Singapore Chicken Rice

Chicken rice is a dish you can easily find in every corner island wide
It's a tasty flavored rice served with soft and juicy chicken meat, eat with garlicky delicious chili sauce mixed with ground ginger and dark soy sauce. A small bowl of chicken broth commonly served together with the dish, too
As simple as it may sounds, this is one dish I still can't get it right, especially the rice. Somehow it just never tastes as good as those sold outside
What I mentioned was making from the scratch, I don't have any issue if I use premix
I have tried a few different recipes, which actually pretty similar, but still not satisfied hence no posting on them
Even the one I posted sometime back (you may view HERE), I still find the rice tasted somewhat bland

I found another recipe I was eager to try. It's from a trusted blogger, Amelia's  Dessert
I did and I must say this recipe is the closest to my expectation compared to those I previously tried. Not exactly the same, but very close. And for homemade dish, I was pleased. I just assume those sold outside use a lot of flavor enhancer :)


This is good enough without the ginger sauce, fish balls and the bean sprout salad like what Amelia did :)

Soft succulent yummy chicken 

Left: chicken broth, light soya sauce and sesame oil mixture to drizzle on the rice

Center: cilantro dipping sauce

Right: garlic chili sauce

What you need:

The chicken:

1 free range chicken

2 tsp salt

1 inch ginger, slice thinly

3 cloves of garlic, lightly crushed

1 stalk spring onion, halved

1/2 cube chicken stock cube

Dressing:

Mix together: 1 tbsp light soy sauce & 1 tbsp sesame oil

Garnish:

Mix together: 2 tbsp chicken broth, 1 tbsp light soy sauce & 1 tbsp sesame oil

cucumber slices

some cilantro leaves

Method:

1. Wash and clean chicken. Discard chicken and feet. Trim excess skin and fat
2. Rub all over with salt, inside and outside. Do not rinse
3. Boil a large pot of water enough to submerge the whole chicken
4. Add into the boiling water chicken stock cubes, garlic, ginger and spring onion and chicken (breast facing down)
5. Cover the pot and boil for 10mins over medium heat. Remove from heat and leave the chicken in the hot broth for 40mins, do not open the cover
6. After that, check the chicken by piercing the thigh with chopstick. If no blood oozes out, it's cooked
7. Remove chicken from the pot and shower with iced water. Then dip again in the hot broth for 1min. This is to produce jelly like skin. Leave the chicken to cool about 10mins. Brush with dressing mixture all over the chicken
8. When cooled completely, chop into bite size and dress up with cucumber and cilantro leaves. Pour chicken broth mixture over chicken pieces prior to serving

The rice:

2 cups rice - rinse

3 cloves of garlic, lightly pounded

1/2 inch ginger, no need to slice

3 pandan leaves

2 medium pieces of chicken fat

chicken broth - enough to cook the rice

Method:

1. Heat up the wok and render chicken fat til oil released. I discarded the crispy fat but you may use it for garnishing
2. Stir fry ginger and garlic til fragrant. Add in rice and pandan leaves. Stir fry for about 2mins
3. Transfer rice into rice cooker, add in chicken stock cubes and chicken broth
4. Let cook. Once cooked, fluff the rice with chopstick

Cilantro dipping sauce:

1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped

1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp black soy sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

dash of pepper

2 shallots, slice thinly

2 tbsp chicken broth

1/2 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in the wok and sautee the sliced shallots. Add in oyster sauce and chicken broth
2. Lower the heat. Add in both soy sauce, pepper and cilantro
3. Stir quickly and remove from heat

Chili sauce:

4 red chillies

2 cloves of garlic

salt, vinegar, sugar

Method:

1. Wash chilies and discard and seed, chopped
2. Blend chilies and garlic. Add in salt, vinegar and sugar, mix well

Yummy! :)