Nasi lemak
The name means "rich rice", and that is precisely the quality being aimed at: the rice cooks not in water but in coconut milk, so every grain stays separate and coated in fat. Around it go five accompaniments of wildly different flavours and textures — crisp, hot, salty, fresh and soft. Nasi lemak is not a dish so much as a set of contrasts on one plate.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Coconut rice 30 min
- Sambal 30 min
- Accompaniments 15 min
- Assembly 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneRinse the rice until the water runs clear
Rinse the rice in cold water three or four times, until the water stops clouding. Excess starch glues the grains together, and in nasi lemak they must stay separate — the hallmark of well-made rice.
Ingredients: 400 g jasmine rice · 400 ml coconut milk · 200 ml water · 20 g ginger · 1 pcs lemongrass · 1 tsp salt
Cook the rice in coconut milk
Cover the rice with the coconut milk and water, add the ginger, lemongrass and salt. Bring to the boil, turn the heat to minimum and cook covered for 12 minutes, then 15 minutes covered off the heat. Do not stir during cooking — stirring knocks the grains, releases their starch and the rice turns sticky.
Ingredients: 400 g jasmine rice · 400 ml coconut milk · 200 ml water · 20 g ginger · 1 pcs lemongrass · 1 tsp salt
Grains separate and glossy with coconut fat.Soak and blend the chillies to a paste
Cover the dried chillies with boiling water for 20 minutes, drain and blend with the shallots, garlic and shrimp paste until smooth. Keep or remove the seeds — that is the only place you control the heat.
Ingredients: 30 g dried chillies · 6 pcs shallots · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp shrimp paste · 1 tbsp tamarind paste · 2 tbsp palm sugar · 100 ml oil · 1 pcs onion
Fry the sambal until the oil splits
Fry the paste in the oil for 15–20 minutes over medium heat, until it darkens and the oil rises to the surface and pools red. The same signal as in laksa: only now are the aromatics cooked. Add the tamarind paste, sugar and onion wedges and fry another 8 minutes.
Ingredients: 30 g dried chillies · 6 pcs shallots · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp shrimp paste · 1 tbsp tamarind paste · 2 tbsp palm sugar · 100 ml oil · 1 pcs onion
Oil separating at the edges — the sambal is ready.Fry the anchovies and peanuts separately
Heat the oil over medium heat and fry the dried anchovies for 3 minutes, until crisp, then drain on kitchen paper. In the same oil fry the peanuts for 5 minutes, until golden — they only turn crunchy once cooled. Separately, because they need different times — together the anchovies burn before the peanuts colour.
Ingredients: 60 g dried anchovies · 80 g peanuts · 4 pcs eggs · 1 pcs cucumber · 100 ml oil
Anchovies crisp, lifted out after three minutes.Boil the eggs and slice the cucumber
Boil the eggs for 8 minutes and halve them. Slice the cucumber. These are the two cool, mild elements of the set — they balance the hot sambal and the salty anchovies.
Ingredients: 60 g dried anchovies · 80 g peanuts · 4 pcs eggs · 1 pcs cucumber · 100 ml oil
Arrange everything separately around the rice
Mound the rice in the centre and arrange separate piles around it: sambal, anchovies, peanuts, egg, cucumber. Nothing is mixed — whoever eats it chooses the proportions with every mouthful, and that is the point of nasi lemak.
Ingredients: 60 g dried anchovies · 80 g peanuts · 4 pcs eggs · 1 pcs cucumber · 100 ml oil
Before you start
Sambal in advance
Sambal keeps up to a week in the fridge in a sealed jar, and tastes even better the next day. For longer, freeze it in portions. Never keep it at room temperature — garlic and shallots under a layer of oil carry a risk of botulism. It suits eggs, rice, grilled meat and almost anything else.
Pandan leaf
In Malaysia a knotted pandan leaf goes into the rice, giving a characteristic grassy, vanilla-like aroma. Frozen leaves are sold in Asian shops elsewhere. Without it the rice is good, only less recognisable.
What else goes on the plate
The classic additions are fried chicken (ayam goreng), fried fish or beef rendang. That turns nasi lemak from breakfast into a filling lunch — the way Malaysian eateries often serve it.
