Hainanese Chicken Rice

Now staying in Singapore the one dish which you cannot miss, apart from the dumplings, is Chicken Rice. While the dumplings are quite a task to make at home, the same cannot be said about this dish. As easy as it sounds, it is equally easy to make. In Singapore, every food court in every nook and corner of this island has this dish in their menu and the price varies from $2 to somewhere around $6 depending upon the condiments they serve with it. While it is quite convenient to grab this dish anytime of the day when you are not in a mood to cook at home, eating outside is not a very healthy option especially when your kid relishes this dish just like you. So when my kind neighbor's maid told me the recipe the other day while walking back our babies from school, I was all so excited to try it the next day. I did a bit of marination to infuse some flavor into the chicken but if you are running short of time, you can skip that. So whether you stay in Singapore or not, you can now relish this Singaporean speciality from the comfort of your home and that too quite easily!!

Ingredients

4 chicken thigh pieces, skin and fat removed (the shops here sell the cooked chicken skin on and if you like it that way, you can keep it too)

2 tbsp dark soya sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil (I used 100% pure sesame oil which you can find alongside any chilli garlic oil or where the regular ketchups are stacked in the supermarkets)

4 fat cloves of garlic finely crushed

1 1/2" ginger finely crushed

Salt to taste

2 1/2 cups Thai Mali Hom Rice (long grain fragrant rice)

4 cups of water

1 cup mushroom sliced

1 cup rooted sprouts

Direction

As I said earlier, if you have time, you csn wash and marinate the chicken with the soya sauce, sesame oil, crushed ginger garlic, and salt and keep aside for 2-3 hours. If running out of time, you can directly take a wide vessel and fill it with 4 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Add the chicken, preferably without any overlapping, and all the other ingredients of marination and cover and cook on a medium low flame till done. If marinating, do add the juices and all the ingredients left in the marination bowl into the boiling vessel to ensure maximum flavor. 

Once the chicken is done (which takes about 10-15 minutes), take the chicken out with the help of a slotted spoon and put the flame to low while you quickly wash and rinse the rice. Thai Mali Hom rice usually requires just a single rinse and is not advisable to soak it in advance as it gets cooked very quickly and soaking will make the rice soggy. Now add the washed and drained rice into the hot chicken broth and stir. Cover and cook till the rice absorbs all the water. Make sure you keep stirring the rice in between while being cooked so that it does not stick to the bottom. Once done, switch  off the flame and keep covered till served. Thai Rice is recommended to br cooked till 90% done and the rest gets cooked while it rests being covered. 

For the condiments, add a little oil in a pan and stir fry the mushrooms and rooted sprouts with salt and pepper till just done. You can use any vegetable or greens of your choice. You can also lightly pan roast the boiled chicken pieces to get a crispy outer cover, just like I did. With more time at hand, you can even serve it with some freshly prepared clear chicken broth and chilli garlic sauce for enhanced taste!!