Better next time…

I often saw enticing photographs or people blogging about the nasi ulam but I don’t think we can get that here and all the while, I was wishing I could give it a try. It so happened that one morning, I saw Martin Yan on AFC cooking it and it looked kind of simple and I decided to give it a try.

I got these leaves and herbs from my garden…

…ready and cut them thinly…

…except for the pandan leaves.

Yes, I had a look at somebody’s recipe and she added a whole lot of things such as daun limau perut (kaffir lime leaves), torch ginger flower (bunga kanta) and kerisik (toasted grated coconut) even but I did not have those so I just went ahead and did without them. I should have added some chili though – we always have those in the fridge/freezer, ever ready for use as and when the need arises.

I did have some fish flakes and also some udang kering (dried prawns) soaked to soften…

…and pounded well…

I think I should cook the rice afresh but I had a lot in the fridge so I decided to just use that instead. I mixed some sliced shallots and the pandan leaves, cut into shorter lengths, added a bit of salt and Thai fish sauce…

…and put that in the steamer to steam.

Once done, I added all the aforementioned ingredients…

…and tossed well.

It so happened that my Bintulu brother-in-law came to town for the Ching Ming Festival and he brought us these…

…it being the bubuk (krill shrimps) season right now, thank you so much to him. I was quite tempted to add the dried bubuk or the cincaluk (fermented krill shrimps) and pound some sambal belacan (dried prawn paste dip) to eat with the rice but I did not and I lived to regret it.

The rice was all right…

– fragrant with all the ingredients added but I was pretty sure that the real thing with all the extra ingredients and everything else would be a whole lot nicer. As it was, I think I would enjoy the East Coast delight, the nasi kerabu here, a lot more.

Never mind! I will do it again one day and being older and wiser now, I do think it will be a lot better next time. Any pointers from anybody in the know to help me improve are most welcome!