This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!
Recipe Notes
- This dish is fairly spicy. For your sambal, you can use your dried chile of choice. Birds eye, chile de arbol, tien tsin are all acceptable, but choose the chile to match your heat tolerance.
- For our vegan anchovies, I opted to go less authentic and use capers to help meet both the crispy and saltiness factor. Alternatively, you might consider swapping it out for a fried, salty seaweed.
- Normally this dish is served with hard boiled eggs, but I sautéed up some Just Egg as a replacement. Recipe for that not included, but it a fantastic egg substitute for all occasions. For an alternative protein to eggs, you can also use steamed silken tofu.
- Pandan leaves can be found at many Asian supermarkets, I found mine in the frozen section of my local market.
Vegan Nasi Lemak
Details
4 servings
15 minutes
60 minutes
Print
Ingredients
- Rice
1 cup Jasmine Rice
1 13 ounce can Coconut milk
3 Pandan Leaves
- Sambal
1 cup Dried Red Chiles
1 1/2 cups Water
3 small Red Sweet Peppers
1 large Jalapeno (optional)
1/4 Red Onion
6 Garlic Cloves
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Tamarind Paste
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon Ginger, dried (use fresh if you have it)
- Vegan Anchovies
2 cups Capers (drained)
2 tablespoons Kelp Granules
- Other
1 cup Red Skinned Peanuts
1 Persian Cucumber
Vegetable Oil, as needed
Directions
- Rice
- Rinse rise until water runs clear. Add to a small pot with coconut milk and pandan leaves. Fill up coconut can full of water and add to pot, or pour in water until it reaches your knuckle. Bring to a low simmer, allowing to simmer until cooked (about 15 minutes). If you cook off too much of the water and the rice isn’t cooked, add small amounts of water as needed until fully cooked.
- Prepare other all other ingredients below while cooking. Once fully cooked, keep covered and warm until ready to serve. Discard pandan prior to serving.
- Vegan Anchovies
- Add a thin layer of oil to coat a large frying pan. Once up to temperature, add capers. Fry until capers become crisp.
- Once capers have crisped, add to a paper towel lined plate until excess oil dries. Once dry, toss capers in a bowl with kelp granules. Set aside until ready to serve.
- Fried Peanuts
- Add peanuts to the frying pan used for the capers. There should still be oil in the pan, if not add additional oil as needed. Add peanuts to the pan and fry until they start to turn golden.
- Remove peanuts from pan and add to a paper towel lined late until excess oil dries. Set aside until ready to serve.
- Sambal
- Boil water. Once done, pour hot water over a bowl containing the dried chiles. Let sit for 10-20 minutes or until chiles are hydrated.
- Dice onion, red peppers, and jalapeno. Mince garlic.
- When chiles are ready, add red peppers, jalapeno, garlic, onion, and hydrated chiles (save the water) to a food processor. Pulse to incorporate ingredients. Set aside.
- In the same sauté pan everything else was prepared in, add sambal to pan. Sauté over medium heat. Add ginger, salt, tamarind, brown sugar, and half of the chile water. Sauté for 5 to 8 minutes or until the fresh chiles cook down. Taste test and add more tamarind, salt, and sugar to taste. Add additional chile water as needed to blend in the tamarind paste. Once paste is ready, set aside.
- Assembly
- Slice cucumber into thin coins. Set aside.
- Add rice in the center of each serving plate. Add sambal, peanuts, vegan anchovies, cucumbers, and vegan egg (optional if serving). Enjoy hot!
Quick post-recipe development thoughts from the live stream….
