Malaysian Nasi Lemak Lunch Boxes with Coconut Rice, Egg and Sambal

Put the rinsed rice, coconut milk, water, ginger, pandan and salt in a rice cooker or heavy saucepan. Cook until tender, about 18 minutes on the stove with the lid on, then rest off the heat for 10 minutes before fluffing.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed until the water runs clear
• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk and 1 1/4 cups water
• 3 slices fresh ginger and 2 knotted pandan leaves (or 1 bay leaf)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup raw peanuts
• 1/3 cup dried anchovies or 2 tablespoons crisp fried shallots
• 3 tablespoons neutral oil
• 4 dried red chilies, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
• 1 small red onion, roughly chopped, and 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste and 2 teaspoons palm sugar
• 1 English cucumber, sliced into half-moons

Instructions

1. Put the rinsed rice, coconut milk, water, ginger, pandan and salt in a rice cooker or heavy saucepan. Cook until tender, about 18 minutes on the stove with the lid on, then rest off the heat for 10 minutes before fluffing.
2. While the rice cooks, lower the eggs into boiling water and simmer for 8 minutes for a just-set yolk. Chill in cold water, then peel and halve.
3. Fry the peanuts in 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until golden, then lift them out. Fry the anchovies in the same pan for 2 minutes until crisp and drain both on paper towel.
4. Drain the soaked chilies and blend them with the red onion and garlic into a coarse paste.
5. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a small pan and fry the paste over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until it darkens and the oil separates at the edges.
6. Stir in the tamarind paste, palm sugar and a pinch of salt. Cook 2 minutes more, then cool completely; the sambal keeps for two weeks in the fridge.
7. Pack each box with a bed of coconut rice, half an egg, a small heap of peanuts and anchovies, cucumber slices and a spoonful of sambal in its own lidded pot so nothing goes soggy.
8. Refrigerate overnight and eat at room temperature; the rice tastes best if the box comes out of the bag 20 minutes before lunch.
9. Nasi lemak is Malaysia's unofficial national dish, sold at dawn from roadside stalls wrapped in banana leaf and newspaper, and it was portable long before anyone invented the lunch box. The genius is the contrast: rich coconut rice against sharp sambal, soft egg against crunchy peanuts. Keeping the sambal separate is the one rule worth following, because it lets a lunch packed the night before still taste assembled at noon.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 620 kcal
• Protein: 21g
• Fat: 28g
• Carbohydrates: 72g
• Fiber: 4g
• Sugar: 6g
• Sodium: 780mg