Nasi Kuning

Nasi Kuning (meaning "yellow rice" in Bahasa Indonesia) is a traditional rice dish cooked with mainly coconut milk and turmeric. It has a fragrant smell due to lemon grass.  This dish, with all its trimmings, (such as fried chicken, spicy eggs, cucumbers, potato cakes) is usually served at a major festivity (birth, wedding, anniversary) and it is made into the shape of a cone, resembling a mountain, called a Tumpeng.  More about that in this blog but now, here's my recipe for the nasi kuning.


Ingredients:
3 cups rice, washed, set aside in a rice cooker
3 shallots
5 garlics
3 tbs water
1 tbs sunflower oil
1 stick lemon grass, break into 2 to release the oils
2 leaves of bay leaf
250 mL coconut cream
250mL water
2 tbs turmeric powder
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste

Preparation:
1. In a blender, chop shallots and garlic with 3 tbs of water until its consistency is soft and homogenous.

2. Heat oil in a pot at medium heat, add the chopped onions and stir fry until fragrant.

3. Add coconut cream and water, stir slowly with a wooden spatula until liquid warms up.

4. Add broken lemon grass, bay leaves, turmeric powder, sugar and salt. Stir and increase the heat.  Cook until it almost comes to a boil.  Do not boil as it will break the consistency of the coconut milk.

5. Add all the liquid and leaves to the rice in the rice cooker.  Press the cook button and cook while stirring occasionally.