Hainanese Chicken Rice (Simplified)

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Hainanese Chicken Rice (Simplified)

Hainanese Chicken Rice originated from Hainan, China, and has become a beloved comfort food in Southeast Asia. This dish features tender poached chicken served with fragrant rice infused with ginger and garlic and cooked in rich chicken broth. It is traditionally accompanied by a clear chicken broth soup and a trio of sauces: a zesty chilli sauce, a savoury ginger-garlic sauce and a sweet dark soy sauce to create a perfect balance of flavours. This is a simplified recipe with two sauces that doesn't involve poaching a whole chicken and requires less time to cook while achieving a light and flavourful dish that Hainanese Chicken Rice is loved for.
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Poached Chicken
  • 900g chicken breast or thigh poached. See recipe notes.
  • 1 pot of water enough to fully submerge the chicken by at least 5cm
  • 1 inch ginger sliced, optional
  • 3 cloves garlic optional
Rice
  • 4 cups uncooked Jasmine rice based on a 180ml rice cooker cup. Four rice cooker cups equals 720ml or 2.88 standard metric cups.
  • 1 tbsp chicken fat substitute with any neutral cooking oil
  • 2 tbsp ginger grated
  • 6 cloves garlic minced or chopped
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 800 ml chicken broth preferably homemade but can be substituted with store bought stock. See recipe notes.
  • 1 pandan leaf optional, to add a floral fragrance
  • 1 cube chicken bouillon optional for extra flavour
Zesty Chilli Sauce
  • 3 tbsp chicken broth or stock
  • 1-2 fresh chillies adjust to desired level of spiciness
  • 2 inches ginger grated
  • 3 cloves garlic minced or finely chopped
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar substitute with apple cider or white wine vinegar
Sweet Soy Sauce
  • 2 tbsp chicken broth or stock
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
Chicken Soup
  • 500 ml chicken broth or stock
  • 1 tsp salt to taste
  • 1 pinch black or white pepper
  • 1 stalk spring onion chopped
  • 2 tsp soy sauce to taste
Garnishes (Optional)
  • 1 bunch coriander chopped
  • 1 cucumber sliced
  • 1 tomato sliced

Equipment

  • 1 rice cooker or pot for cooking rice
  • 1 food processor (optional)

Method
 

Poaching the chicken
  1. Remove the chicken from the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to poaching.
  2. Bring a pot of water to the boil (enough to submerge the chicken by at least 5cm) and poach the chicken as per the recipe in the notes. The chicken will take between 20-30 minutes to be cooked through.
  3. Remove the chicken from the broth and set aside on a loosely covered plate. Keep the broth aside to cook the rice in and let cool.
Cooking the rice
  1. Wash the uncooked rice thoroughly several times until the water is no longer milky and runs clear. Drain the rice through a sieve and set aside to continue draining.
  2. Prepare the grated ginger and chopped garlic. Heat the chicken fat or oil on a skillet and sauté the garlic and ginger on medium-low heat until golden and aromatic.
  3. Add the drained rice to the hot skillet and stir-fry for a couple of minutes until the rice is well incorporated with the ginger, garlic and oil.
  4. Pour the rice into a rice cooker (or pot). Add salt and chicken broth. Tie a knot with the pandan leaf (if using) and place in the rice cooker.
  5. Once the rice is cooked, remove the pandan leaf and mix the rice to make it fluffy and aerated.
Making the sauces
  1. While the rice is cooking, make the two sauces.
  2. For the zesty chilli sauce, combine the chicken broth, chilli, ginger, garlic cloves, salt, sugar, lime juice, soy sauce and vinegar in a food processer until blended. Alternatively, finely chop the ingredients and mix in a small bowl. Adjust the balance of the sauce as desired. The consistency of the sauce should be relatively runny/watery.
  3. For the sweet soy sauce, combine the chicken broth, sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar in a small bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
Making the chicken soup
  1. Heat any remaining chicken broth in a pot and add salt, soy sauce and pepper to taste. Add chopped spring onion before serving.
Serving the dish
  1. Once all elements of the dish are complete, pack a small bowl with the chicken rice, cover with a serving plate and flip upside down to create a dome shape with the rice.
  2. Slice the poached chicken breast. Arrange the chicken and sliced cucumber and/or tomato (if using) on the plate next to the rice and finish with an optional garnish of coriander. Serve the chicken soup in a separate bowl.
  3. Serve the dish with the dipping sauces on the side. As you eat, spoon the sauces over the chicken and rice to taste—mix and match to find your perfect balance of flavour.

Notes

  1. I made this dish with chicken breast and used the poaching recipe by RecipeTinEats which achieved a perfectly succulent, tender chicken breast perfect for Hainanese Chicken Rice. As per the recipe, you may wish to add ginger and garlic to the poaching water to infuse extra flavour into the chicken.
  2. I had made a big pot of chicken broth with chicken frames a few days before making this and used it for this recipe. If I didn't already have this chicken broth, I would have used the broth from poaching the chicken to cook the rice. If the broth is quite light, you can add chicken bouillon to cook the rice. I recommend poaching the chicken at least an hour before you want to start cooking the rice so that the broth has had time to cool down.
  3. Four rice cups of uncooked rice is plenty to serve 4-5 people. If you want to cook less rice, the ratio of Jasmine rice to chicken broth is about 1 to 1.1-1.2.
  4. For this recipe serving quantity, you will need about 1.5L of chicken broth or stock to be able to cook the chicken rice, make the pairing sauces and serve chicken soup with the dish.