Hainanese Chicken Rice
Servings:
4
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
90 minutes
Difficulty:
Medium
Ingredients
- Whole chicken: 1.5-1.8 kg at room temperature
- Ginger, large knob (50g), sliced: for poaching
- Garlic, crushed: 6-8 cloves
- Scallions: 6-8
- Salt: 1 tbsp plus to taste
- Water: enough to submerge chicken
- Jasmine rice: 2 cups
- Garlic, minced: 3-4 cloves (for rice)
- Ginger, crushed: 3-4 slices (for rice)
- Chicken fat or neutral oil: 1-2 tbsp
- Chicken broth (from poaching): 2-2.25 cups
- Ginger, minced: 3-4 tbsp (for sauce)
- Scallions, minced: 3-4 tbsp (for sauce)
- Salt: ½-1 tsp (for ginger-scallion oil)
- Hot neutral oil: ¼-⅓ cup (for ginger-scallion oil)
- Red chilies: 3-4 (for chili sauce)
- Lime juice or rice vinegar: 1-2 tbsp (for chili sauce)
- Sugar: ½-1 tsp (for chili sauce)
- Light soy sauce: 2-3 tbsp (for drizzle)
- Dark soy sauce: 1-2 tsp (for drizzle)
- Sesame oil: 1-2 tsp (for drizzle)
Instructions
- Trim excess fat from chicken cavity, reserve for rice
- Rub chicken inside and outside with salt, rinse and pat dry
- Stuff cavity with ginger slices and scallions
- Place chicken breast-side down in snug pot, cover with cold water
- Bring slowly to bare simmer, do not let boil hard
- When small bubbles break surface, reduce to very low, cover
- Poach 30-40 minutes, skimming foam
- Turn off heat, keep covered 15-20 minutes to finish gently cooking
- Lift chicken out carefully, reserve all broth
- Immediately plunge into ice bath 5-10 minutes
- Drain well, rub lightly with sesame oil for shine
- Render reserved chicken fat, add oil if needed
- Gently fry minced garlic and ginger until fragrant but not browned
- Add rinsed drained rice, stir-fry 1-2 minutes to coat
- Transfer to rice cooker, add hot poaching broth, cook normally
- Rest rice 10 minutes before fluffing
- For ginger-scallion oil: put minced ginger, scallions, and salt in heatproof bowl, pour hot oil over
- For chili sauce: blend chilies, garlic, broth, lime/vinegar, sugar, salt until smooth
- For soy drizzle: combine soy sauces, sesame oil, hot broth
- Chop chicken into bone-in pieces or remove and slice boneless
- Serve with chicken rice, hot broth, and sauces on side