Nasi Lemak Cake

Dubbed as the national dish, it is no surprise that nasi lemak is the most popular dish in Malaysia. Recently, there have been many new interpretations of the humble dish: think nasi lemak sushi and nasi lemak burger, but the most unique (or unusual?) dish has got to be the nasi lemak cake. A sweet dessert made of flour and eggs is transformed into a savoury spicy dish of rice and other ingredients you won’t commonly find on cakes — unique or weird? You’ll be the judge. Here’s how to create the nasi lemak cake dish that takes the cake (literally) for its taste and presentation.

Firstly, prepare the key ingredients of the nasi lemak cake. Start off by cooking the fragrant rice in a rice cooker with corn oil, ginger, shallot, MAGGI® CukupRasa™, coconut milk, water and daun pandan leaves. At the same time, prepare the savoury and spicy sambal that is the base flavour of the cake. Stir fry blended dried chillies, red onion, garlic and ginger until the oil separates, then add prawns, tamarind paste, MAGGI® CukupRasa™. Set it aside when the paste is ready. When the rice is cooked, it’s time to assemble the cake. Firstly, fry 4 eggs in 3 separate batches by spreading them evenly on the pan. The eggs will be the ‘cream’ spread on top of each ‘cake layer’ of nasi lemak rice. Next, add rice in a 7-inch cake tin/tray and flatten the rice evenly. Spread a tablespoon of sambal on the rice and top it with a slice of egg, then continue to add on another batch of rice; repeat until the ingredients are finished. Spread sambal as the nasi lemak cake ‘topping’ and sprinkle some peanuts and fried ikan bilis all over it for an extra crunch.

As a finishing touch, gently remove the cake tin and assemble the cucumber around using a toothpick. To make the nasi lemak cake more intact, tie the ingredients together with a butcher string or ribbon. If you are feeling adventurous, you can opt for different types of sambal to amp up the flavours of your nasi lemak cake – sambal sotong, sambal petai and any other side dishes you like! Eat this like a regular cake or you can deconstruct your slice to look like a regular plate of nasi lemak again.

Wanting to experiment in the kitchen with creative and unique recipes? Check out the murtabak MAGGI® recipe, the tofu burger recipe and oven-baked cheesy chicken noodles and many other creative renditions of our usual delicacies that are out of this world!