What Is In Nasi Lemak, A favourite Malay dish in Singapore?

Nasi Lemak boxed meal. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Nasi means rice. Lemak means fat. 

To the Chinese who love pork it might mean lard. But I was bought a halal nasi lemak. The rice was cooked with tasty coconut. This meal had a bit of everything. Egg, chicken wing, anchovies (called ikan bilis) and peanuts. Ayam is Malay for chicken.

Nask Lemak meal. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

You can see the coconut rice, white on the left,  I started with the rice. It was delicious. I loved the coconut.

The tiny curved anchovies lower left corner. To their right are the peanuts. 

In the tub I was told was chilli sauce so I did not eat that. But next time I shall try a tiny sip. 

The white in the centre is a fried egg. The yolk was just right. Like toothpaste. Soft enough to suck and savour but not so runny as to make mess.  

The chicken wing was top right. 

A slab of fish cake was on top. I did not touch that because I am allergic to shellfish. When i opened the box it had a pungent smell which I recognized. It reminded me of fish soup containing king prawns and other shellfish. I did not want to risk it, although people say that fish cakes often contain mock shellfish, just not worth the risk. The smell soon evaporated. Even without that, I had plenty to eat. 

The meal contained plenty of protein. What a generous mixture of eggs, chicken and fish. 

I left the other items.  One piece of cucumber. A thick slice.  Local dishes are not big on vegetables. You have to order a vegetarian dish to compensate. 

A few handy words of Malay

Malay - English

ayam - chicken

lemak - fat

nasi - rice

English - Malay

chicken - ayam

fat - lemak

rice - nasi

We also had spinach pizza and fruit salad.

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