Hainanese chicken rice, especially popular in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, is an elegant meal centered around a poached chicken and spreading its flavor to an accompanying rice and dipping sauces. It’s one of those elementally simple dishes where the quality is generated from finesse and technique.

I surveyed a collection of online recipes by Tasty, Food52, Steamy Kitchen, and Nyonya Cooking and smashed their common elements together into a sort of statistical average recipe. 

Read those blogs for insight into why the recipe works. Really the only addition I can contribute is that a typical American supermarket chicken, weighing 5.5 pounds and bred for enormous breasts, is prone to poaching unevenly. Take care to find a suitable chicken and good ginger. 

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Hainanese Chicken Rice

Fresh ingredient summary: 3-4 lb chicken, a lot of ginger, 4 cloves garlic, 2-4 scallions,  1 shallot, 1 lime, cucumber, cilantro.

Pantry ingredient summary: 2 cups rice, sesame oil, sriracha, sugar, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, vinegar, white pepper, salt, oil.

Chicken

• Trim a small 3-4 pound chicken of excess fat near the cavity (reserve), pat dry, rub with kosher salt, then rinse well.
• Stuff cavity with 3 inches ginger, peeled and sliced, and 2-4 scallions. (Optional: Truss chicken.)
• Place chicken in a stock pot, breast side up. Cover to an inch above with cold water, about 1 gallon. Bring to a boil. Flip breast side down and simmer for 25-30 minutes, skimming for the first few minutes, until the juices near the thigh run clear. Don’t overcook. 
• Cool in an ice bath for 3-5 minutes. Pat dry, then rub skin with 1 tbsp sesame oil. 
• Discard all ginger and scallions. Leave poaching liquid on heat to reduce and to use in other components.

Rice

• In a large pan, render reserved chicken fat. Add supplementary oil if necessary, then saute 1 shallot minced, 1 inch ginger minced, and 2 cloves garlic minced until fragrant (remember to cut the ginger and garlic for the sauces). 
• Add 2 cups rice, rinsed, 1 tbsp sesame oil, and saute for 1-2 minutes. Steam with 2 cups poaching liquid (either transfer to rice cooker or leave in pan and bring to boil on medium-high heat, cover, and steam on lowest heat until liquid has evaporated, 12-15 minutes)

Chili Dipping Sauce

• Combine 4 tbsp sriracha, 2 tsp sugar, 1 clove garlic minced, 1 inch ginger minced, 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbsp poaching liquid. 

Soy Dipping Sauce

• Combine 1 tbsp shaoxing wine, 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp poaching liquid. 

Ginger Garlic Dipping Sauce

• Combine 3 tbsp peanut oil, 1 inch ginger minced, 2 cloves garlic minced, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp vinegar (or lime juice).

Assembly

• To the reduced poaching liquid, add salt and a pinch white pepper to make a soup. 
• Carve chicken. 
• Serve chicken alongside mounds of rice shaped with a small bowl, sliced cucumbers, cilantro garnish, dipping sauces, and soup.