Nasi lemak – what is the Malaysian dish and why is Google Doodle celebrating it?

The Malaysian favourite, a rice dish with a mouth-watering mix of ingredients thrown in, is thought to be the country's national meal.

What is nasi lemak?

Nasi lemak translates to "rich rice" as it is primarily rice cooked in coconut milk with toppings such as fried fish, anchovies and sliced cucumber.

Hard-boiled egg, water spinach and crispy peanuts are also added.

It is often cooked overnight in creamy coconut milk, allowing the flavour to soak into the grains.

The special ingredient is sambal, a hot sauce, which has been dubbed "the soul of the dish" that links all the ingredients together.

It is wrapped and served in a banana leaf to keep it warm and with an optional piece of fried chicken or beef rendang on the side.

As well as being Malaysia's national dish, it is widely enjoyed throughout south east Asia.

What is the history behind the dish?

The delicacy is said to have originated from the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and was created to be a substantial and nutritional breakfast meal for farmers.

According to legend it was stumbled upon by accident.

Seri, the daughter of a widow named Mak Kuntum, accidentally tipped coconut into the rice pot.

When her mum quizzed her on the dish she said: "Apa kau masak ni, Seri?” (What did you cook, Seri) to which Seri answered, "Nasi le! Mak!" (Rice, mother!)

Nasi lemak recipe

Why not try and make your own to give your family the taste of Malaysia?

BBC Good Food has a simple recipe for you to try your hand at:

Ingredients

For the rice:

400ml tin coconut milk
thumb-sized piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 lemongrass stalk
350g basmati rice
salt
1 piece pandan leaf, tied in a knot, to serve

For the sambal (sauce):
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste
1–2 tsp red chilli paste
250g/9oz dried anchovies, soaked in water and drained
1 tbsp caster sugar
250ml/9fl oz tamarind paste mixed with 400ml/13fl oz water

For the garnish:
1 free-range egg
vegetable oil for deep frying
handful small dried white anchovies
handful peanuts, skin-on if possible
½ cucumber, thinly sliced

Method

Put the coconut milk, ginger, lemongrass, rice and a pinch of salt in a large saucepan.

Add 400ml/14fl oz water, stir and cook over a medium heat for 10–15 minutes, or until the rice is cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed.

To make the sambal, heat the oil in a frying pan and sweat the onion and garlic for 5–7 minutes, until soft.

Add the shrimp paste, chilli paste and most of the soaked anchovies and stir.

Add the sugar and a pinch of salt and pour in the tamarind water.

Simmer until it reduces to a thick paste and set aside.

Meanwhile, to prepare the garnish, boil the eggs in water for 7–10 minutes; the yolks should be firm. When they are cool enough to handle, peel off the shells and cut the eggs in half.

Preheat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180C.

Deep-fry the dried white anchovies for 3 minutes, or until crispy.

Toast the peanuts in a dry frying pan.

Pick the lemongrass out of the rice and discard. Put the rice in a small bowl and press down until it is compacted.

Upturn the rice in the middle of the pandan leaf.

Arrange the egg, peanuts, cucumber and remaining anchovies around the rice and scatter over the crispy anchovies.

What is a Google Doodle?

In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to show that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.

The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.

In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.

Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.

Google kicked off 2019 with an animated Doodle of New Year's Eve celebrations.

On January 7, Fahrelnissa Zeid's life was celebrated with a colourful, kaleidoscopic Doodle on her 118th birthday.

And on January 11, the life of the first black singer on BBC Radio, Evelyn Dove, was celebrated.

Sake Dean Mahomed, who was the first to open an Indian restaurant in the UK, was also honoured with  a Google Doodle on January 15.

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