Here's the recipe for the real thing. But sometimes, we don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen, and instead just make a quick meal, but still have a great simple (and quick) meal of chicken and rice.
While I can make solely in the rice cooker or a single pot, It's faster to make scallion oil in a sauce pan (but also easier to burn the garlic).
NOTES
Brining the chicken is an optional but highly recommended step, but I feel it makes the chicken juicier and more flavorful. If you are using frozen chicken, and thawing them in the fridge overnight / cold water, it's easy to simultaneously brine / marinate them at the same time. I would use a ziploc bag or food safe container filled with salt and water, with a few pieces of ginger thrown in (to help offset any "gamey" flavors). If using fresh chicken, a little salt can be sprinkled on the chicken 30min before cooking.
Try to keep some peeled / pre-sliced ginger in the freezer, and pre-washed / pre-cut scallions for when you run out of fresh stuff.
Extra chicken can be placed in the fridge and used to make cold shredded sesame chicken.
Extra rice (if you have self control and don't eat all of it mixed with that green scallion sauce) makes for the most amazing fried rice. I've been accused of making chicken rice just for the leftovers.
Hainanese Chicken Rice (EASY MODE)
INGREDIENTS | ||
| Chicken Thighs / Breasts | 2-6 pieces | Brined (wet or dry) ~ 30min - 48 hrs |
| Salt | 1-2% chicken weight | Optional - wet or dry brining. |
| Ginger | 10g / 1⁄3 oz | Optional, Sliced |
| Sesame Oil | 15ml / 1 Tbsp | Poured on Cooked Chicken before serving |
| Below quantities in italics are variable, quantities given are suggestions | ||
| Chicken Rice/ Scallion oil | ||
| Rice | 50-75g per person | |
| Ginger | 10g /0.35 oz | 2.5cm / one inch knob chunk sliced into 5 slices, 5mm /1/5 Inch thick |
| Garlic | 4 cloves | Peeled and sliced into 2mm / 1/16 Inch thick |
| Neutral Oil Chicken Stock | 24g / 2 tablespoon Suitable amount | Use how ever much stock as you would water to cook rice. This depends on your rice cooker and type of rice |
| Ginger Scallion Oil (Dipping Sauce) | ||
| Ginger | 10g /0.3 oz | 2.5cm /1 inch knob, Finely diced / Grated |
| Spring Onion / Scallions | 40g / 1.1 blintz | 4 stalks Finely diced / Grated (the white parts have a stronger flavor) |
| Garlic | 4 cloves | Finely diced / Grated |
| Salt | 2g / 0.034mols | 1/4 tsp, more if you like |
| Sugar to Taste | ||
PREP
1) Make scallion oil-
ii) Heat up the oil in a small saucepan or in your rice cooker with garlic, ginger and scallions, over a low flame until the garlic browns 5~10min
iii) Remove garlic, ginger and scallions when they brown, reserve for serving with the rice later.
iv) Discard and restart process if burnt.
i) Put dipping sauce ingredients into a tall heat proof bowl,
ii) SLOWLY pour 2/3 of the hot scallion oil into the ingredients - reserve for later
iii) Careful, oil may splatter if your bowl is too shallow.
2) Prep scallion dipping sauce for later
ii) SLOWLY pour 2/3 of the hot scallion oil into the ingredients - reserve for later
iii) Careful, oil may splatter if your bowl is too shallow.
COOKING
1) Toast raw rice grains in the reserved scallion oil for ~2 min, this will imbue your rice with a nutty aroma and a golden hue.
2) Cook your rice as you normally do, optionally substituting chicken stock for water
3) On the last 15 minutes of the cooking process, use tongs or chopsticks to place your raw chicken on top of the cooking rice.
4) When the rice is done, check that the chicken has reached a safe temperature.
Serve with the dipping scallion oil, or other sauces from the original recipe. Warm up the scallion oil dipping sauce for best results.
Mix leftover scallion oil with leftover chicken and keep it in the fridge for leftovers.
Leftover chicken rice also makes amazing fried rice, because the grains are already separated.
Comments
Post a Comment