Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南鸡饭

• published: 25 Sep 2015
• views: 1267

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南鸡饭 Hainanese Chicken Rice is one of Singapore’s national dishes despite originating from the Hainan province in southern China. It is served everywhere from school cafeterias to street vendors to major restaurants. Singapore aside, this dish is also popular in Malaysia and Thailand where there are large populations of Chinese. Yes, Hainan Chicken Rice takes time and there are a lot of moving parts. So what if the amount of time it takes to eat this is ⅙ of time required to cook it? Personally, I think it’s worth it. The highlight of the dish is the rice soaked in chicken fat then cooked in chicken broth. So much yum. Don’t forget the slow cooked chicken which is tender and moist. And the sauces? Use as much or as little as you want, only on the chicken or over everything. Yes. Now. Servings: 2 Chicken Ingredients: 1 ½ to 2 lb chicken 1 tbsp of sea salt Enough water to cover chicken 2 scallions, rough chopped 4” piece of ginger sliced Ice bath Rice Ingredients: Chicken fat 1 ½ tbsp of minced garlic 1 cup of rice 1 ½ cups of chicken broth Ginger Garlic Sauce Ingredients: 3 scallions, rough chopped 4” piece of ginger, rough chopped 2 tbsp of garlic, minced ¼ cup of oil Sweet Dark Soy Sauce Ingredients: ½ cup of water water ⅓ cup of dark soy sauce 2 large chunks of rock sugar Optional Ingredients: Chili garlic sauce for dipping Chicken Directions: 1. Trim as much fat as possible from the chicken. Reserve for later use. 2. Rub sea salt all over the chicken and set aside. 3. In a heavy pot, bring scallions, ginger and water to a boil. Once boiling, carefully place your chicken into the pot, breast side up. The water should just cover the chicken, if not, top off with more water. Bring back to a boil. Cover and turn off the heat. Let it sit and cook in the residual heat for 50 minutes to an hour. 4. When 50 minutes to an hour are up, dunk the chicken into an ice bath to stop the cooking and lock in the juices. Let it sit in the ice bath for 15 minutes. Remove and set aside until ready to portion out. Rice Directions: 1. While the chicken is cooking, start making the rice. Render the reserved chicken fat in a frying pan for about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken fat. Add the minced garlic and fry until fragrant. 2. Add the uncooked rice and stir to make sure the rice is coated in the chicken fat. 3. Transfer the rice to your rice cooker. Pour over chicken stock and cook according to your rice cooker settings. Let it sit in your rice cooker until you’re ready to portion. Ginger Garlic Sauce Directions: 1. Blend scallions, ginger and garlic together until you have a medium paste. 2. Heat oil in a saucepan and add the scallion, ginger and garlic paste. Gently fry until the garlic pieces in the paste have slightly browned. Pour into your dipping bowl and set aside. Sweet Dark Soy Sauce Directions: 1. Dissolve the rock sugar in water over medium heat. Once the sugar water is bubbling, stir in the dark soy sauce. Pour into your dipping bowl and set aside. Put It All Together Directions: 1. Divide the chicken into two servings. Serve with the rice, dipping sauces (chili garlic sauce is optional) and a bowl of the scallion-ginger chicken broth. Enjoy! Notes: The amount of time your chicken sits in the boiled water will depend on the size of your chicken. If you want to test the doneness of your chicken, poke the thickest part with a toothpick. If the juices running out is clear, the chicken is done. If it’s bloody, let the chicken sit for another 10 minutes. If you don’t have rock sugar, you can replace with 3 tbsp of sugar. The ice bath is essential to stop the cooking and lock in the juices. The ice bath will also make the skin texture better. (Optional) Reheat the scallion-ginger chicken broth before serving, salt to taste and garnish with chopped scallions. Background Music: "Crushed Ice" by DJ Grumble https://soundcloud.com/gbeats/tracks grumble.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/user/grimelab