Nasi lemak with sambal and turmeric chicken
75 min · 50 g protein · 830 cals / serving
Malaysia's national breakfast, lunch and late-night plate: fragrant coconut rice, a sweet, spicy, oily-red sambal with crisp anchovies, roasted peanuts, a hard-boiled egg, cool cucumber, and turmeric-spiced chicken thighs crisped in a hot oven.
Ingredients
Coconut rice
- 1 1/2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed until the water runs clear
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 3 thin slices ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
Turmeric chicken
- 1 1/2 lb (6–7 thighs) chicken thigh
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes, ground chilli (serbuk cili) or cayenne
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 tsp canola oil
Sambal ikan bilis
- 15 dried chillies dried chili peppers, seeded, soaked in hot water 15 minutes
- 4 shallots
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp shrimp paste (belacan) dried shrimp, toasted
- 1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 cup dried anchovies (ikan bilis) anchovies, rinsed and patted dry
- 1 small red onion, sliced into rings
- 2 tsp tamarind pulp tamarind, mixed with 100 ml water, strained
- scant 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
To serve
- 4 large eggs, hard-boiled, halved
- 1 small cucumber, sliced
- 3 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts
Steps
- Put the rice, coconut milk, water, ginger and salt in a rice cooker or a heavy pan (with a knotted pandan leaf if you can find one). In a pan, bring to the boil, stir once, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes, then leave covered off the heat for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and fish out the ginger.
- Heat the oven to 425°F. Rub the chicken with the turmeric, chilli powder, coriander, garlic, oil and a pinch of salt, and leave 10 minutes. Roast on a rack over a lined tray for 22–25 minutes, until deep golden at the edges and cooked through (165°F).
- Drain the chillies and blend them with the shallots, garlic and shrimp paste and a splash of water to a smooth paste.
- Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat, fry the anchovies for 3–4 minutes until crisp and golden, then lift out half of them for the plate. Add the paste to the wok and fry, stirring often, for 8–10 minutes, until it darkens and the oil separates and pools red at the edges (pecah minyak). Add the onion rings, tamarind water, the plain water and sugar, and simmer 5 minutes, until thick and glossy. Stir in the anchovies left in the wok and taste for salt and sweetness.
- Mound the rice on each plate and arrange the chicken, sambal, egg halves, cucumber, peanuts and the reserved crisp anchovies around it.
Good to know
Can I use full-fat coconut milk?
Yes; many Malaysian cooks do, and it gives the richest, most fragrant rice. It brings the score down to about 32 instead of 37.
My sambal tastes raw and harsh. What went wrong?
The chilli paste needs time. Keep frying on medium until it darkens to a deep brick red and the oil visibly splits from the paste; that is when the raw edge disappears. It can take 10 minutes or more, so don't rush it.
Where do I find shrimp paste and ikan bilis?
Both are sold in Asian grocers: belacan in hard blocks, ikan bilis in bags in the dried goods aisle. The sambal keeps 2 weeks in a jar in the fridge, so it is worth making a double batch.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 156
- Protein
- (24%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (36%)
- 6 g
- Carbohydrates
- (39%)
- 15 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 250 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 3320 kcal goes into the pot and 2430 g of ingredients comes out as about 2125 g of food: 156 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.