Nasi Ulam, a Malaysian Herb and Rice Salad Recipe to celebrate the harvest

"A lot of hoop houses around here are being redone to grow herb," a farmer's market vendor told us a few weeks ago as we were exchanging money for produce. Wow, my husband and I thought, people are really into basil, parsley, and cilantro. Was there a trend I was missing? I had a bunch of herbs growing in our garden at home but didn't sense that something new was happening. Turns out the vendor was talking about marijuana, the new legal cash crop in California. There's a lot of transition happening in the Salinas Valley to cultivating cannabis, according to this New York Times article. My husband and I chuckled at how out of it we were that morning. Duh.

Due to this year's weather and our removal of a ginormous tree in our yard, I'm able to plant a lot more of my kind of edibles. Our winter was wet, warmish and at times coldish. Some of my Asian herbs hung on while others seeded themselves. They've been growing into voluptuous plants since spring. We're overwhelmed with herbs and excited about what else is coming up via the seeds and starters that I planted. What to make that's easy and uses up A LOT of herbs?

The answer was something Asian but not the usual Viet suspects. I made a Malaysian rice salad filled with herbaceous-ness. It's called Nasi ulam, a light, fragrant and flavorful classic. But first, I'll detail how my garden grew because I don't have much space, just lots of ambition and curiosity. Then, I'll offer pointers to help you make the recipe super well using herbs you have on hand.

I've also clipped Vietnamese herbs like kinh gioi and rau ram and rooted the sprigs in water for a week or so. Then I replanted them in the bed. Some survived and thrived while others pooped out. (If you're unfamiliar with the plants I just mentioned, check out the Viet herb primer.)

Raised garden beds tips

To take advantage of the prime growing conditions, I added galvanized metal raised beds. They're supposed to produce higher crop yield because they keep the soil warmer longer throughout the day. I found these online at Metal Garden Beds and they're well-priced and easy to put together.

The ones I got were treated so they'll age and darken over time. The product is called corten steel and I noticed that the Metal Garden Beds people no longer offer them. The regular galvanized metal beds work the same for just a different look. These are lightweight, which means you can easily place them at different angles before you commit to filling them with soil.

We have weed blocker in all growing areas of the yard but to protect things from gophers (there must be an entire urban network of them in Santa Cruz), I lined each planter box bottom with 19-gauge, ½-inch galvanized hardware cloth. Gardening staples placed about 12 inches apart kept the hardware cloth in place. If you have gopher wire, that will work too. Hardware cloth comes in smallish quantities so it costs less. The lower the gauge the tougher it is so gophers can't chew through the metal so easily.

I disregard a lot of rules about not overcrowding plants, which explains why I grow mint with a tomato plant. My approach is about height. Similarly, a trellised cucumber and caged tomato can share space with bush beans. I planted a melon near the edge of another planter box so the fruit can climb over and down the side (I plan to prop up the fruits later this summer). My high-density gardening tries to make the most use of the soil space.

For the soil, I combined Gardener and Bloom (G&B) "Raised Bed and Potting Mix" and "Farmyard Blend" compost in a 3:1 proportion. A little Dr. Earth all-purpose fertilizer goes into the mix too.

How to use an Asian herb bounty

So far so good. Actually, we have a lot of herbs going and have been dispensing them in green salads for punchy flavor. I use as much mint and Thai basil in beef pho, and Viet lettuce wraps as well as bun salad bowls. My nightly cup of relaxation/digestif tea is made from steeping lemongrass leaves with lemon balm or mint in hot water for 10 minutes then straining. The plants refresh themselves with bushy growth within days and I can't keep up with them.

This morning, I decided to harvest a bunch of herbs (Vietnamese coriander, lemon and Vietnamese balm, shiso of two types, and Thai basil) plus lemongrass and makrut (Thai) lime leaf. My goal to use a bunch for a Malaysian-style rice and herb salad. I'd made it years ago and revisited it for lunch.

My version of nasi ulam (a.k.a, nasi kerabu) is based on a recipe from Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland. His recipe called for grinding up dried shrimp but today, I decided to use fish sauce instead. It was a fine substitute; you could use Mexican camaron molido, too. The coconut lends a little richness to this lo-cal, gluten-free dish. 😉

Pointers for tinkering with nasi ulam, the Malaysian rice salad

• Keep a mixing bowl handy as you prep so you can toss the aromatics and herbs in. There will be less clean up!
• What kind of rice for this salad? Any kind of long-grain rice will separate nicely. For the rice, I cooked a batch of white jasmine or quick brown jasmine rice. If you have leftover rice in the fridge, refresh it in the microwave oven and let it cool to room temperature so the herbs don't get cooked. Here's my 10-10-10 perfect jasmine rice recipe that rarely fails me!
• How much herbs to use? Aim to use ½ packed cup (120ml) of prepped herbs for this dish to sing. If you don't have makrut lime leaf, grate the lime zest from the lime that you'll juice to dress the salad.
• For a vegetarian version, employ soy sauce and increase the salt, but the briny umami depth is fabulous. If you have the DIY vegan fish sauce from Ever-Green Vietnamese, this salad would benefit from its lift.
• For more on Asian herbs, check my guide to Asian basil and Vietnamese herb primer.

What to serve this Malaysian herb rice with?

Because you'll have lots of herbs on hand, make the most of it with this grilled lemon basil chicken, which you can totally deploy other kinds of basil and herbs.

If you have The Banh Mi Handbook, make the Sri Lankan black curry chicken (page 63) to pair with this. Malaysian-born chef Alex Ong gave me that recipe and pinged me on Facebook to say that it would be a great pairing with this rice! I totally agree.