This is a very popular rice dish that can be found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In fact, it is Malaysia’s national dish. Usually called Nasi Lemak, it is roughly translated to Rice Fat. When relating to the culture, that usually means coconut rice.

It’s an extremely common dish that’s served pretty much everywhere: street vendors (garai), night markets (pasar malam), restaurants, and made in homes across the countries. Traditionally, it’s wrapped in banana leaves and sometimes held together with a newspaper or brown paper.

My friend Hazim told me that it was his favorite breakfast pre-keto, where he could easily go to a street vendor in his village and grab one for around 70 cents. He also told me that the condiments vary depending on who is making it. Sometimes the rice has no seasoning, other times sambal (we use homemade sambal) and a small fried egg is included. Typically you can also see fried peanuts, dried anchovies, cucumber, and other pickled items included.

If you want to spend more, fried chicken or beef is usually added to the dish. But, we decided to keep it pretty simple and mimic the street food you can get. In Brunei, where Hazim is from, pandan leaves are commonly used. They’re tied together in a knot and boiled in coconut milk. But, this is a pretty hard ingredient to find in the rest of the world, he decided it would be best to skip it.

Yields 2 servings of Keto Nasi Lemak

The Preparation

Fried Chicken:

12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon lime juice
salt, to taste
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Nasi Lemak:

7 ounces cauliflower, riced
3 tablespoons canned coconut milk
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1/2 medium shallot, sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
20 grams cucumber

Fried Egg:

1 large egg
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon chili-garlic paste

The Execution

1. Prepare 7 oz. cauliflower rice (by ricing cauliflower) and squeeze water out. Set aside.

2. Marinade 2 boneless Chicken Thighs with 1/2 tsp. Curry Powder, 1/4 tsp. Turmeric Powder, 1/2 tsp. Lime Juice and 1/2 tsp. Salt. Set aside.

3. Prepare Sambal from this recipe on the website.

4. Fry the marinated chicken thighs until brown.

5. To prepare the rice, boil in a saucepan on medium heat: 3 tbsp. Coconut Milk, 3 slices Ginger, 1/2 small Shallot and 1/4 tsp. Salt (or to taste). It should take about a minute or less.

6. Once bubbling, add in the riced Cauliflower and mix well.

7. Serve with 2 slices cucumber and a fried egg, along with 1 tbsp. Sambal and 1 piece Chicken Thigh.

This makes a total of 2 servings of Ketogenic Nasi Lemak. Each serving comes out to be 415 calories, 28.8g fats, 5g net carbs, and 35.5g protein.

NUTRITION	CALORIES	FAT	CARBS	FIBER	NET CARBS	PROTEIN
12 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs	486	30.4	0	0	0	57.7
1/2 teaspoon curry powder	3	0.1	0.6	0.6	0	0.2
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder	2	0	0.5	0.2	0.3	0.1
1 teaspoon lime juice	1	0	0.4	0	0.4	0
— salt	0	0	0	0	0	0
1 teaspoon coconut oil	41	4.5	0	0	0	0
7 ounce cauliflower	46	1	8.1	4.6	3.6	3.6
3 tablespoon canned coconut milk	83	9	1.2	0	1.2	0.9
1 teaspoon fresh ginger	2	0	0.4	0	0.3	0
1/2 medium shallot	11	0	2.5	0.5	2	0.4
1/4 teaspoon salt	0	0	0	0	0	0
20 gram cucumber	3	0	0.7	0.1	0.6	0.1
1 large egg	79	5.2	0.4	0	0.4	6.9
1/2 tablespoon butter	51	5.8	0	0	0	0.1
1 tablespoon chili-garlic paste	22	1.4	1.1	0.1	1	1.2
Totals	830	57.6	16	6	9.9	71.1
Per Serving (/2)	415	28.8	8	3	5	35.5