The Superior Flavors Are Actually in the Rice!
The best part of a recipe that I tried was not the chicken. Instead, it was the rice that was seasoned with over half of the ingredients in the recipe!
Below are links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Hainanese chicken rice has always been one of my favorite dishes. It’s an item I seldom saw in the restaurants that I went to, so when I did see it on a menu, I almost always ordered it.
Inspiring Recipe
For over half a year, I’ve saved the Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe from a website called Omnivore’s Cookbook, but avoided making it due to the multiple pieces involved: broth, chicken, rice, and sauce.
First Try
Since I had some chicken that I needed to use, I took the plunge in making this treasured meal!
Ingredients to Use
Starting with 3.9 pounds of chicken, I modified the amounts needed for the remaining ingredients and ended up using the following:
Chicken
- 1 1/3 thumb of ginger
- 4 green onions
- 1 1/3 tablespoons of sea salt
- 1 1/3 tablespoons of sesame oil
- 2 2/3 tablespoons of soy sauce
Rice
- 2 2/3 tablespoons of butter
- 4 green onions
- 1 1/3 tablespoons of ginger
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 2/3 cups of rice
- 4 cups of chicken broth
For the optional sweet soy sauce, I used dark soy sauce instead, since that’s the soy sauce I had with more sugar.
As for the rice, I used long-grain instead of jasmine rice because that’s what I had in my storage container.
Lastly, in terms of the dipping sauce, I opted to serve the chicken with Sriracha sauce instead of making one.
Steps to Prepare
I followed the instructions as much as I could, but noted the exceptions and additional details below.
Chicken
Since I was using chicken breasts instead of the whole chicken for this recipe, I skipped Step 1.
In Step 2, I covered the chicken with seven cups of water and skimmed the foam with a big serving spoon the best that I could, since I didn’t have a fine mesh strainer.
For Step 3, I flipped the chicken a couple of times with the big serving spoon and simmered it for about 20 minutes in total until the meat reached about 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Later, I realized when I started making the rice that I had forgotten to add the ginger, green onion, and salt to the broth, so I added them after Step 6.
Rice
In Step 1, I used a saucepan instead of a non-stick skillet to heat butter instead of chicken fat.
After I added the bowl of ginger and green onions in the pan in Step 2, I became aware that I had added the wrong container with ginger and green onions, so I transferred what was in the butter to the broth. Subsequently, I continued with the remaining steps.
Sauce
I skipped the steps in this section since they didn’t apply. As mentioned above, I planned to serve the chicken with Sriracha sauce instead.
Serving
For the rub in Step 1, I used sesame oil on half of the chicken and soy sauce on the other half, but did not add the garnish.
Also, I omitted the soup from Step 2, since not everyone in the family would drink it.
Time to Eat
When the chicken and rice were finally completed, it was time to see if everything was worth the effort.
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1️⃣1️⃣* | 🤏🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
The chicken was nice and cool, but not overcooked. However, white meat was never my favorite part of the chicken. In addition, having to slice meat before serving it was not my preference. Also, since I forgot to add ginger, green onions, and salt before simmering the chicken, it was bland and the Sriracha sauce didn’t enhance it much.
Despite all that, the rice was nicely seasoned. 😋
Second Try
For the second attempt, I bought moist chicken thighs with the skin on and bone in, so I didn’t have to slice the meat before serving.
Ingredients to Use
With 3 1/3 pounds of chicken, I increased the amount of some ingredients as follows:
Chicken
- 1 1/8 thumb of ginger
- 3 green onions
- 1 tablespoon + 1/3 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 tablespoon + 1/3 teaspoon of sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons + 2/3 teaspoons of soy sauce
Rice
- 2 tablespoons + 2/3 teaspoons of butter
- 3 green onions
- 1 tablespoon + 1/3 teaspoon of ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 1/4 cups of rice
- 3 1/3 cups of chicken broth
Steps to Prepare
For the process, I mostly did the same thing as the first time, with the following deviations:
Chicken
I submerged the chicken thighs with eight cups of water and remembered to add the ginger, green onions, and salt before simmering everything for a total of 25 minutes.
Serving
For the rub, I used both sesame oil and soy sauce on each piece of chicken.
Also, below are some photos that I took while making the soup and rice.
Time to Eat
Here’s the chicken ready for tasting from the second batch:
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1️⃣0️⃣* | 🤏🤏 | 💰 | 😋 |
The chicken was soft. Also, due to the shortage of Sriracha sauce in the stores, I wanted to conserve our last bottle and didn’t serve the chicken with it for dipping. With the light taste from the sesame oil and soy sauce rub, there was enough flavor even without it. As for the rice, it was delicious as before!
Since I enjoyed the recipe with chicken thighs, I’ll probably continue using this cut of chicken. However, below are a couple things I’d like to try for further improvement:
Continuous Improvement
- Make the recipe with chicken wings to see if that version would be a good alternative.
- Invest in a fine mesh strainer to better strain the soup, so we’ll have a clearer broth to use.
Seeing that I’m happy with the results of the recipe, I would tell my previous self the following:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Don’t shy away from a challenge because the results could be quite satisfying.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Spend time making the Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe from the website, Omnivore’s Cookbook?
- Share a shortcut in making this dish?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)