Hainanese chicken rice came to Malaysia with immigrants from Hainan island in southern China and became one of the country's best loved dishes, served in coffee shops across Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley. A whole chicken is poached gently, then plunged into iced water so the skin turns smooth and the meat stays silky; the rice is fried in chicken fat with garlic and ginger and cooked in the poaching broth with pandan until every grain is fragrant. It comes with a bright chili sauce, pounded ginger, dark soy and a bowl of the broth.

Sepang sits at the southern edge of the Klang Valley, so this is the everyday lunch of the city that filled the grandstands for nineteen Grands Prix. It is a lesson in gentleness: the chicken is cooked below a boil, which is the culinary equivalent of saving your tires.

The poached chicken

Ingredients

• 1 whole (about 3 1/2 lb / 1.6 kg) chicken
• 2 tablespoons fine salt
• 2 inch (5 cm) piece fresh ginger
• 4 spring onions
• 3 pandan leaves
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

The chicken rice

Ingredients

• 2 cups (400 g) jasmine rice
• 2 tablespoons rendered chicken fat
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 inch (2.5 cm) piece fresh ginger
• 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) hot poaching broth
• 2 pandan leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Chili sauce, ginger and soup

Ingredients

• 6 fresh long red chilies
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 inch (8 cm) piece fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons calamansi or lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 tablespoons hot poaching broth
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 cucumber
• 2 spring onions

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