Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainan Chicken Rice

I had been craving this for awhile and so we took a trip to C&R in Chinatown last week, only to find it was closed for renovations. So post Bikram yoga session on the weekend, and bundles of energy, and seeing a friend's istagram feed from Singapore, I suddenly had the urge to cook this. Not eat it, just make it. I have made this several times before and I think the most important part is the rice. Some think it the chilli-ginger sauce or the silky chicken but I think the rice, followed by the sauces. I could eat that without the chicken. Recipe adapted from how I have made it in the past and also from the Rasa Malaysia site. Measurements are more estimates and you can adjust to taste!

Hainanese Chicken Rice (Serves roughly 4)

Ingredients:

For the rice

3 cups uncooked washed rice
vegetable oil (or your preferred oil)
4 cloves finely chopped garlic (more if you like - I used a food processor to mince the garlic and ginger to make enough for the rice and the sauces all at once, guestimates will do)
Chunk of ginger, cleaned and bruised

Excess chicken fats (optional)

1 & 1/2 tsp salt roughly

chicken broth to cook

For the chicken and stock

1 whole chicken, or chicken pieces and additional chicken bones
few big chunks of ginger, cleaned and bruised 
5-6 stalks of shallots, washed
1 carrot, roughly chopped

few tsp salt

I added two dried honey dates (used alot in Chinese soups, imparts a sweetness)

For the soy sauce (mix)

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp chicken broth
3 tsp sesame oil

For chicken rice chilli ginger sauce (Blend altogether)

Few birds eye red chilies
Few cloves of garlic
Chunk of ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
few tbsp chicken broth
few tbsp of lime juice or rice vinegar, to taste

Variations of shallot oil, with or without ginger

1. Heat some oil, add some chopped shallots, salt and sesame oil 

2.Mince shallots, ginger, salt together. Heat some oil and pour it on top of the mixture.

Method

For the Chicken

1.Clean the chicken and if using a whole chicken, stuff some ginger, garlic into the cavity and rub with salt. If using pieces, add the ginger and some garlic, shallots to the pot, alongside the chicken bones. Add some more salt to season as necessary.

2. Bring water to the boil, add the chicken and reduce to low simmering heat and let the chicken simmer for about 40-50 minutes (or longer if necessary). Low heat will keep the stock pretty clear and prevent the chicken overcooking. Remove and submerge in cold water to stop the cooking process. Some recipes say to poach the chicken to give it a warm bath in order to get the silkiness. Next time.

For the Rice

1.Fry some of the mince garlic and ginger, make sure to not brown, then add the uncooked rice with some salt and fry until fragrant.(Note, I have in the past trimmed the excess fat from the chicken and fried this with the rice to give it more flavour, but if the stock has enough oil and flavour you can skip this, I skipped this time).

2.Cook rice as normal in the rice cooker, adding the chicken stock from the chicken with some additional salt. You want to scoop the top oily parts of the stock which is full of flavour and will give the rice the nice oily, chicken flavour.

To Serve

Chop up the chicken into bite size pieces and serve alongside the rice, with some sliced cucumber, accompanied by the ginger/shallot oil, chilli/ginger sauce, some soy sauce and a bowl of both with some coriander.

Seems long but is a very easy recipe! Enjoy!