Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice)

I can't believe I've had this blog for over 6 years and am only now posting this recipe (how dare I call myself a Malaysian home cook?!) Thank you Alex for asking for it today and prodding me into action!

If you don't know what Malaysia's explosively delicious default national dish of Nasi Lemak is, with its crazy good combination of spicy-salty-sweet-crunchy-aromatic flavors and textures, not to mention its burst of gorgeous colors, good old Wikipedia has a great rundown here. 

My picture above shows it not only with its traditional sides of crispy anchovies, roasted redskin peanuts, cucumber slices, egg and of course the crucial sambal by which all Nasi Lemak is judged, but also with two pieces of my Malay spiced fried chicken, which is this household's idea of the perfect protein accompaniment. You can, of course, choose instead to do a chicken curry, beef rendang, vegetable pickle or any other spicy seafood or meat you want. The links above take you to my own personal recipes, but of course you can do whatever you wish.

Nasi Lemak tastes amazing in all its variations, so don't be afraid to go all out and serve four dishes with it, or enjoy just its basic form like the little banana-leaf wrapped bundles we find on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. 

Selamat makan as we say in Malaysia!

Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice)

Serves 4

2 cups white rice, washed and drained

1 cup coconut milk

2 or 3 pandan leaves, knotted

A few slices of ginger

A stick of lemongrass, cut into 1-inch lengths and smashed

A tiny sprinkle of fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste

Some water

Combine all the ingredients above in a rice cooker. Add just enough water to the 2 cup marker, or until the water level is 1/2 inch above the rice (a helpful guide if you're making rice on the stove). Cook as usual, and fluff up with a paddle or fork before serving.

The Accompaniments

• Ikan bilis (anchovies): Deep fry some dried anchovies over medium-high heat until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels. 

• Peanuts: Toast some redskin peanuts in a sauce pan (or in the oven if you prefer) with a tiny bit of oil, until fragrant and deeper red. Sprinkle with salt and a bit of sugar.

• Cucumber slices: Self-explanatory:)

• Egg: Make perfectly hard-boiled ones, or fry one sunny side up/over easy if preferred. 

• Sambal: See my recipe here, or if you're too lazy you can order it from me here.

 Arrange prettily on a plate and enjoy!

Film Set Catering: The Odd Essay

SAM TAN'S KITCHEN HAS MOVED! Please visit the new website/online store at www.samtanskitchen.com for all catering enquiries. You can also follow Sam on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!

Sam Tan's Kitchen caters home-cooked food made from scratch for just about anything, from intimate romantic dinners to low-budget film shoots to canapé-style receptions. To enquire for your next event, drop me a line at samtanskitchen@gmail.com :)

These past two weeks, Sam Tan's Kitchen was happy to provide hot lunches and basic craft services for the USC feature-length thesis The Odd Essay. It was my first time catering on a film set for more than a few days, and it proved to be a fun challenge planning, shopping for and cooking completely different menus each day to feed an average of thirty people (including three vegetarians and two vegans with gluten and nut allergies), as well as making night-time deliveries to different locations every night for two weeks.

Below is a rundown of the entire menu, with pictures when I remembered to take them. Thank you to producer Shardul Sharma for trusting me to feed your crew, and I'm thrilled to hear you all liked the food!

The Odd Essay 12-Day Menu

(V) denotes vegetarian, (v/gf) denotes vegan and gluten-free

 The daily provision of basic craft services: an assortment of fruit, granola bars and chips (plus cookies on select days)

Day 1: Roasted peppers and zucchini (V, v/gf), creamy cheesy ziti bake with chicken, creamy cheesy ziti bake with mushroom (V), olio mushroom brown rice penne (v/gf)

Dessert: Belgian chocolate brownies

Day 2: 

Green bean salad with sesame and red onion (V, v/gf)

Chicken fried rice with shredded egg and green onions

Tofu fried rice with shredded egg and green onions (V)

Tofu fried rice with green onions (v/gf)

Day 3:

Garlic toasts (V)

Three cheese vegetable ragu lasagne (V)
Gluten-free brown rice penne with vege ragu and mushroom (v/gf)

Day 4:

Cucumber and tomato salad with green onion and olive oil dressing (V, v/gf)

Roast chicken legs with lemon, honey, mustard and sage

Steamed rice with mixed vegetables (V, v/gf)

Roast root vegetables (V, v/gf)

Day 5:

Oven roasted corn-on-the-cob (V, v/gf)

Creamy potato salad with green onions and egg (V)

Potato salad with apple cider vinaigrette (v/gf)

Chicken penne bake

Mushroom penne bake (V)

Mushroom olio brown rice penne (v/gf)

Day 6:

Red onion, tomato and cucumber salad (V, v/gf)

Penne arrabiata with chicken

Penne arrabiata with green peppers (V)

Brown rice fusili with green peppers (v/gf)

Moist carrot banana cake (V)

Day 7:

Yellow rice with mixed vegetables (V, v/gf)

Homemade chicken meatballs with lime and cilantro

Homemade vegan mushroom potato meatballs (V, v/gf)

Day 8: Asian green pepper and cucumber salad, chicken pad thai, tofu pad thai with eggs(V), tofu pad thai (v/gf)

Day 9: Ranch rolls (V), corn tortilla chips (v/gf), chicken and three-bean chili with cheese, three-bean chili with peppers and mushrooms (V)

Dessert: Crunchy top lemon cake

Day 10: Mixed leaf and tomato salad with balsamic vinaigrette (V, v/gf), creamy chicken and potato bake with cheesy breadcrumb topping, creamy leek and potato bake with cheesy breadcrumb topping (V), potatoes, leeks and mixed vegetables (v/gf). 

Dessert: peanut butter chocolate cookies and oat coconut cookies

Day 11: Homemade beef and chicken burgers, turkey burgers, veggie burgers (V), vegan burgers (v/gf), oven baked fries, condiments and toppings for self-assembly (burger buns, tomatoes, lettuce, red onion, pickles, cheese singles mustard and ketchup).

Dessert: Zesty bread and butter pudding

Day 12: Homemade vegetable spring rolls with Sriracha-lime-vinegar dipping sauce (V), Asian-style chicken fried rice with shredded egg, fried and green onions, mixed vegetable fried rice with egg, fried and green onions (V), mixed vegetable fried rice with green onions (v/gf)

Dessert: Moist chocolate cake with Belgian chocolate ganache

THAT'S A WRAP!:)

Hearty Three-Bean Chicken Stew

Bacon, chicken chunks and three different beans, cooked to a rich tomato stew with a ton of different spices, and made creamy by a cheeky handful of cheese stirred in at the end. What's not to like? :)

I improvised this on the fly last night with leftover ingredients, so measurements are totally approximate. Feel free to add or omit anything on the list- I think carrots, zucchini or any chunky vegetables of your choice would make a great addition too.

Hearty Three-Bean Chicken Stew

Serves 8

*If you prefer not to use canned beans, just soak 3/4 cup of dried beans for each kind listed (so 2 1/4 cups dried beans total) overnight in water. Bring to a boil the next day and simmer for about 90 mins-2 hrs until cooked. You can use the water from cooking the beans in your stew.

Snip 200g streaky bacon into bits with some kitchen shears- I like to use Trader Joe's Bacon Ends and Pieces for cooking, and I much prefer kitchen scissors to a knife so I can cut it straight into the pot without getting a chopping board greasy.

Add a touch of olive oil and saute over medium-high heat until the fat from the bacon melts.

Add in and cook for a few minutes:

1 large cooking onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

A few dried chillies, crushed

Cut 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs into small chunks ( far prefer dark meat to white, but you can use chicken breast if preferred). Add to the pot and saute briefly until seared.

Pour in:

1 can (28 oz) chopped tomatoes

1 can (15 oz) each of pinto beans, red kidney beans and white canellini beans, drained (you can use just one type or other varieties if you prefer)

About 1 cup water (or the stock from cooking your dried beans if you did that)

1 tsp each of ground cumin and ground coriander

A generous sprinkling of dried oregano, basil, thyme, smoked paprika and cayenne (or any other herbs you want)

Lots of freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

1 bay leaf

Bring to a boil, then simmer on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 30-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened.

Right at the end, stir in a tiny handful of grated cheese to make creamy (I had a Mexican blend of asadero, sharp cheddar, queso blanco and Monterey Jack lying around).

Let cool slightly before serving. Eat on its own, with rice or with bread.

Tastes even better as leftovers the next day!

Someone Has Stolen the Sam Tan's Kitchen Logo! :(

Update 12 Aug 2015: The sign has been replaced and this issue is now resolved. Thank you to everyone who helped me get in touch with the family running this business, and thank you Ollivander's Kitchen for cooperating swiftly.

Dear Ollivander, or whoever owns Ollivander's Kitchen in Singapore,

It has just been brought to my attention that you've stolen my logo and are using Mini Cartoon Me as a sign for your hawker stall in the May Hua food court in Raffles Place.  By sheer luck, a friend happened to stop there today for lunch and sent me this photo:

This is all very surreal.

I hold no ill feelings towards you, in fact I am very flattered that you like my doodle of my own likeness so much that you would co-opt it without my permission. I'm sure you are a well-meaning small business owner that simply settled on my image after innocently Googling "cute food logos", but as I announced on 29 October 2014 with this post, I created her literally from scratch with color pens and spent many hours self-teaching Adobe Illustrator before I perfected "something simple and personal to capture the essence of me".  I specifically parted the hair the way I usually wear it, put lines where my collarbones stick out, added the loop earrings I frequently wear and drew the plate to look like both my favorite dish of all time, Hainanese Chicken Rice, as well as Malaysia's national dish Nasi Lemak. In other words, my logo truly is a carefully crafted and very precious Digital Mini Me, so I hope you in turn will bear no ill feelings when I implore you to please take it down now. 

I'm sorry if printing that big sign cost you some money, and I hope it won't make too much of a dent for you to reprint a new one with my logo removed.

If you, Ollivander, are reading this, I would appreciate it very much if you would drop me a line at samtanskitchen@gmail.com so we can resolve this amicably without any legal wrangling. 

In the meantime, if any Singaporeans out there are reading this and happen to pop by May Hua food court, please mention to the stall owner that I am trying to get in touch and get me a phone number or email address if you can.

Thank you.

Regards,

Samantha Tan

Sam Tan's Kitchen  

Louiza's Bridal Shower Tea Party

SAM TAN'S KITCHEN HAS MOVED! Please visit the new website/online store at www.samtanskitchen.com for all catering enquiries. You can also follow Sam on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!

Sam Tan's Kitchen caters home-cooked food made from scratch for just about anything, from intimate romantic dinners to low-budget film shoots to canapé-style receptions. To enquire for your next event, drop me a line at samtanskitchen@gmail.com :)

A few weeks ago my actress friend Ri got in touch to ask if I would cater a bridal shower she was in charge of organizing for her friend. We traded ideas on the phone, and I scribbled down thematic keywords including "pretty", "nibbles", and "cute", which then helped me draw up a suggested menu of 26 appropriate bitesize options and a range of centerpiece cakes to choose from.

After some discussion, I'm glad to say Ri and her fellow bridesmaids settled on some excellent sweet and savory selections, as well as my signature rose buttercream cake :)

And so behold, the "cute pretty nibbles" presented today at Sam Tan's Kitchen's first bridal shower tea party! Thank you Ri for hiring me and congratulations again to the beautiful bride-to-be Louiza! 

The menu (clockwise from top right): 

Chocolate fudge cake with vanilla buttercream roses, London Almond truffles, Malaysian coconut crepes, assorted sandwiches (roast vegetable and Swiss cheese, tuna scallion, black forest ham and muenster), mini butter shortbread hearts, bitesize sausage rolls.

Grilled Mexican Street Corn (Elotes Callejeros)

Grilled Mexican-street style corn-on-the-cob, slathered in heaps of butter, mayonnaise, lime, cojita cheese and spices, easily made in your own kitchen in less than 20 minutes. 

What else do you need to know?

Grilled Mexican Street Corn (Elotes Callejeros)

Technically serves 4 (I can eat 3 in one sitting, so...) 

The stuff you need (measurements don't need to be exact): 

4 ears of corn, husks removed (keep the ends on as handles)

Bit of oil (for brushing)

Some mayonnaise, say about 1/4 cup (some people like to mix in sour cream or Mexican crema too, do it if you like)

Some butter

1/2 cup grated Cotija cheese (if you can't find Cotija, substitute with grated Parmesan or feta)

A lime, cut into wedges

Ground smoked paprika and cayenne powder, or whatever Mexican chilli powders you have on hand (ancho, guajillo or chile pequin are highly recommended)

Brush the corn with a bit of vegetable oil. Grill in a heavy pan (or you can BBQ or roast in the oven) over medium-high heat for 15 minutes, turning frequently, until charred and golden.

Brush generously with butter, then mayonnaise. A pastry brush helps, but if not the back of a spoon will do just fine.

 Sprinkle generously with cheese and smoked paprika/cayenne/ your choice of chilli powders. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze all over.

Admire the sheer beauty of what you just made. Take close-ups, put them on Instagram #nom, excitedly tease your friends.

THEN ATTACK LIKE A RAVENOUS HYENA.

Homemade British Sausage Rolls

This season we craved a taste of London, so I am proud to share a successful experiment in The Classic British Sausage Roll: herby meaty bits of porky deliciousness, encased in a flaky buttery puff pastry!

It sounds unusual, but some grated lemon zest really turned out to be the secret ingredient to lift and lighten what can sometimes be an overly stodgy treat. I learned the trick online, and I can't recommend it enough. Herbwise I stuck with the classic combo of sage and thyme (and the household highly approved), but feel free to play around with whatever aromatics you see fit. You can also use store bought puff pastry if you're too lazy to make the dough from scratch. Both the filling and pastry can be made a day or two ahead of time.

They're rich, hearty, and quite possibly the best savoury party bites ever. Merry Christmas and happy eating this holiday season everyone! :)

Homemade British Sausage Rolls
Makes about 40 bitesize pieces (*Feel free to make large individual portions if you like. Adjust cooking times accordingly and bear in mind the pastry will puff up.)

• Filling (you can make this several days in advance for the flavours to intensify):

Stir together in a bowl or mush in a ziplock bag to marinate:
1 1/2 lbs minced pork (*I asked my butcher to grind up a piece of pork loin. You can also use shoulder or ready-bought sausagemeat. Some recipes suggest pork belly or adding some streaky bacon... personally I think this would be too fatty)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp fresh chopped sage leaves (roughly a handful)
Roughly 2 tbsp fresh thyme (about 16 sprigs- I usually just run my hand down the stem and pull the leaves off instead of chopping)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Salt and black pepper to taste

Like herby pork Play Doh :)

• Puff pastry

Toss together in a large bowl (*the colder all your ingredients are, the better. It can help to put this whole bowl into the freezer briefly):
2 sticks (230g) very cold butter, diced into cubes
2 cups plain flour
Pinch of salt

Gradually add 1/2 cup ice cold water bit by bit, stirring slowly with a butter knife until incorporated and kneadable (not too sticky). Press with your hands into a rough dough ball (the butter cubes will still be visible) and cling wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 mins or overnight.

To bake:

Have 1 beaten egg and some flour on standby. Preheat your oven to 425 F (220 C).

Place the rested dough ball on a well-floured surface, dust the top with more flour (I like to cover it with a sheet of cling wrap to ease clean up) and roll out slightly into a disc. Fold in the edges to form a square, flip it over and roll out into a large rectangle about 0.5 cm thin.

Cut the dough into 4 strips. Working with one piece at a time, roll each dough strip out longer and thinner if necessary. Squeeze a quarter of the meat into a long log with your hands (beware sexual innuendoes from cheeky roommates) and place in the centre of the pastry. Brush one edge with some water or egg wash, and roll it up snugly. 

Cut into about 10 pieces. Arrange on a baking tray.  Repeat with the other 3 strips of pastry and the rest of the meat.

Make a slit or several on top of each piece with a knife (to allow steam to escape). You can also prick with a fork.

Brush each piece with some egg wash.

Bake at 425 F (220C) for 25-30 mins until golden brown and crisp. The oil from the pork may ooze and bubble- don't worry, it's meant to happen :)

Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Serve warm, with some good ol' HP brown sauce if you wanna be really pukka :) Enjoy!

Presenting: Me, Plus Food :) Sam Tan's Kitchen finally has a logo!

Hello foodie friends!

So, you may have noticed that the culinary shenanigans on my blog have come to a sudden halt these past few months.

After the big conclusion of my Actors Studio Drama School adventure in New York, my fiance Ari and I jumped ship and swapped coasts to Los Angeles in July. I haven't been cooking because we haven't had our own kitchen (we've been crashing on our lovely friends Sue and Sean's couch since arrival), but FINALLY this weekend we will move into our own apartment and hopefully, resume foodie activities!

Not one to like wasting a moment, I have in the meantime taken the opportunity to develop something I've wanted for Sam Tan's Kitchen for a long while: a logo. Something simple and personal to capture the essence of me, something fun and unpretentious to celebrate the joyous nature of food and the sheer happiness a hearty meal can bring.

So here: after many hours of doodling and figuring out Adobe Illustrator, I am proud to present Digital Mini Me, brandishing - yes, what else but a plate piled with food :)

Quite unintentionally (though perhaps subconsciously- I did draw it after all), the plate has been interpreted by most people to either be Hainanese Chicken Rice (my death row meal) or Malaysia's national dish Nasi Lemak. What does it look like to you? :)

I am also steadily working on revamping this site- watch this space for when the new www.samtanskitchen.com will go live :) 

Thank you all for your continued support. Until next time, happy eating!

Sunflower Seed and Coconut Cookies

A riff on my own fah sang peng recipe, using sunflower seeds and dessicated coconut instead of peanuts. Little adorable melt-in-the-mouth bites of fragrant high fibre goodness! :)

Sunflower Seed and Coconut Cookies
Makes about 70 bitesize pieces

Blitz 200g (approx 1 1/2 cups) roasted salted sunflower seeds (I like Trader Joe's) in a blender/spice mill until finely ground. You can leave some coarse bits for texture if you like.

Chuck in and blitz until well-combined:

50 g (approx 1/2 cup) unsweetened dessicated coconut (I use the super dry powdery kind from my Asian grocery store pictured below, NOT sweetened coconut flakes)

200g (approx. 1 1/2 cups) plain flour

100g (approx. 3/4 cup) icing sugar (essential for the fine texture. Do not substitute with normal sugar)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Add a good glug of vegetable oil (any mild variety like corn, soya, sunflower, rapeseed or groundnut will do) and blitz at high speed, adding more oil if necessary until a soft rollable dough is formed. Be sure not to pour in too much oil at one go.

My unsweetened dessicated coconut of choice

Roll into equal sized little balls (about a teaspoonful of dough each) with your hands.

Poke the top with a chopstick to make an indentation. 

*This step is primarily for cuteness. Skip altogether if you don't really care.

Bake at 320 F/160 C fan-assisted (or 350 F/180 C for non-convection ovens) for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool before popping into your mouth one at at time. Exercise self-control.

Zev and Eliza's Engagement Party

SAM TAN'S KITCHEN HAS MOVED! Please visit the new website/online store at www.samtanskitchen.com for all catering enquiries. You can also follow Sam on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!

With Mr. and soon-to-be Mrs. Lebowitz

In November 2013, a lovely young couple named Zev Lebowitz and Eliza Quanbeck emailed me out of the blue to enquire if I would be willing to cater a full selection of traditional Malaysian dishes for their upcoming engagement party of about 100 guests. It was the first request of this scale that I had ever received, and I was both surprised and more than a little tickled that two New Yorkers who neither knew me personally nor were Malaysian themselves had a) found my little blog online randomly somehow (thanks Google!) b) trusted I was the real deal based solely on my food porn pictures c) seemed to have such a passion for and in-depth knowledge of local dishes I had grown up with and d) actually wanted to pay me to cook the stuff for their friends and family!

Some back-and-forth later, it emerged that Zev and Eliza had just concluded an epic 14-month world tour (check out their fun food/travel blog A Feast Afoot), during which a month was spent eating and attending cooking classes in Kuala Lumpur. To my delight they not only were familiar with but specifically requested rendang, ayam goreng berempah, sayur lodeh and kuih amongst other traditional delicacies, and before I knew it I had agreed with a resounding "yes!" and was standing in their Upper West Side apartment cooking a mini trial taster dinner of 10 different appetizers, mains and desserts.

The food went down well, and we eventually settled on the following menu for the big day on 8 March 2014:

The savouries:

Mini karipap (spiral curry puffs), popiah (fresh vegetable spring rolls), ayam goreng berempah (Malaysian spiced fried chicken), Nyonya acar awak (spicy vegetable pickle) with rice, beef rendang (dry coconut curry) with rice

The sweets: 

Fah sang peng (peanut cookies), kuih ketayap/ dadar/ gulung (pandan crepes with caramelised coconut filling), sago gula melaka (tapioca pearl pudding with palm sugar and coconut milk)

Now, let's get real.

I was honoured and excited, but also mildly terrified. Never in my life had I catered for so many people at once before; 20+ on a low-budget film set maybe, perhaps 50 in a potluck setting with friends where everyone brings food and no one holds it against you if your dish sucks. Absolutely not something like this, where I am solely and fully responsible for planning, prepping, and plating nine different dishes into little canapé size morsels that are tasty, hygienically safe to eat and look pretty, for 100 guests who have never met me and have no reason to expect anything less than restaurant quality.

On top of that, it was a school week where I could only cook in the evenings after I got home from class and rehearsals. AND my kitchen, to put it mildly, is modestly sized with very little countertop space and no professional equipment. AND I live in a 5th floor walk up and don't own a car (ever tried grocery shopping for 100 people and carrying it up the stairs? Who needs a gym!).

Ambitious much? Insanely so.

I do love a good challenge though, and thankfully with adequate amounts of pre-planning, detailed lists and the willingness to forego sleep in order to stir curries on a stove til 5am, everything somehow worked out! Thank goodness for my ever-patient fiance Ari, who would help me roll hundreds of fah sang peng and lug incredibly heavy bags of ingredients (eight pounds of jicama, five litres of coconut cream etc... ) all the way up from Chinatown via the crowded subway. Thank heavens too for my loving and tolerant roommates Adam and G, who didn't complain for one second about my noisy blender grinding into the night, or the perpetual pungency of spice pastes filling the air, or the fact that they couldn't really make any meals for themselves the whole week because I took up the entire fridge and stovetop. G even helped us carry our things into a cab across the street on the day, when my poor planning caused some bags to break and made it impossible for us to juggle everything! I love you all, you guys make my life.

So here below, I share with you some pictorial proof that this actually happened. Thank you Zev and Eliza once again for the leap of faith you took in hiring me, I had a lot of fun and hope you did too!

THE PREQUEL

Step 1: Make detailed shopping list/ timeline of tasks for the week leading up to March 8th

Step 2: Buy gigantic 16-quart pot from Amazon. Worry about where to store it later.

Step 3: Use pot for everything (like making rendang in advance).

Dough for 300 mini curry puffs ready to be shaped

Quick scribbles of my own recipes in shorthand to refer to in the kitchen

(with quantities multiplied for 100 pax)

SHOW NIGHT

Frying the karipap freshly on site. Yes that is a Hard Rock Kuala Lumpur T-shirt. Represent!:)

Some of the plated dishes ready to roll. Clockwise from top left; acar on rice, mini karipap, beef rendang on rice, fresh popiah

Assembling the bitesize ayam goreng. That's Dan Williams behind me,
who led the team of servers for the night

My trusty kitchen elf/ slave/ general helpful fiance. The model of intense concentration as he assembles the shots of sago :)

Friday pops by to say goodnight! (Or maybe he was just intrigued by the curious smells)