Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice

1. Use kitchen scissors or a sharp knife to remove chicken fat from the whole chicken (this is the flappy portion between the drumsticks and the chicken breast). Set aside chicken fat. Slice 30g of ginger into thick slices. Wash 3 or 4 spring onion stalks.
2. Exfoliate the entire chicken with 3 tbsp of salt to remove impurities and make chicken skin smooth. Wash off salt, then stuff chicken with sliced ginger, washed spring onion stalks, 4-5 whole cloves of garlic. Place the stuffed chicken in a large pot of water, add 1.5 tbsp salt, and poach at a medium-low temperature for 45 minutes (or until its internal temperature reads 75 degrees Celsius using a meat thermometer).
3. While waiting for the chicken to cook, use kitchen scissors or a sharp knife to mince chicken fat. Mince 4 cloves of garlic. Place minced chicken fat in a cold pan and turn heat up to medium-high to render fat. Once the chicken fat is brown, add minced garlic and stir fry for a minute before adding 600g of uncooked jasmine rice. Continue stir frying for another 3-5 minutes or until the jasmine rice looks golden-brown, then add 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Transfer all contents of the pan to a rice cooker or a large pot.
4. While we wait for the chicken to cook fully, slice remaining spring onion, cucumbers and tomatoes and prepare coriander for garnish. Add small red chillies, large red chillies, 8 cloves of garlic, 10g of ginger, 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar, and 2 tsp of sugar to a blender for the chilli sauce.
5. Once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken and place it in an ice bath so that it stops cooking immediately. This is crucial so that the texture of the chicken will be springy! DO NOT THROW AWAY THE STOCK - you can literally drink it!!! And also we’ll be using it in the next steps below.
6. Add 6 cups of chicken stock to the rice cooker / large pot of uncooked jasmine rice. Place the lid on and cook as you usually would with steamed rice.
7. For the chilli sauce, add 4 tbsp of chicken stock to the blender and blend the chillies, garlic, ginger, vinegar and sugar. Add more salt, sugar and/or vinegar to taste.
8. For the ginger garlic sauce, heat 3 tbsp of oil in a small pan at medium heat and add 2 cloves of minced garlic and 10g of minced ginger. After 30 seconds, lower the heat to medium-low, then add 0.5 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vinegar, until the sauce becomes light brown. Add more salt or vinegar to taste.
9. For the chicken dressing, mix 2.5 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp of sesame oil and 3 tbsp of chicken stock.
10. Add chicken dressing to a plate of the chopped chicken. Serve with cooked rice, cucumber, tomatoes, chilli sauce, ginger sauce, sweet dark soy sauce/kecap manis and coriander, to be transported instantly to the hawker centres of Singapore. 

We hope you found this little recipe helpful! 🥰