Bubur Ayam Recipe: Indonesian Rice Porridge With Chicken
Bubur Ayam is one of the most sought-after street foods and such a comforting food to enjoy for breakfast. The soft rice congee with delicate herb fragrance marries well with flavoursome spiced yellow sauce, soy sauce and chilli sauce.
Servings: 6 portions
Equipment
- Knife
- Cooking pan
- Wooden spoon
- Frying pan
- Slotted spoon
Ingredients
For making congee/ rice porridge:
- 1 cup rice see the note.
- 6 cups water.
- 2 salam leaves see the note.
- ½ - inch ginger.
- 1 lemongrass.
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt see the note.
For making congee using leftover rice:
- 1 ½ cup packed cooked rice.
- 5 cups water.
- 2 salam leaves see the note.
- ½ - inch ginger.
- 1 lemongrass.
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt see the note.
For the yellow sauce:
- 1 small onion finely chopped.
- 4 garlic chopped.
- ½- inch ginger peeled and chopped.
- 5 Kemiri/ candlenuts see the note.
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder see the note.
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander.
- 1 lemongrass.
- ½ teaspoon salt or according to taste.
- 1 teaspoon sugar.
- 1 cup water.
For the garnish:
- 300 boneless chicken.
- ½ - inch ginger.
- ½ teaspoon peppercorns.
- ½ teaspoon salt.
- ½ cup soya beans.
- Cooking oil.
- 3 pieces Cakwe.
- 2 scallions/ green onions/ spring onions
- Prawn crackers or potato crisps see the note.
Spices and condiment:
- Ground pepper. either white pepper or black pepper.
- Dried red chilli flakes optional.
- Light soy sauce.
- Sweet soy sauce optional.
- Chilli sauce/ sambal optional.
- Fried onions optional.
Instructions
For the congee:
- Place the rice/ cooked rice in a large pan with salam leaves, ginger, lemongrass, and water. Turn the heat on and boil the rice at medium-high heat.
- Once the water boils, add in the salt. Cook further and stir the rice every now and again.
- Turn the heat down when the rice is bubbling hot and continue simmering the rice porridge until you get a thick porridge. When the grains are fully cooked, keep stirring the congee until you get a nice creamy porridge. Set aside.
For the yellow sauce:
- Using a pestle and mortar, pound the onions, garlic, ginger and candlenuts until you get a smooth paste. You can also use a food processor to make this paste.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan, then add in onion mixture, turmeric powder, ground coriander, salt and sugar. Fry further until the mixture releases the aroma, then add the water in.
- Cook the sauce until it is bubbling. Check the taste, and set aside.
For the garnish:
- Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes and boil them with ginger, peppercorns and salt until the poultry is fully cooked. Drain the chicken and deep fry until it looks lightly golden. Shred the fried chicken into slivers and set aside.
- Soak the soya beans for half an hour or so. Drain the water and deep fry the beans until they are lightly golden and crispy. Set aside.
- Slice the Cakwe and set aside.
- Slice the spring onions and set them aside.
Assemble the Bubur Ayam:
- Ladle out some rice porridge into a bowl.
- Put some light soy sauce and yellow sauce over the congee.
- Sprinkle some spring onions and fried onions (if using).
- Scatter some fried soya beans over the porridge.
- Add some Cakwe slices and shredded chicken.
- Enjoy your bubur ayam with some prawn crackers or Kerupuk, and chilli sauce.
Notes
- You can use any type of rice. I often use Basmati rice as this is the rice that I always have in my pantry. But you can choose long-grain rice, short-grain rice, or Thai rice.
- If you don’t have salaam leaves, you can substitute them with 3 curry leaves and 2 bay leaves. I find the mix of these two leaves gives a similar fragrance. Though not quite the same as salam leaf.
- Add the salt according to your taste. I suggest you put less first and try adding if you need more.
- You can buy ready-made cakwe/youtiao or make your own cakwe
- Kemiri can be substituted with Macadamia nuts. They give richness to the flavor. If you don’t have any of them either, you can omit them altogether.
- You can use fresh turmeric. For this recipe, you will only need about 1/3 inch of fresh turmeric root. If you use the fresh one, pound it together with the onion mixture.
- Traditionally Indonesians enjoy Bubur Ayam with Kerupuk (prawn crackers). But I often replace them with potato crisps, and they work fine, if not better. So feel free to try or have it with any cracker items that you like.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 665kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 2420mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 9g
Disclaimer
Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.