A new nonlinear optical organic crystal, viz. Urea L-Malic acid, has been grown from aqueous solution employing the techniques of solvent evaporation and slow cooling. The grown crystals were found to be transparent in the visible region. The complete morphology of the crystal has been worked out and its hardness was evaluated using Vickers indentation method. The grown crystals were characterized employing several techniques such as micro-carbon-hydrogen-nitrogen analysis, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, UV-VIS-IR spectroscopy and refractive index measurement. Preliminary measurements indicate that the second harmonic generation efficiency at a fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm is roughly three times that of KDP. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.