In my version of vegan nasi lemak, we have vegan otak-otak (otah), sambal long beans, ayam goreng-style tofu, and an onion omelette.
Nasi lemak literally translates to “rice fat”. Why is it fat? Because we cook the rice in fragrant coconut milk. Is it really fattening? Probably, but I can’t say I care because it tastes amayzang.
As it is quite involved, check out the separate post I have for the vegan okara otak-otak recipe. And here is the recipe for my basic sambal.
I usually make the ayam goreng-style tofu because I really enjoy having something deep-fried with the nasi lemak. And because I hate waste, we also cook the remaining marinade and turn it into a topping that goes great with rice.
Of course, in a nasi lemak there should always be some sort of egg. So, I also add a nice vegan chickpea omelette. Then we finish off this epic vegan nasi lemak plate with cucumber, roast peanuts, and a nice dollop of sambal.
Ingredients
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Coconut Rice
- Deep Fried Tofu
- Vegan Omelette
- Sambal Long Beans
- Other Sides
Instructions
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Coconut Rice
- Rinse and drain your rice in a pot or rice cooker. Pour in the water and coconut milk and add a pinch of salt. Knot the pandan leaves and set into the rice to cook. After the rice is cooked, fluff the rice and leave to sit at least 5-10 minutes. Deep Fried Tofu
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Blend all the marinade ingredients with the exception of the corn starch.
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Mix the corn starch into the blended marinade and coat the tofu well. You can leave it a couple of hours or overnight.
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For this step, you can choose to deep fry in a pot, but since it's only two pieces of tofu I usually just shallow fry. Heat about 2 fingers of oil in a pan until it's bubbling hot. Carefully slide the tofu into the pan. When one side is cooked, flip it over.
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When the tofu is golden brown, remove it from the pan and drain on a paper towel.
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Fry the remaining marinade over low heat in a non-stick pan until it cooks.
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Because of the corn starch, it will look something like this leathery skin thing.
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Dice your marinade-skin-mask with a knife until it becomes a sort of salty crumble.
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Serve the crumble atop the deep-fried tofu.
Vegan Omelette
- Thinly-slice the red onion. Heat 0.5 tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Fry half the red onion until slightly brown.
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Mix all the ingredients for the vegan omelette.
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Pour half the omelette mixture over the red onion. You can use a spoon to dish out the mixture instead of pouring for better accuracy.
- Flip the omelette when bubbles start to show through the top and the turmeric in the pancake turns yellow. Cook for another 30 seconds then remove.
- Repeat for the second omelette. Sambal Long Beans
- Heat 0.5 tbsp of oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan and fry the sambal until fragrant. Add the long beans and mix well. Add 0.5 cups of water, and put the lid on the pan.
- When the long beans are cooked thoroughly and the water is dried up, the beans are ready. Salt to taste.
