger portion and I really love the taste

Please note that I fried a bunch of anchovies (ikan billis) first then used the oil to cook the kuah. In the kuah itself I add in extras minced ikan bilis (not the fried ones) and minced undang kering. These really add extra ‘ooooomph’ to my kuah in my opinion. After the kuah is done then I added in a portion of the fried ikan billis and saved some for garnishing.

Black Sweet Vinegar Pork Trotter is such a traditional Chinese dish. In the olden days this dish is often cooked as a confinement food after giving birth. The Chinese believes that this dish would ‘get rid of wind’ and is good for ladies post natal immunity after giving birth. However it is now a very common dish enjoyed by everyone even my very British husband (the eggs for he don’t eat fats).

Do you know that pork knuckles and pork trotters contains high natural collagen, perfect to ward off wrinkles? kekekekekekeke

The main ingredients to make a tremendous yummy pot of this dish are just the pork trotters or knuckles, ginger and the black sweet and sour vinegar. My hubby is a big fan of ginger but not the pig trotters or knuckles. so he will eat the eggs and drink the broth!

On the other hand the pig’s trotters are so tender, moist and wonderfully succulent after simmering slowly for hours that they are my favourite. Especially after I took the trouble of dry frying the skin till they blister. In the UK, I am using normal bottle of dark sour vinegar and dark sweet vinegar mix. I found it too sweet for my taste otherwise and I have to add more sour vinegar. I just love the pungent sweet and sour black vinegar taste but I prefer more sour and I added dried chillies to make it a bit more spicy.

I have actually kept back a huge piece of ginger to age it and I bought some young new ginger too.

Each and every family will have their own way of cooking this dish and their heirloom recipe. My mother always clean, blanch, drain and dry fry the trotters first and I followed suit. I find frying till the skin blistered gives that extra taste I love. However I am missing the black beans which I can’t find here.