Instant Pot Nasi Lemak (Coconut Milk Rice)

So before I explain what Nasi Lemak is, I want to explain why I have never attempted to cook this even though I could have googled a long time ago on the recipe. Like Singapore Chicken Rice, this is a dish that has more than 1 component. It’s not like Beef Stroganoff or Cabbage Rice Soup where there is just 1 main dish. With Nasi Lemak, the rice and the fried chicken feels like the most important components for me. Yes. There are other components but since I don’t have most of the ingredients here, I’m just going to focus on the rice and the fried chicken that makes up this famous Singapore dish.

So my challenge today is to be able to replicate Nasi Lemak with using just 1 Instant Pot. And I succeeded! 😀

So now, let me tell you what is Nasi Lemak. Wikipedia states that Nasi Lemak is a Malay fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves (also called Screw Pine Leaves). It is a very popular Southeast Asia dish and you can find it everywhere in Malaysia and Singapore.

My Western friends and hubby will find this part strange but to us, this is a dish that can be served as breakfast, lunch or dinner. Because it is so popular, you can find many variations of the dish but it is always rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves and it is usually always accompanied by a no. of smaller side dishes like fried chicken (Ayam Goreng), deep fried anchovies, peanuts, fried egg, sliced cucumber and sambal chilli

If you are in Singapore and wishes to try Nasi Lemak, you can find them everywhere. But if you want to know where the Top 10 Best Nasi Lemak is in Singapore, check out the list at Singapore Foodie 😀

Some Notes About This Recipe:

• Obviously, given the restraints I have in terms of grocery shopping in my town, I am not going to be able to replicate the dish and its side dishes 100%
• I wanted to make fried Chicken as in Ayam Goreng but I don’t want to have to deep fry so this is a very easy peasy version and is not going to taste like Ayam Goreng but honestly, I was pretty happy with how the chicken turned out. My toddler and hubby loves it
• Whole concept of Instant Pot is using just 1 pot so you can see in my video that other than broiling the chicken in oven for 5 mins, everything was done in Instant Pot
• I cooked the chicken in Instant Pot with just water. But after cooking, the water now has a lot of juice and fats from the chicken dripping onto them so make sure you drain all that liquid before you cook your rice. Needless to say – please dispose the liquid safely and not down your sink. I feel like everyone should know this lol but since I can be considered quite ditsy at times (more times than not), I figured let’s not assume everyone has common sense cos this Lazy Mommy doesn’t lol 😀
• Because I use only coconut milk with the rice, I find that I need more salt than most coconut rice recipe. I estimate I used about 1/2 tsp and slightly more. If you are concerned about sodium, add the salt after rice is cooked so you can tailor to your taste buds

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I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to not only be able to replicate our traditional Singapore dishes for my baby but also to see his happiness and joy at trying and liking these dishes. I really hope he grows up being a proud Canadian but also remembering his Singapore roots 😀

Is that too much for a Lazy Mommy to wish for? 😀