Hainanese Chicken Rice

How how on earth can i ever miss out on making this honourary dish.
The love of my father and my boyfriend.
Both of whom can eat it for three meals a day, seven days a week.
To the point it drives my mother crazy and away from this simple yet tantalizing dish.
I have to say, to me, the most important part is cooking the rice, to perfection where every grain is coated with the natural oils and flavour of the chicken and each grain is simply, perfect.
i've always been the cook that knows how to cook all my dishes but the rice.
However to make this dish, i actually practiced a few times to simply, get it right.
i will update the exact measurements for the cooking of the rice and the chili as we go along but today, lets focus on the chicken and the soup. I use organic chicken stock as i only use chicken thighs here but it works perfectly with any other chicken stock or even better, with real chicken bones ( which i am unable to get here )

serves 4

 Ingredients
4 chicken leg quarters
1L organic chicken broth
300ml water
1 piece of old ginger sliced thickly (ginger about 4cm x 3cm )
1 clove garlic, chopped
5 pandan leaves
4 tsp seasalt
3 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp olive oil
a dash of pepper
1 tsp maggie sauce ( optional but add a nice flavor to the chick sauce )
2 stalks spring onion
1 bunch of cilantro
2 cups of jasmine rice


Wash the chicken thighs and remove all the visible fat. do not throw the fat away as it is very important for rice cooking. From this, i usually am able to get from half a handful to a handful of chicken fat.
Sprinkle salt all over the chicken and rub in then set aside.
Cut both spring onions into two, separating the thick white bulb from the green tops and chop the green tops.
In a large pot on high heat, add olive oil, garlic and ginger, fry till fragrant and add chicken stock, water, 1 spring onion bulb, 2 tbsp shaoxing wine, 3 panda leaves that is tied in a knot and chicken pieces. when starting to boil, turn the heat down to medium. It should boil lightly and not over boil. Leave for 50 mins.
After 30 mins, in a pan over high heat fry the chicken fat, 1 tsp of garlic and one 2mm thick slice of ginger until the fragrant, add the rice and ensure ever grain is covered in chicken fat. Put the rice in a rice cooker, add the stalk of spring onion bulb together with the remaining 2 panda leaves, also in a knot and scoop the chicken broth into the rice cooker. Cook the rice.
After 50 minutes, remove the chicken from the boiling broth and dunk immediately into a bowl of ice water. Leave for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a sauce bowl, mix 1 tbsp shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil and maggie sauce.
Drain chicken and place nicely on a play and pour sauce mixture over it. Garnish with cilantro.
By now, the rice should be ready. Scoop the soup and sprinkle generously with spring onion tops.
Serve!

PS: i will update on the super important chili very soon but for the moment, buy a good bottle of it.

Bon Appetite!