Nasi Lemak Recipe
Nasi Lemak – This iconic Malaysian dish is all about that fragrant coconut milk rice, topped with crispy anchovies, spicy sambal, hard-boiled eggs, roasted peanuts, and fresh cucumber. It’s the most authentic and delicious nasi lemak recipe you’ll ever try!
Foto: Rasa Malaysia
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice
- 1 ½ cups water (cut down to 1 1⁄4 cups if using ¾ cup coconut milk)
- ½ cup coconut milk (use ¾ cup for creamier rice)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 pandan leaves (tie them into a knot)
- 4 shallots (peeled )
- 1 clove garlic (peeled)
- 8 medium length dried red chilies (seeded)
- 1 teaspoon belacan (prawn paste)
- 1 cup water
- tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)
- salt (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (or more to taste)
- 1 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies, peeled)
- 2 cups oil (for frying )
- 1 red onion (peeled, sliced into rings)
- 3 small fish (sardines or mackerel, cut into halves )
- 2 hard boiled eggs (cut into halves)
- 1 cup roasted peanuts
- 1 small cucumber (cut into slices and then quartered)
Steps
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Coconut Rice. Rinse the rice with running tap water, repeating the process a few times until the water turns clear. Drain the water completely. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the washed rice, followed by the coconut milk and a pinch of salt. Add the pandan leaves into the rice and cook your rice. Discard the pandan leaves after rice is cooked.
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Spice Paste. Pound the shallots, garlic, dried chilies, and prawn paste with a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, you can grind them with a food processor.
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Tamarind Water. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Constantly squeeze the tamarind to extract its flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
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Fried Anchovies. Rinse the dried anchovies with tap water a few times and let them drain. Heat 2 cups of oil in a pan, fry the anchovies until they've become light brown and crispy. Remove from oil with a strainer and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. You can serve them as is, or add them into sambal to make sambal anchovies.
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Sambal Ikan Bilis (Sambal Anchovies). On medium to low heat, heat 2 tablespoons of frying oil in a pan. Stir-fry the spice paste until fragrant, turning reddish in color. Add the onion rings and fried anchovies, stirring well. Pour in the tamarind juice, salt, and sugar. Simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens. Set it aside.
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Fried Fish. Clean the small fish and season them with salt. Deep fry with the remaining frying oil.
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Assembling Nasi Lemak. To serve, scope out a small bowl of rice and place onto the center of a plate. Arrange the fried fish, hard boiled egg, roasted peanuts, and cucumber around the rice. Add 2 spoons of the sambal on top of the rice. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
Macronutrients
*DV = Daily Value based on a 2,000 calorie diet
💰 Cost Estimate
📋 Price Breakdown (10% ingredients detected)
| Ingredient | Amount | Unit Price | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| rice | 2 cups | - | - |
| water | 1.5 cups | - | - |
| coconut milk | 0.5 cup | - | - |
| salt | 1 teaspoon | - | - |
| pandan leaves | 3 | Rp 3.000/ikat | Rp 30.000 |
| shallots | 4 | - | - |
| garlic | 1 clove | - | - |
| medium length dried red chilies | 8 | - | - |
| belacan | 1 teaspoon | - | - |
| water | 1 cup | - | - |
| tamarind pulp | - | - | - |
| salt | - | - | - |
| sugar | 2 tablespoons | - | - |
| ikan bilis | 1 cup | Rp 50.000/kg | Rp 11.850 |
| oil | 2 cups | - | - |
| red onion | 1 | - | - |
| small fish | 3 | - | - |
| hard boiled eggs | 2 | - | - |
| roasted peanuts | 1 cup | - | - |
| small cucumber | 1 | - | - |
*Estimated market prices, may vary by region
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