Sunday, June 22, 2008

Hainam Chicken Rice for Sunday's Lunch




My husband comes home from out of town work on the Weekends. Instead of eating out, I decided to cook him his favourite Hainam Chicken Rice. This dish is very famous back home in Malaysia. You can find a lot of stores and restaurants selling Hainam Chicken Rice, especially in K.L and Ipoh. In fact I have a cousin who runs a small store at Chow Yong Restaurant , at SS 2, Petaling Jaya. They had the store for more than 25 years, and I think they had the best Hainam Chicken Rice.
This dish is very easy to make. First I defrost the chicken, (In U.S.A you can only buy frozen chicken) ,I used two chicken legs and one breast. Then I boil a big pot of water , seasoned with salt and pepper. When the water boils, drop the chicken in , usually I use the knife to cut a few slits of the chicken, cook faster. Cover the pot and let it boil for 15 minutes, turn down the heat. Cover for another 5 minutes, check chicken with a chopstick, poke and make sure no flesh blood oozes out. Then you pick the chicken out ,run with cold water. This make the meat tender, not soft.
Then I wash some rice, cooked on the pot with a little butter, and season with salt and sesame oil. Then use the chicken broth earlier, put a few scoops ,cover the rice, when star boiling, turn heat down. When all water evaporates, turn to very low and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Cut chicken into bites size, sprinkle wit green onion, topped with a little soy sauce and sesame oil. And of course serve with hot chili oil.Use the leftover broth, to make some soup,season, add some green onions/chives on it,put a dash of seseme oil.
Wow, very Delicious, come join me for lunch.Very delicious home cooked dish in a foreign land. Next year I will be going back to taste some real delicious Hainamese Chicken Rice.

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