Wed, 21 August 2024
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 shallot, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 batch of spice paste #5 (page 9)
1 tsp ground turmeric
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced very small
2 tbsp ketjap manis
1 egg
600g leftover cooked basmati rice (or 200g dried rice, cooked as usual), not jasmine rice – it’s too sticky
100g green beans, finely
chopped
FOR THE SPICE PASTE:
3 dried red chillies
3 shallots, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
TO SERVE:
fried eggs, sunny side up
TO GARNISH:
thinly sliced spring onions
thinly sliced fresh red chilli
To make the spice paste, soak the dried red chillies in a small bowl of water for 1 hour, until soft, then drain and roughly chop. Put the chillies in a pestle and mortar with the rest of the spice paste ingredients and crush to a paste. A blender won’t work here – there are so few ingredients, they won’t catch and blend properly.
Heat the sesame and vegetable oils in a large wok or frying pan on a medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant, then add the spice paste. Cook for 1–2 minutes, stirring, then add the turmeric and cook for 1 minute.
Add the chicken, stirring to coat it all with the paste. Cook for a few minutes, then add the ketjap manis. Stir-fry for another minute or two, then crack in the egg and quickly scramble it, stirring constantly.
Add the cooked rice and green beans and cook for 5 minutes to thoroughly heat the rice until it’s piping hot and has absorbed all the flavours. Spread it out evenly in the wok or pan so that it dries out evenly – this makes it less stodgy. Taste and season with salt.
Divide among bowls, serve with a fried egg, sunny side up, and garnish with thinly sliced spring onion and chilli.
