How to Make Malaysian-Style Pandan Chicken

There are certain aromas that act as a time machine. For me, the most powerful of all is the sweet, fragrant, almost vanilla-like scent of pandan leaves. The moment that unique perfume fills my kitchen, I’m no longer just standing here in Sydney, with the sound of kookaburras in the distance. I am instantly transported back to the humid warmth of my grandmother’s kitchen in Malaysia, to the cacophony of a bustling night market, to the very essence of my childhood.

And the dish that embodies this sensory memory most profoundly is Pandan Wrapped Chicken.

This isn’t just food; it’s a parcel of love, a perfect little package of flavour and tradition. It’s a staple at family gatherings, a star at festive celebrations, and a beloved street food snack known as Gai Hor Bai Toey in Thailand, a flavour profile we Malaysians have enthusiastically embraced and made our own. The concept is pure genius: tender, marinated pieces of chicken are wrapped snugly in aromatic pandan leaves, then cooked to perfection. The leaf acts as a natural, fragrant vessel, protecting the chicken, keeping it incredibly moist and juicy, while simultaneously infusing it with its unmistakable, sweet perfume.

For years after moving to Australia, I reserved Pandan Chicken for special occasions, thinking it was a complicated, laborious affair. But the craving for that taste of home is a powerful motivator. I began to piece together the memories, the whispered instructions from my mother, the intuitive movements of my grandmother’s hands. I realised that at its heart, this was a simple, honest dish, built on a foundation of fresh, powerful aromatics.

Today, I want to share that journey and that treasured family recipe with you. We’re going to build a flavour-bomb marinade from scratch, the traditional way. I’ll show you the simple, meditative art of wrapping the chicken parcels. And most importantly, I’ll reveal the game-changing, two-stage cooking method—a quick steam, then a flash fry—that my family swears by. It’s the secret to achieving that perfect trifecta: an intensely fragrant aroma, unbelievably juicy chicken, and a final, satisfyingly crispy exterior.

This is more than a recipe. This is a story. It’s a taste of my Malaysian heritage, lovingly recreated in my Sydney kitchen, ready to be shared in yours.

The Soul of the Dish – A Marinade Built by Hand

The heart and soul of any great Pandan Chicken lies in its marinade. This isn’t a simple sprinkle of salt and pepper; it’s a vibrant, complex paste, or rempah, built from fresh aromatics pounded together to release their essential oils and deepest flavours.

You could, of course, use a blender or food processor. It’s faster, certainly. But if you truly want to connect with the dish, I urge you to try using a mortar and pestle. The rhythmic, percussive act of pounding the fibres of lemongrass, garlic, and ginger is a therapeutic process. It’s a physical conversation with your ingredients, and the resulting fragrance is something a whirring blade can never quite replicate.

Let’s meet the characters that create this flavour bomb:

• Chicken Tenderloin: We use tenderloin for its inherent tenderness. It cooks quickly and stays beautifully moist. Cutting it into uniform 2-inch pieces ensures even cooking within our little parcels.

• Lemongrass: We only use the tender white part. Its bright, citrusy, floral notes are the top notes in our aromatic symphony.

• Garlic, Red Onion, Ginger & Turmeric: This is the foundational quartet of Southeast Asian cooking. Garlic provides the pungent kick, red onion a sharp sweetness, ginger a warm spice, and fresh turmeric an earthy, vibrant depth and stunning colour.

• Coriander Root: This is a secret weapon! Often discarded, the root of the coriander plant holds a much more intense, peppery, and earthy flavour than its leaves. It is absolutely essential for an authentic taste.
• The Sauces: This is where we build the layers of umami, salt, and sweetness. Light Soy Sauce for clean salinity, Sesame Sauce for nutty depth, Oyster Sauce for a rich, savoury body, and a touch of ABC Sweet Soy Sauce (Kecap Manis) for that classic, caramelised sweetness that balances everything out.
• The Spices & Binders: A dash of White Pepper for a gentle heat, Brown Sugar to complement the sweet soy, Coriander Powder to echo the root, and a little Corn Flour which acts as a binder, helping the marinade cling lovingly to every piece of chicken.

The Rhythmic Art of the Marinade

Let’s begin the most fragrant part of our journey.

1. Pound the Aromatics: In a sturdy mortar and pestle, begin with the most fibrous ingredients. Add the finely sliced lemongrass and pound until it starts to break down and release its citrusy oils. The air will immediately smell incredible. Next, add the coriander root and continue to pound until it’s a fine, crushed texture.
2. Build the Paste: Now, add the garlic, red onion, ginger, and turmeric. Continue to pound and grind, working the pestle around the mortar. Your goal is to create a relatively smooth, cohesive, and intensely aromatic paste. This is your workout for the day, and the payoff is immense!
3. Unite with Sauces: Once you have your beautiful paste, it’s time to introduce the liquids and spices. Pour in the light soy sauce, sesame sauce, oyster sauce, and sweet soy sauce. Add the white pepper, brown sugar, coriander powder, and corn flour. Use the pestle or a spoon to mix everything together right in the mortar until you have a thick, fragrant, and beautifully coloured marinade.
4. The Marriage of Flavours: In a separate bowl, place your 400g of chicken tenderloin pieces. Pour every last bit of that incredible marinade over the chicken. Now, don’t be shy—get your hands in there! Massage the marinade into the chicken, ensuring every piece is generously coated.
5. The Patient Wait: Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate. For a good result, give it at least 1 hour on the countertop. For a truly spectacular, next-level flavour, let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator. This allows the aromatics and sauces to penetrate deep into the meat, tenderising it and infusing it with flavour.

The Pandan Parcel – A Gift from Nature

With our chicken saturated in flavour, it’s time to wrap our little presents. This might look intricate, but it’s a simple, repetitive motion that quickly becomes a meditative practice.

1. Prepare Your Station: You’ll need your bowl of marinated chicken, your clean pandan leaves, and a small bowl of toothpicks.
2. The Wrap: Take one long pandan leaf. Place two pieces of marinated chicken near one end of the leaf. Now, simply begin to roll the pandan leaf over the chicken, folding and tucking as you go to create a snug, secure parcel. The goal is to encase the chicken completely.
3. Secure the Gift: To ensure your beautiful handiwork doesn’t unravel, take a toothpick and pierce it straight through the middle of the wrapped parcel, going through the layers of the leaf and the chicken inside. This will hold everything firmly in place.
4. Repeat: Continue this process for all your chicken pieces. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t all perfectly identical; their rustic, handmade charm is part of their appeal. Arrange the finished green parcels on a plate, ready for the most important stage of all.

The Two-Stage Secret – Steam, Then Fry

Here it is. The game-changing technique that my family swears by, the secret to the absolute best Pandan Chicken. We cook it twice.

Why do we steam first? Steaming is a gentle, moist cooking method. By steaming the parcels for a few short minutes, we achieve two critical things:

1. Perfectly Cooked, Juicy Chicken: The steam gently cooks the chicken all the way through, locking in its moisture. This completely eliminates the risk of serving undercooked chicken or having to over-fry it to cook the inside, which would result in a dry, tough product.
2. Maximum Flavour Infusion: The warm, moist environment of the steamer intensifies the infusion process. The pandan leaf releases its full, fragrant potential, steaming its beautiful aroma deep into the marinated chicken.
3. The Steam Bath: Heat water in a steamer until it comes to a rolling boil. Arrange your wrapped pandan chicken parcels in a single layer on a heatproof plate or directly on the steamer rack. Place them in the steamer, cover with the lid, and steam over a medium heat for just 4 minutes. That’s all it takes.
4. A Brief Rest: Carefully remove the plate from the steamer. The pandan leaves will be a vibrant, deep green, and the parcels will smell heavenly. Let them cool just slightly for a few minutes.

Now, for the grand finale.

3. The Crispy Finish: Heat a generous amount of oil in a wok or pan over a medium heat. You can shallow fry with an inch of oil or deep fry, depending on your preference. Carefully place the steamed pandan parcels into the hot oil.

3. Listen to the Sizzle: They will sizzle beautifully. We only need to fry them for about 2 minutes per side. We are not cooking the chicken anymore; we are simply flash-frying the exterior to achieve a glorious golden-brown colour and a wonderfully crispy texture on the pandan leaves.
4. Drain and Admire: Once crispy and golden on all sides, remove the parcels from the oil and let them drain on a wire rack or on paper towels.

The Perfect Partner: A Zesty Dipping Sauce

While the Pandan Chicken is a star on its own, a bright, zesty dipping sauce elevates it to another level. This is optional, but highly recommended!

Simply mix together:

• 2 tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• ½ tbsp fish sauce
• ½ tsp chopped red chili (if you like extra heat)

Stir everything together. The sweet, sour, salty, and spicy notes of the sauce are the perfect counterpoint to the rich, fragrant chicken.

The Unveiling: A Feast for the Senses

Arrange your hot, crispy Pandan Chicken parcels on a serving platter. The moment of enjoyment is a ritual in itself. Each person takes a parcel, carefully removes the toothpick, and unwraps the now-crispy pandan leaf.

As you unfurl the leaf, a billow of fragrant steam is released—the final, concentrated perfume of pandan, lemongrass, and spices. Inside, you’ll find two pieces of the most unbelievably tender, juicy, and flavourful chicken.

The first bite is a symphony of textures and tastes. The slight crispiness from the fried leaf gives way to the succulent, tender chicken, bursting with the complex, savoury-sweet marinade. Then, a dip into the zesty sauce cuts through the richness, cleansing your palate and making you eager for the next bite.

What We Love:

🔥 Get more delicious cooking recipes episode in this Hometown Food Cooking Series! ➡️ https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe50YKtSlHF62Msd7Kn1MxoNtoZ5sVRSq&si=OU6yCzbGuMeYbygH

🔥 Ultimate Sambal Chillies Recipe to Take Your Noodle to New Heights ! ➡️ https://youtu.be/jI2r_ASlHtA

🔥 Char Kuey Teow ! ➡️ https://youtu.be/rSvmq4C2Q88

🔥 Nasi Lemak ! ➡️ https://youtu.be/sWOUalGufPw

🔥 Malaysian Curry Chicken Recipe 馬來西亞咖喱雞 ! ➡️ https://youtu.be/j-CRjdCG_7A?si=0LhFkkKRDqI3WUK5

Tools & Ingredients

Classica Granite Mortar and Pestle, 15 cm Grey: (AU) https://amzn.to/4o6dqtx

HexClad Hybrid Nonstick 30 cm Wok: (AU) https://amzn.to/40IwByV B

HexClad Hybrid Nonstick 3-litre Saucepan with Tempered Glass Lid: (AU) https://amzn.to/4cTLOC8

This dish, for me, is the taste of celebration, of family, of a heritage I carry with me. Recreating it here in my Sydney kitchen, using techniques passed down through my family, is a way of keeping those memories alive and creating new ones. It’s a reminder that no matter how far we travel, the scent of home can always be found in the food we love to cook.

I hope you find as much joy in making—and eating—this dish as I do.

Selamat Menjamu Selera! (Enjoy your meal!)