Sanctuary from The Mad World
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch. - Orson Welles

Whenever friends mention Nasi Liwet Sunda or Herbed Sundanese Steamed Rice, I can only comment with envy. "No more", I said, after I found out that the same effect can perhaps be replicated with claypots instead of the usual kastrol (metal vessels).

I was rewarded with flavourful and fragrant steamed rice with a bite. Steamed this way, the rice is more chewy than cooked in rice cooker. It is a great and trouble-free way to cook savoury rice to accompany fried tempeh (soy bean cake)  But if you don’t have claypot, feel free to utilize your rice-cooker.  Life is too short to insist on the small things.

Ingredients:
2 cups of rice
4 shallots, finely sliced
4 chilies, finely sliced
2 chunks of salted fish, finely sliced
6 pieces of bay leaves (in place of daun salam)
2 pieces of lime leaves (in place of lemongrass which is a better choice but I didn’t have it at time of cooking)
Lemon Basil (kemangi), a handful
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Optional:
Spring onion, finely chopped

Directions:
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the shallot and half of the chilies until fragrant. Add the bay leaves and crunched lime leaves. Stir twice. Dump in the rice and fry until each kernel is properly coated with oil. Season with salt.

Remove the rice and its accompaniments into two prepared claypots. In the same pan, fry the salted fish with a little oil until fragrant. Top the rice with this fried fish.

Scatter the kemangi and the remaining chilies on the rice. Pour enough water to cook the rice (My rice calls for 1.5 cups of water for every cup of rice) and close the claypot. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for about 40-45 minutes. Enjoy with a good dose of sambal.