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5 Secrets to 20 Minute Dinners!
Tips, tricks, and recipes for dinner in a hurry!
You know that someone is a serious and great cook when she tirelessly perfects her recipes even though it means that the family has to eat the same dish over and over again, Sherie of Maameemoomoo is just that with her Hainanese chicken rice recipe, a popular dish in Malaysia and Singapore.
Maameemoomoo food blog is one of the finalists of Singapore Blog Award; it beckons with mouthwatering recipes and gorgeous photography, one that is sure to stir up your appetite.
Please welcome Maameemoomoo to Rasa Malaysia with her perfect Hainanese chicken rice recipe. Enjoy!
Truth be told, I got to know about Rasa Malaysia quite sometime ago back in 2006 from one of my favourite food blogs then. All these years, I’ve been silently supporting Bee without her knowing but now, errrmmm… not so silently anymore aye? :)
When Bee invited me to do a guest post for her last month, I was elated but at the same time, a little worried…
Why?
Just take a look at the Bee’s recipe index. I doubt that there is any Malaysian/ Singaporean dish that has not been featured on Rasa Malaysia already.
Fortunately, 1 out of 2 suggestions suggested got Bee thrilled and she was quick to agree to it because she hasn’t featured this particular dish, yet.
Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of Chinese origin most commonly associated with Hainanese Cuisine, Malaysian Cuisine and Singapore Cuisine. It is based on the well-known Hainanese dish called Wenchang chicken (文昌雞).
Don’t be surprised though, if you find the chicken rice served in Hainan, China is different from what you can find in Southeast Asia. Over the years, adaption has been made by the Chinese Hainanese clan who migrated to Southeast Asia which resulted today’s Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia.
Being a Hainanese myself, I often eat this when I was growing up. My mother has this ultra soft-spot for this dish, perhaps, because it is the only Hainanese dish which she can whip up perfectly. Tee hee hee!
So, how do you define a good plate of chicken rice?
You might be shocked to know that each and every one of us defines it differently. While a bowl of kick-ass rice works for me, some may think it is the oh-so-tender-chicken pieces with its silky smooth skin, or some, it is the one-of-its-kind-chili sauce.
I say, whatever works for you and that is that.
Before this, due to my non-existent chopping chicken skill, I usually cut the chicken into just 4 sections and let the children tear the meat off by themselves.
However, ever since I promised Bee that I’ll produce a decent looking plate of chicken rice for her, my poor family had been consuming chicken rice for almost 5 weeks consecutively for the past month!
Thankfully on my 5th attempt, I managed to get a plate of OK-looking chicken pieces and i thought that was the end of my chicken rice meal for the next 3 months at least, but guess what?
I’ve just been sent a request to cook this dish on Sunday for my partner’s family and his beloved sister who would be back from the States for a short holiday!
Guess it’s not that easy to get bored of Hainanese chicken rice eh?
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
Chicken Rice
Ingredients
For the rice
- 3 cups uncooked washed rice
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 4 finely chopped shallots
- 2.5 cups chicken broth (+ 2 tbsp )
- 4-6 blades of pandan leave (screwpine leaves)
- 1 small thumb of ginger (cleaned and bruised)
- 1 tbsp garlic and shallot oil
- 70 g (2½ oz) chicken fats
- 1.5 tsp salt (to taste)
For the chicken
- 1 whole chicken (preferably free range organic chicken)
- 1 small thumb of ginger (cleaned and bruised)
- 5-6 stalks of scallion (washed)
- 10 bowls chicken stock (adjust accordingly)
- 4 blades of pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)
- 1 carrot (roughly chopped)
- 3 tsp salt
- 10 bowls cold water
- 1 cucumber (peeled, halved and sliced diagonally)
For the sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp chicken broth
- 3 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tsp garlic and shallot oil
For chicken rice chilli sauce
- 90 g (3 oz) red chilies, you may add in some bird's eye chili
- 15 g (½ oz) garlic
- 50 g (1¾ oz) ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 50 ml chicken broth
- 60 ml lime juice, to taste
To garnish
- Few sprigs of cilantro
Instructions
For the chicken
- Wash chicken, drain well, stuff ginger and scallion into the chicken's cavity. Using 2 tsp of salt as scrub, rub the salt all over the chicken for smooth looking skin.
- In a not too large stockpot which fits the chicken perfectly, boil the chicken stock (enough to cover the whole chicken) together with pandan leaves, carrot and salt.
- Submerge the whole chicken, breast side down, in the boiling water for 35-45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer immediately.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove chicken and plunge it into prepared cold water at once for 10 minutes. Keep the chicken broth** for later use.
- Drain the chicken, discard ginger and scallion from the cavity and set it aside to cool before chopping it neatly into desired serving size.
For the rice
- Heat oil in wok, fry chopped shallots and garlic till fragrant and golden in colour. Add rice and stir well. Transfer the rice mixture to rice cooker.
- Once transferred, add chicken broth, pandan leaves, ginger, garlic and shallot oil, chicken fats and salt into rice mixture. Cook according to rice cooker's manual instruction.
To prepare chicken rice
- Line a serving plate with cucumber slices.
- Arrange chicken pieces on top, pour in the prepared sauce before garnishing with cilantro.
- Serve with chicken rice, side soup and chicken rice chili sauce.
- **Any left over chicken broth can be served as side soup, garnish with cilantro or chopped scallions. I like my soup with fish balls. ;)
Notes
Nutrition
Growing up, I used to love eating this in Penang. I have always wanted to try cooking it, but this really looks to difficult. Too many unknowns for me. Like do I add water to the rice cooker? etc. Thanks for putting this out there for the better cooks of the world. Your pictures are great.
Thanks Robin!
Thanks for the tips, i like chicken rice
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I adapted it a bit and used boneless and skinless chicken breasts and didn’t use the chicken fat. This is the first time I used the pandan plant I had bought from Amazon. We live and the US and your recipe helped remind us a bit of Malaysia. Thanks so much!
Hi, I am based in the US and my sponsors are all from the US. They won’t ship the prizes overseas. Rasa Malaysia has been around for 10 years, and my giveaways have always been US-based. I do have some giveaways that are worldwide or Malaysia only.
I travelled to Singapore quite frequently in the past and each trip is not complete without eating a sumptuous Hainanese Chicken Rice. It’s Singapore’s signature dish, in my opinion. I have since moved to Canada and realized that I have not eaten this dish for years. I will be making this soon. Thanks for sharing Judy!
I used Duck fat and Goose fat to replace most of the oil.
Tried it today and my daughter loves it. I put foo chook (dried beancurd) and shitake mushroom to the soup and small amount of salt. It’s yummy. Healthy
I love this dish. Whenever I am in Malaysia, I never miss this. Thank you for this recipe, now I can make this myself. It is easy but need sometime to master it. I did not use pandan leave for my first try but still got the taste.
For making the sauce, please make sure do not over cook the garlic when you prepare the oil. It will spoil the dish. I think with high heat when putting in the garlic and immediately off the stove and let the hot oil do the rest. This is my own observation.
Thank you
I made this tonight with a chicken we got from our meat CSA. It was awesome. Not quite Fetty Loh’s (or Fatty Loh’s) but we still really enjoyed it. Thanks!!!!
Hi love your recipe but i also like my chicken with the ginger paste. Wonder if you have any special recipe to that. Thanks