Name: Nasi Lemak
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 3½ oz. dried paper lantern chiles, dried bird chiles, or dried chiles de árbol; 2 cups vegetable oil; ½ cup red-skin Spanish peanuts; 2½ cups small dried anchovies; 2 medium shallots, halved; 3 garlic cloves; 2 Holland chiles, stems removed, halved lengthwise; 4½ tsp. sugar; 1½ tsp. tamarind concentrate; 2 cups jasmine rice; 1 tsp. kosher salt; 3 pandan leaves (optional); ½ cup light unsweetened coconut milk; 4 large eggs; ½ English hothouse cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise; Soy sauce (for serving)

Cucumber slices topped with jasmine rice and fried anchovies dressed in a sweetspicy sambal.

Nasi Lemak

It’s way too easy to fall in love with the Malaysian dish Nasi Lemak, a coconutty rice bowl topped with crispy-crunchy crumbles of teeny little fried anchovies dressed in a sweet-spicy sambal. Look for the smallest dried anchovies (ikan bilis) you can find: They’re known for their superior flavor and texture. We’ve provided a few options for dried chiles below, but any thumb-size red chile you can find at an Asian market will get the job done.

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Ingredient info

Paper lantern chiles can be found at Asian markets and themalamarket.com. Tamarind concentrate, often labeled “concentrate cooking tamarind,” can be found at Asian and Thai markets.

Recipe notes

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Recipe notes

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