Mum's Malaysian sambal lemak with leftover rice, fried eggs and cucumber

"I'm infinitely amazed at how just mixing the smallest dollop of sambal can inject such an explosion of flavour into a simple bowl of rice. The eggs are a cheap, easy-to-cook protein and the cukes are there for cooling."

Mum's Malaysian sambal lemak with leftover rice, fried eggs and cucumber Credit: Henry Trumble

• serves

  1

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

When people ask me what my favourite meal is, I say this. For one, Mum always makes the sambal for me, which I love, but this kampung (village) style of eating, which is so wonderfully frugal, is something my Great Aunty Kim taught me to appreciate from a young age.

Ingredients

• 2–3 fried or hard-boiled eggs
• ½ continental cucumber, diced into bite-sized chunks
• soy sauce or fish sauce, to taste

Sambal

• 20 g belachan (shrimp paste; found in the Asian section of supermarkets or at Asian grocers)
• 20–25 dried chillies (see note), snapped in half, then covered & soaked in freshly boiled water for 15 minutes (soaking water reserved)
• 3 long red chillies
• 125 ml (½ cup) vegetable oil
• 3 tsp tamarind paste
• 3 onions, cut into 4 mm thick slices
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• leftover rice, reheated in the microwave, to serve

Instructions

1. To make the sambal, blitz the belachan, dried chillies and their soaking water, and the fresh chillies in a mini food processor (see note) or blender until smooth. Combine with the vegetable oil in a medium non-stick frying pan over medium heat and cook, stirring regularly, until caramelised to a deep red and fragrant – sinuses will be charging at this point! Turn off the heat, then stir in the tamarind paste, onion and sugar. Cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 months.
2. To serve, mix the rice, eggs, cucumber, as much sambal as you can handle and a dash of soy or fish sauce. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Notes

• When you are buying dried chillies, the larger the chilli, the milder the heat. I often play around with combinations of large and small for my desired heat level. You can also shake the seeds out to temper the volatility.

• Mini, because the chillies will only break down to a smooth paste in a smaller cavity.

Images and recipes from 'What I Cook When Nobody's Watching by Poh Ling Yeow, published by Plum (RRP $44.99). Photography by Henry Trumble.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

When people ask me what my favourite meal is, I say this. For one, Mum always makes the sambal for me, which I love, but this kampung (village) style of eating, which is so wonderfully frugal, is something my Great Aunty Kim taught me to appreciate from a young age.