Imagine waking up every morning to the crow of a rooster and a lady singing about your soon-to-be breakfast. That was reality for Chef/Owner Ange Branca of Saté Kampar, who we welcomed back to COOK last week. The singing lady in question was known as the Nasi Lemak Lady. She would make her rounds during sunrise, carting around her basket of goods which included the national dish of Malaysia: nasi lemak. Ange brought the food from her childhood into our kitchen and showed our guests how to make the delicious coconut rice bundle wrapped in banana leaves. Assuming you don’t have a “Nasi Lemak Lady” delivering home cooked meals to your door, read on to learn how to make the beloved dish for yourself!

In the heart of East Passyunk Avenue, Saté Kampar serves authentic Malaysian fare. So authentic in fact that Saté Kampar was nominated for the James Beard Best New Restaurant award in 2017. Saté is the act of grilling skewered meat over charcoal, the specialty of Saté Kampar. The smell of sizzling meat and coconut shell charcoal fills the restaurant on any given day. In addition to saté Ange and her crew serve up a variety of rice dishes, including of course nasi lemak.

The nasi lemak served at Saté Kampar consists of coconut cream rice, sambal, roasted peanuts, crispy anchovies and a hard-boiled egg neatly wrapped in banana leaves. It’s traditional to completely unwrap the leaves and eat the dish with your hands. To prepare it at home, the first thing you’ll need to do to is make the coconut cream rice. Thankfully, Ange gave everyone the simple recipe to do so:

Coconut Cream Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rice (washed)
• 1/2 cup of coconut cream
• 1/2 cup cold water
• a few ginger slices
• a few pandan leaves (can be found at most Asian markets)

Directions

Add all the ingredients to a rice cooker or a pot. Cook on medium-high until it comes to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow it to simmer for 15 minutes or until the water cooks out and the rice is fully steamed. Remove the pandan leaves and ginger.

Now that you’ve got the rice base, you can assemble your banana leaf package. You can easily find banana leaves at any Asian market, along with sambal – a sauce or paste of chilies. Ange made three different sambals – shallot, cuttlefish and tomato – to go alongside the nasi lemak she presented to our guests.

First, lay out one banana leaves on butcher paper or newspaper as shown in the slideshow above. Place your coconut rice in the middle. Then place the accompaniments (fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, sambal, and hard-boiled egg) on the outside of the rice. Fold over the top and bottom parts of the banana leaf and fold in the sides. You’re essentially creating an edible origami piece. Let your pretty bundle sit for an hour or so to allow everything to steam in the banana leaves and absorb the fragrant aroma. Satisfy your much anticipated craving by digging in with your hands!

OR… just head to Saté Kampar, order Ange’s nasi lemak, sit back and enjoy. Look for her in the back open kitchen and tell her COOK sent you!

Saté Kampar
1837 E Passyunk Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19148
satekamparpassyunk.com
267.324.3860