Hainan chicken rice
Healthy, ‘clean’ and with a hot sauce that will knock your socks off, this is a great lunch for a crowd. I love that it’s plain, but lifted by strong flavours: chilli, ginger and spring onion. It is of Chinese origin and most often found in Malaysia and Singapore, though it’s popular in Vietnam and Thailand, too.
Ingrediënten
FOR THE CHICKEN
- 200 g 7oz spring onions (about 2 bunches)
- 5 garlic cloves sliced
- 125 g 4½oz root ginger, sliced
- 1.5 kg 3lb 5oz chicken
- 75 ml 2½fl oz dark soy sauce
- 25 ml 1fl oz light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 large cucumber
- leaves from 15g ½oz bunch of coriander
- about 3 tbsp Crispy fried shallots optional
FOR THE CHILLI SAUCE
- 8 red chillies deseeded and roughly chopped
- 30 g 1oz root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
- juice of 1 lime
- ½ tsp fish sauce
FOR THE RICE
- 15 g ½oz unsalted butter
- 15 g ½oz root ginger, grated
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 425 g 15oz Thai jasmine rice, well washed and drained
- salt
Instructies
- Start with the chicken.
- Put 4 litres (7 pints) of water, half the spring onions, the garlic and ginger into a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Add the chicken.
- When it returns to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Cover the pan, place it over the lowest heat and leave to cook for 50 minutes.
- Take the chicken out of the stock and remove the breasts.
- Return the rest of the bird to its stock, increase the heat and simmer gently for another 10 minutes.
- Reserve 750ml (1¼ pints) of the stock then leave the chicken, covered, in the pot.
- To make the chilli sauce, put all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz.
- Scrape into a serving bowl.
- For the rice, melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the ginger and garlic for about three minutes.
- Add the rice and sauté for another five minutes, stirring it round in the buttery juices.
- Add the reserved stock, bring to the boil and cook until the rice looks pitted.
- Reduce the heat to its lowest, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, still covered.
- Mix the two soy sauces together with the sesame oil.
- Trim the remaining spring onions and cut into lengths on the diagonal.
- Put half of these on a small plate.
- Halve the cucumber lengthways, slice very finely and arrange on another plate.
- When you’re ready to serve, put the chicken breasts back in with the rest of the chicken, bring to the simmer to heat through, then cut the chicken into pieces (drumsticks, halved thighs and so on; it’s a good idea to have a cleaver on hand).
- Increase the heat under the stock and reduce so it has a stronger flavour.
- Put all the chicken on a platter with the breasts – cut in several slices – on top.
- Spoon some of the soy-sesame dressing over, then sprinkle with the other half of the spring onions.
- Sprinkle with the cucumber and Crispy fried shallots (if using).
- Serve the chicken with the rest of the dressing, chilli sauce, rice and vegetables.
- Serve the broth in bowls, with the coriander.
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