Singaporeans are all familiar with nasi lemak, and most of us would already know that nasi means “rice” in Malay. But there are a few lesser-known rice dishes that are worthy of exploring.

If you have ever ventured into Geylang Serai Food Centre, you’d be inundated by the awesome array of their rice dishes. We check out three popular choices – Nasi Ambeng, Nasi Rawon and Nasi Jenganan.

Nasi Ambeng

Nasi Ambeng is a festive dish of Javanese origin. Note that it’s pronounced “um-bng”, and does not rhyme with kambing (goat/mutton). At weddings and festivals, it’s usually served communal style in a big heaping stack, on a serving tray called “dulang” lined with banana leaves. The name “ambeng” apparently refers to that round tray. The dulang can be a large silver or wooden platter, the use of which celebrates abundance and sharing.

Traditionally, four to eight people sit on the floor around the rice-stacked dulang and share the feast. They eat using their hands as they banter and bond over the delicious food. Leftovers are packed for guests to take home. In fact, historically the nasi ambeng takeaway was evidence for husbands to prove to jealous wives that they were indeed at a kenduri (feast), and not elsewhere.

Authentic Nasi Ambeng is truly a feast of many toppings – sambal goreng (fried sambal vegetables and beancurd), serunding (fried grated coconut), acar (mixed pickles), urap (salad with spicy grated coconut), bagedil (potato cutlet), beancurd and fried tempeh (fermented soya bean) plus a choice of a main dish – mutton, chicken or beef rendang, or fish. Some versions even include noodles as a side dish.

These days, you don’t have wait for a festival to try Nasi Ambeng; you can get individual portions, like the one above, at many Malay stalls all year round.

Nasi Rawon

Nasi Rawon is a curious dish of steamed rice doused with blackish beef stew. It’s an East Javanese specialty from Surabaya. The black colour comes from buah keluak (fruit of the kepayang tree), which is also commonly used in Peranakan dishes. Buah keluak is infamously tedious to process – it’s downright poisonous in its raw form, unless washed, boiled, and buried in volcanic ash for forty days. But after the creamy white pulp turns into black flesh, it’s ready to lend its truffle-like properties to any dish.

The buah keluak is mixed with many spices including ginger, garlic, shallots, candlenuts, turmeric, red chili and sautéed until aromatic. Beef is added along with stock, lemongrass, galangal, daun salam (Indonesian bay leaf), lime leaves and cumin. When the beef is tender, it’s garnished with fried shallots. It’s a rich-tasting dish, to say the least.

Nasi Jenganan

Nasi Jenganan has a signature peanut gravy called “sambal pecel” that’s spicy and aromatic. The sauce is almost like the satay peanut sauce, but more watery and tangy, with a slight hint of belachan. The rice is usually topped with tempeh, tofu, and crunchy blanched vegetables like kangkung (water convolulus), beansprouts, and long beans. It can almost be a vegetarian dish if you don’t add meat-based side dishes. This dish is also of Javanese origin.

All that rice can be quite filling. Make sure you have some lime juice or good old teh tarik (“pulled tea”) to wash it all down.

All dishes are from Sinar Pagi Nasi Padang (1 Geylang Serai, #02-137 Geylang Serai Market & Food Centre, Singapore 402001). Open 9am to 10.30pm. Closed every fortnight on Mondays and Thursdays.