I cannot for the life of me understand the current craze here for nasi kak wok – it seems to have popped up in the menu of the Malay/Muslim shops here, there and everywhere. Unlike its Kelantanese counterpart, the nasi kerabu which I like a lot, I have tried it a few times here…and here again…and also here but it did not tickle my fancy – not something I would want to order again.
Another popular Kelantanese dish is the nasi ulam which I would love to try but it is not available here or not that I know of. I tried cooking my own once but I did not think it was all that great – maybe I did not get it right, I wouldn’t know so that day, when I saw a whole lot of rice left in the fridge, I decided to try again but this time around, I went about it a little differently.
Instead of serving it cold, tossed with all the herbs and leaves and what not, I fried it so perhaps we should call it nasi ulam goreng instead. I started off cooking the sambal udang kering (dried prawns) by frying the pounded ingredients – shallots, garlic, kunyit (turmeric), lengkuas (galangal) and chili with stalks of serai (lemon grass) added…followed eventually by the pounded udang kering with belacan (dried prawn paste). Once that was done, I added some curry leaves and then, the rice and eggs and mixed everything well together. Finally, I added some salt, chopped spring onions (since I have a lot in my garden) and Thai basil leaves before dishing everything out. I could have added some of my daun kesum and sawtooth coriander as well but I did not, in case my girl would get put off by the strong fragrances.
It turned out really nice – everyone enjoyed it but there was so much so I heated up the left over…
…the next morning for breakfast.
I fried an omelette and wrapped the rice…
…in it…
…so it became what I would call nasi ulam goreng Pattaya…
…and served it with the leftover sambal udang petai…
…that I bought home the previous day and yes, it was indeed very nice.
I would still want to try the nasi ulam though, should I happen to come across any, so I would be able to know for sure as to how good it actually is…and whether it is nicer than my nasi ulam goreng…
…or not.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Looks so delicious especially with the sambal petai
Of course the sambal petai brought the dish to a whole new level, love it!
I like to add basil leaves to my fried rice too. You fried rice looks simply delicious with the sambal udang petai. Yummssss…..😋😋😋
My friend, Peter of Payung said it tastes great when added to sambal belacan…and sardines – I had that in my coming post on sardine rolls. Yet to try that it in sambal belacan – waiting for the leaves to flourish, the plants were dying out at one time, now slowly recovering.
A very ingenious variation of the nasi ulam. Would have loved to try your version.
We all loved it a lot more. I wouldn’t mind adding more herbs and leaves – love the nice fragrances of those.
Yum! Yum! Your nasi ulam goreng must be very tasty and fragrant. To me Nasi Kak Wok is more of a novelty. It is alright, over hyped I think.
My sentiments exactly! I really do not see what is so nice about it, so very popular here.