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Hainanese chicken rice recipe
Created by Tiffany Wong
- Cuisine: Singaporean
- Prep Time: 1 hr(s) 30 min(s)
- Cook Time: 2 hr(s) 45 min(s)
- Serves 6
This is a classic Singaporean dish of delicately poached chicken infused with ginger, which is accompanied by rice cooked in chicken stock, a bowl of the hot stock itself, and various sauces. Tiffany makes quick chilli and ginger sauces and also serves this with kecap manis and cucumber.
Ingredients
Chicken1 very fresh chicken (preferably free-range), fat trimmed and reserved for the rice
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
6 slices ginger
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt
Stock
1 kg chicken carcasses (or legs or wings)
3 slices ginger
2 spring onions
Chilli sauce
10 long red chillies, seeded and roughly chopped
1–2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
5 cm ~piece of ginger, roughly chopped
lime juice
salt
Ginger sauce
75 g ginger, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
½ tbsp lime juice
½ tsp salt
Rice
fat from the chicken (or peanut oil as a healthier alternative)
2–3 cm piece of ginger, grated
3–4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 cups long-grain rice, rinsed and well drained
1–2 tsp salt
2 pandan leaves, each tied in a knot (optional)
To serve
sliced spring onion or blanched shredded cabbage
kecap manis
sliced cucumber
Preparation
Rub the inside of the chicken with the rice wine and half the soy sauce. Pound the garlic, half the ginger and half the spring onion to a paste in a mortar (or blend in a food processor). Rub the paste inside the chicken.Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then turn off the heat and add the chicken, remaining ginger and spring onion. Cover with a lid and leave to stand in the water for 1 hour. After the first 5 minutes, lift the chicken out and drain the water from its cavity, then return to the water. Repeat 2 or 3 times during the hour (this ensures that there’s enough hot water inside the chicken to cook it through). After 30 minutes, bring the water back to almost boiling then turn the heat off again. Cooking the chicken without boiling it ensures it is tender and juicy.
Remove the chicken from the water. Combine the remaining soy sauce with the sesame oil and salt and rub into the chicken. Leave to cool.
To make the stock, add the chicken carcasses, ginger and spring onions to the pot of water and boil for 1–2 hours, until the stock has a strong chicken flavour. Strain the stock through muslin cloth.
Meanwhile, make the chilli sauce. Pound the chilli, garlic and ginger to a paste in a mortar (or blend in a food processor). Add ½ tablespoon of chicken stock and lime juice and salt to taste.
To make the ginger sauce, pound the ginger and garlic to a paste in a mortar (or blend in a food processor) and add the lime juice, salt and 2 tablespoons of chicken stock.
To make the chicken rice, heat the chicken fat in a wok until it releases oil, then add the ginger and garlic and fry until golden. Discard any solid pieces of fat. Add the rice and salt and stir-fry briskly for 1–2 minutes. Transfer the rice to a saucepan or rice cooker and add 3 ½ cups (875 ml) of chicken stock and the pandan leaves if using. Cover with a lid and cook until the stock is absorbed (you may need to add a little more stock towards the end if the rice seems dry).
To serve, slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Reheat the remaining chicken stock and ladle into small serving bowls, garnishing with sliced spring onion or blanched shredded cabbage. Serve the stock alongside the chicken, rice, chilli sauce, ginger sauce, kecap manis and cucumber.
SBS cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.
If you enjoyed this Hainanese chicken rice recipe then browse more Singaporean recipes, meat recipes and our most popular hainanese chicken rice recipe.
Singaporean Restaurants
Displaying 10 of 42 Singaporean Restaurants.
| Restaurant | Book Online | Suburb | |
| 1. | Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab | Sydney | |
| 2. | Temasek | Parramatta | |
| 3. | The Old Raffles Place | Collingwood | |
| 4. | Singapore China Town Restaurant | Northbridge | |
| 5. | Bismi's Gold an Fork | Melbourne | |
| 6. | Ginger & Spice | Neutral Bay | |
| 7. | Gingerboy | Melbourne | |
| 8. | Katong Singaporean Restaurant | City Beach | |
| 9. | Suria Takeaway | Girrawheen | |
| 10. | Raffles Room at Steventon Lodge | Tea Tree Gully |
Comments (64)
Previous
31 Mar 2011 10:04 AEST
Billie
Sydney
to the Alans
Alan from Gladstone, we have several great places to enjoy Hainanese chicken rice in Sydney so I wouldn't like to tar all Australian Hainanese chicken rice makers with the same brush!
Alan from Donvale, maybe the 'disagrees' will make you want to try again. Did you accidently measure something wrong? Sweet chilli sauce, a thai condiment, just isn't right for this dish. It needs the pungency of garlic and ginger. I grew up with Cantonese ginger/spirng onion for chicken so had to get used to it
Agree(0 people agree)
Disagree(0 people disagree)
24 Mar 2011 03:21 AEST
Terry K Offord
Vermont
Variety of Hainanese Chicken Rice
Lived in S'pore 1956 to 1973, I always ate at Fatty Low's Chicken Rice Shop and the above recipe goes someway to being recognisable as a Singaporean recipe. I didn't ever see the Onions/Ginger being fried in hot oil, rather a judicious mix of Spring Onions/chopped ginger/smashed garlic (don't use a knife to cut the garlic, it tends to make it bitter) a little oil (Peanut is OK) and salt, the taste is a personal thing and I would certainly not eat it if it had Fish Sauce added (not Hainanese)
15 Mar 2011 12:28 AEST
rembrant
Everton Park
12 Mar 2011 12:49 AEST
ST
Brisbane
10 Mar 2011 05:18 AEST
rembrant
Everton Park
10 Jan 2011 08:32 AEST
Lynn
Melbourne
Tasty!
Phil, the sauce you are referring to does exist! My mum makes it all the time. I added chopped up spring onion to some leftover ginger sauce I had. Put this into a hot well oiled pan and added a splash of rice wine and a little more salt. Delicious!
10 Jan 2011 08:26 AEST
Lynn
Melbourne
Tasty!
I made this for dinner last night & it was a hit! I'll definitely be making it again. It did take a while, but was well worth it. I used a free range chook & it was juicy & tender. I followed the recipe, but found I had to add salt & little bit of fish sauce to flavor the soup. I also plunged the chicken into icy water as recommended by djt before rubbing with soy. This makes the skin taunt. I served this garnished with cucumber slices, tomato quarters & fresh coriander sprigs. Yum!
17 Nov 2010 07:10 AEST
djt
rye
hainan chicken
3 friends, hainan chicken, 2 bottles sanguine estate 07 chardonnay - fantastic lunch. By the way tummy phat your chopice of chickens is fine but the thing missing from the recipe is when you finish cooking the chicken it is usually plunged into iced water for 10 minutes before cutting up and serving
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