HAINAN CHICKEN WITH RICE

I have been in love with Hainan chicken since I had it in Singapore so many years ago. Learnt to make it cause I wanted to eat it so much, and could not always go to Singapore! It’s really simple and extremely tasty, also it is one of those dishes that really don’t take much time to cook!  Serve with some stir fried greens and its a really satisfying wholesome meal full of flavor.

In my pictures there is only one dipping sauce with all the chillies and soy sauce added in the spring onion and ginger sauce. My lovely sous chef hubby tried to help, and we ended up with one sauce not two! But anyway, it was still really tasty and I will upgrade pics when I make it next time!  You can also buy this really great “chili sauce for chicken” in asian stores, its quite gingery and is always served with Hainan chicken in Singapore. It just completes it for me.

HAINAN CHICKEN

1.2 kg whole organic chicken (corn fed tastes out of this world if you can find it)

2 spring onions

5 coriander sprigs

3/4 tsp salt

4 slices ginger, smashed

1/4 tsp black peppercorns

finely chopped spring onion

Rinse the chicken, drain and place in a large pot. Add the spring onion, coriander, salt, ginger, peppercorns and enough water to cover the chicken. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 mins. Turn of the heat and leave the chicken for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and drain well. Skim off any scum from the liquid and strain the liquid. You can use a clever and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, before you serve. I end up serving it in somewhat larger pieces, if I cant convince my husband to cut it into smaller pieces for me.  I can’t be bothered cutting through the bones etc myself.

Save 3 cups of stock for cooking your rice, and keep the remainder of the stock to be served in small soup bowls with some chopped spring onions sprinkled on top.

THE DIPPING SAUCES

2 spring onions, sliced

1 tbsp finely grated ginger

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp oil

Combine ginger, spring onion in a heatproof bowl. ( I just chop the ginger in my blender very fine and then add the spring onions and pulse till they are chopped). Now heat the oil till its smoking and pour over the fresh ingredients.

3 tbsp light soy sauce

1-2 red chillies sliced

For your other dipping sauce, place chopped red chili in a bowl and add the soy sauce.

Rice

1.5 tbsp oil

1.5 cup rice, washed

3 cups chicken broth from the Hainan chicken liquid

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 inch ginger chopped

1/2 tsp salt

Heat oil in a saucepan, add the ginger and garlic and stir for a couple of minutes, so the flavor gets in the oil. Now add your washed rice and stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken broth, salt and bring to a boil. Now reduce the heat and cover till the rice is cooked and all water has evaporated.