Singapore Chicken Rice

Haiananese Chicken Rice or Singapore Chicken Rice as it is popularly known is a staple dish amongst a  majority of Singaporeans. During my tour in Singapore four years ago, which was actually my first trip abroad,my friends who were already residents there introduced my palate to this endemic cuisine. Wherever you go in busy Singapore, whether in hawkers, fancy or high end restaurants, the ubiquitous chicken rice will always be present in their menu offerings.Story tells us that this dish basically originated from China and was just introduced during the late 80's until it was embraced and recognized as Singapore's culinary symbol. It's simplicity and flavor makes it a sought after dish among locals and foreigners alike.

Chicken Rice is basically boiled chicken flavored with three types of dippings : Soy sauce, the green onions and ginger oil and the chili garlic oil to include cucumbers, tomatoes and cilantro as sidings.  The rice that goes with the boiled chicken is also cooked with a flavored broth that was used in boiling the chicken. But the most delicious chicken rice I tasted was not the typical boiled chicken rather, a fried chicken that tasted perfectly with the fragrant rice and the vegetables. It was being sold in a restaurant that was just a few blocks away from the place where we were staying. The restaurant is very popular among those who live in the area that it always gets to be jam packed in the evening. For only 3.50 Singaporean Dollars, queuing really proved to be worth it. 

Albeit easy to prepare, there are still many details that go with the making of this dish.  The ideal chicken to use would be 1500 grams which is a broaster perhaps.Average poultry sold in the supermarkets are basically broasters and fryers, so to get the best portion you must have it reserved from your regular poultry provider a day before. The next step, which is actually boiling appears to be a more pressing task since it requires three boiling stages before the chicken would be ready for serving. Yes, three laborious boiling  it is. First, you must prepare a pot filled with water. Then to flavor your broth, you should add some celery sprigs and stems, sliced onion bulbs, leeks, lemongrass, ginger roots,  peppercorns, star anise, salt, pepper and a few teaspoons of soy sauce. Allow it to simmer until the spices already emit an appetizing aroma. This will signal that it now alright to put in the chicken and have it boiled for 30 minutes. This is yet the first interval. 

So as not to waste time, use the 30 minutes to prepare the sauces. To make the ginger and onion sauce, you just have to saute in a very hot oil some chopped onions, garlic, celery, ginger and leeks. Allow all the flavors of the herbs and spices to settle in the oil and season it with some salt and pepper. The chili sauce is more simpler since only involves generous pieces of chopped chilies and garlic sauteed in chili powder colored oil. Soy sauce dip is only soy sauce mixed with some sesame oil.

After the 30 minutes have elapsed,take the boiled chicken and submerge it in ice cold water. This will allow the blood to clot and the meat to stiffen as well as to stop the cooking process. The chicken should be submerged for a good 10 minutes or more, after which you can proceed to boiling it again in the same broth for another 20 minutes. Repeat the process as to the ice procedure with the third boiling. After the third boiling stage, you now have to hang the boiled chicken and rub it with soy sauce and some sesame oil. This will prevent the skin from drying as it gets exposed to the air for 30 minutes.

When the chicken is finally ready, you can now cut up your chicken pieces and serve it with the sauces you previously prepared. In my case, I poured the ginger-onion oil over the the cut up chicken pieces with some tomatoes and cucumbers to go with the garnish of cilantro sprigs. The picture may not really be that visually appetizing but I bet my heart out that the dish was really good. So who says I have to to Singapore to taste chicken rice?