Hainanese chicken rice where the fragrant rice is hand-rolled into golf-ball-sized spheres, found almost exclusively in Malacca. Legend holds sailors shaped rice into balls for portability, now a permanent Malacca specialty.
Chicken rice balls are a Malacca-only evolution of Hainanese chicken rice. The fragrant rice, cooked in chicken fat and stock, is hand-rolled into golf-ball-sized spheres while still hot and sticky, served with poached chicken and chili dip. Legend holds that sailors shaped the rice into balls for portability on ships, and the form became a permanent regional specialty unique to Malacca's Hainanese community. Famed shops like Hoe Kee (1962) and Ee Ji Ban have made it for generations.
Soft, warm, fragrant balls of rice that are slightly sticky and dense, each carrying the chicken-stock flavour, eaten with a piece of poached chicken and a dab of chili. The shaping concentrates the rice flavour in each bite.
The rice is cooked in chicken stock with chicken fat, garlic, ginger and pandan, so each grain is saturated with flavour. While still hot and sticky, the rice is rolled between moistened palms into golf-ball-sized spheres, which compresses the grains and makes each ball dense and chewy rather than fluffy. The rolling must be done quickly while the rice is hot, or it will not hold its shape.
Variations
A garlic-chili dip is mandatory. Some shops serve the balls alongside regular rice.
On the Palate
Where Chicken Rice Balls sits in the Malaysian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
6 steps · 30 min
- 115 min
Poach 1 whole chicken (about 1.5kg) in water with ginger and garlic 40 minutes; reserve the stock.
- 25 min
Wash 400g jasmine rice; drain. Render 2 tbsp chicken fat in a pan, add 3 cloves garlic and 2 slices ginger, then the rice; fry 3 minutes.
- 35 min
Transfer to a pot, add 500ml of the reserved chicken stock, 1 tsp salt and 2 pandan leaves; cook 18 minutes until the rice is done and slightly sticky.
Watch outCook the rice in stock and fat until tender and slightly sticky — this tackiness is what lets it pack; dry, fluffy rice won't hold a ball.
- 412 min
While the rice is still hot, moisten your palms with water and roll tablespoonfuls of rice into golf-ball-sized spheres.
Watch outRoll the balls while the rice is still hot with wet palms — let it cool and the grains stop binding and the spheres crack apart.
- 54 min
Cover to keep warm; repeat with all the rice.
- 64 min
Serve the rice balls with sliced poached chicken, dark soy sauce, and a garlic-chili dip.
