Say Hi To Hainan Chicken!

One of our favorite recipes to date: hainan chicken!

Our friend Mitch came over to cook with us, and we gave him free reign as to what dish we would cook together! Lo and behold, he chose hainan chicken!

It was a lot of work as we gave it our all to make the best chicken skin and broth, but making it with friends was tons of fun (there was always something for one of us to do), and it gave us tons of leftovers! Our chicken was super tender and juicy, but our broth wasn’t crystal clear We tried hard to skim the broth well and control the boil, but we’ve still got some learning to do. Really good restaurants have great technique and you often see it in their clear broth, so that’s something that we’ll be working towards in the future. Practice makes perfect 🙂

That being said, the first bite of this dish was so delicious that we knew we had to share our recipe with y’all 😀

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Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

• 1 whole chicken with skin
• kosher salt
• water
• 5 ginger slices
• 2 whole green onions

For the rice:

• 1 square inch chicken fat, cut from the chicken’s back tail
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 shallot
• 4 cups white rice
• 6 cups chicken stock, from cooking the chicken
• salt

Sauce 1: ginger garlic sauce

• 2 tbsp chopped ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 tbsp neutral oil
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• pinch of salt

Sauce 2: chili sauce

• 2 tbsp chopped ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 tbsp chili sauce or sriracha
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp chicken stock

Sauce 3: Soy sauce

• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin (subbed for 1 tbsp xioxing wine + 1 tbsp sugar)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp chicken stock

Sides:

• Cucumber
• Chicken stock

Special Equipment You Need:

• 2 pots with lids – one to must fit your chicken, the other must fit the rice. We used pasta pots because its large enough to fit the chicken, plus the strainer lid makes draining is super convenient! Check it out on Amazon.
• Ice bath for the chicken (important for making the perfect skin)

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Recipe:

Cook the chicken:

1. Wash and clean the chicken. Remove a piece of fat about 1 square inch, to save for cooking the rice.
2. Exfoliate the chicken. Rub the chicken skin with kosher salt. Get every nook and cranny and rub away all the dirt, wrinkles, and other icky stuff. Then rinse the chicken thoroughly with water. The chicken skin should be nice and smooth.
3. 1st boil: bring water to boil then add the chicken. Boil for 5 min, removing any scum that floats to the top. Then pour out the water and rinse the chicken.
4. 2nd boil: Fill the pot with new water, enough to fully submerge the chicken. Add ginger and whole scallions (root base removed) to the broth, and also stuff the chicken with with a few pieces of each. Boil at a low simmer for 30 min or until chicken reaches 165 deg F. As it is boiling, make sure to skim any remaining scum.
5. Remove chicken promptly (do not toss the chicken broth) then put it in an ice bath for 10 seconds. Remove chicken from the ice bath, pat dry, and rub with sesame oil. Set aside and let it rest until serving.

Cook the rice:

6. Heat a second pot to medium-high (if you have one, a le creuset works perfectly.) Add the piece of chicken fat, garlic, and shallot. Cook until fragrant, but do not burn. Add the uncooked white rice and cook for 1 min. Add the chicken broth, bring it up to boil then immediately turn to low simmer. Close the lid and cook for 15-20 min. Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 min with the lid still on.

Make your 3 sauces:

7. Make sauce 1 (ginger garlic sauce): Finely chop the ginger and garlic. Mix all ingredients together. Set aside.
8. Make sauce 2 (chili sauce): Finely chop the ginger and garlic. Mix all ingredients together. Set aside.
9. Make sauce 3 (soy sauce): Mix all ingredients together. Set aside.
10. To serve: carve the chicken. Serve with rice, 3 sauces, a bowl of broth, cucumber, and veggies of your choice.

Enjoy!

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Notes:

• Try your best the chicken broth as clear as possible, periodically skim the broth to remove the scum. When boiling, control the bubbles so that the scum stays afloat at the top instead of mixing into the broth.