My best childhood memories are so often related to food. I was blessed to grow up in a family of food lovers for whom home-cooked meals were central to life. From an early age I helped my mother in the kitchen. She would always supervise with care, watching my every move and making sure I was not in danger of taking off a finger. It was all hands on deck and there was so much joy spending time together cooking. Just like I helped my mother, today my daughter Sophia helps me with cooking. I love that she has inherited our family’s love of food and cooking. It makes me so happy and proud.
Chicken rice is a legendary dish in my family. Growing up, our grandmother would always prepare our favourite meal when we visited. This was how she showed her love for us, and to this day it still takes me back to my childhood. I remember I always ate too much when she was around. She supervised each and every bite, and I was never allowed to say I was full.
Thankfully the recipe has been passed down to my mother and myself, with both of us adding and changing ingredients to make it our own. It takes a bit of time to make but is well worth the effort. There is nothing like making something from scratch and turning it into a delicious meal that can be shared amongst loved ones. I love the creative process and the joy it gives me feeding those I love.
I get my fresh supplies from the morning market in Kuala Lumpur as I strive to support the local vendors, and nothing beats the freshest produce. It’s worth developing a friendship with your market vendors, and I even have a monthly account with my favourite mongers and farmers.
A great quality organic whole chicken works well for my chicken rice dish. It ensures wonderful, fresh flavour and texture. Just like my grandmother, I serve mine with a homemade chilli sauce which I make from scratch. It’s addictive and gives a mind-blowing blast of spice. Freshly sliced cucumber is served on the side to cool down the heat from the chilli. The ginger and spring onion sauce I make as an added extra condiment works so well with the chicken for extra flavour. The fragrant rice, meanwhile, is rich with life-giving, mood-lifting chicken broth, which I take the time to make from scratch, so important is it to this recipe.
I can still picture my grandmother in the kitchen preparing chicken rice for our whole family when I was a child. It was one of the great comforts of my childhood, and these days I really enjoy making it for my family and sitting down together round the table at home to share this meal together. Food is really the way to my heart and a way to spoil people.
Editor
Danielle Peita Graham
