Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice
Known as Singapore’s national dish, Hainanese chicken rice may look simple, but it is packed with so much flavor! This dish typically calls for cooking a whole chicken but to make it easier and healthier, I decided to use chicken breasts instead. If you love ginger and garlic, you’ll love chicken rice!
Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice
Servings 6 people
Ingredients
The Rice
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 3 inches ginger peeled and minced
- 2 shallots peeled and minced
- 2.5 cups Thai Jasmine rice washed and drained in a sieve
- 3 ¾ cups chicken stock
The Chicken
- 2 inches ginger peeled and bruised
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and bruised
- 1 carton chicken stock
- 4 large chicken breasts bone-in
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
The Gingery-Garlicky Chili Sauce
- 6 large red chilies stems removed
- 2 Thai bird’s eye chilies stems removed
- 2 inch ginger peeled and bruised
- 5 cloves garlic peeled and bruised
- 2 limes juiced
- 1-2 Tablespoons of chicken stock from poaching liquid
Instructions
- After your rice is washed and drained (try to ensure it’s as dry as possible), heat up 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the garlic, ginger and shallots. When the oil is fragrant, add the raw rice to the mixture. Fry everything together for a few minutes, ensuring the rice kernels are coated with the oil.
- Add the rice kernels plus all the aromatics into the rice cooker. Pour in the chicken broth and set it to cook. If you don’t have a rice cooker, place the rice, aromatics and chicken broth in a medium pot with a lid. Bring the broth to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and lower the heat to a simmer. Let it simmer for 20 minutes until the liquid has evaporated and the rice is cooked.
- In a large pot, place the chicken breasts, ginger and garlic. Pour enough broth over the chicken breasts to cover them over an inch. Bring the broth to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let them simmer for around 10 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts and let them rest for about 5 minutes. Reserve the poaching liquid for further use.
- Cut the chicken breasts into pieces. Drizzle sesame oil over the chicken. Add ¼ cup hot poaching liquid to a tablespoon of oyster sauce in a small bowl and mix them together to form a sauce. Pour over the chicken.
- To make the chili sauce, blend all the dry ingredients together into a paste. Add the lime juice and chicken stock to the consistency that you want. Typically authentic chicken rice chili sauce has a watery consistency.
- Enjoy the chicken rice with slices of cucumber and/or green onions! The poaching liquid can also be enjoyed as a side of soup.