Nasi lemak recipe

Rice steamed in coconut milk with knotted pandan leaves and lemongrass, served with a tamarind sambal fried with anchovies.

1 hour and 15 minutesmedium12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 4 pandan leaves
• 400 g jasmine rice
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 1 stick lemongrass
• 60 g dried anchovies
• 6 shallots
• 10 dried red chillies
• 2 tbsp tamarind paste
• 60 g peanuts
• 4 eggs
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Nasi lemak

1. Rinse 400 g of jasmine rice until the water runs clear, then drain it well.
2. Tie 4 pandan leaves into a knot and bruise 1 lemongrass stalk with the back of a knife. Without the pandan the rice is not nasi lemak.
3. Cook the rice with 400 ml of coconut milk, 100 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, the pandan knot and the lemongrass, covered, on low heat for 15 minutes, then let it steam off the heat for 10 minutes.
4. Soak 10 dried red chillies in hot water for 15 minutes, then blend them with 6 shallots and 2 garlic cloves into a paste.
5. Fry 60 g of dried anchovies in oil until crisp, lift them out, and fry 60 g of peanuts in the same oil; set both aside.
6. Fry the chilli paste in 4 tablespoons of oil over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the oil separates and turns dark red. This slow frying is what makes it sambal tumis.
7. Stir in 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt, then return half the anchovies to the sambal and cook 2 more minutes.
8. Boil 4 eggs for 8 minutes, peel and halve them, and slice 1 cucumber.
9. Fluff the rice, discard the pandan and lemongrass, and plate it with the sambal, the remaining anchovies, the peanuts, the egg and the cucumber.

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