First try at making Nasi Ulam
I had been craving for Nasi Ulam for the past few days. I was planning to make my way to Jalan Tua Kong to tapao (takeaway) some for lunch this weekend when my helper, Pat said: “Teacher, let’s make it!” It took me two days to find out how to make it. I was delighted to find YouTube tutorials and most of the ingredients at the wet market across the road.
Nasi Ulam (Rice Salad) is a hard-to-find, tedious to make Peranakan cuisine. Malaysia and Indonesia also have their versions of it. Nasi Ulam is a fresh, super delicious, healthy vegetable, herb and rice salad. When it comes to food, “healthy” and “delicious” are two words that don’t always go together. But this dish is! I won’t attempt to describe it. This little Nonya is drooling just thinking about it. I had two bowls of it.
Here’s are the ingredients and the steps. I’ve included the video tutorial I found on YouTube below.
The Ingredients
I’ve listed the names of the ingredients in Peranakan (Malay), followed by the English and Filipino names
The measurements are for TWO servings. Feel free to adjust the amount according to taste. Skip ingredients if they are not available.
Rice (basmati or jasmine)
Cook and cool down
Fried items (4!) – fry separately
- 140 gm Kerisik (toasted grated coconut, toasted latik)
- 130 gm Fish (use something firm like batang, mackeral)
- 130 gm Haybee (dried shrimp, hibe)
- 100 gm Ikan bilis (white bait, dilis) for garnishing
Fresh items (12!) – finely sliced
- 1 stalk Bunga kantan (torch ginger flower, karmia)
- 4 pcs Daun limau perut (kaffir lime leaf, kabuyaw/kulubot)
- 1 stalk Serai (lemongrass, tanglad)
- 3 cm Lengkuas (galanggal, langkawas/gisól, a kind of ginger root)
- 5 cm Kunyit (fresh turmeric root, luyang dilaw)
- 1 pc Bawang merah (shallots, small red onions, sibuyas)
- 5 pcs Daun kadok, serih (wild betel/pepper leaf, buho/buyo)
- 6 pcs Daun kesom (laksa leaf, polygonum leaf, Vietnamese mint leaf, rau ram)
- 1/2 pc Daun kunyit (turmeric leaf, yellow ginger leaf, luyang dilaw)
- 5 pcs Daun pudina (mint leaves, herba buena)
- 10 cm Kachang botol (winged bean, sigarilyas)
- 2 stalks Kachang panjang (long beans, sitaw)
The Steps
The vegetables and herbs should be taken fresh and raw
- Cook your rice the night before or leave it to cool before adding your veggies and herbs.
- Mix the fried items first to allow the rice to soak up the flavours and saltiness from the fried items.
- Mix in the veggies and herbs.
- Season with limau kasturi (calamansi) juice and fish sauce if you prefer it more salty.
Plate it and enjoy!
It has to look as good as it taste.
- Optional: sambal belachan (spicy chilli in shrimp paste) if you like it spicy
- Diced cucumber
- Ikan bilis (white bait)
2 comments
Wee Lin
Big bonus that it is good for heart health & diabetic..i am rushing to get the ingredients..this is one salad that needs lots of chopping lol
Angeline Koh
Enjoy your Nasi Ulam, Wee Lin. I’m sure it will turn out great 😊.