Directions
- 1Rinse the rice with running tap water a few times until the water turns clear.
- 2Drain the rice completely.
- 3Add 1 ½ cups of water, coconut milk, and a pinch of salt to the washed rice.
- 4Add the pandan leaves, tied into a knot, into the rice and cook your rice.
- 5Discard the pandan leaves after the rice is cooked.
- 6Pound the shallots, garlic, dried chilies, and prawn paste with a mortar and pestle, or grind them with a food processor, to make the spice paste.
- 7Soak the tamarind pulp in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes, constantly squeezing to extract flavor.
- 8Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
- 9Rinse the dried anchovies with tap water a few times and let them drain.
- 10Heat 2 cups of oil in a pan.
- 11Fry the anchovies until they've become light brown and crispy.
- 12Remove from oil with a strainer and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- 13On medium to low heat, heat 2 tablespoons of frying oil in a pan.
- 14Stir-fry the spice paste until fragrant and reddish in color.
- 15Add the onion rings and fried anchovies, stirring well.
- 16Pour in the tamarind juice, salt, and sugar.
- 17Simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens.
- 18Set the sambal aside.
- 19Clean the small fish and season them with salt.
- 20Deep fry the fish with the remaining frying oil.
- 21To serve, scoop out a small bowl of coconut rice and place it onto the center of a plate (optionally lined with a banana leaf).
- 22Arrange the fried fish, hard boiled egg, roasted peanuts, and cucumber around the rice.
- 23Add 2 spoons of the sambal on top of the rice.
- 24Serve immediately.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice
- 1.5 cups water (cut down to 1 1⁄4 cups if using ¾ cup coconut milk)
- 0.5 cup coconut milk (use ¾ cup for creamier rice)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 pandan leaves (tie them into a knot)
- 4 shallots (peeled)
- 1 clove garlic (peeled)
- 8 medium length dried red chilies (seeded)
- 1 teaspoon belacan (prawn paste)
- 1 cup water
- tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)
- salt (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (or more to taste)
- 1 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies, peeled)
- 2 cups oil (for frying)
- 1 red onion (peeled, sliced into rings)
- 3 small fish (sardines or mackerel, cut into halves)
- 2 hard boiled eggs (cut into halves)
- 1 cup roasted peanuts
- 1 small cucumber (cut into slices and then quartered)
Equipment
mortar and pestlefood processorpanstrainerpaper towel-lined platesmall bowl
Tips
- If using ¾ cup coconut milk, cut down water to 1 ¼ cups for coconut rice.
- For the spice paste, you can pound with a mortar and pestle or grind with a food processor.
- Tamarind pulp should be soaked for 15 minutes, squeezing constantly to extract flavor.
- Dried anchovies should be fried until light brown and crispy.
- Sambal should be stir-fried on medium to low heat until fragrant and reddish.
- You can serve fried anchovies as is, or add them to sambal to make sambal anchovies.
- Traditionally, nasi lemak is wrapped in banana leaf and shaped into a triangular cone, or served on a sheet of banana leaf for extra aroma.
- If using tamarind concentrate, mix 1 tablespoon with 3 tablespoons of water as a substitute for pulp.
- To reduce spice, use less dried chilies, starting with half the amount.
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