Description
Hainanese chicken rice consists of juicy, tender poached chicken and fragrant ginger rice, served with a green ginger-scallion sauce. A seemingly plain dish that’s packed full of flavor.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 whole free-range chicken (about 2.5 lbs)
- 3 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon and 1/8 teaspoon salt (divided)
- 1 teaspoon and 1/8 teaspoon sugar (divided)
- 1 teaspoon and 1/8 teaspoon MSG (divided)
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions/scallions (about 8 small sprigs)
- 1/2 cup finely minced ginger (about 4-inch piece, divided)
- 3 cups long grain rice
- 1/4 cup neutral oil
- Vietnamese Ginger Fish Sauce (optional)
- Fried shallots (optional)
- Light soy sauce and red chili peppers (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the Chicken: Rub the chicken inside and out with 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt then rinse, drain and pat dry with paper towels (optional). Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, remove the chicken fat at the bottom end of the chicken and toes (if any). Tuck the legs back into the cavity.
- Prepare the Aromatics: Peel the ginger with a metal spoon. Cut ginger into thin circles across the grain then slice thin. Mince into fine pieces. Remove the root ends of the green onions. Thinly slice the remaining green part. Keep both the ginger peel and green onion root ends for the chicken stock.
- Make the Chicken Stock: Place the whole chicken breast-side up in a large pot and add enough water to cover it, about 3 quarts. It’s fine if the chicken breasts stick out slightly. Add the ginger peels, scallion root ends, salt, sugar, and MSG if using. Crank up heat to high to quickly bring the pot to a boil then lower to a gentle simmer. This should take about 8 minutes. Cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through to ensure even cooking. After 30 minutes, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let the chicken poach in the residual heat for 15 minutes.
- Ice Bath: Remove the chicken and immediately transfer it to an ice water bath for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger peels and scallion root ends from the stock and set it aside for the rice later. Take the chicken out of the ice water bath and pat it dry with paper towels.
- Chop Chicken: Use a large meat cleaver to chop the chicken into bite-sized bone-in pieces. Transfer the pieces to a serving bowl and garnish with fried shallots (optional).
- Toast the Rice: Rinse the rice until water runs clears, drain completely dry and set aside. Add chicken fat to a large skillet and heat over medium-high until it renders into a small pool of oil. Remove and discard the solid pieces if desired, or leave them in. Add minced ginger (about 1/4 cup) and pan fry the ginger in the rendered oil until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add cleaned rice. Gently toss around so all the grains are nicely toasted with a very light golden color (about 10 minutes).
- Cook Rice: Transfer the toasted rice to a rice cooker. Add 3-3/4 cups of chicken stock into the rice cooker. Cook on the plain rice setting on the rice cooker (about 30 minutes).
- Make the Ginger Scallion Sauce: Heat up a small pan with neutral oil until smoking (about 4 minutes). Slowly and carefully pour the hot oil over the scallion and ginger. Add the remaining ginger (1/4 cup) and thinly sliced green onions to a heat-proof bowl. Add a pinch each (1/8 teaspoon) of salt, sugar and MSG (optional). Mix until combined.
- Serve: For a pretty presentation, add rice into a small bowl and flip it onto a plate. Add sliced chicken and ginger-scallion sauce. You can also serve with thinly sliced cucumber and optional soy sauce or chili peppers on the side for further tableside customization.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Category: entree
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: asian, vietnamese, chinese, singaporean