“You know that you can cook chicken rice in a rice cooker, yeah?” said my husband. I did not. But his little tip made me overhaul my entire recipe that I had posted 6 years ago.
I call this the South East Asian version of Hainanese chicken rice because I have combined some of the Singaporean/Malaysian and the Thai varieties. I have used the same ginger-garlic aromas used in Singapore and Malaysia with the addition of the winter gourd that is normally seen in the Thai varieties.
Thermomix adaptation is also below. I still prefer to cook the chicken rice in the rice cooker because the soup gets starchy if cooked in the same bowl as the rice in the Thermomix. That’s personal preference.
Serves 4
Prep time 20 mins
Cook time 1 hour
Ingredients
For the chicken and rice:
1kg chicken thigh cutlets, skin on
1 tbsp canola oil
15g ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cups of uncooked rice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil (less if you don’t like it)
500-600mL water (approx, depends on your rice)
For the broth:
2L water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 spring onion, halved
2cm piece ginger, sliced
250g winter gourd, chopped into 2cm pieces
For the ginger sauce:
15g ginger, minced
1 stalk of spring onion, minced
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
For garnish:
1 cucumber, sliced
2 stalks of coriander, leaves only
chilli sauce (optional)
Tip: Steaming the chicken is just so much juicier than boiling it in a pot of water, in my opinion. For best results, steam the chicken pieces in a multi-level steamer such as this and make sure to retain the water underneath as that liquid gold chicken stock for your soup.
Heat the canola oil in a large pan and sautee the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Then dry-fry the rice until mixed through. Stir in the salt and sesame oil and transfer to a rice cooker.
Add the water and place one chicken thigh cutlet on top of the rice, pushing it down to be submerged in the water. Then cook as per usual in the rice cooker.
Steam the chicken cutlets in a multi-level steamer such as this with spring onion and ginger. If you don’t have one, you can boil the chicken cutlets in a large pot with 2-3L of water instead but I think it tastes better steamed. Let it simmer for approximately 30 minutes and add the winter gourd to the water. After a further 10 minutes, remove the chicken cutlets (including the one in the rice cooker) and cut up before serving. To tighten the skin, you may want to let it cool down in some ice cold water before cutting.
Prepare the ginger sauce and serve with rice, chicken and a bowl of soup. Garnish with cucumber and coriander.
Thermomix Adaptation
Ingredients
For the ginger sauce:
15g ginger, 2cm pieces
1 stalk of spring onion, 2 cm pieces
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
For the chicken and rice:
15g ginger, 2cm pieces
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp canola oil
320g uncooked rice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil (less if you don’t like it)
500-600mL water (approx, depends on your rice)
1kg chicken thigh cutlets, skin on
For the broth:
1500g water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 spring onion, halved
2cm piece ginger, sliced
250g winter gourd, chopped into 2cm pieces
For garnish:
1 cucumber, sliced
2 stalks of coriander, leaves only
chilli sauce (optional)
Place 15g ginger and spring onion in mixing bowl. Put measuring cup into lid and chop 30 seconds / speed 5. Set aside in a small bowl and stir in the canola oil and salt.
Add 15g ginger and garlic into mixing bowl and chop Turbo / 2 sec. Add the canola oil, rice, salt and sesame oil and sautee 4 minutes / 100C / reverse speed 2.
Transfer the rice to the rice cooker, add the water and place one chicken thigh cutlet on top of the rice, pushing it down to be submerged in the water. Then cook as per usual in the rice cooker.
Rinse mixing bowl to make sure all the rice grains are removed. This would prevent your soup from becoming starchy.
Place the water, salt, sugar, spring onion in to mixing bowl.
Place the chicken cutlets into the Varoma dish and tray making sure that the holes are not being blocked. Set in position and steam 30 minutes / Varoma / speed 2.
Add the winter gourd into mixing bowl and steam 10 minutes / Varoma / speed 2.
Remove the chicken (including the one in the rice cooker) and cut into pieces. To tighten the skin, you may want to let it cool down in some ice cold water before cutting.
Serve rice, chicken and a bowl of soup. Garnish with cucumber and coriander.
More Chicken Recipes
- Burmese Chicken Gourd Curry
- Sweet Mustard Crumbed Chicken
- Caramelised Onion Chicken
- Blissful Butter Chicken
- Kung Pao Chicken