Hainanese ‘Kampong’ Chicken Rice

SINGAPORE

This is one of Singapore’s most representative dishes, and is even sometimes called our national dish; but you can in fact find similar dishes in Malaysia (chicken rice balls), Vietnam (com ga) and Thailand (khao man gai). The basis of this dish is really simple – poached chicken, and rice cooked in the chicken broth and fat – so it is no wonder that this Hainanese dish has travelled to many regions in Southeast Asia. As it is prepared so simply, you really want to make sure you get the most flavour possible from your bird. Before Singapore became an industrialized modern city, people lived in kampongs (villages) and many of them kept some form of livestock or grew their own vegetables. Chickens ran around freely and fed on the insects they could find in their natural environment. This is, by today’s definition, a free-range, pasture-raised chicken – which in my opinion makes a world of difference to the quality of your chicken rice.

Serves 4–6

For the chicken

• 1 x 1–1.5kg organic free-range chicken
• sea salt
• 2 thumb-size pieces of ginger
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 2 pandan leaves
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

For the rice

• 3 cups of jasmine rice
• 3 cups of chicken stock, from poaching the chicken
• 3 tablespoons chicken fat
• 1 bulb of garlic
• a thumb-size piece of ginger
• 2 pandan leaves
• sea salt

For the soup

• chicken stock, from poaching the chicken
• white pepper, to taste
• a handful of fresh coriander

For the ginger sauce

• 2 tablespoons finely grated young ginger
• 1 clove of garlic, finely grated
• 1 tablespoon groundnut oil
• 1–2 tablespoons chicken stock, from poaching the chicken
• a big pinch of sea salt

To serve

• raw chilli garlic ginger sauce (see here)
• sweet dark soy sauce
• sliced cucumbers
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1. Trim the visible fat from the chicken and reserve for the rice. Rub the chicken all over, inside and out, with generous pinches of sea salt. Smash the ginger and garlic (for both the chicken and the rice) and tie the pandan leaves into knots. Fill a large pot with enough water to submerge the chicken, and add the garlic, ginger and pandan. Bring to a rolling boil, then slowly add the chicken. Wait for it to return to the boil, then turn the heat down and let the chicken cook at a bare simmer for about 20 minutes, skimming off any scum on the surface of the liquid. Turn the heat off and let the chicken sit in the hot broth, covered, for another 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, render the chicken fat by cooking it over a moderate heat in a saucepan. Discard the solids. Add groundnut oil if necessary to make 3 tablespoons of fat for the rice.
3. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it with two large slotted spoons. Reserve the poaching broth. Place the chicken in a bowl of ice-cold water for 5 minutes. This will give its skin and flesh a nice springy texture.
4. Rinse the rice twice, or until the water runs relatively clear. Combine with all the other rice ingredients in a rice cooker and season generously with salt, then let the rice cooker do its thing.
5. Combine the ginger and garlic with the groundnut oil. Stir in just enough chicken stock to get a wet paste, and season to taste with salt. Make the raw chilli garlic ginger sauce (see here), thinning it out with the chicken stock until you get a watery sauce, and seasoning to taste. Set your dips, along with the dark soy sauce, aside in separate little saucers.
6. Chop the chicken into pieces and drizzle with the soy sauce and sesame oil. Check the broth for seasoning, adding salt and white pepper as needed, and finish with roughly chopped fresh coriander.
7. Arrange the chicken and cucumbers on a large sharing platter, and serve with the warm rice, the chicken broth, and the chilli, ginger and dark soy sauce dips.