Jonker Street Icon · Hand-Rolled Rice
Chicken Rice Balls
Photo: Yun Huang Yong / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
The most common explanation for the shape is practical: packing the rice into tight balls kept it warm longer and made it easy to carry and serve.
Poached or roasted chicken is served alongside rice that's been hand-rolled into golf-ball-sized spheres cooked in chicken fat and stock, plus chilli-ginger and dark soy dipping sauces. Jonker Street coffee shops in Melaka's old town are the dish's most famous address.
Why it's made this way: The ball shape is a Melaka-specific twist on the wider Hainanese chicken rice tradition, and it is now inseparable from Melaka's UNESCO-listed old town identity.
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