Hainanese Chicken: Boiled Chicken with Rice and Three Sauces

How to cook the chicken

1. In Asia, Hainanese chicken is usually served with three sauces. They are made from quite accessible ingredients while the chicken cooks. The sauces need no cooking and are made by simple mixing. If possible, it is best to take a free-range chicken. You can cook part of a bird or chicken breast, but it is better to use the whole chicken with the bones. The boneless version is typical of island Asia.

   

2. Gut the chicken and remove all feathers and any remaining innards.

3. Rinse the chicken; it is better to leave any remaining internal fat.

4. Peel the ginger and cut it into large pieces. Peel the garlic and leave the cloves whole. Cut the green onions into several pieces.

   

5. Put the chicken in a pot and cover with water. The water level should be above the meat.

6. After the water comes to a boil, skim off the foam.

7. Add the ginger, garlic, green onions, 0.5 tsp of coriander seeds and 3-4 allspice berries to the broth.

8. Bring the broth to a boil and reduce the heat to low. The boiled chicken will be ready in 40-45 mins: when pierced near the bone, the juices run clear.

   

9. Take the chicken out of the broth and cool it, since boiled chicken with sauces is served chilled. In its homeland the chicken is often chilled in ice to form a congealed film of fat.

   Do not pour out the broth: the rice is cooked in it, and the rest is served with the chicken.

Cooking the rice in the broth

1. An important ingredient that gives Hainanese boiled chicken its refined flavor is the rice cooked in chicken broth. Asian rice varieties are usually used in dishes like this, though it is not essential.

2. Rinse the rice if necessary.

3. Pour in the chicken broth, twice the volume of the rice.

4. Cook the rice over low heat, covered, until fully done and all the broth is absorbed.

Preparing the sauces

1. Boiled chicken with sauces is served cold, and none of the sauces are cooked. Actually, different sauces are served and there is no single recipe. We settled on a sour ginger-garlic sauce, a dark soy-based sauce, and a spicy oil sauce. There is nothing difficult about making them, and all the ingredients are easy to find.

   

2. Ginger sauce. Peel a piece of ginger, any size you like, and grate it on a fine grater.

3. Peel 1-2 cloves of garlic and grate them on a fine grater as well. It is best if the ginger and garlic turn into a paste.

4. Drizzle 1 tsp of rice vinegar over the ginger and garlic and mix thoroughly.

5. Add 1-2 tbsp of sesame oil. With the ginger sauce, Hainanese boiled chicken is slightly spicy and very aromatic.

   

6. The spicy sauce is even simpler. You will need 2-3 pods of fresh chili pepper, preferably red, since the sauce should be bright and fiery. Remove the seeds and chop the pepper very finely, as fine as you can. Alternatively, use a hand blender.

7. Season the pepper with a pinch of fine salt and add 1-2 tsp of brown sugar (5–9 g).

8. Pour in 1 tsp of fish or oyster sauce and stir. You can add a little chicken broth.

9. Mix the mixture thoroughly and thin it with 1-2 tbsp of sesame oil.

   

10. And finally, the dark sauce, a simple mixture similar in composition to teriyaki. Mix 2-3 tbsp of dark soy sauce with 2-3 tsp of Worcestershire sauce.

11. Add 1 tsp of honey (7 g) and stir. With this sauce the boiled chicken will be sweet and salty, with an amazing taste.

    

Plating and serving the chicken with rice

1. Since the boiled chicken is served as separate components, it is convenient to arrange everything on a platter or tray.

2. Pour each sauce into a small bowl. Stir the sauces again right before serving, as bits of pepper and ginger may settle.

   

3. Peel a fresh cucumber and cut it into thin slices or thick matchsticks. Arrange the cucumber on a plate.

4. Hainanese chicken is served with the bones. With a large knife, cut the carcass in half lengthwise, then cut across into slices 1.5-2 cm wide.

5. Put a portion of the boiled chicken on top of the arranged cucumber.

6. Roughly chop a few sprigs of cilantro and put them on the plate. Add 1-2 stalks of green onion as well. Place the sauces next to the chicken.

7. Strain the remaining chicken broth and add salt to taste, or a little soy sauce, which will make the broth darker.

8. Add finely chopped cilantro to the broth. Pour the broth into cups and set them next to the chicken.

   

9. Put the rice cooked in broth into a bowl and set it alongside. If the rice is sticky enough, you can shape it into balls and place them next to the chicken.

   In Asia, the broth is usually drunk straight from the cup or with a spoon, and Hainanese chicken is eaten with chopsticks. Here it is up to you. Pieces of boiled chicken are dipped into the sauce and eaten right away with the rice, washed down with the broth.