Around the World in 80 Plates: Nasi lemak from Malaysia

This is an installment of the Inlander's yearlong project "Around the World in 80 Plates," a quest to find 80 foods and drinks in the Spokane area representing 80 different places. Read the introduction to the project here.

Count of dishes/places: 56

Ahoy, fellow voyagers! Our journey has taken an unexpected hiatus, and the winds of change are blowing.

But before our adventure is thrown completely off course, there's at least one more stop we have to make. Keep an eye out for a change of direction in the future, but for now...

NASI LEMAK FROM MALAYSIA

Alice Koh is a web designer, an interior designer and a connoisseur of beauty in all its forms. Thankfully for Spokane, she's also a chef.

Koh has fed the city through Feast World Kitchen as well as SeraiMas, her catering business that she introduced at Perry Street Market, the Kendall Yards Night Market, and the Spokane Farmers' Market this summer. All you had to do was follow the scent of sambal to her booth, where she served up piles of noodles or bowls of laksa, a Malay-Indian fusion curry.

My first experience with Koh's food was at Feast World Kitchen a few months ago, where she prepared Malaysia's national dish, nasi lemak. The heart of the dish is a fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan leaves, which give it a sweet, slightly vanilla flavor.

Sometimes, the fragrant rice is served with cucumbers, sambal (a spicy, delicious red chili paste) and a hard boiled egg for a light but flavorful breakfast in Malaysia, Indonesia, or Singapore. It can also be served with a protein for a heartier meal.

For my lunch, I chose the tofu version of the dish, though there was a chicken option as well. The fried cubes were covered in spicy sambal, with more sambal on the side, in case you want to enjoy the dish like a true Malaysian.

The dish works perfectly together — spice and sweetness playing with the cooling coconut and cucumber, plus the crunch of a few savory peanuts on top.

Koh herself is a master of complementary careers. In past lives, she designed the menu for a five star resort in Thailand, helped young women working in restaurants study for school, created fine dining experiences for international travelers, and turned down a job from an Austrian Michelin-starred chef.

Her fusion of art, food and people is perhaps best culminated in her and her husband's current work. Her husband Shane is a mental health counselor working with homeless and under-resourced people across the world.

On Oct. 30, Koh is cooking at Feast World Kitchen and fundraising for an upcoming humanitarian trip to Bali, where she and Shane will help build a school computer lab in Tenganan, one of Bali's oldest villages.

Koh will be serving nasi goreng, another traditional Malay dish with fried rice and Koh's sambal made from scratch, plus rendang beef and Koh's famous nyonya chicken laksa noodles. "Nyonya" refers to a certain group of women in Malaysia, but also to their style of cooking that feels like home, Koh says.

So if you're craving beautiful homestyle Malaysian cooking with a heaping side of sambal and compassion, this is your chance. Whatever journey you're on, stop into Feast before the chance passes you by. ♦

Alice Koh at Feast World Kitchen • Oct. 30 from 11 am-2 pm and 4-7 pm • Feast World Kitchen • 1321 W 3rd Ave • feastworldkitchen.org