One Pot Malay Chicken
Bring a bit of spice to dinner time with Ranie Saidi's authentic Malay chicken rice one pot recipe.
15 minutes prep, 1.5 hours cook
Serves 4-5
Ingredients
200g basmati rice
600g boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
1 tbsp oyster sauce
5 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
0.5 tbsp sea salt
1 lt boiled water
4 chicken stock cubes
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 banana shallots, thinly sliced
1 ins fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3-5 bird's eye chillies, sliced
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
2 spring onions, thinly sliced lengthways
1 tbsp crispy shallots
For the salad
Romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
Juice 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Method
I often had this for lunch on Fridays back in Malaysia. Making it at home can be a bit of work – rice, chicken, sambal, soy condiments and soup – so it usually came from our favourite stall. When I moved to London, I had no choice but to make it from scratch. The key is the chicken stock. You can make your own, but I often use store-bought cubes to make the base. It’s not quite as involved as the original recipe, but it still brings all the flavours of the chicken rice I grew up with.
Method
Rinse the rice under cold running water using a fine-mesh sieve, then let it soak in a bowl of cold water for 15–30 minutes. This helps the grains expand and cook more evenly, resulting in a lighter, fluffier texture.
Season the chicken with the oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons of the sweet soy sauce and ½ teaspoon of the salt in a bowl and set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes before cooking.
To make the stock, pour the boiled water into a jug or large bowl. Stir in the chicken stock cubes until fully dissolved, then set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large casserole dish over a medium heat. Working in batches, add the chicken, skin side down, and brown undisturbed for 7 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining pieces.
Add the remaining oil, fry the shallots and ginger for 1–2 minutes until fragrant. Drain the rice, stir in the turmeric, then add 500 ml of the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Nestle the chicken into the rice and brush honey onto the skin. Once the water is absorbed, cover with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for 15 minutes.
For the soy garlic sauce, mix the remaining sweet soy sauce with the garlic and 200 ml of the chicken stock.
For the chilli sauce, mix the chillies, sweet chilli sauce and coriander with 200 ml of the chicken stock.
Toss the salad ingredients together and dress with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Serve the chicken and rice topped with spring onions and crispy shallots. Accompany the dish with chilli and soy sauces on the side, along with any leftover stock and salad.
Taken from The Malay Cook by Ranie Saidi. Image: Mowie Kay
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