Home > Nasi Tim Ayam (Indonesian Steamed Chicken Rice)

Nasi Tim Ayam (Indonesian Steamed Chicken Rice)

Posting Date: 12/04/16

Nasi Tim Ayam (Indonesian Steamed Chicken Rice) is Chinese Indonesian food. This dish can be found in Chinese restaurants in Indonesia. Nasi means rice in Indonesian language while tim means steamed. Ayam means chicken. For some, this dish is considered comfort food. It is sometimes served to children or adult when they are not feeling well because it is easy to digest. The chicken is very tasty since it is cooked with sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. The rice itself is not bland since it is cooked with garlic, ginger, chicken broth, and soy sauce. Once the rice and chicken are cooked, they are packed inside a small bowl with the chicken is placed on the bottom of the bowl and the rice is placed on top of the chicken. The bowl is then placed in a steamer for 30 min. The bowl acts as a mold to shape the rice and chicken and also as a vessel during steaming. Once the steaming is done, the bowl is removed and you get chicken and rice shaped like a bowl. My mom used to make it or buy it when I was a kid and I have always loved this dish because of the shape and the taste. When I make it myself, I sometimes take a short cut. Whenever I am in a rush, I don't steam the rice and chicken. After cooking them both, I pack the chicken and rice in the bowl, remove the bowl, and serve the dish without steaming it. It is okay because both rice and chicken have been cooked and they taste good even without steaming it. There is a trick to make it easier to remove the bowl. You have to fill up the bowl with water first and throw out the water. This will prevent the rice and chicken from sticking on the wall of the bowl and thus, it will be easier to remove the bowl. This dish is normally served with cilantro leaves, green onion, hard boiled egg, and pickles.

The recipe serves for 4 people.

Ingredients:

For pickles: 1 teaspoon vinegar or to taste
For pickles: 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
For pickles: 1/2 teaspoon sugar or to taste
For pickles: 3 tablespoons hot water
For pickles: 1/2 of small size cucumber, seed removed and cut into 1/2" cubes
For pickles: 1/2 of small carrot, cut into 1/2" cubes
For rice: 5/4 cup rice
For rice: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For rice: 3 cloves of garlic, minced
For rice: 1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger
For rice: 8/4 cup of chicken broth
For rice: 1/2 cup water
For rice: 1 tablespoon soy sauce
For rice: pinch of salt
For rice: pinch of pepper
For chicken: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For chicken: 1 onion, sliced
For chicken: 3 cloves of garlic, minced
For chicken: 2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
For chicken: 3 boneless skinless chicken thigh, diced into pieces smaller than bite size. Chicken will be placed in a mold under the rice, so smaller pieces of chicken will make it easier to pack it without gap in the mold.
For chicken: 7 white mushrooms, sliced
For chicken: 1 teaspoon sesame oil
For chicken: 1 tablespoon fish sauce or to taste
For chicken: 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or to taste
For chicken: 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce or to taste
For chicken: pinch of pepper or to taste
sprigs of cilantro leaves, chopped
1 green onion, sliced

Methods:

Put vinegar, salt, sugar, and hot water in a small bowl. Stir to disolve the sugar. Taste it and add vinegar, salt, or sugar if needed. Add cucumber and carrot and stir it. Set the pickles aside in the fridge.
Rinse and drain the rice several times until the water comes out becomes clear. Let it drain on a colander for another 15 min.
In the meantime, turn on the stove to medium high. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil on a saute pan and let the oil heat up. Add garlic and ginger to the saute pan. Saute them until they become fragrant. Turn off the heat.
I use rice cooker to cook rice. If you have rice cooker, place the rice in the rice cooker. Add the cooked garlic and ginger to the rice. Add chicken broth, water, soy sauce, salt, and pepper to the rice cooker. Using wooden spoon, stir the liquid and rice in the rice cooker to make sure the seasoning is mixed well with the rice. Turn on the rice cooker and let it cook. If you don't have a rice cooker, use a pot to cook the rice. Put the rice on a pot. Add cooked garlic and ginger to the pot. Add chicken broth, water, soy sauce, salt, and pepper to the pot. Using wooden spoon, stir the liquid and rice in the pot to make sure the seasoning is mixed well with the rice. Turn on the stove to high. Once the liquid is boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot with the lid. Let the rice cook and turn off the stove once the rice is cooked.
While the rice is cooking, turn on the stove to medium high. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil to the pan and let the oil heat up. Add onion and saute it until soft. Add garlic and ginger until they become fragrant. Add chicken and let it cook. Once the chicken is cooked, add mushroom, sesame oil, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, and pinch of pepper. Stir fry the chicken until it is coated with the seasoning. Taste it and add more fish sauce, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, or pepper if needed and stir fry the chicken to coat it with the additional seasoning. Turn off the stove.
Using a small bowl, the bowl size normally used in the Chinese restaurants for small (personal) size soup, fill up the bowl with water and throw the water out. This will prevent the rice and chicken from sticking to the bowl and thus, it will be easier to remove it. Pack the bowl halfway with chicken at the bottom of bowl. Top the chicken with the rice and fill up the bowl with the rice until the bowl is completely full to the top of the bowl. When you fill up the bowl with the chicken and rice, you may want to pack it tight by pressing the chicken and rice when filling it up so that there is no big void and thus, the rice and chicken will keep the bowl shape, i.e. not collapsed, once the bowl is removed. Repeat this step with other bowls until all chicken and rice have been used up. Normally, each bowl will be placed in a steamer and it will be steamed for 30 min. However, if you don't have extra time, you can skip steaming the rice and chicken and go to the next step.
To serve it, place a plate on top of the bowl. Turn the plate and bowl upside down so that the plate will be underneath the bowl. Remove the bowl out and you will be left with rice and chicken shaped as a bowl. Repeat this step for the other bowls. Garnish each plate with cilantro and top the chicken with green onion. Place pickles on the plate.

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