isithalal.food

Halal-conscious recipe

Nasi lemak

Coconut rice with pandan, a chilli and shallot sambal, crisp fried anchovies and peanuts, a fried egg and cucumber, with a note on the shrimp paste per school.

  • Cuisine Malaysian
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Moderate
  • Yield 4 plates
  • Time 55 min
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
Nasi lemak on a banana leaf with a dome of white rice, half a boiled egg, cucumber, pickled vegetables, anchovy sambal and beef rendang
Photograph of nasi lemak by Mo Riza, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Mo Riza · CC BY 2.0

Why Halal checks matter here

Nasi lemak's anchovies are Halal in every school, but its sambal uses belacan, a shrimp paste, and many Hanafi scholars do not treat shrimp as fish.

Nasi lemak is rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan, served with a chilli sambal, crisp anchovies, peanuts, egg and cucumber. The anchovies are Halal in every school. The question is the belacan in the sambal: it is a shrimp paste, and shrimp is a scholarly difference, accepted by many Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali scholars but not by many Hanafi authorities.

This version follows Sandra Leong's Singaporean-style nasi lemak for BBC Good Food with every ingredient as published. If your school does not accept shrimp, leave the belacan out of the sambal.

The sambal is done when it has darkened and the oil separates, after 10 to 15 minutes of stir-frying. If you eat nasi lemak out, the meat sides such as chicken or rendang need Halal slaughter too.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Belacan (shrimp paste) Shrimp is permitted by many scholars, especially in Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali practice, but many Hanafi authorities do not treat shrimp as fish. Use it if your school accepts shrimp; otherwise leave it out of the sambal. See Shrimp.
  • Anchovies Anchovies are small fish and Halal in every school; no slaughter is needed. Plain dried anchovies are fine. See Anchovies.
  • Sides when eating out Nasi lemak can come with meat sides such as chicken or rendang, which need Halal slaughter. Ask which meat a side is and whether it is Halal, or look for a Halal-certified stall.

Safe substitutes

  • Belacan, if your school does not accept shrimp → Leave it out of the sambal

Allergens

peanuts, egg, fish (anchovies), crustaceans (shrimp paste), tree nuts (candlenuts)

Ingredients

Coconut rice

  • 500 g jasmine rice
  • 175 ml coconut milk
  • 2 pandan leaves (or 2–3 drops pandan essence)
  • 1 lemongrass stalk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 450 ml (350 ml in a rice cooker) water

Sambal

  • 50 g shallots, peeled
  • 10 g candlenuts, pounded
  • 25 g dried chillies, soaked 30 min, deseeded and cut into chunks
  • 25 g fresh chillies, deseeded and cut into chunks
  • 10 g belacan (shrimp paste; see the shrimp check below)
  • 10 g galangal, sliced (or 1 tsp galangal paste)
  • 10 g lemongrass, white part only, sliced
  • ½ tbsp tamarind paste

To serve

  • enough to coat the pan vegetable oil, for frying
  • 70 g raw unsalted peanuts
  • 100 g dried anchovies
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cucumber, thickly sliced

Method

  1. Cook the coconut rice. Wash the rice in a sieve until the water runs clear. Put it in a pan with the coconut milk, pandan, lemongrass, salt, sugar and 450 ml water, bring to the boil on a high heat, cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes until the liquid has gone. Leave covered for another 10 minutes. If it looks wet, spread it on a tray to dry. In a rice cooker, use 350 ml water and rest it 10 minutes before fluffing.
  2. Make the sambal. Blitz everything for the sambal except the tamarind with a big pinch of salt to a paste. Stir-fry it over a medium-high heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until it darkens and the oil separates. Stir in the tamarind, season with salt and sugar, and leave to cool.
  3. Fry the toppings. Heat enough oil to coat the base of a pan and fry the peanuts until brown, then the anchovies until crisp. Lift them out, then fry the eggs to your liking.
  4. Serve. Spoon or mould the rice onto plates and top with the anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, fried eggs and sambal.

How this recipe was researched

Method from BBC Good Food's 'Nasi lemak' by Sandra Leong (serves 4: 500 g jasmine rice cooked with 175 ml coconut milk, pandan, lemongrass, salt and sugar; a sambal of shallots, candlenuts, soaked dried and fresh chillies, 10 g belacan, galangal and lemongrass blitzed, stir-fried 10 to 15 minutes and finished with tamarind; 70 g peanuts and 100 g dried anchovies fried crisp; eggs fried; served with cucumber). The source is Singaporean-style. We kept every ingredient and added a per-school note on the shrimp paste. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Nasi lemak — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Sandra Leong. Serves 4, prep 20 minutes, cook 35 minutes: 500 g jasmine rice with 175 ml coconut milk, pandan and lemongrass; a sambal with 10 g belacan (shrimp paste) stir-fried 10 to 15 minutes with tamarind; fried peanuts and dried anchovies; fried eggs and cucumber. Singaporean-style.

  2. Shrimp analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why shrimp is a scholarly difference between the schools.

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