Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Bruneian Nasi Lemak
Brunei coconut rice plate: fragrant santan rice with a caramelised sambal, crisp anchovies, peanuts, egg and cucumber.
Bruneian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~965 cal · 22g protein · 106g carbs · 54g fat · 8g fiber · 12g sugars · 24g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Nasi lemak is a much-loved rice dish in Brunei, where the coconut rice is cooked especially creamy and served with a sambal that leans more toward caramelised onion than fierce chili heat. Fragrant with pandan and santan, it is a favourite breakfast that carries easily into lunch and dinner.
The plate is built around the rice: a sweet-savoury sambal, crisp fried anchovies called ikan bilis, roasted peanuts, a boiled egg and cool cucumber. It reflects the restrained, coconut-forward balance that distinguishes Bruneian cooking from its neighbours.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups jasmine rice
1 1/2 cups
1 pandan leaf, knotted
1/2 cup dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
2 boiled eggs, halved
1 cucumber, sliced
6 shallots
3 cloves garlic
8 dried red chilies, soaked
1 tsp (belacan)
1 tbsp paste
1 tbsp palm sugar
1/4 cup
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Rinse the rice and cook it with the coconut milk, pandan leaf, a little salt and enough water to steam it fluffy and fragrant.
✎ Chef’s note
Cook the rice a touch drier than usual, since the coconut milk makes it richer and stickier.
2
Fry the dried anchovies in a little oil until crisp and set aside, then fry the peanuts briefly if raw.
3
Blend the shallots, garlic, soaked chilies and shrimp paste into a paste and fry in the oil until deep and fragrant.
4
Stir the tamarind and palm sugar into the sambal and cook until thick, sweet and glossy.
5
Plate the coconut rice with a spoon of sambal, the crisp anchovies, peanuts, halved eggs and cucumber slices alongside.
Bruneian home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bandar Seri Begawan. Brunei's capital eats ambuyat, a translucent sago starch twirled on bamboo forks and dipped into sour cacah sauce because it has almost no flavour of its own. Malay cooking surrounds it: coconut rice, grilled fish, and rich beef rendang.
🗺️
Brunei. Ambuyat is deliberately bland, which is the point: sago starch stirred with boiling water into a translucent glue that carries whatever it is dipped in. It is eaten with chandas, a linked pair of bamboo sticks used like a two-pronged fork to twirl it, and the dips do the work, sambal tempoyak from fermented durian, cincalok, or sour binjai fruit.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Brunei
AmbuyatA glassy sago starch eaten with bamboo forks and dipped in a tart, pungent cacah sauce.
KatilapamSoft steamed rice-flour cakes lightly spiced and faintly sweet, a Bruneian teatime and breakfast bite.
Nasi KatokA simple plate of rice, fried chicken, and fiery sambal, Brunei's famously cheap everyday meal.
Browse all Brunei recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer, Blender.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Brunei meal
Air KatiraDrink
PenyaramDessert
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Bruneian Nasi Lemak?
Brunei coconut rice plate: fragrant santan rice with a caramelised sambal, crisp anchovies, peanuts, egg and cucumber.
Where does Bruneian Nasi Lemak come from?
Bruneian Nasi Lemak is a Bruneian dish from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
Can Bruneian Nasi Lemak be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bruneian Nasi Lemak recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bruneian Nasi Lemak safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Bruneian Nasi Lemak take to make?
About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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