Nasi Lemak may be known for its generous selection of accompaniments, but the fragrant coconut rice remains the heart of the entire dish.

For this version, I blended fresh pandan leaves into a concentrated juice, giving the rice a beautiful light-green colour and a more noticeable pandan fragrance. The juice is combined with coconut milk and jasmine rice before everything is cooked together in the rice cooker.

To complete the plate, I served the pandan coconut rice with homemade air-fried tumeric chicken wings, sambal chilli, hard-boiled eggs, crispy ikan bilis and cucumber slices. It makes an impressive nasi lemak platter without requiring every component to be prepared from scratch.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

  • Fresh pandan flavour: Concentrated pandan juice gives the rice its fragrance and natural green colour
  • Creamy without becoming heavy: A controlled amount of coconut milk adds richness while allowing the cooked grains to remain distinct
  • No soaking required: The jasmine rice only needs to be rinsed and thoroughly drained
  • A complete Nasi Lemak plate: Tuemric chicken wings, egg, sambal, ikan bilis and cucumber making the rice into a satisfying meal
  • Easy to customise: Prepare the rice and chicken yourself while purchasing the more time-consuming ingredients
  • Suitable for entertaining: The naturally colourful rice and accompaniments create an impressive centrepiece for sharing

Tips for Successful Pandan Coconut Rice

  • Measure the rice by weight, where possible. Rice volume varies according to the cup being used and I feel that grams measurement is more reliable than 2.5 cups (it might be occupational hazard and habit from baking). This is especially so because a rice-cooker cup tends to be smaller than a standard measuring cup.
  • Drain the rice properly. After rinsing, leave the rice in a sieve for the full 10 – 15 minutes. This prevents excessive washing water from altering the total liquid ratio.
  • Include the coconut milk and pandan juice in the liquid level. Both ingredients contribute moisture, add them before topping up with water to the rice-cooker marking.
  • Do not use too much coconut milk. Although coconut milk provides nasi lemak with its signature richness, too much may make the rice oily, heavy or overly soft. Approximately 105 – 110g is enough to flavour this quantity of rice without overwhelming it.

Without further ado, the recipe!

Video Coming Soon!

Pandan Coconut Nasi Lemak Rice Recipe
by Javier Tan October-22-2026

Make fragrant green pandan coconut nasi lemak rice with air-fried turmeric chicken wings, sambal, egg, ikan bilis and cucumber.

Ingredients (Fluffy Pandan Coconut Rice)

  • 1/3 Cup or 80ml Concentrated Pandan Juice: Made from approx 10 – 12 pandan leaves + 100g water, just enough to blend
  • 400g (approx 2 and 2/3 rice cooker cups) Jasmine Rice
  • 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp or 110g Coconut Milk
  • 2/3 Tsp or 4g Salt
  • 1/4 Tsp or 1.25ml Pandan Extract, optional
  • Water, as needed to reach the aporpriate rice-cooker marking

Instructions

  1. First, rinse the rice 3 – 4 times until the water become noticeably clearer. Ideally, drain the rice on a sieve for about 10 – 15 minutes, there is no need to soak the rice.
  2. Then, transfer the drained rice into the rice cooker pot and add coconut milk, concentrated pandan juice, salt and pandan extract, if using. Top up the water until the total liquid reaches the appropriate amount (either using the pinkie tip or markings on your rice cooker). The coconut milk and pandan juice are part of the total cooking liquid so fill using them first before water.
  3. Stir and mix the liquids and rice gently, then cook the rice using the jasmine rice programme.
  4. Once done, open the lid gently and fluff the rice from the bottom using a rice paddle. Set to “Stay warm” or equivalent as needed.

Ingredients (Air-Fried Tumeric Chicken Wings)

  • 500 – 600g chicken mid-joint wings
  • 1 Tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 Tsp tumeric powder
  • 1/4 Tsp cumin powder
  • 1 Tsp minced garlic
  • 3/4 Tsp salt
  • 1 Tsp white sugar
  • Pepper, to taste
  • 1 Tbsp neutral oil (e.g. canola / sunflower)
  • 1 Tbsp cornflour or rice flour

Instructions

  1. Combine the wings with all the ingredients except the cornflour. Mix until every peice is evenly coated and leave the chicken to marinate for 20 – 30 minutes.
  2. When ready to fry, mix in the cornflour so as to form a thin coating that helps absorb surface moisture and let the chicken wings be crispy.
  3. Arrange the wings in a single layer in the air fryer basket, avoiding stacking or it can prevent them from browning evenly.
  4. Air fry the chicken wings at 180C for 16 – 18 minutes. Then, finish the wings at 230C for 2 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Assembly

Suggested accompaniments:

  • Hard-boiled eggs, halved
  • Sambal chilli
  • Fried ikan bilis
  • Fresh cucumber, thinly sliced
  • Fresh red chilli, optional
  • Banana leave, for presentation

Details

  • Prep time: 40 mins
  • Cook time: 50 mins
  • Total time: 1 hour 30 mins
  • Yield: 3 – 4 Servings of Nasi Lemak

Notes:

  1. If you would like to be updated for more recipes which I strive to create to perfection for sharing and for free, do check out my Instagram, Facebook Page, or YouTube 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your support! Feel free to tag me or link back here!
  2. Best eaten fresh.
  3. Please do not copy and paste the recipe without my permission, but feel free to link back here!

Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan