Hainanese Chicken Rice (Cơm Gà Hải Nam)

Hainanese chicken rice, Cơm Gà Hải Nam, is a dish of fragrant poached chicken and a rich, fatty rice cooked in chicken fat and broth.

Course dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Asian, Vietnamese

Keyword Chicken, Rice,

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 2 15

Total Time 2 30

Servings

Calories 730kcal

Author Suzanne Nuyen

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.

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.

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.

Mince the ginger, garlic and Thai chilis together
Mix the minced ginger, garlic and chilis with the sugar, fish sauce and apple cider vinegar.

Carve your cooled chicken however you prefer. Serve with rice topped with fried shallots sliced cucumber, tomatoes and the two sauces.

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.