Directions

To Cook Rice

1. Coconut rice – Wash and rinse rice. Add the coconut milk, water and a pinch of salt. Add the ginger, salt, pandan leaves into the rice cooker and set it to cook.

To Make Tamarind Juice

1. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind to extract the flavour into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.

To Cook Sambal Ikan Bilis

1. Rinse the ikan bilis and let it dry. Fry them until they turn light brown and separate them into two plates as you will need some to make the sambal ikan bilis and another portion to serve fried ikan billis.
2. In a blender or mortar and pestle, blend or pound the toasted belacan together with shallots, garlic, and dried chillies. Set aside.
3. Heat some oil in a pan and add in the onion rings until fragrant. Stir in the spice paste and fry until fragrant. Add in the ikan billis and stir well. Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar. Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.

To Serve

1. Optional: Place banana leaf on to the plate before plating up the rice.
2. Plate up the coconut rice and scoop some sambal ikan billis on top of the rice. Serve with cucumber slices, fried ikan billis, toasted peanuts and hard boiled eggs.

Tip

1. After rinsing, pat dry the ikan bilis with a kitchen paper towel, and spread out onto a plate. Place the ikan bilis in a microwave oven for 1 min on high. Give this a toss to mix, then repeat until the fish is dry. This will result in a crispier ikan bilis.
2. If using a food processor to grind the paste, adding some oil to the shallots, garlic and chillies can help these ingredients to blend easily. Do not add water, this will affect the quality and taste of the sambal.
3. Immediately plunging hard boiled eggs from the boiling water into an ice bath will prevent a grey layer from forming around the yolk.