Nasi lemak is a Malaysian dish made of fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves that is also found in Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand.
What is nasi lemak?
Nasi Lemak is undoubtedly the national dish that represents Malaysia and the most popular traditional dish in Malaysia, both for Malaysians and around the world.
It is one of the most appreciated dishes of Malaysian cuisine as it is linked to the Malaysian culture, a dish based on rice cooked with coconut milk, enriched with various side dishes.
Nasi in the Malaysian language means “rice,” while lemak in this context means “rich” or “creamy,” although the literal translation is “fatty” or “oily.”
The flavor of nasi lemak is particular and delicious: a subtle aroma of coconut with rice that is cooked with pandan leaves.
Nasi lemak kukus meaning “steamed nasi lemak” is another name given to nasi lemak served with steamed rice.
How to serve nasi lemak
The soul of nasi lemak is the sambal. Nasi lemak is never served without the emblematic sambal chili sauce that divinely completes this no less emblematic dish.
Four other ingredients are essential to serve nasi lemak: ikan bilis, crispy fried anchovies such as Filipino dilis, roasted peanuts such as Filipino adobong mani, eggs and cucumber. This is the most authentic way to serve it.
For a heartier meal, nasi lemak can also be served with an extra dish such as ayam goreng (fried chicken), sambal sotong (spicy cuttlefish), and, on special occasions, rendang daging (spicy beef cooked in coconut milk).
Other side dishes include kangkong (sautéed water bindweed) and acar awak, Malaysian version of vegetable achards. Traditionally, most of these side dishes are spicy in nature.
Nasi lemak, widely consumed in Malaysia and Singapore, is most often eaten for breakfast in both countries, and is very commonly sold on every street corner.
In Indonesia, nasi lemak is the favorite breakfast dish, especially in East Sumatra. In Palembang, it is called nasi gemuk where gemuk has the same meaning as lemak.
This dish is often wrapped in banana leaves, newspapers or brown paper and, more rarely, served on a simple plate.
What are pandan leaves?
The pandan or pandanus is a tropical climbing plant extremely widespread and cultivated in Southeast Asia, with multiple uses and benefits, easily recognizable by its long and thin, very fragrant green leaves.
The pandan is mostly spread in the tropical belt of three continents: Asia, Africa and Oceania.
It is an aromatic plant with vanilla aromas and a slight scent between almond and hazelnut, in some ways the aroma emanating from basmati rice.
It is often used to sweeten dishes, especially desserts and pandan leaves are often used as packaging for steaming various typical Asian dishes.
Pandan powder can be used to color desserts and sponge cakes like the classic pandan sponge.
The roots, leaves, fruits, and flowers of the pandanus provide useful ingredients for traditional medicine, which uses them to treat a wide range of symptoms, from headaches to chicken pox, from injuries to venereal diseases; while the fibers obtained from them are used by many populations as a raw material to make by hand ropes, mats, hats, baskets, or nets. But the most interesting use of pandanus is in the kitchen.
The Indians extract from the flowers of pandanus a popular essential oil, the kewra, useful for flavoring many cakes and desserts and many meat dishes.
In India, liquid pandan is often used to replace the aroma of basmati rice.
Africans use the fruits of the pandanus to harvest a floury pulp that can be eaten once cooked.
Its bright green leaves are used throughout South and Southeast Asian cuisine to add color and aroma to an incredible range of dishes.
Pandan is widely used in traditional Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisines.
What is the origin of nasi lemak?
For the Malaysians, the story of nasi lemak revolves around the Mak family, and precisely a widow who lived with her two children at the time of the Sultanate of Malacca (1400-1511).
Mak Kuntum was a widow whose husband died as a result of the war. To support her two children, after the death of her husband, she was forced to work as a street masseuse, while her eldest daughter, Seri, was responsible for all household chores after she left for work. Mak Kuntum was always out very early every morning to find customers.
One day, while Seri was cooking, she accidentally spilled coconut milk into the rice while it was cooking.
When Mak Kuntum returned from work, she immediately entered the kitchen attracted by a delicious smell, and when she saw the rice, she asked Seri, “Did you cook this, Seri?”. Seri, proud, answered her several times: “Nasi le, Mak! Nasi le, Mak! Nasi le, Mak!”, a rice bearing their family name.
There is another version about the origins of nasi lemak, which says that Seri would have been very tired of eating the same food every day. Thus, in order to vary her cooking, she added new notes to the rice.
First, she added galanga, then, still not satisfied, Seri added a piece of pandan leaf and whispered from the bottom of her heart, “May the smell of rice mixed with pandan leaves whet my mom’s appetite when she comes back later. Of course, mom will congratulate me later.”
Nasi lemak, a dish always sacred
The infatuation for nasi lemak surpasses everything in Malaysia.
After making its appearance in hamburgers and cakes, this much-loved national dish inspired the national costume of Miss Universe in 2017, the 66th edition.
Indeed, the famous sino-Brazilian model Samantha Katie James represented Malaysia in Las Vegas with a white strapless dress with a heart-shaped neckline and a thigh slit in the middle. A blazing dress inspired by the Malaysian national dish, created by the designer Brian Khoo.
The 22-year-old beauty queen turned a lot of heads when she appeared on the podium in Las Vegas, wearing a dress beautiful enough to eat.
This dress indeed had all the ingredients that are distinctly found in nasi lemak, including accompaniments such as sambal, egg, chili paste, peanuts and even pieces of pandan leaves with huge banana leaves protruding from the back of its dress.
The dress was decorated with many rhinestones, all hand embroidered to symbolize the grains of rice.
Nasi lemak
Ingredients
For the ikan bilis sambal (hot pepper and anchovies paste)
- 2 oz. dried red hot peppers
- 10 Thai peppers (or other red peppers), stemmed and seeded
- 4 long red peppers (e.g. Holland peppers), or more, if no Thai peppers, stemmed and seeded
- 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
- 8 oz. shallots , peeled
- 1 head garlic , peeled
- 1½ oz. dried anchovies
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 8 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the anchovies and peanuts
- 8 oz. dried anchovies
- 8 oz. peanuts
- 10 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the coconut rice
- 10 oz. jasmine rice
- 2 pandan leaves , tied
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup coconut milk
To serve
- 4 large hard-boiled eggs , peeled
- 1 cucumber , sliced diagonally
- 4 banana leaves
Equipment
- Food processor
Cheesecloth - Skimmer
Instructions
Ikan bilis sambal (chili paste with anchovies)
- Mix the dry peppers and the fresh peppers in a blender or food processor.
- Dissolve the tamarind paste in ¼ cup (60 ml) of hot water.
- Filter through cheesecloth and discard the seeds if any. Set aside.
- Place the shallots and garlic in a food processor and reduce them to a smooth purée.
- Then add the anchovies and reduce again until forming a paste. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium to high heat.
- Add the paste to the anchovies and sauté for 5 minutes, then lower to low to medium heat.
- Add the reduced peppers and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the reserved tamarind and sugar.
- Cook over medium-low heat and stir until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Anchovies and peanuts
- In a frying pan, heat half the vegetable oil.
- Add the anchovies and fry them for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Using a skimmer, transfer the anchovies to a dish lined with paper towel.
- In another pan, pour the remaining oil and immediately immerse the peanuts.
- As soon as the oil comes back to the boil, fry them for 2 minutes.
- Using a skimmer, transfer the peanuts to a dish lined with paper towel to cool them slightly, then transfer them to a large bowl with the anchovies and toss.
- Mix 6 tablespoons of sambal ikan bilis with the anchovy and peanut mixture.
Coconut rice
- Wash the rice at least twice or until the water runs clear.
- Drain the rice and add into a saucepan.
- Cover with water about 1 inch (3 cm) above the rice level.
- Tie the pandan leaves and add them to the rice with salt.
- Cook over low heat for about twenty minutes, then remove the pandan leaves and gradually incorporate the coconut milk while stirring. Keep warm.
To serve
- Divide the anchovy and peanut mixture among 4 small bowls.
- Divide the rice into 4 equal parts and pack it into the bowls over the anchovy and peanut mixture. There should be about 2 volumes of rice per volume of sambal.
- Garnish 4 dishes with a banana leaf.
- Turn the bowl upside down so that the anchovy and peanut mixture sits on top.
- Garnish each dish with the cucumber slices and an egg, cut in half.
Video
Mike is “the devil” of the 196 flavors’ duo. Nicknamed as such by his friends, he is constantly in search of unusual recipes and techniques with impossible to find ingredients. The devil is always pushing the envelope, whether it is with humor or culinary surprises.
Toroi says
An equally popular dish of Indonesian origin, Nasi Goreng , is rice fried in vegetable oil with onions and garlic. In the classic version, Nasi goreng is cooked with chicken pieces, but it is also served with beef and seafood. The cooking process uses soy sauce and various spices.
Mike Benayoun says
Absolutely Toroi. We have also published this delicious dish: https://www.196flavors.com/indonesia-nasi-goreng/