Hainanese Chicken Rice
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10 Ingredients
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60 min total
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Serves Serves 4
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Medium
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Singaporean
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Chicken
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Singapore's national dish: poached chicken with fragrant rice cooked in the poaching broth.
Hainanese chicken rice is held up as Singapore's national dish, and its appeal lies in restraint rather than fireworks. Poached chicken comes out tender and silky, the rice is cooked in the gingery poaching liquid, and the whole thing is rounded out with a clear broth and sharp chilli and ginger sauces. Plain ingredients, treated with care, deliver a great deal.
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Prep 20 min
Cook 40 min
Total 60 min
Medium
Scale:
- 1 (about 1.5kg) Whole chicken
- 1 large thumb, sliced, plus 2 tbsp grated Ginger
- 4 Spring Onions
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 350g, rinsed Jasmine Rice
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- to serve Light soy sauce
- 1, sliced, to serve Cucumber
- 2, for the sauce Red chillies
- to taste Salt
Tags:
chicken rice singaporean asianPreparation
- Rub the chicken all over with salt. Bring a large pot of water to a gentle simmer with the sliced ginger and 2 of the spring onions. Lower in the whole chicken, bring it back to a bare simmer and poach gently for 30 to 35 minutes, until cooked through.
- Lift the chicken out and drop it into iced water for 5 minutes to keep the skin silky, then drain. Hold on to the poaching broth.
- For the rice, fry the grated ginger and 2 chopped garlic cloves in the sesame oil for 1 minute, stir in the rinsed rice, then cook it in 600ml of the strained broth for 12 to 15 minutes until tender.
- For the chilli sauce, blend the red chillies with the remaining garlic, a little grated ginger, a splash of broth and a squeeze of lime until smooth.
- Chop the chicken into pieces. Serve it over the fragrant rice with cucumber, the chilli sauce, light soy and a bowl of the hot broth scattered with sliced spring onion.
Tips from the ZestyPlate Kitchen
- Keep the water at the gentlest simmer; a rolling boil toughens the chicken.
- Plunge the bird into iced water straight after poaching, which firms up the skin and gives it that signature silkiness.
- Cook the rice in the strained broth rather than water, since that broth carries all the flavour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Bone-in thighs and breasts work well and need only around 20 minutes of poaching.
Make up the shortfall with water until you have the volume you need.
It is usually served at room temperature, which suits that silky texture, but warm is perfectly fine.
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