Nasi Lemak recipe is a Popular Malaysian breakfast dish. It is considered as National dish of Malaysian. Nasi Lemak consists of fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf, served with Ayam goreng, spicy sambal, fried peanuts, boiled eggs, fried anchovies and cucumbers.
Nasi Lemak Recipe
I love Malaysian cuisine, they are flavour packed and taste bomb. Many years back we visited Malaysia and this nasi lemak is the one dish which I had over and over again. Check my other favorites like Roti jala, Malaysian Mango Salad and Chicken Rendang.
Nasi Lemak is rice dish that is made with coconut rice, which is served along side with a spicy sambal which has chillies, garlic, onions. And it has additional sides like cucumber, fried anchovies, boiled eggs, ayam goreng and peanuts. Super yummy.
About Nasi Lemak Recipe
Nasi lemak has few components which together makes it perfect. First and most important is the rice. I like to use fragrant jasmine rice for making the coconut rice. Make sure to wash rice multiple times in several changes of water and soak for atleast 30 minutes.
The flavour of coconut rice comes from pandan leaf so don't skip it. Also use fresh coconut milk or a can of coconut milk.
Now the second most important component is the sambal. It is super popular in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. The traditional way of grinding the spices to make the sambal starter paste is to use a stone mortar and pestle. But you can use a blender to fasten the process.
When grinding onions, garlic, and chillies grind them coarse. Coarsely grind the paste so you get better texture of the onions and chillies. Also take your time to cook it down until oil separates.
Some recipes uses tamarind for the sour taste, but I prefer using fresh lemon juice. Also use Kashmiri red chillies which give bright red colour without making it too spicy.
When cooking sambal use generous amount of oil and take your time to cook until oil separates which increases the shelf life and taste. For authentic taste you can use dried shrimp or anchovies. You will love my Sambal Chicken and Sago Cake/ Kuih Sago
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Ingredients
- For Coconut Milk Rice - You need jasmine rice, salt, coconut milk and pandan leaf for cooking the rice. Jasmine rice adds flavour and pandan adds aroma.
- Sambal Ingredients - shallots, garlic, dry red chillies, ginger, salt, sugar, lemon, MSG and oil is used to cook the chilli paste. For tangy taste, I used lemon.
- Ayam Goreng - I served my nasi lemak with fried chicken.
- Accompaniments - I used cucumber, fried peanuts, boiled eggs, as accompaniments.
Step by Step Pictures
Coconut Rice
1) Start by washing the rice in several changes of water. Soak jasmine rice for 15 to 30 minutes. Strain the soaked rice through a sieve. Now take it in a sauce pan. Add in coconut milk and water.
2)Add in salt, pandan leaf into this.
3)Place it on heat and Bring it to a boil.
4)Cover and simmer for 10 mins till rice is cooked completely.
5)Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 mins. Fluff up the rice Set aside covered so it stays warm.
Make Spicy Sambal
6)Soak dry red chillies in hot water for 10 mins. Drain and reserve the water for grinding. Now for grinding sambal. Grind soaked dry red chillies, garlic, shallots, ginger in a food processor to a coarse paste.
7)You can add the chillies soaked water for grinding.
8)Heat oil in a wok or pan and add the coarsely ground masala. Cook till raw smell leaves. It will take around 5 to 8 minutes. Cook till oil separates.
9)Now add in sugar, salt, MSG and mix well.
10)Take it off the heat and add in lemon juice and mix well.
11)Sambal is ready.
12)Nasi lemak can be served with either fried anchovies. But I served mine with ayam goreng. To make it. Take chicken with skins on and bone in. Season with chicken with salt and lemon juice. Mix well and let it marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
13)Now lets prepare the masala coating for the chicken. Take coriander seeds, black peppercorns, fennel seeds and cumin seeds in a pan.
14)Toast them on medium heat for 2 minutes until it smells toasted and nutty.
15)take it off the heat and let it cool completely. Now add them to a blender.
16)Add in garlic, ginger, lemon grass, galangal, turmeric powder into the blender.
17)Grind them to a coarse mixture. Don't add too much water, just a spoonful if required when grinding is enough.
18)Now add this ground mix to the marinated chicken. Mix well. Leave to marinate for 15 to 30 minutes. You can leave this to marinate overnight in fridge.
19)Now just before frying. Add in one egg into this mixture. It helps bind the chicken.
20)Add in cornstarch or rice flour into the chicken.
21)Mix well. The cornstarch and egg should coat the chicken really well.
22)Now drop the chicken into the hot oil and fry on medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes.
23)Once the bottom is fried, flip over and fry on other side too.
24)Once the chicken is fried, remove it from hot oil and set aside. Lets plate nasi lemak now.
25)Now to serve nasi lemak. Take a serving platter. Line it with a banana leaf. Spoon some cooked coconut rice, fried ayam goreng, spicy sambal, cucumbers, fried peanut and boiled egg. Serve immediately.
Expert Tips
Rice - use jasmine rice for cooking coconut rice for nasi lemak. If you don't have jasmine rice, you can use any long grain rice.
Swapping ingredients - Instead of shallots, you can use small red onions. In place of the dried chilies, add chilli powder. Instead of lemon juice, you can use tamarind juice. But make sure to cook the tamarind paste with the chillies.
Serving - After the sambal is cooked, ladle as much of the sambal as you want onto your main dish or rice.
Storage - Cooked sambal should cool before storing in fridge or freezer.T he frozen sambal will keep for 2 to 3 months. It's best to freeze it in smaller containers and take out what you need for each meal.
FAQ
Q : Can I make sambal without anchovies?
Yes you can make sambal for nasi lemak without anchovies. Check the recipe give above, it is a basic sambal recipe made with just shallots, garlic, ginger, salt, chillies, sugar, oil and lemon.
Q: How long can we store Sambal?
You can make a huge batch and store in a glass jar for over a month in fridge.
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Nasi Lemak Recipe (Authentic Malaysian Nasi Lemak)
Ingredients
For Coconut Rice
- 1 cup Long Grain Rice (Jasmine Rice)
- 1 cup Coconut Milk
- 1 Leaf Pandan Leaf
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Water
For Sambal
- 15 no Kashmiri Dry Red Chillies soaked in hot water
- 8 no Shallots peeled
- 5 cloves Garlic peeled
- 1 inch Ginger peeled and chopped
- 2 teaspoon Sugar or Palm Sugar
- ½ teaspoon MSG optional
- 1 no Lemon juiced
- 2 teaspoon Salt to taste
- ¼ cup Peanut Oil
For Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken
- 1 kg Chicken with Skins on
- 1 teaspoon Salt to taste
- 1 medium Lemon juiced
- 1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 teaspoon Black Peppercorn
- 2 inch Ginger peeled and roughly chopped
- 10 cloves Garlic peeled
- 1 no Lemongrass (Inner white part alone chopped)
- 2 tablespoon Galangal chopped
- 2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 large Egg
- ½ cup Cornstarch or Rice Flour
- Sunflower Oil for deep frying
For Serving
- 1 no Seedless Salad Cucumber sliced
- 8 pieces Fried Dried anchovies (optional)
- 4 tablespoon Fried peanuts
- 2 large Boiled eggs
Instructions
Cooking Coconut Rice
- Start by washing the rice in several changes of water. Soak jasmine rice for 15 to 30 minutes. Strain the soaked rice through a sieve. Now take it in a sauce pan. Add in coconut milk, water, salt and pandan leaf. Mix well.
- Place it on heat and Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 mins till rice is cooked completely. Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 mins. Fluff up the rice Set aside covered so it stays warm.
Make Spicy Sambal
- Soak dry red chillies in hot water for 10 mins. Drain and reserve the water for grinding.
- Now make sambal. Grind dry red chillies, garlic, shallots, ginger in a food processor to a coarse paste.
- Heat oil in a wok or pan and add the coarsely ground masala. Cook till raw smell leaves. It will take around 5 to 8 minutes. Cook till oil separates.
- Now add in sugar, salt, MSG and mix well. Take it off the heat and add in lemon juice and mix well.
Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken)
- Take chicken in a bowl, add salt and lemon juice and mix well. Set aside to marinate for 10 mins.
- Dry roast coriander seeds, fennel seeds, black pepper, cumin seeds till toasted. Take it in a blender jar. Add in lemon grass, ginger, galangal, garlic, turmeric powder and grind to a coarse paste. Don't add too much water.
- Now add the ground paste to chicken and mix well so the marinate coats all the pieces of chicken. Set aside for 1 hour to marinate. Add in egg, cornstarch to chicken and mix well.
- Heat oil for deep frying. Drop chicken in and fry till golden and crispy on both sides. It will take around 12 to 15 mins. Strain fried chicken using slotted spoon and serve hot.
Serving Nasi Lemak
- Just before serving, Now fry some anchovies and peanuts. Hard boil some eggs. Slice tomatoes.
- Serve sambal with rice, cucumber, peanuts, ayam goreng and boiled egg. Serve hot.
Nutrition
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Lucy Chan
perfect recipes
Kirthana
Super tasty, I wonderful hit at my house! Thank you so much! ❤️
lingam
I have never seen a detailed recipe like this. I love the chicken served with it. It tasted really good. Highly recommend this recipe.
Shamini
I made fried anchovies as you showed in your vlog. I also used tamarind juice instead of lemon juice. I followed nasi lemak recipe that you shared in your vlog and it was yummy. This fried chicken was delicious.
golyya
Thanks for sharing this recipe