A Chicken in Every Pot

I give you another recipe I discovered in my newly acquired cookbook,  The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook by Jaden Hair.  This is delicious dish called Hainanese Chicken Rice is relatively easy to put together and delivers a flavor punch with the beautifully poached chicken, the aromatic rice cooked in the chicken poaching liquid and the powerful sauce poured on top prior to serving.

I easly found all the ingredients called for except for one; the red chilies required for the sauce.  I was like a mad woman going from store to store looking for this elusive item.  Four stores to be exact.  Two Asian stores, one grocery store and finally I found a substitute in the form of a dried red chili from a Mexican market which I rehydrated in boiling water.  Who knew it would be so hard to find a lousy red chili???

Oh well, once all the ingredients were assembled the cooking began and it was realy a lot of fun to make.  It has three components; the chicken, the rice and the sauce.  Let's begin with the chicken, shall we?

Hainanese Chicken Rice
(as adapted by The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook)

1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry
4 cloves garlic left whole and smashed
A 2 inch piece of chinger, sliced into 4-6 slices and each slice smashed with a knife
3 green onions, cut into 3 inch pieces
Salt to taste
4 boneless chicken pieces with skin on (I used 2 breasts and 2 thighs)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce

In a large pot with a tight lid, add the stock, wine, garlic, ginger, green onions, salt and chicken pieces and pour over enough water to cover the chicken by 1 inch.  Turn the heat to high and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and let simmer for 3 minutes.  Skim the surface.  Cover with lid and turn the heat off. Let the chicken sit poatching in the hot broth for 20-30 minutes, or until the juices run clear in the thickest part of the chicken.

Remove the chicken and brush it all over with the sesame oil and soy sauce combined.  Set aside and let the chicken come to room temperature.

Rice
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups chicken poaching liquid

Strain the broth of the solids and pour two cups into a saucepan.  Add one cup of long grain rice. Bring to boil then immediately put tight fitting lid on saucepan and let rice simmer for 25 minutes.  When done, fluff rice with a fork and let sit for 5 minutes.

Ginger Scallion Sauce
2 green onions, finely minced
1/2 tsp finely minced garlic
1 Tbsp finely minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced red chilies
1/4 tsp rice vinegar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup high-heat cooking oil (peanut oil for example)

In a heatproof dish, combine the onions, garlic, ginger, chilies, vinegar and salt.  Mix and set aside.  In a frying pan or wok, heat up the oil.  When the oil is hot and just starting to smoke, with care pour the oil into the heatproof dish on top of the other ingredients. It will sizzle and smell divine.

Assembly

Slice poached chicken into bite size pieces and put over individual bowls of rice and then spoon over the fragrant and tasty sauce.  Dig in and enjoy!