Hainanese Chicken Rice is a a fan favorite dish in our household. I love the silky texture that poached whole chicken has, the fatty, savory rice cooked in schmaltz, and the combination of sauces that really kicks the dish up a notch. This dish truly is a symphony of flavors.
Pin Hainanese Chicken Rice (Cơm Gà Hải Nam) to try later!
In Vietnamese, the dish is called cơm gà hải nam. It originated on the island of Hainan, or Hai Nam in the South China sea. The dish is now popular across Southeast Asia, and is most well known as one of Singapore's national dishes. The Singaporean version includes sauces that are a little bit different than the one I serve the dish with.
The chicken really shines in this dish, and you use every part of it. The fat is trimmed off and used to cook the rice, along with the broth that you make when you poach the chicken. This makes for a delicious, fatty, flavorful rice that compliments the poached chicken incredibly well.
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🍗 Ingredients
The chicken is truly the star of this dish. If there was any dish you want to splurge on meat for, it would be this one. Try to find a free-range, organic chicken if possible. Cơm Gà Hải Nam is traditionally made with gà đi bộ, or walking chicken, which has a smaller water content and a chewier meat. It also has a beautiful yellow skin and really flavorful fat. I couldn't find one, so I used turmeric to color my chicken.
You will need:
For the chicken:
- A whole chicken
- shallots
- turmeric
- water
- a neutral cooking oil
For the rice:
- chicken fat
- shallots
- turmeric
- rice
- chicken broth
For the ginger scallion oil:
- scallions
- ginger
- a neutral cooking oil
- salt
- msg
For the ginger fish sauce:
- ginger
- garlic
- Thai chilis
- sugar
- fish sauce
- apple cider vinegar
Optional for serving:
- Cucumber
- Tomato
- Fried shallots
See recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
Cooking the chicken:
Trim the fatty bits from the bottom of a whole chicken and set aside.
Add the chicken to a pot and add enough water to completely submerge the chicken. Add a handful of salt, some peeled shallots and cook at a simmer until the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the chicken. Bloom some turmeric in a bit of neutral oil (I used avocado) and brush it on the cooked chicken to give it some color. Leave the chicken out to cool.
Cooking the rice:
Add the saved chicken trimmings to a cold, dry pan and render the fat out on medium heat until all of the fat has released from the chicken.
Remove the crispy bits of chicken and add minced shallots to the rendered fat. Add a pinch of turmeric and sauté until the shallots are browned, about 5 minutes.
Add rinsed, uncooked rice and toast for about 2 minutes.
Add the chicken poaching liquid to the rice and cook either in a rice cooker or on the stove.
For the ginger scallion oil:
Finely chop the scallions and mince the ginger.
Fry the minced ginger on medium heat until fragrant, about two minutes.
Add the chopped scallions, salt and msg and cook until the scallions are just wilted, about 30 seconds to a minute, and remove from the heat.
For the ginger fish sauce:
Mince together garlic, ginger and Thai chilis.
Add the Thai chili, garlic and ginger mixture to fish sauce, sugar and apple cider vinegar.
Assembling the dish:
Carve the chicken into its separate pieces (thighs, drumsticks, wings and breasts) and cut the larger pieces into smaller pieces. Keep the bones in.
Serve the chicken at room temperature with the cooked rice, cucumbers, tomatoes, the two sauces and some fried shallots for garnish.
Hint: Make more ginger scallion oil than you need and save it for later. It tastes great on everything from salads to sandwiches to plain hot rice!
💭 Substitutions
- Chicken fat - If your chicken isn't very fatty or you don't want to render your own fat, you can use store bought chicken fat (schmaltz) or store bought duck fat.
- Types of chicken - As referenced above, buy the best quality chicken you can find to truly enjoy this dish as it is meant to taste. I reccommend at least getting a free range, organic chicken.
- Apple cider vinegar: You can use lime juice or rice wine vinegar.
📚 Variations
Different countries have different variations on the sauces served with Hainanese chicken rice. Check out some other bloggers' recipes for more sauce inspiration:
- The Ravenous Couple makes a similar ginger fish sauce to this recipe, and adds a Thai style soy sauce.
- The Woks of Life serves this dish with three sauces: a ginger garlic sauce, a dark sweet soy sauce and a chili sauce.
- Andrea Nguyen also uses a scallion ginger oil like me, and adds three other sauces:A fresh ginger sauce, a fermented soybean sauce and a chile sauce.
Mix and match your favorite sauces to customize this dish!
🖊️ Top tips
- Different brands of fish sauce will have different levels of saltiness, especially the longer it's kept after opening. Taste as you go when making the ginger fish sauce. You're looking for a good balance of sweet, salty, sour and spicy.
- Kosher salt and table salt have different levels of saltiness, and different brands of kosher salt also differ. Add salt a little bit at a time and taste as you go when making the scallion oil.
🍳 Equipment
I use a rice cooker to make all my rice. I follow the manufacturer's instructions. My rice cooker is from Cuckoo.
If you don't have a rice cooker, follow the steps above for rinsing, draining and toasting the rice. Add the rice to a stock pot and add twice as much chicken broth as rice. Stir the rice once and cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once it boils, immediately turn down the heat to the lowest setting on your stove. Simmer the rice, covered, for 15-20 minutes until the rice is done. Check it around 10 minutes to make sure you don't burn the rice.
I use a small manual food processor to mince all my garlic and ginger. You can use a knife if you want, but it will take longer. You can also use an electric food processor.
🍚 Serving Suggestions
I like to serve Cơm Gà Hải Nam with some fresh cucumbers and tomatoes to cut through the richness of the fatty chicken and rice. It would also taste good with some steamed vegetables or a salad.
🥡 How to store or make in advance
The chicken, rice and sauces can be made up to 48 hours in advance. Keep everything in separate containers in the fridge. Let the chicken come to room temperature before serving. The rice can be microwaved.
The chicken and rice will last in the fridge for 3-4 days. The sauces will last in the fridge for up to a week.
👪 Serving size
This dish will comfortably serve up to six people.
📋 Recipe
Hainanese Chicken Rice (Cơm Gà Hải Nam)
Equipment
- rice cooker optional
- food processor optional
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1 chicken about 3-4 lbs, free range organic preferred
- 2 tablespoon salt
- 1 shallot
- 8-10 cups water enough to submerge the chicken completely
- 2 tablespoon oil optional
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric optional
For the rice
- 2 tablespoon chicken fat
- 1 pinch turmeric optional
- 1 shallot minced
- 2 cups rice uncooked
- 4 cups chicken broth from cooking the chicken
For the ginger scallion oil
- 2 bunches scallions chopped
- 1 large knob ginger about 40g, minced
- 1 cup oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pinch msg optional
For the ginger fish sauce
- 1 small knob ginger about 20g, minced
- 3 cloves garlic about 15g
- 3-4 Thai chiles depending on how spicy you want the sauce
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Optional garnishes
- 1 english cucumber
- ½ lb cherry tomatoes
- fried shallots to taste
Instructions
For the chicken:
- Trim and set aside the fatty bits at the back cavity of the whole chicken.
- Add the chicken to a large pot breast side up and add enough water to submerge it completely. Add the salt and shallots. Bring the water to a boil and lower the heat to simmer the chicken for 40-45 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165° Fahrenheit.
- Optional: While the chicken is cooking, heat the oil in a small pan over medium and bloom the of turmeric in the oil for about 30 seconds. Be careful not to burn the turmeric.
- Remove the chicken and place on a plate to cool and dry. Optional: Brush the chicken with the turmeric oil for a better color.
For the rice:
- Add the reserved chicken fat to a cool, dry pan and heat it up over medium heat until all the fat has rendered out. Remove the leftover crispy bits.
- Add the minced shallot and a pinch of turmeric (optional) and cook until the shallot has browned, about 5 minutes.
- Rinse the rice under running water. Drain it and add to the shallots. Toast the rice and coat all of the grains in the oil for about 2 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and scoop out the rice into your rice cooker. Add the appropriate amount of broth from cooking the chicken to the rice cooker (it will depend on your machine). Cook according to your rice cooker's instructions.
- If you don't have a rice cooker, follow the steps above for rinsing, draining and toasting the rice. Add the rice to a stock pot and add 4 cups of chicken broth from cooking the chicken. Stir the rice once and cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once it boils, immediately turn down the heat to the lowest setting on your stove. Simmer the rice, covered for 15-20 minutes until the rice is done. Check it around 10 minutes to make sure you don't burn the rice.
For the ginger scallion oil
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the minced ginger and fry until fragrant, about two minutes.
- Add the chopped scallions, salt and msg and stir until the scallions are just wilted, about 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from the heat.
For the ginger fish sauce
- Mince the ginger, garlic and Thai chilis together
- Mix the minced ginger, garlic and chilis with the sugar, fish sauce and apple cider vinegar.
Assembling the chicken rice
- Carve your cooled chicken however you prefer. Serve with rice topped with fried shallots sliced cucumber, tomatoes and the two sauces.
Notes
- Different brands of fish sauce will have different levels of saltiness, especially the longer it's kept after opening. Taste as you go when making the ginger fish sauce. You're looking for a good balance of sweet, salty, sour and spicy.
- Kosher salt and table salt have different levels of saltiness, and different brands of kosher salt also differ. Add salt a little bit at a time and taste as you go when making the scallion oil.
- Chicken fat - If your chicken isn't very fatty or you don't want to render your own fat, you can use store bought chicken fat (schmaltz) or store bought duck fat
- Types of chicken - As referenced above, buy the best quality chicken you can find to truly enjoy this dish as it is meant to taste. I reccommend at least getting a free range, organic chicken
- Apple cider vinegar: You can use lime juice or rice wine vinegar.
Nutrition
Calorie counts and nutrition facts are an estimate only.
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🦺 Food safety
- Cook chicken to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods. Rice should not be kept warm in the rice cooker overnight.
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
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