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.

Halibut with Cucumbers and Ginger

Last Year's Post: Chicken Schnitzel Sandwiches
Two Years Ago:  Chicken and Caramelized Broccoli Ramen

Halibut is a very mild white fish that's perfectly suited for clean eating.  This recipe pairs the halibut with a refreshing and crunchy cucumber, red onion and pickled ginger salad that provides both flavor and textural contrast to the mild and tender fish.  The meal is very flavorful while still very light and healthy, plus it's very quick and easy to make.  Although optional, thinly sliced green onions and sesame seeds elevate it to something special.

Another option would be to add some thinly sliced jalapeno or Fresno chiles to the cucumber salad if you want some heat.

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Halibut with Cucumbers and Ginger

Serves 4

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced

½ cup thinly sliced red onion

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons chopped pickled ginger

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon canola oil, plus more for oiling the fish and grill

4 (5-6 oz) pieces of halibut

Salt and pepper

Thinly sliced green onions, for garnish

Black and/or toasted white sesame seeds, for garnish

Hot cooked rice

  

Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for direct grilling over high heat, or use a stovetop grill pan.

In a bowl, combine the cucumbers and onion and ½ teaspoon salt.  Let stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the ginger, vinegar and 1 tablespoon canola oil.  Set aside.

Lightly brush the fish on both sides with oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Oil the grill rack.  Place the fish, skin side down, on the grill and cook, turning once, until just opaque throughout, about 8 minutes total. 

 To serve, top each fish piece with green onions and sesame seeds.  Plate with hot rice and cucumber salad on the side.

Vietnamese Shrimp Baguette

 Last Year's Post: Sea Bass in Papillote
Two Years Ago:   Raspberry Dark Chocolate Wonton Cups

If you like Vietnamese food you're sure to love this sandwich.  Similar to a Banh Mi (the famous pork-based Vietnamese sandwich - recipe here) this sandwich is served on a crisp and light baguette and includes several vegetables for crunch.  However, instead of meat in an Asian-type barbecue sauce, this sandwich has shrimp sauteed in an immensely flavorful and moderately spicy puree made from lemongrass, garlic, vinegar, serrano pepper, ginger and cilantro.  The result is lighter but punchier than the pork version, if that makes any sense.

Ever wondered how chefs make those beautiful carrots strips?  You can buy a peeler at Bed, Bath and Beyond (and I'm sure elsewhere) with serrated edges.  All you do is run it down the carrot for perfect strips every time.

And here's another interesting thing I learned along the way - the sushi chef at my local grocer informed me that the pink pickled ginger you can buy in jars is "the cheap stuff" and that sushi chefs use white pickled ginger (shown below on the upper left).  He sold me a small container of his secret stash.  Ask the next sushi chef you run across if you're interested, or you can find white pickled ginger in jars at some natural foods stores.

I find myself on the slippery slope of spiciness again.  Just how spicy is "moderately spicy"?  Enough so you notice some heat, but not enough to make your lips burn. And not enough to cover up the other flavors in the sandwich.  The original recipe that I adapted called for a bird's eye chile, which I couldn't find so I decided to substitute a serrano chile instead. Then I did a little research to figure out how they compare in heat.  I found this very handy chart that lists the heat level of pretty much every pepper you can think of, and was surprised to find that bird's eye chiles are quite a bit hotter than a serrano.  I think I'm glad I didn't find the bird's eye chile.

The sauce on the shrimp has bold flavors but the carrots, radishes, pickled ginger and cilantro all add flavor complexity and crunch as well.  The mayonnaise tones things down and adds creaminess, and of course there's that great crisp baguette.  All in all, I would call this one of the great sandwiches right up there with the Banh Mi.

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Vietnamese Shrimp Baguettes

Makes 2 sandwiches

  

8 ounces peeled and deveined raw shrimp, tail shells removed

10 cilantro stems, divided

2 cloves garlic

1 serrano chile, stem cut off

2-3” lemongrass stalk

5-6 thin slices fresh ginger

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons olive oil

½ carrot, cut into thin matchsticks

2 tablespoons pickled ginger, chopped

1 green onion, thinly sliced

4 radishes, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 small baguettes

Chop the shrimp and set aside.

In a small food processor, combine 8 stems of cilantro, the garlic, chile with seeds, lemongrass, fresh ginger, fish sauce and rice vinegar and puree.  Toss the puree with the chopped shrimp.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium-high and add the oil, then add the shrimp mixture and cook, turning several times, for about 4 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through.

Split the baguettes and spread with mayonnaise.  Stuff with the shrimp and top with carrot, pickled ginger, green onion, radishes, and the leaves of the remaining 2 cilantro stems.