Hainanese Chicken Rice

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 whole chicken, about 1.6 kg
• 2 tbsp coarse salt, for scrubbing
• 3.5 L water
• 5 cm (2 in) piece ginger, sliced
• 4 spring onions
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce

Rice

• 400 g jasmine rice, washed and drained well
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 slices ginger
• 600 ml chicken poaching stock (from the pot)
• 2 pandan leaves, knotted
• 1 tsp salt

Chilli sauce

• 6 fresh red chillies, roughly chopped
• 3 bird's eye chillies
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2.5 cm (1 in) piece ginger, peeled
• 3 tbsp calamansi or lime juice
• 3 tbsp chicken poaching stock
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Ginger sauce

• 60 g ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp cooking oil, heated until shimmering

To serve

• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 1 handful coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp thick dark soy sauce

Method

1. Rub the chicken all over with the coarse salt to scrub the skin, then rinse well inside and out. Trim off any excess fat from the cavity.
2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot with the ginger and spring onions. Holding the chicken by the wings, dip it into the water for 10 seconds and lift it out; repeat 3 times so the inside heats evenly.
3. Lower the chicken in, breast side up, and bring the water back to a bare simmer with no bubbles breaking. Poach for 35 minutes, then turn off the heat, cover and leave for 10 minutes. The juices at the thigh should run clear, or a thermometer should read 74°C.
4. Lift the chicken into a large bowl of iced water for 10 minutes to firm the skin. Drain, pat dry and brush with the sesame oil mixed with the light soy sauce.
5. Heat the oil for the rice in a pan and fry the garlic and ginger slices over medium-low heat for 2 minutes until golden. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes until every grain is coated.
6. Move the rice to a rice cooker or heavy pot, add 600 ml of the poaching stock, the pandan and salt, and cook. In a pot: boil, cover, cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes, then rest off the heat for 10 minutes.
7. Blend all the chilli sauce ingredients until smooth. For the ginger sauce, mix the grated ginger with the salt and pour the hot oil over it.
8. Season the rest of the stock with salt and serve it hot as soup with spring onion. Carve the chicken into pieces and serve on cucumber slices with coriander, the rice, the three sauces and the soup.

Tips

• Chicken size: for a 1.2 kg chicken, poach for 30 minutes; for 2 kg, poach for 45 minutes before the 10-minute rest.
• Richer rice: fry the garlic in 2 tbsp of chicken fat trimmed from the cavity and rendered slowly in a pan instead of the oil.
• Thighs only: poach 4 bone-in chicken thighs in 2 L water for 20 minutes, then rest for 10 minutes.
• Storage: keep the chicken and rice separately for 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat the rice with a splash of stock; serve leftover chicken at room temperature.