Singapore
Singapore/Chicken Rice Recipe
​
SIngapore/Hainanese Chicken Rice Recipe
Chicken Rice is probably the most common street food in Singapore. It can be found in almost all hawker centers/food courts in the country, costing about US$4 per person. Singaporeans are proud of the diversity and accessibility of our hawker culture, which has recently been added onto the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. When overseas, we frequently try to replicate some hawker food, and Chicken Rice is probably one of the easiest to prepare.
This dish consists of poached chicken with rice cooked in chicken broth. Most ingredients are readily available except for pandan leaf which can be purchased from Asian supermarkets, either fresh or frozen. This cannot be omitted as it lends a unique aroma to the chicken and rice. We typically eat the dish with ginger sauce, dark soy sauce and chili sauce. We tend to drizzle them liberally on our rice and chicken.
Ingredients
1 Whole Chicken
4 Pandan Leaves (tied into knots)
1 Shallot (peeled and chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (peeled and chopped)
2 Knobs Ginger (peeled)
2 Tbs Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tbs Light Soy Sauce
2 Tbs Sesame Oil
2 Tbs Chili Sauce
2 Cups Jasmine Rice
Cook Chicken
-
Insert 1 knot of pandan leaf and 1 knob of ginger into the chicken. Secure with Toothpick. Rub salt over the chicken.
-
Bring a big pot of water to boil. Lower the chicken into the pot, breast down. Cover the Pot. Simmer the chicken for 45 min at low heat, turning it halfway.
-
Prepare a bowl of ice water and immerse the cooked chicken into it for 10 min for a better meat texture.
-
Transfer the chicken onto a plate. Pour soy sauce and sesame oil over it. Cut it into serving sizes.
Cook Rice
-
Fry minced shallot and garlic (reserve some for the ginger sauce). Add the washed rice and fry for 3 minutes.
-
Cook rice in rice cooker with the remaining pandan leaves and chicken broth from above. Discard the leaves when the rice is cooked. The rice is the highlight of this dish for many Singaporeans.
Cook Ginger Sauce
-
To make the ginger sauce, put the remaining ginger and garlic together with 1/4 cup of chicken broth in a food processor.
-
For simplicity, I have used dark soy sauce and chili sauce bought from the store.