Hainanese Chicken Rice, or just Chicken Rice, is one of those dish of dishes that is nearly synonymous and inseparable from Singaporean food - culinarily, it is hard to not immediately think of either when prompted.
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A dish sometimes underestimated or overlooked because of the simplicity - it's just chicken and rice, but then you start to realize how many possible mathematical permutations of chicken and rice exist all across the planet, all of them distinct. I think it's a disservice to completely distil the multitudes of aspects about this dish to JUST chicken and rice - to say otherwise would completely discredit the work of @alderic to effectively tier-list chicken rice hawker stands or the aesthetically immaculate presentation and authenticity of @adamliaw's video/blog, both of which are huge inspirations for my understanding of this dish.
Arguably, it is hard to argue for a singular dish that has been awarded for a Michelin star in any other setting, this is usually reserved for entire dining experiences (read: ambiance, service, technical culinary chops), but in a seemingly unlikely and unconventional (by mainstream standards) location, a chicken rice hawker stand has crushed this juggernaut. NYT food writers can't seem to even *get* this meal, posting snarky, elitist comments atop a seemingly *quote* depressing white clamshell styrofoam container with chicken and some side plastic cups with sauce. Contrast that with white YouTube chef bros asserting "Authentic" dominance over the dish with completely mismatched understandings (including some fever-dream inducing hipster-ification, first eating the dish in 2019 (wow congrats)) of how the dish works, which is equally frustrating - it's either passed over or check-marked off a list of content ideas to mill through. In a texture that would be considered as uncommon to many people reading this, and similar/stemming from white cut chicken from classic Cantonese cooking (白切鸡 - a steamed chicken dish), Hainanese chicken rice is gently poached to give a unique texture with a highly gelatinous skin and extremely tender meat. Served with two key sauces to help supplement the supple and velvety texture: the necessary fatty scallion oil that makes up for any lost fat that you'd normally have in other chicken breast applications, and a spicy & sour chili sauce almost akin to a chunky sambal from (neighboring) Malaysia. Really, the chicken is a textural palette and vehicle for sauce (as it often is). Borrowing from the local and neighboring etymologies of the dish in Thailand (khao man gai (ข้าวมันไก่) - oily rice chicken), deeply fragrant and oily rice is the anchor for the dish - round this all off with clean and fresh soup (with a trick I learned from @theciaofandiary) and fresh sliced cucumbers, and you arrive at perfection on a plate. Shopping List (Chicken & Soup):
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Hardware:
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Prep (Chicken & Soup):
Trim any fatty bits of skin off your chicken and place in a bowl to render later - these bits are usually at the neck and below the breast end at the cavity/tail end. These are the basis of flavor for the rice.
Using nitrile gloves if desired, generously massage the chicken with a large amount of coarse salt for 5 minutes, mostly on the exterior, don't worry about trying to hit the inside cavity, but this helps loosen up the skin and exfoliate it. Quickly rinse any excess salt off the surface and place to the side.
Cut the ginger into large coins, peel the garlic, and trim the root ends off scallions, lightly smash these in the mortar and pestle. In the large pot, toss the ginger, garlic, and scallions with ~1.5 Tbsp salt and your MSG with enough cold water to fully submerge the chicken when placed in. We are going to be poaching this very gently, so do not try to add this to previously boiling water.
Peel and slice the carrot, trim and cut watercress into 1.5", roughly bite sized pieces, and mince shallot. Place shallot inside cheesecloth and tie into a bouquet sachet to drop in the soup when it cooks. Set aside for soup step later.
In a small pan over low heat, begin rendering fatty bits of chicken, adding enough oil so you wind up with ~1/2 c. of fat total. Set aside.
Prep (Sauces):
Peel and smash knob of ginger, and slice scallions into small coins, and lightly bruise in your mortar and pestle. Take a few Tbsp of reserved chicken fat and reheat it to above 200 deg F (enough to sizzle aromatics when you pour it in). Pour the oil over the scallions and ginger, and set aside. This keeps well in the fridge for weeks.
Stem and optionally deseed your red chilies to your heat tolerance, and add to clean mortar and pestle with garlic, ginger, and sugar. Grind into a thick paste. Reserve this paste until ready to serve (you will need ~1/4-1/2 c. chicken stock and citrus juice to thin it out to sauce consistency later).
Prep (Rice):
Wash your rice until the water runs clear. Drain.
Using another 2-3 Tbsp of your rendered chicken fat, saute minced shallot and garlic in your medium-sized pot until fragrant, watching so it doesn't burn, no longer than 2 minutes over a fairly modest heat. Toast your washed and drained rice until grains are sufficiently coated in oil and are becoming slightly translucent around the edges.
Tie pandan leaf into a knot, and place on top of rice with 1.5 c. chicken stock (from the chicken poach step below) to cook rice.
The Business (Chicken Poach):
Over a modest heat, in that large pot with the chicken and cold water, poach the chicken breast side down for 45-50 minutes, taking extra care to skim any impurities that float to the surface and to keep the water below the boiling point. Also make sure the chicken stays submerged in the hot water bath - you don't want half-raw chicken. I tend to do this uncovered as well to let evaporative cooling help with temperature regulation and to keep a close eye on it. Too vigorous of a boil and you will also rip the skin that you cultured so well with the salt exfoliation, so be careful.
Probe the back of the thigh to check for doneness starting around 30 minutes in - a gentle poach for 45 minutes is plenty for contemporary grocery store chickens, use best judgement if you are using smaller birds.
Fill a clean sink or large basin with ice water. CAREFULLY remove the chicken from the poaching stock, being sure to not tear the skin, and immediately shock the chicken cold into the ice water bath. This a) stops the cooking process to be left with velvety flesh, b) creates the super gelatinous texture on the skin which is desired, and c) decreases the temperature closer to the desired room temperature serving temperature. Once sufficiently cool to the touch, place the skin back side down onto the drying rack and rub with a generous pour of sesame oil while it rests until service. You do not want to tent this with aluminum foil like some dipshit young chef on the internet might do out of obligation and reflexive Western practices to keep warm. Let it come to room temp or even cooler.
The Business (Soup & Rice):
You now have a large pot of chicken stock. We're going to use a lot of it.
Taste for seasoning, namely salt and umami, you would want to drink the soup straight and have it flavorful on its own, so adjust as necessary (you can use chicken boullion too but I steer away because some brands can make the soup cloudy).
Use 1.5 c. of the stock to cook the rice, so start that in your pot with the toasted rice and pandan leaf (or use a rice cooker if you have it). Start the rice. Bring it to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, and take off the heat and leave covered for 5 mins. Discard the pandan leaf after cooking.
You will also need ~1/4-1/2 c. of it to thin out the chili sauce. Keep some aside.
If you want a more substantial soup to go with the dish, I learned a trick from a good friend Wendy (@theciaofandiary on IG), to both slightly reduce the soup stock to intensify its flavor and to add some coins of root vegetable (carrot, kohlrabi, etc), as well as some green of your choice (my favorite is watercress). Strain out the aromatics from the chicken poach and reduce the liquid if desired, adding carrots and cheesecloth with shallots in 10-15 minutes before rice is slated to finish, and watercress 2-3 minutes prior (you only want this to basically wilt/blanch). Season to taste for final service.
The Business (Final Service):
Prep your vegetable garnishes. Slice cucumbers, slice tomatoes, tear off sprigs of cilantro.
Mix stock and lime juice into chili paste to make a sauce of your desired consistency. This also keeps well in the fridge for a while.
You'll also notice in the above pictures, I had some bean sprouts with this. I blanched these for 25 seconds tops and tossed with light soy and some of the reserved scallion greens from a bunch that I didn't use. This is completely optional.
Carefully slice off the breast of your chicken (or thigh if you want your dark meat), being sure to leave as much skin on as possible - the intermingling of textures is out of this world. Slice the breast on a slight bias with a VERY sharp knife to not drag through the skin and ruin it. I like to give a light drizzle of thin soy sauce on the chicken now too so some of it runs off and into the rice for further flavor.
Serve with rice, fresh cucumber, soup garnished with thinly sliced scallions, cilantro, and your desired sauces.
Enjoy!
Trim any fatty bits of skin off your chicken and place in a bowl to render later - these bits are usually at the neck and below the breast end at the cavity/tail end. These are the basis of flavor for the rice.
Using nitrile gloves if desired, generously massage the chicken with a large amount of coarse salt for 5 minutes, mostly on the exterior, don't worry about trying to hit the inside cavity, but this helps loosen up the skin and exfoliate it. Quickly rinse any excess salt off the surface and place to the side.
Cut the ginger into large coins, peel the garlic, and trim the root ends off scallions, lightly smash these in the mortar and pestle. In the large pot, toss the ginger, garlic, and scallions with ~1.5 Tbsp salt and your MSG with enough cold water to fully submerge the chicken when placed in. We are going to be poaching this very gently, so do not try to add this to previously boiling water.
Peel and slice the carrot, trim and cut watercress into 1.5", roughly bite sized pieces, and mince shallot. Place shallot inside cheesecloth and tie into a bouquet sachet to drop in the soup when it cooks. Set aside for soup step later.
In a small pan over low heat, begin rendering fatty bits of chicken, adding enough oil so you wind up with ~1/2 c. of fat total. Set aside.
Prep (Sauces):
Peel and smash knob of ginger, and slice scallions into small coins, and lightly bruise in your mortar and pestle. Take a few Tbsp of reserved chicken fat and reheat it to above 200 deg F (enough to sizzle aromatics when you pour it in). Pour the oil over the scallions and ginger, and set aside. This keeps well in the fridge for weeks.
Stem and optionally deseed your red chilies to your heat tolerance, and add to clean mortar and pestle with garlic, ginger, and sugar. Grind into a thick paste. Reserve this paste until ready to serve (you will need ~1/4-1/2 c. chicken stock and citrus juice to thin it out to sauce consistency later).
Prep (Rice):
Wash your rice until the water runs clear. Drain.
Using another 2-3 Tbsp of your rendered chicken fat, saute minced shallot and garlic in your medium-sized pot until fragrant, watching so it doesn't burn, no longer than 2 minutes over a fairly modest heat. Toast your washed and drained rice until grains are sufficiently coated in oil and are becoming slightly translucent around the edges.
Tie pandan leaf into a knot, and place on top of rice with 1.5 c. chicken stock (from the chicken poach step below) to cook rice.
The Business (Chicken Poach):
Over a modest heat, in that large pot with the chicken and cold water, poach the chicken breast side down for 45-50 minutes, taking extra care to skim any impurities that float to the surface and to keep the water below the boiling point. Also make sure the chicken stays submerged in the hot water bath - you don't want half-raw chicken. I tend to do this uncovered as well to let evaporative cooling help with temperature regulation and to keep a close eye on it. Too vigorous of a boil and you will also rip the skin that you cultured so well with the salt exfoliation, so be careful.
Probe the back of the thigh to check for doneness starting around 30 minutes in - a gentle poach for 45 minutes is plenty for contemporary grocery store chickens, use best judgement if you are using smaller birds.
Fill a clean sink or large basin with ice water. CAREFULLY remove the chicken from the poaching stock, being sure to not tear the skin, and immediately shock the chicken cold into the ice water bath. This a) stops the cooking process to be left with velvety flesh, b) creates the super gelatinous texture on the skin which is desired, and c) decreases the temperature closer to the desired room temperature serving temperature. Once sufficiently cool to the touch, place the skin back side down onto the drying rack and rub with a generous pour of sesame oil while it rests until service. You do not want to tent this with aluminum foil like some dipshit young chef on the internet might do out of obligation and reflexive Western practices to keep warm. Let it come to room temp or even cooler.
The Business (Soup & Rice):
You now have a large pot of chicken stock. We're going to use a lot of it.
Taste for seasoning, namely salt and umami, you would want to drink the soup straight and have it flavorful on its own, so adjust as necessary (you can use chicken boullion too but I steer away because some brands can make the soup cloudy).
Use 1.5 c. of the stock to cook the rice, so start that in your pot with the toasted rice and pandan leaf (or use a rice cooker if you have it). Start the rice. Bring it to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, and take off the heat and leave covered for 5 mins. Discard the pandan leaf after cooking.
You will also need ~1/4-1/2 c. of it to thin out the chili sauce. Keep some aside.
If you want a more substantial soup to go with the dish, I learned a trick from a good friend Wendy (@theciaofandiary on IG), to both slightly reduce the soup stock to intensify its flavor and to add some coins of root vegetable (carrot, kohlrabi, etc), as well as some green of your choice (my favorite is watercress). Strain out the aromatics from the chicken poach and reduce the liquid if desired, adding carrots and cheesecloth with shallots in 10-15 minutes before rice is slated to finish, and watercress 2-3 minutes prior (you only want this to basically wilt/blanch). Season to taste for final service.
The Business (Final Service):
Prep your vegetable garnishes. Slice cucumbers, slice tomatoes, tear off sprigs of cilantro.
Mix stock and lime juice into chili paste to make a sauce of your desired consistency. This also keeps well in the fridge for a while.
You'll also notice in the above pictures, I had some bean sprouts with this. I blanched these for 25 seconds tops and tossed with light soy and some of the reserved scallion greens from a bunch that I didn't use. This is completely optional.
Carefully slice off the breast of your chicken (or thigh if you want your dark meat), being sure to leave as much skin on as possible - the intermingling of textures is out of this world. Slice the breast on a slight bias with a VERY sharp knife to not drag through the skin and ruin it. I like to give a light drizzle of thin soy sauce on the chicken now too so some of it runs off and into the rice for further flavor.
Serve with rice, fresh cucumber, soup garnished with thinly sliced scallions, cilantro, and your desired sauces.
Enjoy!
