Chicken Rice

4.70 from 23 votes

This is a chicken rice dish found in Malaysia and Singapore, called Hainanese chicken rice. Easy and delicious chicken rice recipe.

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Malaysian Recipes

Cuisine: Chicken

Keyword: Chicken Rice

Servings:

Calories: 2498kcal

Author: Bee Yinn Low

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

Never let the Great-Wall-of-China-long list of ingredients and methods intimidate you. It's really not as tough or scary as it seems + the ingredients can be easily attainable almost everywhere and importantly, your effort will be extremely well paid off after.

Nutrition