I stumbled on a post for Hainanese chicken rice on one of the blogs I read regularly,  I wasn't familiar with the dish so I googled up and a found few sites and a wikipedia entry for it. It seemed like a simple dish to make. Most of the blog posts I read reflected a fondness for the dish. It is considered a signature dish of Singapore similar to how Adobo is considered a Philippine dish. Since most of the ingredients are available locally, I decided to give it a try. I googled up a few recipes and studied the process on how to cook it. I used the ingredients common to most of the versions I found.

Hainanese chicken is cooked via poaching. Poaching is not a commonly used cooking method in Philippine cuisine and this added to my curiosity about the dish. My initial attempt at poaching resulted in an undercooked chicken. If this happens to you, don't fret, just put the chicken back in the steaming water and let it cook for 10 minutes more. You can also microwave it. I nuked the undercooked chicken in the microwave on high for about 5 minutes. It turned out palatable but slightly dry.

I cooked two chickens at the same time since I planned to bring one of them to my fiancé’s house. Measurements aren’t exact, but I'll try my best to post an estimate of how much I used.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken -  I used 2 medium sized chickens, around .9 - 1.1 kg weight range
1 cup sliced ginger - I used up around 1.5 cups of ginger for two chickens, so 1 cup should be more than enough for 1 chicken
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup chopped scallions or spring onion - I bought 2 bunches from the hypermart, and used both up. So 1 bunch per chicken should work
1 bunch lemon grass / tanglad - this was an additional ingredient suggested by my mother, you can remove this if its not available.
1 cup rock salt -  I used it for flavoring and cleaning the chicken's skin.
1 tbsp chopped parsley
3 cups ice cubes
1 med sized cucumber
2 semi ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cooking oil
Soy dip
Fine Chili sauce 
(I was suppose to make chili garlic dip but I opted for the bottled version)

Procedure:
1. Get a handful of salt and rub it on the chicken's skin. Scrub skin then rinse with water. Repeat process until the chicken's skin is smooth and clear of dirt and fine feathers.

2. Stuff chicken's cavity with chopped scallion, crushed ginger, crushed garlic and salt.

3. Pour water into a casserole or a stockpot, and let boil. There should be enough water to submerge most of the chicken. Knot the lemon grass and add it to the water.

4. Once the water boils, add the chicken. Let it boil for 10 minutes then set the flame to lowest possible setting and let  chicken simmer for 30 minutes. Rotate chicken halfway through the simmering period.

5. Poke the thickest part of the chicken thigh with a small knife or a barbecue stick. If the juice that flows out is clear then the chicken is ready. If the juice still looks slightly red, leave it in the water for a few minutes more. (If you have a meat thermometer, use that to check if the chicken is done) Keep chicken stock for use later.

6. If the chicken is done, remove from the steaming water and place in a bowl with filled with ice. This will prevent the chicken from overcooking and will tighten the chicken skin. This is step is crucial to keep the chicken firm.

7. Once the chicken has cooled down, remove it from the ice water bath and let it drip dry for 5 minutes. You will know the chicken is ready for chopping once it feels firmer to touch.

8. Coat whole chicken with the sesame oil.

9. Remove the ginger and scallions from chicken's cavity. This can be used to make the chili garlic dip.

10. Chop the chicken to your preferred serving size. The chicken's juices should be clear to very light pink. You can microwave the chicken if you want it well done.

11. Slice tomatoes and cucumber thinly, arrange on same plate with chicken. Garnish with whole or chopped parsley.

12. Serve chicken with soy sauce and chili dip. There are several types of dips you can use here. I'll feature additional dips on my next batch.

Chicken rice
2 cups long grain rice (basmati or jasmine)
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped onion
1 tbsp chopped ginger.
1 tbsp cooking oil

1. In a casserole, sauté chopped garlic, onion and ginger in a tbsp of cooking oil.

2. Wash long grained rice, drain well. Place this into a rice cooker or rice pot.

3. Add 3 cups of chicken stock and sautéed spices.

4. Stir well and let the rice cook.


Soy dip
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp chopped scallions / spring onions

1. Add 1/4 cup broth to 1/4 cup soy sauce

2. Add about 1 tbsp of finely chopped ginger, garlic and scallions


My family loved how this dish turned out. I will definitely add this to the dishes I cook regularly.  The extra stock is also useful for cooking other dishes like arroz caldo and tinola, so save it and store it in the refrigerator. The first time I tasted this dish I didn’t expect it to be so filling. That was until I noticed how much rice I had consumed.

I hope you guys enjoy cooking your own Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Until next time!