Chicken Rice (Hainanese Chicken Rice)

Our dinner tonight was home cooked Chicken Rice. Last night, as I was chatting with my sister, we decided to cook Chicken Rice for our better half.

After my first attempt to cook chicken rice had failed, I asked my girl friend in Virginia how she cooked hers. She taught and gave me her recipe. So this is my 2nd time to whip up the Singaporeans favorite dish. When I checked my pantry, I was worried because I have less than half a cup of long grain rice. But luckily I still have some of the Japanese rice and thought maybe I could try to use it for my Chicken rice...

In Singapore, you can find chicken rice anywhere at the hawker center or food court. It’s often called Singapore’s national dish. There are variations of this dish, which include the use of roasted instead of steamed chicken. (I prefer the roasted.) The dish is usually served with chilli sauce and dark soy sauce with slices of cucumber and tomato. The ingredients may looked a lot but it is simple and easy to make a nice delicious chicken rice. My ingredients and methods here are a little different from the authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice but it was real tasty and filling meal. My chicken rice is served with chilli and garlic dipping sauce, soup and a side dish of broccoli and carrot "chap choy"(mixed vegetables). *yum-yum*

Chicken Rice (recipe given by ms Z.S.)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the Broth :

4 chicken drumsticks plus 2 chicken thighs

water

2 cloves garlic + 2 clove garlic-minced

2-inch ginger

Marinate:

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

Place the chicken into a large pot and cover with water. Throw in garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. (Retain the water that the chicken was cooked in.)

Remove chicken and marinate with minced garlic, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and honey for about 30 minutes.

When cooking the rice, heat the oil in the pan and pan-fry the marinated chicken until lightly browned. 

For the Rice :

1 cup rice - washed and drained

2 cups chicken broth

2 cloves garlic - peeled and smashed

1 medium onion - peeled and quarter

1-inch ginger - sliced

1 pandan leaves (screwpines leaves) - optional

1 tbsp of vegetable oil

salt to taste

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pot. Add the garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant. Add the rice, onion, pandan leaves and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

For the Soup:

2 cups of chicken broth

1 tbsp of grind onion

1 stalk of green onion

a dash of white pepper

salt to taste

Directions:

Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and saute until fragrant. Add chicken broth and green onion. Add white pepper and salt to taste. Let it simmer and remove from heat.

For the Special Chilli sauce:

Preferably use fresh chilli but it is very hard to get these chillies here so I used packet chilli sauce that has garlic in it.

4 tbsp chilli sauce with garlic

1-2 chicken broth

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp sugar

In a small saucepan, dilute the chilli sauce with the chicken broth under a low heat. Add vinegar and sugar. Add salt if necessary.

The way I eat my chicken rice.... pour the chilli dipping sauce and a few spoonfuls of the soup... to the rice, tear up your chicken and yum-yum.. oooh lala... :))

Notes:

Skim and discard any residual fat/oil from the chicken broth before cooking the chicken rice.