Rice - nasi lemak, sticky rice, which rice and which dish to choose?

Problem
What's that rice dish?

Answer
Nasi Lemak is Malay for fatty rice. N a s i is rice. L e m a k is fatty. N a s i Lemak is rice usually cooked with coconut milk. Highly fatty and calorific.

Nasi Lemak
Good if you are trying to fatten up anorexics. Not so good if you are on a diet.

Delicious if you want flavoursome rice. It can be served at dinner with chicken and other foods.

The gluey coconut milk makes the rice stick together.

Buying Rice
Long grain basmati rice is for curries where you want individual grains to separate. Look in local supermarkets in Singapore. You will find many kinds of rice. Some are small packets, compacted. The huge plastic sacks of rice are stored elsewhere in the supermarket.

Breakfast Rice
For breakfast last night's boiled rice is fried up with leftover chicken shredded, and a fried egg added.

So that's rice for breakfast and the savoury course for dinner. What about dessert?

Dessert of Mango and Sticky Rice Pudding
A filling and favourite dessert is mango with stick rice pudding. What makes the rice stick together? It's the cooking 'oil' or coconut.

British Rice Pudding
British Rice Pudding is totally different. Short grain rice, cooked and served with milk.

Thai Rice
Thai rice is particularly sticky. Instead of rinsing it like long grain rice, which removes the starch, you soak it in water and save the water for cooking it.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.