Hainan Chicken with flavored Rice . 海南雞配油香飯

Hainan Chicken with flavored Rice . 海南雞配油香飯

I like Hainan Chicken with Flavored Rice, some people usually called it Hainanese Chicken Rice.

It is not easy to find good Hainan Chicken Rice here in Hong Kong these days; I have looked for it for a long time and tried it in different places, but mostly it was disappointing.

·   What a good dish of Hainan Chicken Rice should be, at my standard, the chicken should be tender and smooth with an aroma of chicken’s original flavor. There were so many times I got Hainan Chicken which tasted absolutely awful with frozen smell, but not much taste of it's own, and chewy and rubbery like hell here and there no matter how much I paid for it.  And, the good flavored rice should be rich in color and taste but not oily, having an irresistible aroma of garlic, ginger and shallot.  Haven’t gotten good Hainan Chicken Rice outside is an impetus for myself doing it at home....let's do it together.

我愛吃海南雞飯。

好的海南雞飯並不容易找的，試過在不同地域吃過，在香港也試過很多家，大都失望而回，包括很多享負盛名的。

一客好的海南雞飯，依我的標準，雞肉一定要皮脆肉嫩，有雞香味；試過很多次在外吃的海南雞，肉粗糙兼有雪味，真的吃不下嚥。至於油香飯，要有油香而不肥膩，色澤金黃通透，每一口都吃到不能抗拒的蒜、薑和紅蔥的香氣。在外找不到好吃的往是推動我自家煮的原動力；好，開工….

Hainan Chicken with flavored Rice

Ingredients: 

For the chicken

Chicken  1 whole, approx. 1250 g

Ginger juice  1 tbsp  (keep the squeezed ginger for dipping)

Shaoxing wine  1 tbsp

Salt  1 tsp

Ginger,  sliced  6 pc

Spring Onion  2 stalks

Garlic cloves, patted  4 pc

Shallot, patted  4 pc

Pandan Leaf   4 pc

Salt 1 tbsp
Cucumber, sliced  1 section cut into 6 slices

For the rice

Rice  2 cup

Oil 1/2 tsp

salt 1/2 tsp

Chicken broth  2 to 2.2 cup(depending the chewiness you want)

Garlic cloves  4 pc

shallot  2 pc

turmeric  1/4 tsp

Pandan leaf, tied   2 pc

Chicken oil  1-1/2 tbsp

For the Dippings

1. Ginger and Shallot dip

Squeezed ginger 1-1/2 tbsp

Shallot, finely chopped 1 tbsp

Spring onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp (optional)

Sea Salt, finely grinded 1-1/2 tsp

Hot oil  3 tbsp

2. Sweet Dark Sauce dip

Thick Dark Sauce 2 tbsp

Sugar 1-1/2 tsp

Water 1 tsp

3. Hot Chili and Garlic Dip

Red chili, finely chopped  6 pc

Shallot, finely chopped  1 pc

Garlic Cloves, finely chopped 2 pc

Salt, finely grinded 1 tsp

Sugar  1 tsp

Rice Vinegar 1 tbsp

Lime juice 1 tbsp

Method:

For the chicken

1. Wash chicken and dry, rub it with salt.  Mix the ginger juice and shaoxing wine, and rub the chicken inside out and let stand for 30 minutes

2. Heat up a pot of hot water over medium high heat with ginger, spring onion, garlic cloves, shallot and pandan leaves as well as one tablespoon of salt.  Water should be high enough to cover the whole chicken 

3. Tie the neck of the chicken with a non-dyed thin rope, put the chicken into the hot water, bottom in first then the whole bird for 15 seconds and take it out from the water, and wait till the water fully boiled and then repeat the same step for another 3 times.  Submerge the chicken into the water completely when the water is again fully boiled; cover the pot with a lid and turn off the fire, let the chicken sit inside the pot for 35 minutes(based on the chicken weighed 1.25 kg)

4. Prepare an icy water bath

5. When poaching time is up, take the chicken out from the pot and soak into the icy water for 15 minutes or till cool

6. take the chicken out, let dry for 5 minutes; brush with cooked oil, chop and plate with sliced cucumber

For the Rice

1. Wash and rinse rice as usual, marinate it with a little salt and oil 

2. Heat up a wok, put the chicken fat in and fry till the oil coming out, dish up 

3. Heat the same wok with one and half tablespoon of chicken oil over medium heat, fry garlic and shallot until fragrant; add in rice and turmeric, fry till rice turned yellow, transfer all into a rice cooker or a cast iron pot, add chicken broth (the broth from poaching chicken with scum taken away), put in pandan leaf, cook rice as usual

4. Scoop out a bowl of rice and serve with Hainan Chicken and those 3 dips

For the dips:

1. Ginger Dip : Put Ginger, shallot and spring onion on a dipping bowl, add salt, pour hot boil in, mix well

2. Sweet Dark Sauce Dip: just mix all the ingredients well

3. Hot Chili and Garlic Dip: mix all the ingredients using a mortar till fine and then dish up and serve

Cooking Tips:

1. Poaching time of the chicken is depending the size; 35 minutes I used was for the chicken size of 1.25 kg, you could lengthen the time by 5 minutes for each additional 250g or to shorten it if the chicken is smaller

2. The cooking pot I used is "Staub" cast iron 26 cm, it retains and distributes heat very evenly. If you use other pots like stainless steel, you may need to lengthen the poaching time a bit longer
3. Two to three types of dips are usually served with the Hainan Chicken; some people do not prepare ginger and shallot dip, but use only squeezed ginger, salt and hot oil, other put in crushed shallot and finely chopped spring onion as well, so you could prepare to your desire

海南雞配油香飯

材料：

海南雞材料

雞 1隻，約1.25 Kg

薑汁 1 tbsp（薑渣留用）

紹酒 1 tbsp

鹽 1 tsp 

薑，切片 6片

紅蔥 ，略拍 2 粒

蒜瓣，略拍  4 粒

蔥，略拍  4 條

班蘭葉 4 條

鹽  1 tbsp

青瓜，切片  6片

油香飯材料

香米 2杯

油  1/2 tsp

鹽  1/2 tsp

雞湯 2至2.2杯（視乎米受水程度）

蒜瓣，略拍 4 粒

紅蔥，略拍 2 粒

黃薑粉 , 1/4 tsp

班蘭葉，綑好 2條

雞油 1-1/2 tbsp

伴醬材料

1.      薑蔥油：

薑茸  1-1 / 2 tbsp (可用之前留下的薑渣)

紅蔥茸  2 tsp

蔥碎 2 tsp (可免)

海鹽，磨幼 1-1 / 2 tsp

熱油  3 tbsp

2.      甜黑醬油

雞飯醬油  2 tbsp

糖 1-1 / 2 tsp

水 1 tsp

3.      酸辣醬

小紅辣椒，切碎 6隻

紅蔥茸 2 tsp

蒜茸 2 tsp

鹽 1 tsp

糖 1 tsp

米醋 2 tbsp

青檸汁 2 tbsp

做法：

海南雞 -

1. 洗淨雞身，用一茶匙鹽擦勻內外。混合薑汁和紹酒，再擦勻雞身內外，醃30分鐘

2. 大鍋中高火燒熱水，放入薑、紅蔥、蒜、蔥和班蘭葉，加入1湯匙鹽。水量要足夠浸過雞身

3. 用細繩綑著雞頸，將雞放入熱水中，尾部先入，待15秒，把雞從水中抽出，待水翻滾，重複上述步驟3次，然後將雞身完全浸入水中，直到水再煮沸 ; 上蓋，關火。讓雞無火浸煮35分鐘（以 1.25公斤重量算）

4. 準備一盆冷水連冰

5. 時間一到，把雞在大鍋抽起移至冷水盆，浸泡約15分鐘或至涼

6. 取出雞，待5分鐘；用熟油掃勻雞皮，切件，用青瓜件伴吃

油香飯： -

1. 如常洗米，隔去水，用少許鹽和油醃米片刻

2. 中火燒熱鍋，把雞膏放入，炸出雞油備用

3. 原鍋免洗燒熱，加入一湯匙半雞油，中火炒香蒜瓣和紅蔥，加入米飯和薑黃，炒勻至米帶微黃，全部放入電飯鍋或鑄鐵鍋中，加入雞湯（即已去油浸雞水），放入班蘭葉，如常煮飯至熟，焗透

4. 舀出米飯，配上一份海南雞，伴醬吃

伴醬：

1. 薑蔥油：將薑茸、紅蔥茸和蔥碎放入小碗中，加鹽，倒入熱油，拌勻

2. 甜黑醬油：把雞飯醬油拌勻糖和水即可

3. 酸辣醬：把所有材料放小研砵搗勻，上碗

溫馨提示：

1. 浸雞時間 35分鐘是以 1.25公斤雞計算，如雞較重較輕，可相對調整時間，每多250克，約多浸5分鐘，較輕則相應縮短時間

2. 我今次用鑄鐵鍋 “Staub” 26cm浸雞，取其熱力分佈平均和夠存熱；如用其他鍋，存熱不一，有可能浸泡時間要加長一點

3.  一般海南雞伴醬有二或三，薑蔥油也有只用薑茸、鹽加熱油，也有加入紅蔥茸，甚或青蔥碎，悉隨尊便