Hainanese Chicken Rice

Doing this the right way is time consuming and is a very tedious process but it is all worth the effort, resulting to a gelatinous skin with a tender juicy and very tasty meat. Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of poached chicken and rice cooked in master chicken stock, served with chilli sauce, ginger sauce and slices of cucumber.

The first time I saw this dish way back in the Philippines, I did not mind it as the looks are bland and thought that it does not have taste at all. But one time after I had tasted all of the dishes in the food court where I used to work and wanted to try something new this came into my mind as this is the only remaining dish that I havent tried yet.  So why not give it a shot! to my surprise this bland looking dish have lot of flavour packed in the chicken as well as the rice.

Hainanese Chicken rice originated from the lesser known Chinese cusine which is the Hainan cusine, it is also common in Malaysian, Thai and Singaporean cusines, to prepare this chicken following the traditional way will be laborious as it involves boiling the chicken broth, removing from heat, placing the chicken inside wait for 5 minutes, removing the chicken and when the stock becomes cold, it is brought back to the boiling temperature again without the chicken and repeat the whole process for an hour, using this poaching process ensures that the chicken meat will not become hard or rubbery in texture thus making it really tender. The stock is reused again and again to keep the flavours.  After the chicken is cooked it is then soaked in ice water making the skin have that jelly like texture. Now the first part is finished, the next part of this dish is the rice which is boiled with chicken stock and some pandan leaves, the chicken stock used will be different from the stock which was used in poaching the chicken but new methods use the same stock to save time. Third part are the 3 different dips that accompany the dish which are chilli dip, ginger dip and soy sauce. And finally the last part which is the clear chicken soup that companies the dish.

Now if you have that patience to cook this dish and time, I suggest try this one out.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

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• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Total Time: 3 hour 45 mins
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Chinese

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Description

Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of poached chicken and rice cooked in master chicken stock, served with chilli sauce, ginger sauce and slices of cucumber.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Poached Chicken

• 1 large chicken (size 20), trim of excess fat
• 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 thumb sized ginger, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, pounded
• 2 spring onions, cut in two
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• lots of rock salt for rubbing chicken skin

Chicken Stock

• 3 stalks spring onions
• 1/2 thumb sized ginger, sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 kg chicken frames/bones

Chicken Rice

• 3 cups jasmine rice
• 1/2 thumb sized ginger, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt (to taste)
• 3 cups chicken stock (from cooking the chicken)
• 2 pcs pandan leaves
• excess fat from chicken

Chilli Sauce

• 10 fresh red chillies, seeds removed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 thumb sized ginger
• 2 tbsp chicken stock (from cooking the chicken)
• 2 tsp lime juice
• fish sauce

Ginger Sauce

• 2 thumb sized ginger
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp chicken stock (from cooking the chicken)

Chicken Soup

• chicken stock (from cooking the chicken)
• 1 stalk spring onions, chopped
• 1 tsp sesame oil

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Instructions

Poached Chicken

1. Before stating rub the chicken skin with rock salt, rub like you are scrubbing dirt from chicken skin. Once finished you need to rinse the chicken throughly in running tap water.
2. Mix together all chicken ingredients in a blender or foor processor then rub the mix inside the chickens cavity as well as outside.
3. In a big pot place enough water to cover the whole chicken.
4. Bring liquid into a boil, once boiling turn the heat off.  Place whole chicken in the pot, cover for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes open the pot, remove chicken from the stock.  Set chicken aside, turn heat on and bring back the liquid to a boil.  Repeat this process (step 4) for 30 minutes (removing the chicken from hot stock after 5 minutes and putting it back in).  This means chicken will be dipped in the hot broth for 6 times.
5. Remove the chicken again from the stock, bring stock to a boil, remove from heat and add the chicken back, this time leaving it there for 30 minutes.
6. Prepare another pot with cold water and lots of ice, once the chicken is cooked soak the chicken in this ice water to stop the cooking process.
7. Slice into serving sizes enjoy place beside chicken rice and sauces then add sliced cucumber on the side.

Chicken Stock

1. Add chicken bones, salt, ginger and spring onions on the the stock from the poached chicken bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.
2. Now sieve liquid using muslin cloth, discard any solids then reserve the clear broth.  Use as stock for the remaining dishes.

Chicken Rice

1. Wash rice twice and drain well using a colander.
   In a non stick pan add the excess fat and cook until it realeases its oil, add ginger and garlic once there is enough oil then saute until golden brown in color.
2. Now add rice in rice cooker, together with sauteed ginger and garlic, chicken stock and pandan leaves.
3. Then cook like how you cook normal rice.

Chilli Sauce

1. Using a blender or food processor blend all ingredients together.

Ginger Sauce

1. Using a blender or food processor blend all ingredients together.

Chicken Soup

1. Place chicken stock on serving bowl, top it with chopped spring onions and a dash of sesame oil and pepper.

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