One-pot chicken with coconut rice, spring veg and satay sauce
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
I love cooking a whole chicken in a pot with rice underneath, and this version with coconut milk and a punchy satay dressing is one of my favourites, with extra crunch from fresh radishes and sugar snaps to serve.
By Rukmini Iyer
Ingredients
For the chicken and rice
- 2 lemongrass sticks, halved and bashed
- 5 garlic cloves, bashed
- 30g/1oz fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
- 1 red chilli (optional), halved
- 6 spring onions, cut into 5cm/2in pieces
- 1.5kg/3lb 5oz whole free-range chicken
- 400ml tin full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 200g/7oz jasmine rice
- 1 spring cabbage, cut into 2.5cm/1in chunks
- 200g/7oz sugar-snap peas, halved diagonally
- 200g/7oz radishes, thinly sliced
- 50g/1¾oz salted peanuts, roughly chopped
For the satay sauce
- 60g/2¼oz natural peanut butter
- 1 lime, juice only
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. To make the chicken and rice, tip the aromatics into a lidded casserole dish large enough to hold the whole chicken (or alternatively use a deep roasting tin which you can cover with kitchen foil) and place the chicken on top.
In a jug or bowl, mix together the coconut milk, sugar, tamarind paste and soy sauce, then pour it over the chicken. Drizzle the chicken with the sesame oil, then cover with a lid or tightly with kitchen foil, transfer to the oven and cook for 50 minutes.
After 50 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and increase the temperature to 230C/210C Fan/Gas 8. Scatter the rice evenly into the liquid around the chicken, then tuck the cabbage around that. Cover with a lid – or if using kitchen foil, cover it very, very tightly – and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes. The chicken is cooked through when the juices run clear with no trace of pink when the thickest part of the leg, between the drumstick and the thigh, is pierced with a skewer.
Meanwhile, blanch the sugar-snap peas in a bowl of just-boiled water for 2 minutes before draining, then set aside.
To make the satay sauce, in a small bowl mix together the peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, tamarind paste and sugar, adding tablespoons of water as you mix until you have a dressing the consistency of double cream. Taste and adjust the soy and lime as needed. (The consistency of various brands of peanut butter vary, so you may need more or less water – start with 2 tablespoons and increase as needed.)
Let the chicken sit for 10 minutes, then shred the meat and serve it with the rice, cabbage, sugar snaps, radishes, dressing and chopped peanuts.
Recipe tips
This is a lovely adaptable recipe – use savoy cabbage in the dish if you prefer, and serve with spring onions and coriander rather than the radishes if you wish. Just make full quantities of the sauce, because it’s so nice you’ll want to drink it straight.
