Hainanese chicken rice

Serves 4 - 6

For the chicken

1 big chicken

1 inch knob of ginger

5 - 6 cloves of garlic, whole

2 stalks spring onions

1 pandan leaf, tied into a knot

splash of tsao tsing wine

salt & finely ground white pepper

For the dipping sauces

1) Chili sauce

big red chilies

small red chilies

grated garlic

grated ginger

sugar

lime juice

salt

oil and some of the chicken soup

(all blended) 

2) Ginger garlic sauce

Some ginger, peeled

Some garlic, peeled

Spring onions, chopped

salt

sugar

oil and some of the chicken soup

(Blend all ingredients. Fry the ginger, garlic and spring onions in oil first) 

3) Thick soy sauce

For the chicken soup

1 pot of water

4-5 slices of ginger

garlic

pandan leaf tied to a knot

spring onions

salt

For the chicken sauce

Sesame oil

Light soy sauce

Chicken soup

For the rice

Rice, washed and dried.

Fat from the chicken's backside and trims, cut into small pieces

Whole peeled garlic, lightly smashed

1 stalk spring onions, tied to a knot

1 stalk pandan leaf, tied to a knot

For garnish

Coriander leaves

Spring onions, julienned and soaked in ice cold water

Slices of cucumber

1) Wash the rice till the starch runs clear. Dry.

2) Clean and dry the chicken and stuff the garlic, ginger, spring onion and pandan leaf into the cavity. 

Rub the skin with salt and pepper. Then with tsao tsing wine.

3) Bring the pot of water to a boil with the garlic, ginger, spring onions and pandan leaf. Once the water boils, immerse the chicken fully into the water. Turn off the heat, cover and leave it for 30mins. Turn it back on again to bring to the boil, then turn off and cover for another 30 minutes.

4) Remove the chicken and rub it all over with sesame oil, and leave to rest. Reserve some stock for the chili, garlic, and chicken sauce. Use the rest to cook the rice.

5) For the chili sauce, blend all the ingredients in a food processor with a bit of the stock.

6) For the ginger garlic sauce, blend the ginger and garlic. Add some oil to a fry pan and fry till fragrant. Add the salt, sugar a bit of the chicken soup and spring onions.

7) Fry the pieces of chicken fat in a wok until the fat renders out. Add in the whole garlic cloves and fry till fragrant. Add the rice and fry till it turns slightly light brown or smells slightly toasted.

8) Add the rice to the rice cooker, and add the appropriate amount of chicken soup in the cooker. If there's not enough, add water. Then add the spring onions and pandan leaves. 

9) When the rice is done, remove the garlic, spring onion and pandan leaves and fluff the rice.

10) In a small bowl, combine light soy, stock/chicken soup and sesame oil. (You can serve this separately for dipping or pour it over the chicken after it's been chopped). 

11) Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. 

12) Arrange sliced cucumber at the bottom of the serving plate and then the chicken pieces on top. Pour sauce over, if you want.

13) Garnish with the coriander leaves and spring onions soaked in cold water.

* If you want to cut down on cooking time (greatly!) just use store bought chili sauce and mix bottled minced ginger and bottled minced garlic together. It isn't the same but it will do! 

This is also my own recipe and I've probably made this about 5 times. (It's a lot of work!) It's always undergoing changes as I experiment a lot and I'm not very good at taking exact measurements.