Hainanese Chicken Rice

Singapore's national dish: a whole chicken poached until silky and tender, served with rice cooked in the golden chicken fat and stock with ginger and pandan, a fiery chilli-ginger sauce, dark soy, and a bowl of the clear poaching broth

Origin: Singapore

From the journey of Rice.

Hainanese chicken rice is the great everyday dish of Singapore and Malaysia, and Singapore's national dish in all but formal proclamation. It was carried south from the Chinese island of Hainan by immigrants who came to the Straits Settlements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and it descends directly from Wenchang chicken, the poached-chicken-and-rice speciality of their home island. In the kitchens of Malaya and Singapore the Hainanese, who became the cooks and the coffee-shop keepers of the colonial port cities, refined it into the dish known today, and it spread from the hawker stall to become the food that, more than any other, the country claims as its own. Its genius is its frugal completeness: a single chicken yields the whole meal. The bird is poached very gently in an aromatic broth until just cooked and meltingly tender, then plunged into iced water to set the flesh and give the skin its characteristic silky, gelatinous finish. The rice, the true heart of the dish, is fried with garlic and ginger in the fat skimmed from the poaching, then cooked in the chicken stock with a knot of pandan, so that every grain is fragrant and glossy and golden. Around this go the three sauces that complete it: a bright, pounded chilli-garlic-ginger sauce sharpened with lime, a thick sweet dark soy, and often a ginger-and-spring-onion oil. A bowl of the clear poaching broth is served alongside. Simple, fragrant, and deeply comforting, it is a dish in which the rice matters as much as the meat.

Ingredients

The Chicken

1 whole chicken (about 1.6 kg)
5 cm fresh ginger, sliced
4 spring onions, halved
1 tbsp salt, plus more for rubbing
2 litres water, to cover

The Rice

400 g jasmine rice, washed and drained
3 tbsp chicken fat (skimmed from the poaching) or neutral oil
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 cm fresh ginger, finely minced
2 pandan leaves, knotted (optional)
560 ml reserved chicken poaching stock

Chilli Sauce

6 long red chillies, deseeded
3 bird's-eye chillies (to taste)
4 cloves garlic
3 cm fresh ginger
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp reserved chicken stock (to loosen)

To Serve

2 tbsp thick dark sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), to serve
1 cucumber, sliced
1 small bunch fresh coriander

Method

Rub the chicken inside and out with salt and rinse. Stuff the cavity with the sliced ginger and spring onions. Lower the whole bird into a deep pot, breast-side down, and cover with the water. Add the tablespoon of salt.
Bring slowly just to the boil, skimming off any scum, then immediately reduce to the barest simmer, cover, and poach very gently for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through (the juices at the thigh should run clear). Do not let it boil hard.
Lift the chicken out and plunge it at once into a large bowl of iced water for 5 minutes, then drain. Brush lightly with a little sesame oil if you like. Reserve the poaching stock, skimming off the fat from the top and keeping it for the rice.
Make the rice: heat the chicken fat in a saucepan, add the minced garlic and ginger, and fry for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the drained rice and stir for 2 minutes until glossy and coated. Add the pandan and 560ml of the reserved stock, bring to the boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 12 to 15 minutes. Rest, covered, for 10 minutes, then fluff.
Make the chilli sauce: pound or blend the chillies, garlic, and ginger to a paste with the lime juice, sugar, a little salt, and enough reserved stock to make a loose, spoonable sauce. Taste and balance hot, sour, and salty.
Carve the chicken into pieces. Serve each person a mound of the fragrant rice, a portion of chicken drizzled with a little dark sweet soy, the chilli sauce and extra cut ginger on the side, slices of cucumber, and a bowl of the hot, clear poaching broth (seasoned to taste and scattered with spring onion).

Notes

The dish rests on three things done well: a gently poached, never boiled, chicken; rice cooked in the skimmed chicken fat and stock; and a punchy chilli-ginger-lime sauce. A traditional touch is to rub the poached bird with sesame oil for gloss. Pandan (screwpine) leaf perfumes the rice beautifully but can be omitted. Kecap manis (sweet dark soy) is the usual drizzle; a thick dark soy with a little sugar stirred in is a fine substitute. Leftover stock makes an excellent base for soup or congee the next day.

The Gastrographer

Name: Hainanese Chicken Rice
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Singapore
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken (about 1.6 kg); 5 cm fresh ginger, sliced; 4 spring onions, halved; 1 tbsp salt, plus more for rubbing; 2 litres water, to cover; 400 g jasmine rice, washed and drained; 3 tbsp chicken fat (skimmed from the poaching) or neutral oil; 4 cloves garlic, finely minced; 2 cm fresh ginger, finely minced; 2 pandan leaves, knotted (optional); 560 ml reserved chicken poaching stock; 6 long red chillies, deseeded; 3 bird's-eye chillies (to taste); 4 cloves garlic; 3 cm fresh ginger; 2 tbsp lime juice; 1 tsp sugar; 4 tbsp reserved chicken stock (to loosen); 2 tbsp thick dark sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), to serve; 1 cucumber, sliced; 1 small bunch fresh coriander

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control