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Nasi Lemak or Chicken Rice?

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Malay’s nasi lemak?

Or Singapore’s chicken rice?
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Or it may be a question of what you want your rice to be cooked with.

Rice in nasi lemak, which literally means “rice in cream”, is steamed with coconut cream. It is usually served in a large platter with anchovies, roasted peanuts, hard-boiled egg, cucumber slices or kangkong (river spinach), fried chicken wings and sambal sauce. Yummy with a zing!
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With chicken rice, the rice is steamed using chicken stock. And I mean whole chicken or bony chicken parts boiled for hours for flavorful chicken broth. Rice is usually served separately but alongside a plateful of steamed or roast chicken on a bed of sliced cucumber. It’s never complete without dips of ginger, soy sauce and chili sauce. More photos here. (And here‘s my 1st attempt.)
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Me? I love both!
Photos taken in a Peranakan restaurant in Beijing.
… Currently eyeing the best Southeast Asian restaurant in Auckland!

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays. Rice.

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Iska
I am not a professional cook. My only claim to having a culinary background is a short stint as my dad’s teen ‘sous chef’ in his carinderia ages ago. Dad ran small eateries since I was a young kid - serving standard ‘turo-turo’ food ranging from the likes of menudo, adobo, pritong isda, dinuguan, binagoongan, bopis, munggo, pinakbet and giniling to merienda fares like goto, ginataan, pancit bihon, halu-halo and saging con yelo.

My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.

Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.

7 thoughts on “Nasi Lemak or Chicken Rice?

  1. grabe sis, na-miss ko ang nasi lemak! at least ang chix rice nagagawa ko once in awhile..and you can find this in some restos even here nasi lemak ata i haven’t found one here..pro yummy both of them! *drools*,

  2. I don’t think I’ve ever had nasi lemak before. The whole dish sounds delicious. I’ll have to find somewhere I can try this out :)

    As for that chicken rice, all I can say is YUMMY!

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