Hainanese chicken rice

	Hugely popular in Singapore, as well as much of Malaysia, chicken rice is true comfort food. Chicken is poached slowly until it is just cooked and still very tender, then served with rice cooked in the chicken fat and some of the poaching stock, and garnished with cucumber and chilli sauce. Finally, the stock is used to make a simple accompanying chicken soup.

Recipe

1 fresh chicken
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine (or sherry)
2 inch piece of ginger, sliced thinly
5 garlic cloves, lightly crushed or bruised
1 scallion, halved lengthwise
5-6 cups pre-made chicken stock

1 cup white rice, uncooked
1 scallion, thinly sliced

To serve:
Cucumber slices
Chilli sambal (sauce)

Clean and trim the chicken, if required, to get it ready to cook. Trim off any clumps of attached fat, but leave the skin on. Set the fat aside until later.

In a large, deep pan, bring the stock to a boil. Add the soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, garlic, and halved scallion, and then submerge the chicken fully in the stock. Cover and turn off the heat. Wait 15 minutes.

Lift the chicken out of the stock to drain the cavity, and reheat the stock until it boils. Re-immerse the chicken, the cover and turn off the heat. Wait 15 minutes.

Repeat this procedure twice more, until the chicken has steeped in the hot liquid for one hour in total. Check it is cooked by sliding the tip of a sharp knife into the joint where the thigh meets the body, at the thickest part. The juices should run clear, without any pinkness.

Drain the chicken, and plunge briefly into a bowl of ice water to cool it quickly, then drain and set aside. Keep the poaching stock hot.

In a clean pan, melt a small amount of the chicken fat to render down some of the oil. As an alternative, just use a little cooking oil.

Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Cook a few seconds, then add approximately 2.5 cups of the poaching stock, and simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Take the pan off the heat, cover and set aside to finish cooking while you serve up.

Slice the chicken into pieces.

To serve, place a mound of rice, some chicken slices, and some cucumber slices on each plate. Serve with chilli sambal on the side. Pour the leftover poaching stock into bowls, and top with sliced scallion as a soup to accompany the meal.

Serves: 4-6
Preparation and cooking time: 1 hr 20 minutes