Recipes>Rice Recipes
Roti King’s Nasi Lemak
by Sugen Gopal from Roti King
Serves 8-10
In this authentic recipe for Malaysia’s national dish nasi lemak you’ll find instructions for how to recreate all of its essential components from scratch, from the fragrant sambal ikan bilis to the aromatic coconut rice and succulent ayam goreng berempah (fried chicken).
Discover more delicious Malaysian recipes
From nasi goreng to laksa
From the book
Roti King
Sugen Gopal
Roti King
A celebration of Malaysian cuisine and street food
Easy to follow recipes that are packed with authentic flavours
With recipes ranging from classic market foods, to hearty curries, to refreshing desserts
Buy From
Introduction
Nasi lemak is considered the national dish of Malaysia. It centres around aromatic coconut rice with lots of extra ingredients added for flavour and texture. Peanuts give a delicious crunch, the sambal adds a spicy element, the cucumber is there to cool the spice, the anchovies offer salty umami and the fried chicken and soft-boiled egg add protein to make the meal filling. Each ingredient complements the other, resulting in a brilliant plate of food. In Malaysia it’s a dish that can be eaten at any time of day, from breakfast through to the evening.
To make this pescatarian, leave out the fried chicken, or to make it vegetarian, you can also omit the fried anchovies.
Tags
Ingredients
| For the Sambal Ikan Bilis: | |
|---|---|
| 60g (2¼oz) | dried anchovies |
| 150ml (5fl oz) | vegetable oil |
| 200g | basic sambal (see recipe here) |
| 300ml (10fl oz) | just-boiled water |
| 1 large | onion, finely sliced |
| 5g (1/8oz) | shrimp paste |
| 1 tsp | tamarind dissolved in 50ml (1½fl oz) just-boiled water |
| 1 tsp | sugar |
| 1½ tsp | salt |
| For the coconut rice: | |
| 500g (1lb 2oz) | long grain white rice, washed thoroughly and drained |
| 20g (¾oz) | ginger, bashed |
| 1½ tsp | salt |
| 400ml (14fl oz) | coconut milk |
| 2–3 | fresh pandan leaves, tied in a knot |
| For the fried anchovies and peanuts: | |
| 250ml (8½fl oz) | vegetable oil |
| 150g (5½oz) | peanuts, skin-on |
| 10 | red bird’s eye chillies, finely sliced |
| 75g (2½oz) | dried anchovies |
| 15g (½oz) | Crispy Fried Shallots (homemade or store-bought) |
| For the Ayam Goreng Berempah (get the recipe here) | |
| 40g (1½oz) | cornflour (cornstarch) |
| 30g (1oz) | rice flour |
| 200ml (7fl oz) | vegetable oil, plus more for deep-frying |
| 1.2kg (2lb 7oz) | small chicken, skin-on, chopped into 14 or equivalent cuts of your choice |
| 10 | curry leaves |
| For the lemak marinade: | |
| 1 | large onion, roughly chopped |
| 3 | lemongrass sticks, tops cut off and bottoms bashed and roughly chopped |
| 1 tsp | garlic paste |
| 2 tsp | ginger paste |
| 10 | lime leaves, stalks removed |
| 10g (¼oz) | turmeric |
| Large handful of | curry leaves |
| 80ml (2½fl oz) | vegetable oil |
| 1 tsp | curry powder |
| 2 tsp | salt |
| To serve: | |
| soft-boiled egg | |
| cucumber slices |
Method
This is essentially a collection of the elements that make up Malaysia’s famous nasi lemak.
Start by getting your chicken in the marinade. Add all the marinade ingredients to a blender and blitz to a smooth paste. Mix half of the marinade with the cornflour, rice flour and vegetable oil. Place the chicken pieces in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to work the marinade all over the chicken. Leave to marinate in a sealed container for a minimum of 1 hour and up to 24 hours in the fridge, before frying.
Next make the sambal – this can sit while you prepare the rest of the elements of the nasi lemak. Fry the dried anchovies in the oil over a low heat for 2–3 minutes until golden and crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on paper towels, leaving the oil in the pan.
Place a bowl over a set of scales and measure out the basic sambal and the just-boiled water, then mix these together to make a paste.
Add the onions to the pan of oil, turn up the heat to high and fry until browned, which should take about 3 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and add the sambal paste to the pan with the onions, along with another 50ml (1½fl oz) water, the shrimp paste and the tamarind water. Stir through, add the sugar and salt and cook for 10–15 minutes.
Once you’ve made the sambal, you can start the coconut rice. Once you have thoroughly washed the rice, leave it to soak in a bowl with 250ml (9fl oz) of water for 25 minutes.
Drain the rice, add to a rice cooker or large pan with 500ml (17fl oz) of water along with the rest of the ingredients and cook the rice as per the packet instructions.
Now for the fried anchovies and peanuts. Heat the oil in a medium frying pan over a medium–high heat. Once the oil reaches 170C (325F), turn the heat to low, add the peanuts and fry for 4–5 minutes until browned. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels in a single layer. Add the sliced chilli to the oil and fry for 30 seconds before removing and placing on paper towels.
Next, add the anchovies to the oil and cook for 3–4 minutes until lightly golden.
Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on fresh paper towels to drain the excess oil. When drained, add the peanuts, chillies, crispy anchovies and some crispy fried shallots into a bowl and stir to combine.
You want to make a start on the fried chicken last as it’s at its best served hot. The soft-boiled egg and cucumber slices can prepared while the chicken is frying, as they only take a couple of minutes to put together.
When you’re ready to cook your chicken, pour enough vegetable oil into a medium saucepan so that it reaches halfway up. Place it over a medium heat and once the oil reaches 165C (330F) fry the chicken in batches for 6–10 minutes, turning carefully with tongs, until golden and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add the curry leaves to the pan for 30 seconds or until crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Serve the chicken hot with the crispy curry leaves alongside the other elements prepared above.
Reviews
Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it went by leaving a comment below.
Cancel reply
Your review
Name *
Our team will respond to any queries as soon as we can - this may take longer over weekends. You do not need to resubmit your comment.
Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. There is no need to resubmit your comment. By posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use .
Be the first to leave a review
Ingredients
Method
More Recipes from Roti King
View all
Roti King’s Chicken or Pulled Shiitake Rendang
by Sugen Gopal from Roti King
Roti King’s Roti Canai
by Sugen Gopal from Roti King
More Malaysian Recipes
View all
Roti King’s Chicken or Pulled Shiitake Rendang
by Sugen Gopal from Roti King
Curry Leaf Chicken Legs with Salted Egg Yolk Sauce
by Julie Lin from Sama Sama
More Rice Recipes
View all
Machboos
by Noor Murad from Lugma
Nadiya Hussain’s Khoshari with Buftek
by Nadiya Hussain from Rooza
Get our latest recipes, features, book news and ebook deals straight to your inbox every week
