Monday, November 1, 2004

Singapore Chicken Rice a.k.a. Hainanese Chicken Rice

Found this recipe while browsing around. It's one of my favourite dishes, so I'm posting this here in case I have some time in the future, then I can try out my cooking skillz.

This popular dish comes from the Chinese sub-tropical island of Hainan, where many of the sons and daughters of Hainan had immigrated to Singapore in the past 100 years. This has become one of Singapore's most loved dishes, widely found in most coffee shops, food courts and hawker centres. The secret to this recipe is in the boiling of the hot soup - this gives the sauce it's edge.

Ingredients

For the chilli sauce:
2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 fresh red chillies, roughly ground
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt to taste
4 tablespoon (1/4 cup) hot chicken stock

For the rice:
1 chicken (about 1kg)
1 spring onion (scallion), cut into 2 1/2 pieces
4 slices fresh peeled ginger
6 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil
6-8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups long-grain uncooked rice
1 teaspoon fine salt

  1. To poach the chicken, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil (enough water to immerse the chicken). Stuff the cavity of the chicken with scallion and ginger . Add the chicken to the boiling water, breast side-down. Lower the heat to a simmer just under boiling point and cover. Cook for about 40 minutes or until cooked through.
  2. Transfer the chicken to an ice water bath for about 5-6 minutes (this is to arrest the cooking and will make the chicken skin crisp). Drain. De-bone the chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the stock and keep hot.
  3. To make the rice, heat the oil in a wok or sauce pan over high heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the uncooked rice grains and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Add enough of the hot reserved chicken soup to reach the 1cm (1/2 inch) above the top of the rice and bring to the boil. Add the salt and reduce the heat to low. When the steam holes form in the rice, cover the wok or saucepan and steam for about 30 minutes or until cooked.
  4. To make the chilli sauce, combine the lemon juice, chillies, garlic and salt in a bowl and mix well. Whisk 1/4 cup of the hot chicken stock and the chilli sauce and set aside.
  5. Arrange the rice and poached chicken on a platter and serve with the chilli sauce.

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