Anchovies tumis nasi kerabu

The night before Ila arrived, I was busy in the kitchen, preparing and cooking nasi kerabu and sambal tumis. I planned a small lunch party to celebrate Ila and had invited Sakuraiman.blogspot owner (Emi) and family(Nuar and Iman). They picked Ila and me from the Tokushima bus station that morning. Then, Mirza and Hadi came to join us. During the previous week, both of them had been very kind to accompany me entertaining the guests from USM for one whole day.

I don't want to digress further...Back to nasi kerabu, I wanted to make it since the last few months but the thought of going to eat nasi kerabu alone made me abandon the project (sigh! so lonely, so kesian). That night after coming back from lab, I started the cooking project. I used Yani's Myresepi.com Nasi Kerabu Perantau with a little twist (because I had twisted my hand!).

Here is the story. I had a bottle of anchovies sauce in my cupboard that I had always wanted to use as a replacement for budu in tumis preparation. So, I opened up the bottle. Usually, liquid in newly opened bottle is quite difficult to come running down. Having that in my mind and acting like a pro-chef, I poured the sauce directly into the pot but I was definitely wrong in my assumption about liquidity of the sauce (being too confident is not good, girl!).

More than 3 spoons came down (as was suggested in the original recipe)! Infact it was nearly ¼ of the original volume of the sauce. Startled for a while but quick thinking, I decided to taste the tumis before making the next move. It was quite salty but then again, to start making it all over again would surely take more time. And at that moment, the wall clock was showing 11.30pm, almost midnight. I didn't want to miss my sleep because it's going to be a long day tomorrow. Using some magics ingredients (of sugar and water, sigh!) and a packet of instant coconut milk, I managed to reduce the saltiness. God! What a relief? (Really?!)

Personally, I think the anchovies sauce can't never replaced budu or even belacan. At the end, an inch of belacan was added to the tumis to get the correct taste (according to my taste buds). But no, it was not as delicious as the original nasi kerabu of Kota Bharu but enough to satisfy my desirous of nasi kerabu.
Iman with his charming smile

Nasi kerabu

The chocolate pudding was from Emi, sedap!

A small gathering with friends and Ila