Nasi Lemak
Malaysia's national plate, complete: coconut rice with pandan, fiery sambal, crisp anchovies and peanuts, cucumber, and a fried egg, each part simple and the whole unforgettable.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Nasi Lemak, in 5 ideas
- The rice cooks in coconut milk with pandan and lemongrass. Fragrant, rich, and just sticky enough to hold the plate together.
- Sambal is a slow fry, not a blend-and-serve sauce. The chiles and shallots cook until the oil rises and the raw edge is gone.
- Crisp ikan bilis and peanuts are not garnish. Their crunch and salt are the plate's counterpoint.
- Every element can be made ahead except the egg. Which wants to be fried at the last minute with lacy edges.
- Banana leaf is the traditional plate for a reason. Its perfume under hot rice is part of the dish.
What you need
Ingredients
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
- 2 pandan leaves, knotted
- 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
- 8 dried red chiles, soaked
- 6 shallots
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste), toasted
- 1 cup dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
- 1/2 cup raw peanuts
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 4 eggs
How to make it
Method
Blend the soaked chiles, shallots, garlic and belacan into a paste. Fry slowly in oil for 12 to 15 minutes, until dark red and the oil separates. Season with salt and a pinch of sugar. This is the sambal.
Rinse the rice. Cook it with the coconut milk, 1 cup of water, the pandan, lemongrass and a good pinch of salt, then rest 10 minutes and fluff.
Fry the anchovies in shallow oil until crisp and golden; drain. Fry the peanuts in the same oil until golden; drain and salt both.
Fry the eggs sunny side up with crisp, lacy edges.
Warm banana leaves or plates. Mound the rice in the center, add a generous spoon of sambal, and arrange anchovies, peanuts, cucumber and an egg around it.
Serve at once, with extra sambal on the table.
Make double sambal and keep it in the fridge: it improves everything from fried rice to grilled fish for two weeks.