Hainanese Chicken and Rice

Hainanese chicken and rice is a delicate dish, perfect for someone who's under the weather or when you just want a comforting and healthy chicken dish.  Chicken breasts are gently poached/steamed over rice until they're moist and tender, while the fragrant rice is scented with ginger and a touch of soy sauce. I think steaming the chicken on top of rice is genius because it's an incredibly simple one pot wonder.   Green onions and toasted almonds add flavor and texture as garnishes, and the dipping sauce are important as well because the chicken is, well, chicken.  That's the basic dish.  From there, you can choose the fast and simple route to the finish line, or the slightly more complex but interesting route.

For the fast and simple route, slice up some fresh cucumbers and serve the dish with soy sauce, sweet chili garlic sauce and pickled ginger on the side.  You can pick up both the sweet chili garlic sauce and pickled ginger in the Asian section of your grocery store.

For the slightly more complex route, start by making quick pickled cucumbers (below) before you make the chicken and rice so they have time to marinate for a little while.  Make the ginger sauce (below) while the chicken and rice cook.  Serve the pickled cucumbers, pickled ginger, sweet chili garlic sauce and ginger sauce with the chicken and rice.  Even with making the cucumbers and ginger sauce you can still have dinner on the table in under an hour.

You can never have too many chicken and rice recipes, right?

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Hainanese Chicken and Rice

Serves 4

10 oz rice

1 ½ cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons butter

1 tsp salt

½ large carrot, shredded

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (lightly pounded if uneven in thickness), seasoned with salt and pepper

2 green onions, sliced

3 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds

Sweet chili garlic sauce (comes in a bottle in the grocer’s Asian section)

Ginger sauce (below) or soy sauce

Pickled cucumbers (below) or fresh sliced cucumbers

Pickled ginger, optional

Cilantro sprigs

Wash the rice with cold water and put it into a pan. Add the chicken broth, ginger, soy sauce, butter, salt and carrots. Mix the ingredients thoroughly before placing the chicken breasts on top. Press gently on the chicken to partially submerge in liquid. Put the lid on the pan and let simmer on low heat for 14 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the pan sit covered for another 10 minutes. 

Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and slice crosswise into ¾” slices.  Stir the green onions into the rice, reserving a few for garnish. To serve, divide the rice between plates and top with sliced chicken.  Garnish with cilantro sprigs and reserved green onions.  Add pickled cucumbers and pickled ginger on the side.  Serve with ginger sauce (or soy sauce) and sweet chili garlic sauce for dipping.

Ginger Sauce

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

½ lemon, juiced

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon white vinegar

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small food processor and process until smooth.  Serve at room temperature.

Quick Pickled Cucumbers

½ seedless cucumber, very thinly sliced

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients except cucumbers until the sugar is dissolved.  Add cucumbers and toss well.  Marinate for at least 15 minutes and up to a day.

Rosemary Chicken with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Last Year's Post:  Broccoli Cheese Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Two Years Ago:    Benedictine Sandwiches

I paid a visit to a new international market in town today just to see what was there, since they tend to carry interesting and unusual foods.  In particular, I've found that international markets carry all sorts of produce that you can't find in normal grocery stores.  Case in point, I found some very cute little white beech mushrooms that I decided to add to this recipe.  Of course you can use any kind of wild mushrooms you want but I thought they added visual interest as well as taste and texture, and they're a cute garnish.

Having said that, the primary star of the show is the deep rich red wine mushroom sauce. Tremendous depth of flavor is added by soaking dried porcini mushrooms in hot broth, then adding both the reconstituted porcinis and their soaking liquid to the sauce.  Of course the bacon doesn't hurt, either.  The dish tastes like it came from France or Italy and was simmered for hours.

The original recipe called for grilling boneless skinless chicken thighs.  If it's cold outside and you don't want to grill, just grill the chicken on an indoor grill pan or saute in a regular fry pan.  You could also substitute boneless skinless chicken breasts or cutlets for the thighs, whichever you prefer.

Be sure to serve the chicken with mashed potatoes or pappardelle pasta to soak up all the delicious sauce.

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Rosemary Chicken with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Serves 4

1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breast cutlets

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for for drizzling

Salt and pepper

3 stems fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped

1 cup chicken stock

2 slices bacon, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, finely chopped

8 ounces cremini mushrooms (can also use other wild mushrooms or a mix), cleaned, stemmed and sliced

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup dry red wine

Heat an outdoor grill, grill pan or sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Drizzle chicken with oil, season with salt, pepper and rosemary.  Cook chicken 4-5 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through.  Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes.

Place stock in a small saucepan and heat on high until hot but not boiling.  Add dried porcinis, stirring to make sure the mushrooms are submerged.  Cover the pan and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes to reconstitute the mushrooms.  Remove the mushrooms from the broth and chop.  Strain the broth through a paper towel over a sieve to remove any grit, then set the broth aside.

In a medium skillet, add 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.  Add the bacon, garlic and shallot and sauté, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes.  Add the cremini mushrooms to the pan and season with salt and pepper.  Sauté mushrooms for 10 minutes until browned.  Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  Add red wine to the pan and stir for 1 minute to reduce and thicken the sauce.  Add reserved mushroom stock and porcinis to the pan and simmer 1-2 minutes longer to combine.

Add the cooked chicken back to the pan and spoon sauce over to re-warm the chicken pieces for a minute or two.  Serve chicken with sauce over the top.