Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice, Rice Cooker recipe

 

Yet another sweltering day.  Such weather really does not foster any inclination to slave over the hot stove cook.  At 6pm, I was still contemplating whether to have takeaways, when I suddenly thought of PapaRich's Hainanese chicken rice.  It's really yummy, but also pretty pricey. 

 

Alright then, I decided on the spur of the moment, we shall have a simple Hainanese chicken rice at home, a "just put everything into the rice cooker" version. 

Besides the rice and chicken, a good plate of hainanese chicken rice must be accompanied by a kick-ass serving of ginger condiment.  Our local version uses just plain grated ginger, but I decided to make the Hong Kong version, which has the addition of spring onion.  The HK version is saltier, and more fragrant and tastier than ours due to the addition of spring onion, which gives it an extra bite.     

 



This recipe does not include a side soup, so I served it with some leftover
watercress soup from the day before. 

Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice, Rice Cooker recipe

For the rice and chicken:-

• 2 chicken legs, skin on
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 10 slices of young ginger
• 3 stems of spring onion (the white ends, cut to about 3 inches length)
• 2 pips of garlic, chopped
• 3 small pandan leaves (screwpine leaves), tied into a knot
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp normal cooking oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups rice
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder

For the condiment:-

• 1 large piece of young ginger, grated and squeezed out all the juice
• 1 small bunch of spring onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1tbspn sesame oil

 

1. Rinse the chicken legs and pat dry.  Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

 

From top, clockwise : Season the chicken legs with salt and pepper;
for the condiment - chopped spring onion and young ginger;
for flavouring the rice - combination of sliced ginger, 
chopped shallots, chopped garlic and white stems of spring onion

 

2. Wash the rice and add sufficient water to cook it.  Add in the pandan leaves, white stems of the spring onion and the chicken stock powder.

3.  Heat the oil and fry the shallots, ginger and garlic until fragrant. Pour into the rice pot.

4.  Add the chicken legs, skin down, cover the pot and cook.  Do not open the cover until 10minutes after the Cook button has popped up.  Once the time is up, remove the chicken legs and chop into bite sizes and serve with the rice and condiment. 

5.  To assemble the condiment,  mix all the ingredients evenly.  To minimise the spiciness or "bite" from the ginger, squeeze out all the juice.  Reserve this (precious) juice to cook other dishes.  If you like it with a bit of bite, then leave some juice in.  Also, the Hong Kong condiment version is very salty, so adjust the quantity of salt to your taste preference.

 

By the time I've finished snapping some photos, the chicken has
turned a glistening golden color.  Time to eat!