Pastil

Ingredients

• 3 cups jasmine rice
• 1/2 cup glutinous rice
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 600 g bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 onion, quartered, plus 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 6 large banana leaf rectangles, about 30 cm square
• 6 eggs, hard-boiled
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup cane vinegar and 1 tsp sugar, for the pickle
• Palapa or chilli paste, to serve

Before you cook

• Rinse both rices together until the water runs almost clear, then drain them well.
• Slice the cucumber thinly and steep it in the vinegar with the sugar and a pinch of salt.
• Hard-boil and peel the eggs.
• Wipe the banana leaves clean on both sides with a damp cloth.

Steps

1. Put the chicken thighs in a saucepan with the quartered onion, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of the salt and just enough water to cover.
2. Bring it to a gentle simmer and poach the chicken for 20 minutes, until the meat pulls easily from the bone.
3. Lift the chicken out and let it cool for 10 minutes, keeping the poaching liquid.
4. Combine the drained rices, 4 1/2 cups water and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a rice cooker or heavy pot and cook until tender.
5. Strip the cooled chicken from the bones and shred it into the finest threads you can manage with two forks or your fingers.
6. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat.
7. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic and cook for 4 minutes until soft and just colouring.
8. Tip in the shredded chicken and toss it through the aromatics for 2 minutes.
9. Pour in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, ground pepper and a ladle of the reserved poaching liquid.
10. Cook the kagikit for 12 to 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring often, until the liquid has gone and the strands are dry and fluffy rather than wet.
11. Taste it and add salt only if needed, remembering it is meant to be assertively salty against plain rice.
12. Pass each banana leaf briefly over a gas flame or hot dry pan until it turns glossy and pliable.
13. Brush the softened leaf lightly with oil to stop the rice sticking.
14. Mound about a cup of hot rice along the centre of the leaf and press it into a thick log.
15. Lay a generous line of kagikit along the length of the rice.
16. Roll the leaf over the filling into a firm cylinder, then fold and tuck both ends underneath.
17. Serve each parcel with a hard-boiled egg, the pickled cucumber and a spoonful of palapa on the side.