Hainan Chicken Ingredient
- Full chicken
- Rice
- Ginger
- Spring Onion
- Garlic
- Bayleaf (dried aromatic leaf of laurel)
- Spicy pepper (Sichuan pepper for example)
- Coriander
- Seasonal Vegetables, such as cucumber
- Cooking wine
- Light Soy sauce (I never found the dark one useful, other than adding color only)
- Oyster sauce
- Sesame oil
- Sugar
I can be rather lazy when it comes to cooking, and I can be quite picky with my food – not a great combination in fact. However, sometimes laziness can inspire us to make shortcuts in our lives, and I believe lots of our daily conveniences are invented thanks to our laziness. When I was living and working in China, there was no need to set foot into the chicken, and as a matter of fact, I never did. Here in Europe, take outs are so much more expensive, so I started to explore the world of cooking, and started to really liking it! Now it is Easter holiday, and if you want to try a new recipe, I proudly present you a simple yet very tasty version of Hainan chicken.
My kitchen is not exactly presentable, so I did not take too many pictures, but I am confident that you will understand this recipe quite easily!
Step 1. Wash & Soak Rice
- Rinse 3 times will be sufficient
- Soak rice in water for 30 min
- Do this step first for better time management!
Step 2. Boil Water & Prep Chicken
- As the rice soaks, you need to take out a pot big enough to immerse the entire chicken. Boil enough water inside that can submerge the full chicken;
- Cut up 2-3 slices of ginger, 1 spring onion
Step 3. Make Chicken
- Add the ginger slices and spring onion in the water
- Add a bit of cooking wine
- Add the chicken into the boiling water
- Set a timer for 15 min (for bigger chicken add 1 min or 2)
- Adjust the heat to medium-low
- After the boiling, leave the chicken as is for another 10 min
- Keep the lid closed over the pot the entire time
- After the 25 min is up, transfer the chicken to another container, use cold water to soak the entire chicken until chill – this step makes the chicken tender, add ice if necessary
- After chilled, dry it, and can apply some sesame oil over the skin for taste – I do not like the skin very much, so I skip this part
Step 4. Prep Sauce & Vegetable
- Sauce
- Cut up ginger, spring onion, spicy pepper, garlic and coriander into small pieces and place in the same bowl;
- Add soy sauce, some oyster sauce (not key ingredient), a few drops of sesame oil, and a pinch of brown sugar (more or less cover all the previous cut ingredient) and mix
- Prepare cucumber slices and leave on the side
Step 5. Prep Rice
- Drain the water that has been soaking the rice completely
- Heat some oil in a pan/wok, add garlic (large pieces) and 2 bayleaves when the oil is hot, stir until you can smell the garlic’s fragrance, then add the soaked rice
- Stir fry for a min or 2, until the rice starts to look a little golden
- Turn off fire and transfer the rice into rice cooker – I suppose you can continue cooking in this pan/wok if you do not have a rice cooker
- Add several spoons of the chicken broth to submerge the rice and cook until ready
Step 6. Ready to Eat
- Cut the chicken, add some vegetables and rice on the side
- Dip sauce when eating
Bon appetite! This seemingly long recipe is in fact quite easy to manage, the result is also great! Before setting off to eat however, I would like to point out that the Hainan chicken has nothing to do with the province Hainan, in case the name fooled you 😉 Enjoy your meal, keep on with the healthy life!
Enjoy this recipe? Have comments? I am one little message away!
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