Easy Hainan Chicken & Rice
Because this dish can typically be intimidating to make with a whole chicken, we make it more approachable here by using already-cut chicken thighs and legs. One of my absolute favorite dishes to make that brings instant comfort!
Ingredients
Chicken and broth
- 3 chicken thighs skin and bone attached
- 2 quarts good quality, low-sodium chicken broth (or homemade)
- 4-5 slices ginger
- 3-4 stalks scallions
- salt to taste
- white pepper to taste
- chicken bouillon to taste, optional
- cucumbers
- sesame oil
Rice
- 1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
- 1 ¼ cups of your chicken broth
- 2 tablespoon shallot minced
- 2 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced
- fat trimmings from chicken thighs
Sauces
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon scallions chopped
- 3 tablespoon neutral oil (avocado, vegetable, etc.)
- salt to taste
- soy sauce
- sambal and/or sriracha
Instructions
Making the chicken and broth
- Take the chicken out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature for at least 20-30 minutes.3 chicken thighs
- Meanwhile, heat up 2 quarts of chicken broth to boil in a pot with a fitting lid. Add scallions (sliced into 3 inch pieces) and ginger slices.2 quarts good quality, low-sodium chicken broth, 4-5 slices ginger, 3-4 stalks scallions
- While that’s heating up, scrub your chicken thighs well with salt (coarse salt if you have it) to exfoliate the skin, then rinse it off with cold water. Pat dry with a paper towel. Feel how smooth this makes the skin!
- Chicken thighs usually come with some extra hanging fat — using scissors or a sharp knife, trim these off (try to get as much as you can) and save this for your rice.
- Once the chicken broth has come to a full boil, let it continue boiling for 1 minute before carefully adding the chicken thighs. Cover the pot with the lid, and turn off the heat, and set a timer for 25 minutes. Cooking the chicken with the residual heat instead of fully boiling it gets you the tender, juicy texture. (Meanwhile, start prepping the rice; see below for instructions).
- Once 25 minutes is up, remove the chicken thighs and check the internal temperature (should reach 160F-165F) if you have a thermometer. If you don’t have one, use a small knife to make a slit near the bone to see if it’s cooked through. If it’s just very slightly pink by the bone, it’s ready! If it’s looking red or too pink, put it back into the chicken broth for a few minutes.
- Once you’re done checking the temp, immediately submerge the chicken thighs into a big bowl of ice water, and let sit for at least 10 minutes. This is a crucial step to give the skin its bouncy texture.
Cooking the rice
- You should start this step once you drop the chicken thighs into the broth. Begin by prepping the aromatics: mincing your shallots, garlic, and ginger.2 tablespoon shallot, 2 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon ginger
- You should’ve gotten some fat trimmings from the chicken — cut these up into little pieces (1 cm or smaller) with a scissor or sharp knife.fat trimmings from chicken thighs
- Heat up a non-stick pan on low heat, and add the pieces of fat trimmings. Slowly, they should start releasing oil into the pan.
- Once the fat trimmings are golden in color, add your shallots, garlic, and ginger to the pan, and mix well. Turn heat up to medium, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Wash your rice, drain the excess water, and add it to the pan of aromatics, which should still be warm. Mix well, then add everything to your rice cooker, or whatever you use to cook rice.1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
- Now we need to get the chicken broth from the pot for the rice. If your chicken is still cooking in the pot at this point, we want to make sure that not too much heat escapes when we do this step: have a big cup or bowl ready, quickly lift the lid of the pot, grab at least 1.5 cups of chicken broth, then put the lid back on.1 ¼ cups of your chicken broth
- Using the chicken broth, add the amount of liquid you normally use to cook rice (I use the finger knuckle method, which comes out to about 1 ¼ cups of liquid to 1 cup of rice). Turn on the rice cooker (or turn on the heat for your pot), and let the rice cook.
Making the sauces
- While your rice is cooking, prepare your sauces. First, heat up neutral oil in a pot on medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until hot, then turn off the heat.3 tablespoon neutral oil
- Mince all the ingredients for your garlic and ginger sauce: ginger, garlic, and scallions, and add to a heat-proof bowl. Add a pinch of salt.1 tablespoon ginger, 1 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon scallions, salt
- Carefully add the hot oil to the aromatics in the heat-proof bowl.
- I don’t put too much effort into the other 2 sauces: the soy sauce and spicy sauce. For the soy sauce, I just mix equal parts soy sauce with the chicken broth we prepared. If you have the dark, sweet soy sauce, that’s usually more traditional to this dish when you get it in Singapore.soy sauce
- For the spicy sauce, the low-effort method is to just mix some sambal, sriracha, and chicken broth.sambal and/or sriracha
Putting everything together
- Reheat up your pot of chicken broth, taste, and season. I usually add a pinch of salt, white pepper, and chicken bouillon powder (optional) — but it will depend on your taste and also on the type of chicken broth you started with.salt, white pepper, chicken bouillon
- If you haven’t yet, remove your chicken thighs from the ice bath. Take a knife, and carefully cut around the bone to remove it. If you want some extra flavor, brush some sesame oil over the chicken skin. Using your knife, slice up the chicken perpendicular to where the bone was.sesame oil
- Plate the chicken, sliced cucumbers, and the cooked rice. If you want, add some green onions or cilantro for garnish. Enjoy with a warm bowl of the chicken broth!cucumbers
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!