Nasi Lemak is the de facto national dish of Malaysia. A good nasi lemak recipe is not to be taken lightly; it should be have amazing quality, texture, flavors, and the right ingredients.
Secret Ingredients of Nasi Lemak
Pandan leaves or screwpine leaves in the secret ingredient. The leaves are highly fragrant with floral smell. They are used in many Malaysian recipes.
A nasi lemak will not be authentic without the leaves and coconut milk. The other main ingredient of nasi lemak is sambal. Sambal is the soul of the dish; it brings together all the various toppings and complete the iconic dish.
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Side dishes for Nasi Lemak
There are a variety of side dishes served on top of the nasi lemak: fried anchovies, fried fish, hard-boiled egg, cucumber, sambal udang (shrimp) or sambal sotong (squid).
Assemble the side dishes on top of the rice and served in on top of banana leaf for the best and most authentic nasi lemak. Enjoy!
How Many Calories Per Serving?
This recipe is only 338 calories per serving.
Serve Nasi Lemak with:
For a wholesome dinner, make the following dishes.
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Nasi Lemak Recipe
Nasi lemak - Malaysian coconut milk rice, served with sambal, fried crispy anchovies, toasted peanuts and cucumber. This is the best and most authentic nasi lemak recipe.Â
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- coconut milk steamed rice
- 2 cups rice
- 3 screwpine leaves, tie them into a knot as shown above
- salt to taste
- 1 can coconut milk (5.6 oz)
- some water
Tamarind Juice
- 1 cup water
- tamarind pulp, size of a small ping pong ball
Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovies Sambal)
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 cup ikan bilis, dried anchovies
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 shallots
- 10 dried chillies
- 1 teaspoon belacan, prawn paste
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Other ingredients
- 2 hard boiled eggs, cut into half
- 3 small fish, sardines or smelt fish
- 1 small cucumber, cut into slices and then quartered
Instructions
- Just like making steamed rice, rinse your rice and drain. Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt, and some water. Add the pandan leaves into the rice and cook your rice.
- Rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water. Fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.
- Pound the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies with a mortar and pestle. You can also grind them with a food processor. Slice the red onion into rings. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
- Heat some oil in a pan and fry the spice paste until fragrant. Add in the onion rings. Add in the ikan bilis and stir well. Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar. Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.
- Clean the small fish, cut them into half and season with salt. Deep fry. Cut the cucumber into slices and then quartered into four small pieces. Dish up the steamed coconut milk rice and pour some sambal ikan bilis on top of the rice. Serve with fried fish, cucumber slices, and hard-boiled eggs.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size
4 peopleAmount Per Serving Calories 338Total Fat 25gSaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 121mgSodium 293mgCarbohydrates 88gFiber 3gSugar 7gProtein 16g
Paul
Hello again! I’m not sure if I asked this already, but when making the coconut rice, does using a rice cooker change the recipe in anyway, in terms of ingredients or anything? Thank you.
Rasa Malaysia
It should be the same.
Rachna
Thank you so much for this recipe Estelle, much love from Toronto, Canada! I’ve always come back to this recipe and it’s such a hit. I’m a bit lazy so sometimes I use 1 full red onion instead of shallots and not added belacan (I don’t always have some on hand) and it still tastes amazing! I’ve made it with shrimp too, so good!
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks for trying my recipe!!
AG
Hi Estelle, I got my belacan from Amazon. Product is from Penang, Malaysia @ $7.99. Expensive here but make my sambal taste good.
Ag
Hi Bee, do you where can I find screwpine leaves/pandan in LA, US. Any alternative if cannot find one?
Rasa Malaysia
You can find in Vietnamese market.
Estelle
Hi Bee,
Where to find Belacan in US. I couldn’t find it in Texas
Rasa Malaysia
You can find in some Vietnamese store but I am not sure about Texas.
Carol
I got it off Amazon