Nasi Ulam (Herb Rice)

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

I love herbs, they have these beautiful fragrance about them that makes everything so fresh, clean and light. I recently went through another cycle of chemotherapy and will my taste buds are all out of whack. During my first cycle, I could not stand salt and lost my Penang taste of spice and chilli. You would not believe it, I even found sweet chilli sauce spicy. However, this cycle, I am much luckier, I retained my taste buds for herbs, spice and thank God chilli. I can even take sambal again and I am so happy.

To celebrate, I decided to make my favorite salad/rice dish, Nasi Ulam. Nasi translated to English means rice and Ulam, well it means herbs. Nasi Ulam is incredibly healthy as it contain to oil and unbelievably addictive. Like most Nyonya dishes, the preparation is a little tedious. In my grandmother's days, every herb, had to be carefully and finely sliced. A sharp knife would therefore be necessary. All the effort will be worth it, trust me. Eat it with a bit or a lot of sambal belacan and any day would be perfect.

I hope you will give this recipe a go, it's worth it.

Ingredients A:
4 cups of cooked rice
100gms dried shrimps (soak, dice, fry & cool)*** not used
100gms salted fish (cut small thin slices, fry and cool)*** not used
1 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste)*** not used
4 tablespoons of toasted grated coconut
1-inch fresh turmeric (chop finely)
Salt, sugar and grounded black pepper to taste

Ingredients B (FINELY SLICED):
6 shallots
1 stalk lemongrass (serai – use the thinner end only)
1/2 stalk torch ginger flower (bunga kantan)*** not used
5 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut)
3 stalks polygonum leaves (daun kesom/laksa leaves/Vietnamese mint)
3 stalks mint leaves (daun pudina – chop finely)
3 stalks basil leaves (daun selasih)
4 galangal leaves (daun cekur)*** not used
12 wild betel leaves (daun kadok/Piper sarmentosum)

Garnishing:
Some wild betel leaves (optional)
Some mint leaves (optional)
Toasted grated coconut (optional)

Method:
Cook rice until it is al dente and let it cool slightly.
Combine all the ingredients in and mix well.
Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed.