life with the tsengs

When we lived in Temple City, I seriously ate Hainan Chicken once a week! There is a lot of good eats in San Gabriel Valley but they are most known for their asian cuisines. There was one place in particular called Ish Kitchen that served a really yummy Hainan Chicken dish, and another place in Alhambra called Savoy Kitchen that was actually known for their Hainan dish. Now that we live in Downey – we are surrounded with a lot of tasty kinds of food but there is no Hainan Chicken in sight (insert sad face here)… So, of course we had to learn how to make it at home!!

Hainan Chicken is essentially an asian poached chicken dish. “Asian” because it could be considered Chinese, Malaysian, “Hainanese” or Singaporean – depending on where you get it. It’s served with savory rice and two different types of sauce (spicy chili sauce and a minced ginger sauce). I heard about poaching things before – but this dish calls for poaching a whole chicken. Bones, skins and all (guts are removed, thank goodness!).

The key to poaching is to bring the water/chicken to a boil, then immediately letting it come down to a simmer (low, low heat) and letting it simmer away until the chicken is fully cooked (Internal temp 170 degrees). Once it’s fully cooked, you immediately soak the chicken in a bowl of ice water – essentially “shocking” the cooked chicken. It’s exciting and stressful at the same time, haha. Poaching the chicken was harder than I thought, but the entire process was relatively easy!

Easy Hainan Chicken
{Adapted from MalaysianFood & SteamyKitchen}

For the Chicken:
1 Whole Chicken (trimmed & cleaned)
1 4-inch section of fresh ginger
1 bunch of scallions/green onions
6 cloves of garlic
Salt
Water (enough to cover the chicken in the pot)

1.) Clean your chicken with cool sink water. Remove any excess fat on the skin of the chicken by rubbing several pinches of kosher salt on the skin of the chicken. Rub vigorously and then rinse. Trim off any excess fat with scissors.

2.) Season chicken with a generous amount of salt (both inside and outside)

3.) Stuff the cavity of the chicken with garlic, sliced ginger and green onions. Use a toothpick to seal closed. (Some of the stuffing may come out once the chicken is placed in the water, but that’s ok!)

4.) Place chicken in a large pot and fill with water so that the chicken is completely covered.

5.) Turn heat on “HIGH” and allow for it to come to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to “LOW” and allow it to remain at a simmer for 40-45 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked (170 degrees, internal temp)

6.) Remove chicken and immediately place in a big bowl full of ice water. “Shock” your chicken!

** Don’t forget to save the broth! Don’t you dare throw it away!!

For the Rice:
1:1.5 ratio cups of jasmine (or any long grain rice) & reserved chicken poaching broth
Salt to taste
Cilantro & sliced Cucumbers for garnish

1.) Wash your long grain rice (I used Jasmine) in cool water until water is clear.

2.) Soak rice in water for 10 minutes.

3.) Cook rice with the reserved chicken poaching broth either in a pot or a rice cooker. Use 1:1 or 1:1.5 rice to broth ratio.

(If making rice in a pot, cook on high for 10-15 minutes on MED-HIGH heat, and then turn the heat off. Keep the lid closed to allow the rice to steam for an additional 10 minutes. Cook time may vary.)

4.) Garnish with cilantro.

For the Ginger Sauce:
1-2” section of fresh ginger (finely chopped/minced)
1-2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped/minced)
1 tsp of sugar
1 Tbs of lime juice
3 Tbs of olive oil (I used EVOO)
salt to taste

For Chili Sauce:
2 tsp of the ginger sauce
2 Tbs of hot sauce (Sriracha or Chili sauce)

1.) Mince ginger and garlic until very fine. (or you can roughly chop and “pulse” it in a blender or food processor”)
2.) Add sugar, lime juice and olive oil. Mix until desired consistency.
3.) Add salt to taste.
4.) For the chili sauce – add 2 tsp of ginger sauce to a small bowl of hot sauce. Add more if needed!

The best part is that home-made chicken broth is a by-product of your chicken-poaching labor. I put my leftover broth in a big ziplock bag, and let it sit flat in the freezer. Freeze your broth over night and then you can stack it under your other freezer items and store for a rainy day! 🙂