Hainanese Chicken Rice

Step 1

Rinse the chicken well. Remove excess fat from the chicken and set aside. If using chicken thighs, trim off the excess fat from the underside by cutting and scraping, If using a whole chicken, you can cut fat from the back cavity.

Step 2

Lightly rub the chicken with coarse or kosher salt to exfoliate it. Keep rubbing till you get all the loose skin off and the skin shines. Rinse the chicken under running water to remove the salt, and pat dry.

Step 3

Fill a stock pot with water and add chicken. Ensure that the water covers the chicken. If using a whole chicken, place the chicken such that the breast side faces down. Leave to boil.

Step 4

Add green onions and ginger into the pot.

Step 5

Once the soup boils, turn the chicken over. If using full chicken, turn it over so the breast side is on top. Remove some water from the stock pot so that the chicken breast just peeps out of the water. (This is because breast cooks faster than other parts of chicken, and may dry out if overcooked.)

Step 6

Cover the pot and let the stock / broth simmer for around 20 minutes.

Step 7

Close to the 20 minute mark, prepare a large bowl of ice water.

Step 8

Remove the chicken from the pot, but don't switch the stove off. Let the stock continue simmering. Dip the chicken in the ice bath for 15 seconds and then keep it aside.

Step 9

Mix sesame oil and salt to prepare the glaze for the chicken. Coat this on the skin of chicken. (I use a basting brush for this)

Step 10

Continue simmering the broth for at least 40 minutes. The more you simmer, the tastier the broth.

Step 11

Taste, and add salt and pepper, if required.

Step 12

Wash rice and keep aside.

Step 13

After the broth is ready, heat a second pot to medium heat. To this pot, add the chicken fat that you had previously set aside. Render the fat till all the oil is released and the solids turn brown and crispy.

Step 14

With a slotted spoon, remove the solids from the rendered chicken fat.

Step 15

Add minced garlic, ginger and shallot to the the pot. Sauté them in chicken fat until fragrant.

Step 16

Now, add the washed rice and sauté for about a minute.

Step 17

Add soy sauce, sesame oil and pandan leaves to the rice. Mix well.

Step 18

Pour in broth (used to cook chicken) to the rice. Stir to mix and leave to cook over high heat.

Step 19

Once the rice mixture boils, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer covered until the rice is cooked. The cooking time will depend on the variety of rice you use. It took me around 10 minutes.

Step 20

Dissolve sugar in warm water.

Step 21

Then, add the remaining ingredients for the sauce. Mix well and the sauce is ready.

Step 22

Deseed the red chilli pepper.

Step 23

Grind the chilli peppers, garlic cloves and ginger along with vinegar in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Step 24

Add salt and sugar to your taste. Mix in some broth (used for cooking chicken, and cooled to room temperature or lower). Adjust broth quantity to get the sauce consistency you prefer.

Step 25

Cut the chicken into thin long pieces and serve over rice or on a separate plate. Either way, pour some of the sweet soy sauce over the chicken.

Step 26

Warm the soup up and garnish with chopped green onions and/or cilantro leaves.

Step 27

Serve Hainanese Chicken Rice at room temperature, with warm soup, cucumber slices, chilli-garlic sauce and more sweet soy sauce on the side.