Who said Nasi Lemak, which means coconut milk rice in english, or to the chinese - 椰浆饭, needs eggs or even chicken as MAIN ingredient? The true, original & authentic nasi lemak's main ingredient was coconut milk, which differentiated it from PLAIN rice that most asians ate for centuries. It was a precursor to modern fast foods in asia back in the 60s, & low cost for anyone that needed a quick bite to fill hunger.
In those days, meats were expensive & rare, to the cooks & distributors of such items to sell on economic terms - quantity than quality. The cheapest alternatives was fish. So the true authentic nasi lemak was the rice, fried fish, a jmere slice of scramble eggs-using 10 eggs scrambled & cut into pieces to serve a hundred, & fried peanuts with a dash of chilli paste served on a banana leaf to attract customers. It was delicious, cheap & fast, & soon become a traditional meal for breakfast which was meant to be light for asians.
As time & affluence grew, the nasi lemak evolved, the way a mere bun can be merely filled with chicken floss & sold at insane prices, to whet appetites. Thus for stall holders whom hoped to survive in these difficult times, the MAIN ingredient of true nasi lemak lays in the coconut milk on rice, with original sides & needs no other expensive ingredients, for the authentic original taste & critically, at low cost based upon quantity as it was meant to be.
In those days, meats were expensive & rare, to the cooks & distributors of such items to sell on economic terms - quantity than quality. The cheapest alternatives was fish. So the true authentic nasi lemak was the rice, fried fish, a jmere slice of scramble eggs-using 10 eggs scrambled & cut into pieces to serve a hundred, & fried peanuts with a dash of chilli paste served on a banana leaf to attract customers. It was delicious, cheap & fast, & soon become a traditional meal for breakfast which was meant to be light for asians.
As time & affluence grew, the nasi lemak evolved, the way a mere bun can be merely filled with chicken floss & sold at insane prices, to whet appetites. Thus for stall holders whom hoped to survive in these difficult times, the MAIN ingredient of true nasi lemak lays in the coconut milk on rice, with original sides & needs no other expensive ingredients, for the authentic original taste & critically, at low cost based upon quantity as it was meant to be.
