Malaysian grilled chicken with herby rice
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 6
- Dietary
- Dairy-freeEgg-free
This ayam percik-style chicken uses Malaysian chicken curry paste for an easier version of the classic dish. The chicken is cooked until charred and coated in a rich coconut curry sauce, then served with fragrant Malaysian-style herby rice.
By Xiengni Zhou
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 6 bone-in chicken legs
- 100g/3½oz Malaysian chicken curry paste
For the sauce
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 100g/3½oz Malaysian chicken curry paste
- ½ tbsp Malaysian curry powder
- 150ml/5fl oz coconut cream
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 30g/1oz gula Melaka (palm sugar)
For the herby rice
- 480g/1lb jasmine rice
- 50g/1¾oz desiccated coconut
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 50g/1¾oz banana shallot, finely sliced
- 4 kaffir lime leaves, tough central stems removed and thinly sliced
- 15g/½oz coriander, roughly chopped
- 20g / ⅓oz Thai basil, roughly chopped
- 25g/1oz Vietnamese mint, roughly chopped
- 30g/1oz crispy shallots
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ limes, juice only
To serve
- 6 pieces banana leaf, for presentation only (optional)
- 6 tbsp chilli oil or sambal
Method
Pat the chicken with kitchen roll until dry and make a few cuts in the skin-side of each leg. Coat the chicken with the curry paste, cover and set aside to marinate.
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Put in a saucepan and add enough water to reach your first knuckle above the level of the rice. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, without lifting the lid, for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the chicken. If you have an air fryer large enough to hold all the chicken in a single layer, cook at 190C for 25–30 minutes, turning halfway through. Alternatively, preheat the grill to medium-high. Grill the chicken for 30–35 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until charred and cooked through.
Meanwhile make the sauce. Trim the lemongrass and separate the white and green parts. Bruise the green part with the back of a knife.
Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the curry paste and fry for a few seconds until fragrant. Add 100ml/3½fl oz water and cook for 5 minutes. Add the curry powder, coconut cream, fish sauce, bruised lemongrass and lime leaves, then grate in the gula Melaka. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened. Add a splash of water if the sauce becomes too thick.
About 10 minutes before the chicken is ready, brush the sauce generously over each leg. Return the chicken to the air fryer or grill and continue cooking until the sauce has caramelised and the chicken is cooked through.
To make the herby rice, toast the desiccated coconut in a dry frying pan over a medium-low heat, stirring regularly, until golden.
Remove the tough outer layers from the white part of the lemongrass and slice the tender core as thinly as possible.
Toss the cooked rice with the shallot, lemongrass, lime leaves, herbs, toasted coconut, crispy shallots, salt and lime juice.
Serve the chicken and herby rice on top of banana leaves, if using, with a drizzle of chilli oil or sambal and any remaining curry sauce.
Recipe tips
Some of the herbs are quite tricky to find in the UK, but don't let that put you off, just use whichever of the herbs you can get hold of – it will still taste great.
