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!

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.

Yield: 4 people

Nasi Lemak Recipe

Name: Nasi Lemak Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: malaysian
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. / /150 ml-180 ml); some water; 1 cup water; tamarind pulp, size of a small ping pong ball; 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; 2 hard boiled eggs, cut into half; 3 small fish, sardines or smelt fish; 1 small cucumber, cut into slices and then quartered

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.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

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. / /150 ml-180 ml)
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 people
Amount Per Serving Calories 338Total Fat 25gSaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 121mgSodium 293mgCarbohydrates 88gFiber 3gSugar 7gProtein 16g

Comments

Roy

at

Followed it to a T, was awesome. Thank you for sharing

Audrey

at

Can i reduce the amount of dried chilli scared it might be to hot!

- Rasa Malaysia
  
  at
  
  Yes.
  
Tanuja

at

Hi There, how do I substitute the tamarind pulp for my tamarind concentrate. Mine is like a syrupy liquid so I’m not sure how much to use to make the tamarind juice. (https://smile.amazon.com/Tamicon-Tamarind-Paste-7oz/dp/B000JSQKL6/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1M8HQXN6D2CPQ&dchild=1&keywords=tamarind%2Bpaste&qid=1617005100&s=grocery&sprefix=tamarind%2Cgrocery%2C316&sr=1-5&th=1)

Michael

at

I have a question on making Sambal (and other Rempahs). I make HUGE batches of Sambal, Laksa Paste, Tom Yum Paste, etc., for my Asian restaurant and I normally buy dried Kashmiri chilis and then painstakingly de-seed, soak, and blend them before adding them in a big bowl of watery paste (mixed with all the other ingredients). Then it all just gets fried (after toasting the belacan). SO… if I were to able to substitute Kashmiri POWDER, I would be able to save a great deal of time and effort. But what is your opinion on that? Will it effect the overall flavour? Because (for example) in the case of fresh tumeric vs. powdered it would make a huge difference.

I know it will affect the texture of my rempahs slightly, but with all the other fibrous ingredients (like fresh chili, ground galangal, lemon grass, dry shrimp, etc), I don’t mind a minimal change in texture. But I just need the flavour and colour of the dry chili, because it really does make a difference. So, this time around, I’m weighing whether to purchase 5 kilos of dried chili vs 2-3 kilos of powdered (of the exact same variety).

- Rasa Malaysia
  
  at
  
  I won’t use powder.
  
- Liza
  
  at
  
  I would do a small batch & try the powder & see the difference.
  
Vin

at

Hi,

Do you soak the de-seeded dried chillies before blitzing them?

- Rasa Malaysia
  
  at
  
  Yes.
  
Paul

at

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
  
  at
  
  It should be the same.
  
  - Adam
    
    at
    
    Would there be any way to substitute the dried chillies for chilli flakes?
    
    - Rasa Malaysia
      
      at
      
      Chili flakes are not ideal.
      
Rachna

at

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
  
  at
  
  Thanks for trying my recipe!!
  
AG

at

Hi Estelle, I got my belacan from Amazon. Product is from Penang, Malaysia @ $7.99. Expensive here but make my sambal taste good.

Ag

at

Hi Bee, do you where can I find screwpine leaves/pandan in LA, US. Any alternative if cannot find one?

- Rasa Malaysia
  
  at
  
  You can find in Vietnamese market.
  
Estelle

at

Hi Bee,
Where to find Belacan in US. I couldn’t find it in Texas

- Rasa Malaysia
  
  at
  
  You can find in some Vietnamese store but I am not sure about Texas.
  
  - Chan
    
    at
    
    Ranch 99 has frozen leaves
    
- Carol
  
  at
  
  I got it off Amazon
  
- Chan
  
  at
  
  Look for the belachan in the indonesian section, also from Ranch 99 store.

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Nasi Lemak

Secret Ingredients of Nasi Lemak

Other Recipes You Might Like

Side dishes for Nasi Lemak

How Many Calories Per Serving?

Serve Nasi Lemak with:

Prawn Sambal

Squid Sambal (Sambal Tumis Sotong)

Sambal Telur (Egg Sambal)

Chicken Satay

Nasi Lemak Recipe