Bastardized Hainan Chicken Rice
Don’t expect this to be like anything from your favorite Hainan chicken joint. One of the national prides of Singapore, Hainan chicken’s integrity and authenticity are highly regarded and scrutinized, which is why I’m declaring yet again that this thing I’m making is not that. This is my bastard version, vile and misbegotten, and yet, for me, it delivers far more complexity and sustenance than one of more legitimate blood.
It’s my Jon Snow of chicken rice.
You could say that with its charred skin, it doesn’t even look like Hainan chicken, and the cooking method departs from the traditional stovetop poaching to a more precisely controllable slow-baked technique that yields unbelievably supple, silky, and juicy flesh. The bones will and should remain a shade of pink, which, if you haven’t been properly informed, is the highly precise and intended doneness of this dish. But make no mistake about it—a person who keeps babbling solely about the chicken in chicken rice is someone who doesn’t know chicken rice. It’s not rice chicken. It’s chicken rice. The rice is the point.
Incredibly fragrant, glossed with chicken fat, and founded on the precious poaching broth, an elixir of pureed Southeast Asian herbs and rendered chicken juice, this green-hued rice exhales an aroma so haunting that it should be labeled as hazardous around people with carb-dependency issues. The equally important condiments are a hybrid of the classic ginger oil with sweet soy sauce and a more robust, forceful chile sambal made with fried shallots.
Note that the entire recipe can be prepared several hours ahead of time. Only the rice needs to be kept warm.
MAKES 4 LARGE OR 6 SMALL SERVINGS
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: blowtorch; immersion blender (preferred)
CHICKEN
½ teaspoon plus 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
1 small (around 2.6 pounds/1.2 kg) free-range chicken (weight without head or feet)
4 cups (1 L) chicken stock, plus more as needed
5 garlic cloves, smashed
3 lemongrass stalks, roughly cut
3 small shallots, peeled
3 makrut lime leaves
3 tablespoons roughly chopped galangal (or use ginger, but it won’t be the same)
3 pandan leaves (see Note), roughly chopped, plus 1 whole leaf
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
Canola oil or any flavorless vegetable oil
3½ cups (700 g) short-grain white rice
Two 2-inch (5-cm) slices of ginger
CONDIMENTS (ALL CAN BE MADE AHEAD)
Chile Sambal with Fried Shallots
Orange Chile Sambal (optional)
Fried Chile Verde Sauce (optional)
MAKE THE CHICKEN
1. Rub the ½ teaspoon of salt evenly over the skin of the chicken and let the chicken sit for 10 minutes on a large sheet pan. Use a toothpick to sew together the skin around the neck opening above the breasts (this protects the breast meat, which dries out easily). Set the sheet pan on the stove underneath the range hood and turn the vent fan on. With a blowtorch held a few inches away from the chicken, slowly render and brown the chicken skin all over. Be patient with this step, because you want the skin to be evenly caramelized (it won’t be crispy) but not overly burned. To torch the entire chicken should take 10-plus minutes. Set aside. (This step is really for people with a phobia of white chicken skin. If you do not suffer from such a condition, you can omit this step. Instead, pour 4 cups [1 L] of boiling water evenly over the chicken skin and cavity, then rinse again under cold water.)
2. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C, with the fan off.
3. In a blender, blend the stock, garlic, lemongrass, shallots, makrut lime leaves, galangal, chopped pandan leaves, the remaining 1½ teaspoons sea salt, and the white pepper until coarsely pureed. Transfer to a pot or Dutch oven that is just large enough to fit the entire chicken inside, then bring the liquid to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken (reserve any chicken fat left on the sheet pan in a small bowl for cooking the rice) and ladle the stock mixture over the chicken a few times.
4. Transfer the pot to the oven, uncovered. Roast the chicken for 60 to 65 minutes, flipping it over every 15 minutes or so, until the internal temperature of the inner thigh reads 173°F/78°C.
5. Drain the chicken, reserving the broth, and transfer it to a sheet pan. Use a pastry brush to gently brush away any herbs that are sticking on the skin, then wrap the chicken all around with plastic wrap. Submerge it into an ice bath until cooled completely (this stops the cooking and turns the internal juice into aspic, which is a signature trait of Hainan chicken), about 1 hour. Unwrap the chicken and brush a thin coating of canola oil all over it, then leave at room temperature uncovered until needed. You can prepare the chicken up to several hours ahead of time.
COOK THE RICE
6. Strain the chicken cooking broth through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids with a wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible; discard the solids. Skim off the surface fat and add it to the reserved chicken fat from torching the chicken.
7. Place the rice in a large sieve and rinse/wash under running water until the water runs clear. Wipe the original pot clean with a paper towel, then add the chicken fat and heat over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and cook until fragrant, then add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for a few minutes, until it starts to stick to the pot. Add 3½ cups of the strained broth (if there’s not enough, add more chicken stock to make 3½ cups) and the remaining whole pandan leaf and mix evenly.
8. If you have a large enough rice cooker, you can use it to cook the rice according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If not, cover the pot with the lid and turn the heat down to medium-low to low (on a scale from 1 to 10, I would say about a 3). Cook for 35 minutes, undisturbed, then turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Open the lid and give it a stir (it’s expected to have little burned crispy bits on the bottom, but leave them there), close the lid, and let sit for another 5 minutes.
TO SERVE
9. Serve the rice hot with the chicken at room temperature. You can choose to remove or keep the bones (many food stalls serve it boneless), but either way, cut the chicken in small pieces and serve with the condiments.
NOTE ON PANDAN LEAF: Pandan leaf is a long, narrow, blade-like leaf that is widely used in Southeast Asian cooking—imperative even, if you ask me. It has a unique aroma that is hard to substitute with anything else. Try to find it in your Asian grocery stores or Chinatown, and when you do, buy a bunch and freeze them and you’ll have enough for a long time to come.
Ginger sauce is a classic, mandatory condiment that is served with Hainan chicken rice. Something as tested and time-honored as this isn’t really asking for my opinion, but I have a feeling that it won’t object to my adding fish sauce for complexity and a touch of Makrut Lime Leaf Oil for fragrance.
MAKES ½ CUP
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: immersion blender (preferred)
6 tablespoons (90 g) peeled and roughly chopped ginger
¼ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon Makrut Lime Leaf Oil
In a blender or using an immersion blender (my preference), blend the ginger, oil, fish sauce, and salt until smooth. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the mixture for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the oil is completely separated from the chopped ginger. Stir in the Makrut Lime Leaf Oil. Let sit for at least 2 hours before using. Can be made a day ahead and kept at room temperature.
CHILE SAMBAL WITH FRIED SHALLOTS
This chile sauce classically has nothing to do with Hainan chicken rice. Absolutely nothing. And it came to me as a little knob of nothing on top of the roasted pig over rice (babi buling) we had in Bali. That was, until I put it in my mouth and decided that it should be the pope of a new religion in which meat is worshipped over rice. It, too, guarantees revelation.
MAKES ½ CUP
3 red jalapeños or 2 long red cayenne chilies, finely chopped
2 tablespoons canola oil
½ teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
¼ cup (56 g) Dry Fried Shallots
In a small saucepan, combine the red jalapeños or red cayenne chilies, oil, vinegar, and fish sauce. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until the chilies are very soft. Stir in the Dry Fried Shallots and let sit for at least 2 hours before using. Can be made a day ahead and kept at room temperature.