My Rice Journey: Steam Pandan Rice & Curry Chicken

easy curry chicken & steam pandan rice recipe

Pandan leaves, red onions, freshly cracked salt and pepper ... Is there anything more pure or divine than this simple, delicious rice? :) The combinations of colors, flavors and aromas filled my kitchen yesterday as I attempted to make curry chicken again and this time with a twist to my must have white rice. A curry that is creamy and spicy with white rice is to die for.

pandan leaves garden behind my backyard

I am so excited to share this recipe with you today from My Gastronomic Affair called Steamed Pandan Rice which I found from googling. It seemed pretty easy to follow and do without any measurements. The only thing needed is pandan leaves, red onions - the more the better and white long grain rice. I use Jasmine rice which is a long grain fragrant white rice, soft and slightly clingy.

all that you need to prepare curry chicken rice in less than an hour

I picked Curry Chicken to go along with the Steamed Pandan Rice because I wanted something simple, easy to follow and does not require me cooking so many dishes for a meal. In Japan, curry rice is a meal by it's own but they use the short grain rice instead of long grain rice. This is just right up my alley and I only needed the main ingredients of curry mix, coconut milk and chicken. Add in potatoes to bring it to the top.

Lizar's Chili Curry Services @ TTDI Market

pre-packed or fresh on the stop, curries & sambals

tell them the weight of chicken & they'll prepare accordingly

Of course the secret to an easy curry chicken recipe is to just go to the market and get your fresh curry paste prepared by your local curry service stall. I go to Lizar's chili curry services at TTDI market, they prepare the curry mix with you "siap" with grind onions, garlic and curry leaves to go for only RM5. They're open everyday except for Monday. You probably spot Lizar's chili pre-mixed packets at supermarkets. I also bought fresh coconut milk from the store right opposite to Lizar's and a whole chicken chopped (just tell uncle you want to cook curry chicken). Now how easy is that?

ingredients for steamed pandan rice

washing rice can be therapeutic too

can't wait to see how it looks like after!

Start by washing your rice until the water is clear, chopped up the small red onions and wash the pandan leaves. Tie the pandan leaves, throw in the chopped red onions and season with salt and pepper. Let the rice cook. To know how to prepare rice click here. 

look at the colors of the curry and coconut milk

after 15 minutes, it looks like curry now!

Next is the curry chicken. I have taken the liberty to show in 8 steps how I cook my curry chicken. It's fairly easy, I kid you not! I'll attached the recipe and a simple instruction below my post here if you're interested. You may notice I fry the oil with a bit of cinnamon stick, cardamon and cloves? It's just what I saw from youtube. It makes your curry more fragrant when you fry it that way. To summarize, I only needed to fry my onions and garlic, throw in the curry mix follow by the chopped chicken, potatoes and curry leaves. Lastly I pour the coconut milk and hot water. Less than 15 minutes I have a boiling curry chicken. I simmer and let it cooked for an hour because I want my potatoes and chicken to be soft.

my steamed pandan rice is ready!

on to my plate with yummy curry chicken

Serve the fragrant rice and topped with curry chicken. It is such a fun and delicious meal to prepare. It only takes less than an hour to get all this ready for a rainy day cozying up in front of the television. My fiance and his mother was commenting how delicious it smells during cooking and they love how I prepare the rice for this dish. Goes so well with curry chicken.

Here's my 8 steps easy curry chicken and recipes below.


step by step guide to easy curry chicken

Steam Pandan Rice Recipe:
Jasmine rice

Pandan leaves (wash, tie)

Small red onions (the more the better)
Salt and peper

Step 1: Wash your rice (prepare like usual)
Step 2: Wash pandan leaves and tie together
Step 3: Chopped small red onions
Step 4: Put it all into the rice cooker and season with salt and pepper.

Curry Chicken Recipe:
Lizar's Fresh Curry Chicken Paste (pure red chili, turmeric, lemongrass, kayu manis)
2 Grind garlic
20 Grind small onions
Curry leaves (for flavor n garnishing)
200ml coconut milk + 800ml water

1kg whole chicken chopped into pieces

1/2 cup cooking oil

Optional:
Potatoes
Cinnamon, cardamon and cloves (to make fragrant oil)

Step 1: Fry cooking oil with fragrant ingredients (optional)
Step 2: Fry the grind onions until brown and add grind garlic.
Step 3: Empty Liza's Fresh Curry Paste into a cooking pot.

Step 4: Add in 1kg chicken* and potatoes/brinjal/long bean/curry leaves, and stir.

Step 5: Add coconut milk and 800 ml hot water. Heat the mixture until boiling. Serve when potatoes are soft.
*Chicken can be replaced with beef, fish or cuttlefish.

This makes 4 - 6 servings.