this is my homage to hainanese chicken rice, a ubiquitous dish found throughout parts of east and southeast asia and one that hits close to home.
what I love about hainanese chicken rice is its incredible simplicity. skin-on, bone-in chicken is poached in a ginger scallion broth until just cooked through. the broth is then used to cook rice ‘cause that sh*t ain’t going to waste! the result is tender, succulent meat with glistening skin, paired with punchy dipping sauces and schmaltzy rice. it takes experience to master, but when done right, hainanese chicken rice can be utter perfection.
great results can also be achieved using a sous vide. all you need to do is throw 5 ingredients into a bag, wait a couple hours, and voila, you’ve got hainanese chicken rice!
even though this dish has been around for multiple generations in asia, it is still difficult for people in the west to wrap their head around. western ideology has us thinking that all chicken must be crispy, and that anything else is inferior. people do things differently all over the world, and in order to bridge the gap between groups of people, we must not write off what is unfamiliar to us.
food is the common denominator that brings people together, and you can learn lot about other cultures by getting to know their food!
Serves 2
Ingredients
2-inches ginger, sliced
4 scallions, sliced in 2-inch lengths
salt
4 chicken thighs, skin-on, bone-in (depending on how you want to serve it, bones can be removed and used in the stock bag or kept intact)
2 cups water
1 rice cooker cup (or 3/4 standard us cup) jasmine rice
sliced cucumber, to garnish
cilantro, to garnish
fried garlic, to garnish
sambal oelek, for dipping
ginger scallion oil, for dipping
tamari, for dipping
Instructions
Set your sous vide to 158 F / 70 C in a water bath.
Liberally salt chicken thighs.
Combine ginger, scallions, chicken thighs (and bones if separated) and water in a large ziplock bag, zipping it up 90% of the way while submerging in the water bath. Let out any remaining air at the top of the bag and zip up completely.
Set the sous vide timer for 3 hours. The chicken thighs can be left in the water at the same temperature for up to 5 hours.
After 2 hours, strain out broth from the bag into a large mixing bowl, tossing out the ginger and scallion. Keep the chicken in the bag and return to water bath to keep warm.
Rinse rice until water runs clear. Cook 1 rice cooker cup of jasmine rice with enough broth to reach the 1 cup line. If cooking in a pot, cook 3/4 cup of jasmine rice with 1 cup of broth. Bring to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low, cover and cook rice for 15 minutes. Rest for an additional 5-10 minutes.
Remove chicken thighs from bag and slice on a cutting board. Plate and serve with rice, cucumbers, cilantro, fried garlic, tamari, ginger scallion oil, and sambal oelek.