Nasi Kandar
Nasi kandar originates in Penang, where Indian street vendors once carried two large food baskets hung at the ends of a bamboo pole balanced across their shoulders, a carrying method called kandar in Tamil. They walked the city streets, stopping to serve white rice topped with whatever combination of curries customers wanted, straight from the baskets. Today, although the bamboo poles have long disappeared, the name has stuck, and the core concept — white rice as a neutral canvas for a personally chosen mix of curries, fried meat and vegetables — has remained unchanged. What sets nasi kandar apart from other curry rice dishes is the custom of mixing the sauces directly on the plate, called banjir, literally flood, creating a unique blend of flavors at every meal, different every time.
Plain white rice
A base of simply boiled rice that soaks up the mixed sauces.
Mix of curries
Several different curry sauces poured over the rice.
Crispy fried chicken
A marinated, fried piece of chicken with a crunchy crust.
Hard-boiled egg
Half a hard-boiled egg, soaked in the curry sauces.
Ingredients 4 servings
- 400g white rice
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 tbsp curry paste
- 200ml coconut milk
- 1 small eggplant, cut
- 100g green beans
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- Oil for frying
- Salt
How to make it
- 1BOIL RICE: Boil the plain white rice with a little salt until fluffy and separate.
- 2FRY CHICKEN: Marinate the chicken thighs with salt and a little curry, fry them in hot oil until crisp and well cooked through.
- 3MAKE VEGETABLE CURRY: Sauté the onion and garlic, add the curry paste and sauté for 2 minutes.
- 4ADD COCONUT MILK: Pour in the coconut milk, add the eggplant and green beans, simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables soften.
- 5BOIL EGG: Boil the eggs hard separately, peel them and cut in half.
- 6ASSEMBLE: Place a generous portion of rice on a plate, add the fried chicken on top.
- 7POUR SAUCES: Pour the vegetable curry over the rice, add half a boiled egg and serve immediately.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
