Nasi Bakar was the crown jewel of the Melbourne World Rice Festival 2021. The annual festival featured the Indonesian dish made by the 2016 My Kitchen Rules winners, an Australian cooking show, Tasia and Gracia.
Nasi Bakar, translated as grilled rice, is steamed rice seasoned with spices and other ingredients (from chicken to salted fish and bird-eye chilli) wrapped in banana leaf and put on the grill. Once lightly grilled, the banana wrapping is opened slightly to let out the steam and enjoy the rice inside. Due to the size, it’s uncommon to eat a few pieces of this dish in one go, usually accompanied by chilli paste on the side.
No price for guessing that I love nasi Bakar, but my love goes beyond the deliciousness of the aromatic rice. My fondness for it is strongly associated with memories of celebrating Diwali at my cousin’s. After trying Nasi Bakar for the first time in her house and then having it for the next few years, we – the cousins – have been expecting it to be on the menu at her place every Diwali. So much so that we started calling her house on Diwali to ask whether there would be Nasi Bakar served on the day and to put it aside for us in case, we were running late as we must have it. I half suspect the family ordered Nasi Bakar just for us, the shameless cousins usually greeted with:
“Happy Diwali, the Nasi Bakar is waiting for you“
Diwali is coming next week; it will be yet another Diwali that I’ll celebrate far away from the whole hang of cousins or by sharing the craze with them. But, of course, I could always get one for myself, I guess. And I had. I once ordered and ate it without my cousins, but it was nowhere as good. But as we all know, the joy of food rarely is just about the food; it’s more about the stories, traditions and memories built around it.
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