Hainanese Chicken and Rice

Hainanese chicken is a really simple dish. I don’t ever think about making it at home because back in San Diego, it was so easy to walk into almost any Chinese barbecue restaurant and order a half or whole chicken to go.

Most of the time when I walk into Sam Woo barbecue, I order the roast duck. When I’m not in the mood to mess with the boney duck, I will go for the soy sauce braised whole chicken instead. On very rare occasions, I will get the Hainanese chicken. (Sam Woo calls it steamed chicken.)

Initially I was planning on making soy sauce chicken but Hainanese chicken sounded a lot better to me. Maybe it is because I haven’t had much of an appetite so lighter (and blander) food is more appealing at the moment.

I know there are several versions of this dish in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and a few other Asian countries. I am making the Sam Woo restaurant style. This style is served with a different type of dipping sauce made with ginger and scallions. The ginger and scallion combination is very nice combination.

This is a picture of the Sam Woo version:

Ingredients for Chicken:

1 whole chicken (This dish is about the chicken so use a good quality chicken. I used a "Smart Chicken."
2 cloves garlic
6 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled, cut into thick slices
handful cilantro stems
5-6 stalks green onions
2 teaspoon maggi sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ tsp peppercorns
salt
MSG

Ingredients for Rice:

3 cups Jasmine rice, washed and drained
2 cloves garlic, cut in half
½ inch knob or garlic, cut into four pieces
2½ tbsp chicken fat or vegetable oil
6 cups, poaching broth
salt
black pepper


To serve:
Cucumber slices
Ginger Scallion sauce (recipe below)



Directions for Chicken :
1. Thoroughly clean and drain chicken. Trim off any excess fat and reserve. Pat dry. Stuff garlic, ginger, cilantro steams and green onions into the cavity of the chicken.

2. Fill a large stockpot with water (just enough to submerge chicken. Add maggi sauce, sesame oil, peppercorns, salt and MSG and bring to a boil.
3. Carefully place chicken, breast side down, in boiling water and immediately reduce the heat to a slight simmer/poach. Poach chicken for about one hour. Make sure the water does not boil.

4. Fill a large bowl or pot with cold water and ice cubes. When chicken is cooked, submerged chicken in ice water for about 5 to 10minutes.
5. Now go prepare the rice.
6. Remove chicken from ice water, discard “stuffing” and drain the chicken well and set it aside.
7. When chicken is cool enough to handle, cut the chicken up using a sharp Chinese cleaver. (I don ‘t have one so I didn’t attempt this step. I’m not sure if the chicken bone or my knife would win the battle and I didn’t want to take the chance with my knife.)


Directions for Rice:

1. Wash the rice until water runs clear. Drain well. (Should probably do this at the beginning.)
2. Heat a heavy bottom pot, render chicken fat. You should get about ¼ cup, if not, add some canola oil to make ¼ cup.
3. Add rice, garlic halves and ginger. Cook until rice is translucent and slightly golden around some of the edges. Add liquid from poached chicken.
4. Bring rice to a boil and boil uncovered until the quid is absorbed. Cover, reduce heat to love and cook until grains are soft. Let rice rest, covered, at least 15 minutes and then fluff with a fork.


Ingredients for Ginger Scallion Sauce:

¼ cup canola oil
6 scallion (green onions), finely chopped
2 tablespoons ginger, grated
2 teaspoons salt

Directions for Ginger Scallion Sauce:
1. Heat oil in a small saucepan. When oil is hot, add the rest of the ingredients and remove from heat.