Nasi Minyak, a fixture at Malay weddings and religious occasions, is a dish of fragrant rice cooked with a little ghee, evaporated milk, spices and pandan leaves.
Halve the onion, then and slice thinly. Chop up the garlic finely. Either chop the ginger up finely too, or grate it. If using pandan leaves, tie them up with a knot in the middle, set aside.
Let's Cook the Nasi Minyak
Heat the ghee on medium heat and fry the dry spices for 30 seconds. So that's the cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom.
Add the onion and fry for a minute, then add the garlic and ginger and fry for another minute.
Tip in the rinsed and drained rice, along with the turmeric. Stir well to toast the rice and to allow it to take on that delicious, aromatic fat.
Drop in the pandan leaves, if using. Pour in the water, half the evaporated milk and add salt. Bring everything to a boil on medium-high heat. Leave the rice to cook at this heat, uncovered, until the water has been absorbed, and you start to see little holes appearing on the surface of the rice. Then, cover the saucepan, and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cook for 12 minutes.
At the 12 minute mark, the rice should be cooked. Take it off the heat and let the rice rest (without taking the lid off) for 5 minutes on a cool surface. A cool hob will do.
After 5 minutes, drizzle the rest of the evaporated milk and fluff up the rice. Lose the pandan leaves before serving. You could fish out the spices if you want to, but I don't bother.