singapore chicken rice

A classic Singaporean / Malaysian dish of succulent poached chicken and flavored rice served with chilli-garlic sauce, soy sauce and a clear chicken soup.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Chicken thighs (small), skin

½ tbsp Soy sauce

Ginger ((Sliced))

Onion(s)

Water ((Enough

Salt ((To taste))

Pepper ((To taste))

Water

Ice cubes

Sesame oil

Salt

White Rice

Chicken fat ((Set aside when cleaning the chicken))

Garlic clove(s) ((minced))

½ inch Ginger ((minced))

Shallot ((minced))

1½ tsp Soy sauce

Pandan / screwpine leaves ((Refer to note#4))

Chicken Broth ((Used to cook chicken))

Sugar

tsp Warm water

tsp Soy sauce

tsp Rice vinegar ((Refer

tsp Chicken Broth ((Used to cook chicken))

Red bird's eye chilli pepper (Thai Chilli) ((Refer to note#6))

Garlic clove(s) ((Refer to note#6))

inch Ginger

tsp Rice Vinegar / White Vinegar

((Adjust

tsp Chicken Broth ((Adjust

Green Onion(s) ((Chopped))

Cilantro ((Chopped))

Cucumber slices

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.

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.

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.

Add green onions and ginger into the pot.

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.)

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

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

Remove the chicken from the pot, but don&#039;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.

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)

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

Taste, and add salt and pepper, if required.

To cook the chicken and broth

Wash rice and keep aside.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

To cook the rice

Dissolve sugar in warm water.

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

To make the Sweet Soy sauce

Deseed the red chilli pepper.

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

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.

To make the Chilli-Garlic sauce

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.

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

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

Serving suggestions

Hainense chicken and rice is the ultimate chicken and rice dish to ever exist. It&#039;s not just a delicious dish but a whole eating experience. Starting with the special, twice poached chicken and world-famous chicken fat rice, and ending with all the delicious condiments like green onion oil and ginger chili sambal. It&#039;s a showstopper yet so easy to make and perfect any day of the week.

The Ultimate Hainanese Chicken Rice Recipe

1300 g whole chicken (note 1)

chicken

onion

scallions

Garlic

200 g Ginger (sliced, skin on)

g salt

g Msg (note 3)

g sesame oil (note 4)

g ginger (peeled, finely grated)

g scallions (green only, finely chopped)

g chicken fat (note 5)

30 g ginger (peeled grated)

g garlic (peeled grated)

ml lime juice

g sugar

chicken broth

300 g Jasmine rice (note 7)

g chicken fat

g ginger (sliced skin on)

garlic

60 ml soy sauce

cornstarch (Not the same as corn flour

g bok choy (note 8)

g cilantro (optional or substitute with mint or Thai basil)

g crispy shallots (optional)

Brining (Optional) - This is, in my professional opinion, a very necessary step if you want the most succulent and flavorful poached chicken. It requires some planning, as you have to do it the day before or first thing in the morning if you plan on making this for dinner.

Remove any excess bits of fat from around the cavity. Make a 2 % salt brine, then keep the chicken refrigerated in the brine for 12 to 20 hours.

Chicken fat - One chicken does not have enough excess chicken fat nor enough flavor to flavor the broth. We use extra chicken bone-in, skin-on thighs for this reason.

Harvest the skins, then bake them in the oven at 160 °C or 320 °F for about an hour to render out the fat from the skins. Remove, pour the fat into a container and squeeze out the chicken skins once cool enough to handle as there will still be plenty of fat inside. Do not throw them away, though.

Once your chicken fat is done, you will chop up the leftover skins and slowly roast them in a dry pan. Move them around often to avoid burning, Drain on a paper towel and store in a cool dry place. We will use these to sprinkle on top of our chicken later on. Of course, you can skip this step if you are pressed for time.

Dip the chicken 3 to 5 times into boiling water. This Will help keep the skin from tearing and provide the authentic texture of Hainanese chicken. If you are not making this with a whole chicken, you still do the same with chicken pieces. The skinless thighs also get a dip in the hot water to remove impurities that may make the broth cloudy.

Shock the chicken in ice water after dipping it in the boiling water for this method to be most effective. The extra thighs don&#39;t need chilling down, they go straight into the pot.

Slice, washed, unpeeled ginger into fine strips then bash them up a bit to release their flavor better, crush the garlic cloves and slice the onion finely, as well as the bottom parts of the green onion. Add it to a pot along with the chicken thighs.

Place your whole chicken into the pot and add just enough water to cover. Bring this up to 90 °C or 194 °F. THE BROTH SHOULD NEVER BOIL. If you have a kitchen thermometer, then that&#39;s great. If not, then don&#39;t worry. The internal temperature of the chicken measured at the thickest part should read 68 °C or 154 °F. It takes around 45 minutes depending on the size of your chicken.

While poaching, you want to make sure the hot water gets distributed throughout the cavity to make sure it cooks evenly. This can be done with meat hooks attached under the wings, or carefully with chopsticks to move the chicken and displace the broth. Once the chicken is poached, repeat the ice bath step. Keep the chicken in the ice water for a few minutes, then remove it and let it rest.You don&#39;t want to cool it down fully. It&#39;s just to shock the skin to get the correct texture.

Remove from the water, then pat dry with a paper towel. The extra thighs can be used for other dishes or frozen for later use. Rub the chicken with a touch of sesame oil or rendered chicken fat while it&#39;s resting and waiting to be carved.

For the chicken and broth

Chop up the green parts of the onion finely. Grate some peeled ginger and add hot chicken fast or neutral oil to the mix while stirring.

Set aside to cool. This green oil is also delicious on other dishes and can be stored for weeks in the fridge.

Green onion oil

Ginger garlic sauce - The dipping sauce for Hainanese chicken is often simply this mildly spicy sambal.

Pound or blend the garlic, grated ginger, chopped chilli and a touch of salt in a small blender or pestle and mortar until you have a paste. Add chicken broth and season with lime juice and a touch of sugar for balance. Store until needed.

Chili ginger sauce

The most important part apart from the chicken. Heat the chicken fat, then add crushed garlic and sliced ginger.

Toast it until starting to brown, then add your rice and give that a good stir through. Add the chicken broth, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 15 minutes lid-on. You can also do this in a rice cooker. Keep your rice warm once cooked.

Aromatic rice

Make a cornstarch and chicken broth slurry, then whisk into the chicken broth and soy sauce.

Heat on medium and keep whisking until it thickens.

Soy gravy

Steam the greens in a steamer basket for 3 minutes, or use any other method you normally use for cooking fresh green vegetables. I have a guide to cook spinach, bok choy and broccoli if you need help.

Steamed greens

Remove the legs, breasts, and wings. The legs can be deboned if you want, but it&#39;s not necessary.Slice the breasts across and at least separate the thighs from the drumsticks. The wings can be left as is.

Plate up by adding a generous portion of chicken fat rice. Add some steamed greens and sliced chicken. Follow that up with a steaming bowl of hot chicken broth sprinkled with more fresh green onion.

Slice the cucumber and add a few sprigs of your preferred green herb like cilantro or mint.

Add the green sauce and ginger chili sauce.

Ladle over some soy chicken broth and sprinkle with crispy shallot and chicken skin crackling.

To serve

This took some work but worth every second. Thanks!

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