Hainanese Chicken Rice (Singapore Chicken Rice)

Hainanese chicken is one of my life's true love! :) I so love this dish that this is always no. 1 in my list of things that excites me whenever I visit Hong Kong or Singapore. I don't even mind if I eat this breakfast, lunch and dinner all throughout my stay in those places. When I introduced this to the hubby during our first family trip to Hong Kong, he also fell in love with it, so now, I'm not the only one who craves for it from time to time. And what even made it complicated is that he wants his Hainanese chicken rice with the bok choy side dish! It was a good thing bok choy is a regular in Mega Mart's fresh vegetables section. You can check out my Bok Choy recipe here.

Now, let me just say that this Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe is a work in progress. My goal is to really make this recipe as authentic as the ones you get from Singapore, but I must admit this would be a very long journey for me. I, more than anyone else would be my biggest critic! But I'll get there, I'll definitely get there or my soul wouldn't rest! lol! 
This dish is actually involves two separate recipes but I will be posting the chicken and rice recipe together in this post because there's just no way you can match the chicken with any other type of rice, and the same is true with rice. However, I believe there's also the roasted chicken version of this recipe, but I haven't really tried that yet. I'm just too happy with my white chicken, I couldn't wait for it to brown :)


White Chicken
Well, contrary to what most people would think, the chicken is not steamed. It is actually blanched. This is the part which I really find so hard to master. It's still a trial and error for me up to now. Sometimes I do it really well, but on other times, I either take out the chicken too early or too late :( 
I would say at an average, the chicken cooks within about 30-45 minutes. It would have been easier if the chicken were frozen as the weight is indicated in the packet. But then I buy the live ones from the chicken shops where they just process the chicken after you've bought them. The chicken in these shops you buy per piece and not per kg. If you live in Al Naser Area, there's one shop just across the mosque near Family Food Center. This is before the first signal coming from the Family Food Center.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 pkt tube ice
5-6 cups of water (enough to submerge the whole chicken)
2 pandan leaves
1 head garlic, crushed
3 in ginger, crushed
1 big red onion, quartered
spring onions
1 chicken broth cube
1 tbs salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Method:
In a casserole put water and the rest of the ingredients except the chicken and tube ice.
Cook over high heat and let boil about 2 minutes and lower the heat to medium.
Add in the chicken, breast side down. Remember to remove the scum as it rises. Cover and continue boiling for about 30-45 minutes. (Tip: I saw in one site that a kitchen thermometer would be helpful by putting it in the thickest part of the chicken, when the temp reaches 170deg. then it is about cooked. I haven't gone around to buying a kitchen thermometer though, I'm just saying :) ).
In one bowl put about the same amount of water and add Ice. Immediately after taking out the chicken from the casserole, plunge it in the ice cold water. Let stay for a few minutes. Turn over the chicken if it isn't fully submerged in water. (This a very important step in the recipe as this is the part which makes the Hainanese chicken distinct from a steamed chicken or a boiled chicken. The process tightens the skin of the chicken making it firm a a bit rubbery --- which isn't bad at all! That skin texture is what we're trying to achieve.)
Pull out the chicken from the ice bath and pat dry with a paper towel. And please, whatever you do, just don't break the skin! Set aside.
Now it's time for the rice. Strain the broth, we need to use clear broth for the rice :)


Hainanese Rice
Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice
2.5 cups white chicken broth (the one we used above :) )
3 tbs cooking oil
2 tbs ginger, finely chopped
1 pandan leaf
salt and pepper
Method:
Rinse the rice at least twice to remove starch. Drain.
In another casserole, put the oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the ginger. 
Cook until ginger is fragrant then add the rice. Sautee for about 3-5mins. Make sure all grains are evenly coated with oil and ginger is evenly distributed.
Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the pandan leaf. 
Adjust heat to lowest possible setting and keep until rice is cooked and broth had fully dried.
Transfer into a plate and serve immediately.


Serving Suggestion: chop chicken and and serve as rice topping. I have store bought ginger paste and red chili paste which I had served with the dish. The ginger you see on the photo above was my home made ginger sauce, which is also a work in progress. Garnish with some cucumbers and you're on your way to heaven! Enjoy!