Directions

To Prepare

1. Clean and pat dry chicken and cut into two sections each.
2. Pound garlic, coriander roots, ginger, salt and turmeric with a pestle and mortar until you get a paste. Mix together with the remaining ingredients.
3. Marinade chicken for at least 2 hours or for best result, overnight.
4. Prepare the mint sauce by blending all the ingredients together to get a smooth paste. Set aside.
5. Fry sliced shallots until golden brown. Drain and cool. Set aside.

To Make

1. Heat up a heavy bottom pan with shallot oil and butter.
2. Roughly remove the marinade from chicken pieces and pan fry skin down first until golden brown. Flip over and cook until both sides of the chicken pieces are golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. To cook the spiced rice, scrape away some of the burnt bits from the pan then toss in diced onions and sauté until soft. Add in diced tomatoes and cook until they turn pulpy. Pour in washed rice and fried shallots. Stir to mix.
4. Put in bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, star anise, remaining of the chicken marinade paste and salt. Stir and cook for 2 mins. Pour in chicken stock and mix well. Let it come to a slight boil, reduce fire to low. Cover and let it simmer for 3-5 mins.
5. Place chicken pieces on top of rice and cover. Continue to simmer for 25-30 mins.
6. Remove chicken pieces and all the herbs.
7. Plate spiced rice on a plate and topped with chicken pieces. Garnish with cilantro and fried shallots.
8. Serve with mint sauce and sweet chilli sauce.