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Hainanese chicken rice

Name: Hainanese chicken rice
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 135 min
Total time: 165 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 kg chicken carcasses (or legs or wings); 3 piece slices of ginger; 2 piece spring onions; 1.5 kg free-range chicken, fat trimmed and kept; 1 tbsp Shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine); 2 tbsp light soy sauce, divided; 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped; 6 piece slices of ginger, divided; 2 piece spring onions, roughly chopped, divided; 1 tsp sesame oil; 0.5 tsp salt; 10 piece long red chillies, seeded and chopped; 2 clove garlic (1–2), chopped; 1 piece piece of ginger, 5 cm, chopped; 0.5 tbsp chicken stock; 1.5 tbsp lime juice; 1 tsp salt; 75 g ginger, chopped; 6 clove garlic, chopped; 0.5 tbsp lime juice; 0.5 tsp salt; 2 tbsp chicken stock; the reserved chicken fat, or peanut oil; 1 piece piece of ginger, 2–3 cm, grated; 4 clove garlic (3–4), finely chopped; 750 ml long-grain rice (3 cups), rinsed and drained; 1.5 tsp salt (1–2 tsp); 875 ml chicken stock (3½ cups); 2 piece pandan leaves, each tied in a knot (optional); sliced spring onion or blanched shredded cabbage, kecap manis and sliced cucumber

海南雞飯 / nasi ayam Hainan

Whole chicken gently poached in water kept just below the boil, served at room temperature with rice cooked in chicken fat, ginger, garlic and stock, plus chilli sauce, ginger sauce and a bowl of broth. This Singaporean version is Tiffany Wong's recipe for SBS's Food Safari.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 6
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 2 h 15
Total: 2 h 45
Difficulty: Involved

Equipment

Very large pot with a lid, big enough to submerge the chicken
Second pot for the stock; muslin for straining
Wok; rice cooker or saucepan with a lid
Mortar and pestle or food processor
Instant-read thermometer (recommended, editorial)

Substitutions

Chicken fat → Peanut oil, as the source allows.
Pandan leaves → Leave them out; the rice is plainer.

Common mistakes

Boiling the chicken hard: the meat tightens and dries.
Not checking the thigh: off-heat poaching can leave the joint underdone in a large bird.
Using unrinsed rice: the grains clump.

Storage & reheating

Chicken served at room temperature should be eaten within 2 hours of cooking or refrigerated. Rice: cool within an hour, keep no more than a day, reheat once until steaming hot (UK FSA).

Safety

Poultry must be cooked right through: no pink meat, clear juices, 70 °C for 2 minutes at the centre or equivalent (UK FSA). Contains soy and gluten (soy sauce, kecap manis, Shaoxing), sesame and usually sulphites (Shaoxing). Peanut oil, if used, contains peanuts.

Allergens

Gluten · Soy · Sesame · Sulphites

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

dairy-free

A Singapore classic

SBS Food calls this "a much-loved Chinese classic" and presents Tiffany Wong's recipe for Food Safari as a Singaporean interpretation of chicken rice. Its local touches are pandan in the rice, and kecap manis and cucumber at the table, which balance the plain poached chicken and the sharp sauces.

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Poached below the boil

The chicken is never boiled. It goes into water that has just boiled, with the heat off, and stays covered for an hour. Every so often it is lifted so the water in the cavity can be refreshed, and at half-time the pot is brought back almost to the boil. The result is tender, juicy meat, but the method depends on the size of the bird and pot, so check the thickest part of the thigh.

The rice is the other half of the dish. It is stir-fried in rendered chicken fat with ginger and garlic, then cooked in the stock made from the carcasses, so each grain tastes of chicken.

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How it connects

Place

origin Singapore In preparation

Rice

made with Jasmine rice (Thai Hom Mali)

Recipe

related Nasi lemak

Hainanese chicken rice

Equipment

Ingredients

Stock

Chicken

Chilli sauce

Ginger sauce

Chicken rice

To serve

Method