Hainanese Chicken Rice
The jewel of the East – glistening poached chicken served with flavour-infused rice.
Prep Time 30 Minutes
Cook Time 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Serves 4
Shocking the meat in ice cold water helps firm it up and creates a gelatinous layer between the skin and the flesh.
Ingredients
- 600g boneless chicken thighs (skin-on)
- 10ml sesame oil
Rice
- 30ml sesame oil
- 50g ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 40g chicken fat (optional)
- 500g jasmine rice
- 850ml chicken stock
Ginger Chili Sauce
- 5 fresh red chillies
- 30g ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4g sugar
- 2g salt
- 5ml lime juice
- 30ml chicken stock
Sesame-soy Sauce
- 30ml sesame oil
- 60ml light soy sauce
To Finish
- 1 cucumber
- Bunch of coriander
Method
1 hour 30 minutes before serving:
- Fill your sous vide water bath with water and preheat to 65°C (149°F) with 1 hour 30 minutes cooking time.
- Once the target temperature is reached, seal the chicken thighs with 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in a bag and submerge them in the water bath.
45 minutes before serving:
- For the rice: heat up the sesame oil in a heavy-based pot. Stir-fry ginger (minced), garlic (minced) and chicken fat until aromatic. add rice, stir for 5 minutes before adding the chicken stock.
- Once the mixture boils, reduce heat to medium. Simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes until cooked. Add more water if necessary.
- When the chicken is cooked, submerge the bag containing the chicken in a pot of ice cold water for 15 minutes. Remove from the bag and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- For the chilli sauce: chop and mix the chillies, ginger, garlic, sugar, salt and lime juice in a blender. Add chicken stock and season to taste. Set aside.
- Prepare the sesame-soy sauce simply by mixing sesame oil and light soy sauce. Set aside.
To Serve
- Drizzle some sesame-soy sauce generously over a portion of chicken, topped with some chopped coriander. Serve with rice, sliced cucumber and chilli sauce.