Hainanese Chicken Rice

Here's a simpler version of the recipe from Mark Bittman.

Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 whole (3- to 4-pound) chicken, trimmed of excess fat
Several cloves smashed garlic, plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Several slices fresh ginger, plus 1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 cup peanut oil, or neutral oil, like corn or canola
3 shallots, roughly chopped, or a small onion
2 cups long-grain rice
1/2 cup minced scallions
2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons sesame oil.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add chicken to pot along with smashed garlic and sliced ginger. Bird should be completely submerged, but only just. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let bird remain in water for 45 minutes to an hour, covered, or until it is cooked through.

2. Remove chicken from pot, reserve stock, and let bird cool to room temperature. Put half the peanut oil in a skillet over medium heat; you may add trimmed chicken fat to this also. When oil is hot, add remaining garlic, along with shallots; cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, until glossy. Add 4 cups reserved chicken stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover; cook for about 20 minutes, until rice has absorbed all liquid. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

3. Make a dipping sauce of remaining oil, ginger, half the scallions and a large pinch of salt.

4. Shred or chop chicken, discarding skin. Put rice on a large platter and mound chicken on top of it; decorate platter with cucumbers, tomatoes, remaining scallions and cilantro. Sprinkle sesame oil over all and serve with dipping sauce.

Yield: 4 to 8 servings.

Notes from Kitchn:

Process: This is not a difficult recipe, but it is relatively time-consuming, since you need to poach the chicken, then cook the rice and assemble the final dish. Overall, it took about 2 hours to poach the chicken, let it cool, cook the rice, and pull everything else together. But the time is absolutely worth it, and you get several different components of a meal left over for later eating. It's also very hands-off; I did most of the cooking in between some strenuous bouts of household spring cleaning!

Mark Bittman's version of this was quite easy to follow, although some of his instructions were a little sparse (what size skillet should we use for the rice, Mark?). It's OK though — this is a simple recipe, and very straightforward.

What you get, when you make this recipe, is the chicken itself, which is tender, mild, and very yummy. I shredded between 3 and 4 cups of meat off the chicken. Then there is the chicken broth, flavored with ginger and garlic. It's wonderfully spicy and delicious! You only use 4 cups in the rice, so you have some leftover broth for sipping or for soups. And finally you have this scrumptious rice — slippery with oil, and fragrant with shallots and garlic.

What I skipped: I did skip the dipping sauce, however, opting instead for a drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil over a pile of chicken and rice. Oh, and a dab of chili-garlic sauce, too! I also skipped the tomatoes specified in the recipe, since decent tomatoes can't be had for love or money here in the Midwest right now. But I did slip in slices of crunchy, juicy cucumbers, and plenty of fresh cilantro and scallions.
End result: This is just a fabulous meal — it's a classic for a reason. It's simple, delicious, fresh, and easy. It's warm and homey enough for the chilly first weeks of spring, but the bright flavors of herbs, ginger, garlic, and chili paste bring this straight into the sunshine. It's light eating for springtime, and boy is it good.

It's such a great way to create good lunch leftovers, too; the rice, chicken, and broth can be combined with many other things for easy followup meals.

Other notes:

I found the original sauce a bit too oily for my taste, so instead I blend equal amounts of sweet mirin, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and then top with a dash or two of sesame oil.

you’re a fan of sriracha chili sauce, this will knock your socks off. Jess puts sriracha, lime, sugar, salt, couple tablespoons of that lovely chicken broth, garlic and ginger into a blender and wheeeeeee:

1 tablespoon lime juice2 tablespoon reserved chicken poaching broth2 teaspoon sugar4 tablespoon sriracha chili sauce4 cloves garlic1'' gingera generous pinch of salt, to tast

Steamy Kitchen version:

1 whole chicken (3.5 lbs, 1.8kg), preferably organickosher salt4'' section of fresh ginger, in 1/4'' slices2 stalks green onions, cut into 1" sections (both the green and white parts)1 teaspoon sesame oilFOR THE RICE2 tablespoon chicken fat or 2 tbsp vegetable oil3 cloves garlic, finely minced1'' section of ginger, finely minced2 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and soaked in cool water for 10 min or longer2 cups reserved chicken poaching broth1/2 teaspoon sesame oil1 teaspoon kosher saltFOR THE CHILI SAUCE1 tablespoon lime juice2 tablespoon reserved chicken poaching broth2 teaspoon sugar4 tablespoon sriracha chili sauce4 cloves garlic1'' gingera generous pinch of salt, to tasteFOR THE TABLE1/4 cup dark soy sauceFew sprigs cilantro1 cucumber, thinly sliced or cut into bite-sized chunks

directions:

1. To clean the chicken, with a small handful of kosher salt, rub the chicken all over, getting rid of any loose skin and dirt. Rinse chicken well, inside and outside. Season generously with salt inside and outside. Stuff the chicken with the ginger slices and the green onion. Place the chicken in a large stockpot and fill with cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then immediately turn the heat to low to keep a simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes more (less if you're using a smaller chicken). Check for doneness by sticking a chopstick into the flesh under the leg and see if the juices run clear or insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh not touching bone. It should read 170F.

2. When the chicken is cooked through, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Immediately lift and transfer the chicken into a bath of ice water to cool and discard the ginger and green onion. Don't forget to reserve the poaching broth for your rice, your sauce, and the accompanying soup. The quick cooling will stop the cooking process, keeping the meat soft and tender, and giving the skin a lovely firm texture.

3. To cook the rice: Drain the rice. In a wok or sauce pan (use a medium sauce pan if you plan on cooking the rice on the stove top), heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the ginger and the garlic and fry until your kitchen smells like heaven. Be careful not to burn the aromatics! Add in your drained rice and stir to coat, cook for 2 minutes. Add the sesame oil, mix well.

To make the rice on the stove: In the same sauce pan, add 2 cups of your reserved poaching broth, add salt and bring to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to low, cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit (with lid still on) for 5-10 minutes more.

To cook rice in a rice cooker: Pour aromatics and rice (after frying) into your rice cooker, add 2 1/2 cups of your reserved poaching broth and salt. Follow the instructions for your model (usually this will just mean "turn it on!")

4. While your rice is cooking, remove the chicken from the ice bath and rub the outside of the chicken with the sesame oil. Carve the chicken for serving.

5. To make the chili sauce: Blend your chili sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth and bright red.

6. To make the soup: You should have six or seven cups of the reserved poaching broth left over to serve as soup. Just before serving, heat up the soup, taste and season with salt as necessary.

Serve the chicken rice with chili sauce, dark soy sauce, cucumber slices, and a bowl of hot broth garnished with cilantro or scallions.

Too complicated for me to make, so I just go to a restaurant if I crave it.

Here's a recipe, if I decide to make it one day.

Another version posted earlier.

Chicken
1 very fresh chicken (preferably free range)
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
6 slices fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, slightly bruised
2 shallots, chopped in a few pieces
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp salt

Chicken Stock
Chicken bones, such as whole chicken carcass, or a kilo of chicken wings or legs
3 pieces of ginger
2 shallots

Chicken Rice
3 cups long grain rice
2 tbsp chicken or pork fat (this tastes great, but peanut oil can be used instead)
2-3cm ginger, grated
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped very finely or grated
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
3 ½ cups chicken stock according to rice instructions (or more, reserved from boiled chicken)
2 pandan leaves (optional)

Chilli Sauce
10 fresh red chillies, seeds removed
1-2 cloves garlic
5cm fresh ginger
2 tsp chicken stock (from the boiled chicken)
Juice from kaffir limes to taste
Salt to taste

Ginger Sauce for Dipping
75g ginger
6 garlic cloves
½ tsp salt
2 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp chicken stock (from the boiled chicken)

Chicken Soup 
Chicken stock (from the boiled chicken)
Chopped shallots or small amount of chopped cabbage

 View conversion table

Bring a pot of water to the boil, the pot being large enough to fit the whole chicken. While the water is heating, rub chicken inside with rice wine and soy sauce. Roughly chop three pieces of ginger, garlic and one shallot and then blend in a food processor. Place mixture inside chicken. 

When the water boils, turn heat off and place the chicken, remaining three pieces of ginger and shallot in the water. Leave the chicken to stand in the water for one hour. After the first five minutes of standing, lift up the chicken, drain the water from the stomach cavity and put chicken back in the pot. Repeat this process two or three times during the cooking period to make sure the chicken cooks inside as well as outside.

After 30 minutes, turn on the heat to bring the water back to almost boiling point, then turn heat off. The chicken, never being allowed to boil, will be very tender and juicy. At the end of the hour, remove chicken and rub with remaining soy sauce combined with sesame oil and salt, and then cut into bite-sized pieces.

For chicken stock, add extra chicken bones or pieces, three slices of ginger and two shallots to the water in which the chicken was cooked. Boil for one to two hours until stock has a strong chicken flavour. Discard chicken bones/pieces and strain the stock through a muslin cloth.

For chicken rice, wash the rice and drain well (the more water in the rice, the less chicken flavour! Some recommend drying the rice in a tea towel). In a wok, fry chicken fat until oil is released and then add the ginger and garlic and fry well.

Remove from heat and discard the chicken fat and skin. Add the rice and salt and stir fry briskly for about 1-2 minutes. Transfer rice into an electric rice cooker or pot. Add in chicken stock and pandan leaves. Follow normal instructions for cooking rice.

For chilli sauce, roughly chop chillies, garlic and ginger and then blend in a food processor. Add chicken stock, lime juice and salt to taste. Will keep in covered container in the refrigerator for a few days, but is best served fresh.

For ginger sauce, roughly chop ginger and garlic and then blend in a food processor. Add chicken stock, lime juice and salt to taste.

For chicken soup, ladle a small amount of hot strained stock into serving bowls. Add finely chopped shallot. If serving with cabbage, you will need to cook the cabbage in the stock for a short while before serving.