Hainanese Chicken Rice is a comfort food in some parts of the world. I tried it for the first time in Singapore.
Inspired by an old CNY celebration pic
This Hainanese Chicken Rice with a twist dish was made for CNY 2024 for a friend. Like me, she had left Singapore with memories of many plates of Chicken Rice eaten in hawker centres. I also wanted to experiment for the first time with a Chicken Rice paste bought and gifted by a friend.
The truth about my life in Singapore is seldom understood by many. I share here a little bit about the process of multiple rounds of house-hunting, shifting, recruiting, training and managing domestic helpers. This had to be as per the strict laws of the land in addition to the stricter laws laid down by my dear husband. I used to weigh and reweigh myself every few days so that I could at least qualify to be counted as a “human being” in that land of machines.
What I loved was the food at the hawker centers but unfortunately that didn’t qualify for regular consumption as per the health and nutrition requirements of my husband. So, I tried my best to limit the indulgence to a few days of Sunday meals.
Helpers Paid and Repaid with money, food, toiletries and healthcare
I had recruited and trained 5-6 domestic helpers in Singapore from Indonesia and Philippines to the best of my recollection. This was in between managing a job, finding furniture, housing and entertaining friends & family. I have also made the chicken rice from scratch with a couple of these helpers. Mostly, with them doing a bit of the prep work while I cooked and oversaw the process closely. Our helper mostly ate what we ate. We also paid for food that they bought from outside at times for their Sunday meals. I celebrated their birthdays and also their special holidays with extra food or bonus money.
When I left in 2019, the last helper stayed in the household that I built slowly painstakingly over a period of 9 years or so. Currently she actually earns from my household income while I try to manage with my own meagre savings with no monetary help from anybody. My husband lives in that comfortable cocoon while I move around trying to find a firm footing in shifting sands.
I guess, you may say that I am a little cynical now about doing things all over again from scratch trusting him or the kindness of the bed that he sleeps in comfortably. I do pay my respect to people around him. His friends, family, colleagues and so-called loved ones who have supported him in such “kind” endeavors to justify his mythical “rightness”. May they find peace in their silent choices.
What’s so special about Chicken Rice?
Honestly, it’s very mildly fragrant, the chicken is steamed and for the average Indian palate, which is used to the spicier curry flavours, it’s hard to understand why one might like it. But I grew to like it as a comfort food and over time, appreciate the subtler flavours. Much like “deem sheddho aloo sheeddho bhaat” (boiled potatoes and boiled eggs mixed with rice) which many of us have grown up eating during our childhood in Bengal. The pandan leaves used during the steaming of the rice has a v subtle smell. I remember that fragrance from kewra essence used for cooking in some of the Indian sweets and Mughlai cuisine. I think some recipes of phirni also favour the use of this herb.
When I moved back from Singapore to India, I did crave that Chicken rice once in a while. Thankfully my neighbour was visiting her family in Malaysia, and she sweetly offered to bring me back some Chicken Rice paste. That made the job easier. I have made it from scratch earlier (without any paste) but it is a little bit more time-consuming process. I don’t have a full-time domestic helper anymore. So, I have figured out that some shortcuts for convenience and time-saving are ok. 🙂
Prep work for Chicken Rice
The chicken that I prefer to use for this dish is with the skin. A whole chicken is traditionally used but I had a pack of curry cut chicken that I wanted to use instead to make it faster. The fat in the skin helps to add to the flavour. It needs to be washed thoroughly. I washed twice with hot and cold water. There are instructions written on the pack but I actually just followed my own method as sometimes you need to modify to suit your own taste and liking. E.g., I browned the Chicken first in the pan where I cooked the paste a bit. The instructions on the pack suggested to add more oil while frying but in my opinion that is not needed as there is enough fat.
I steamed the chicken a bit over a cup of black tea to give a little more flavour. I took out the drippings from the steaming and filtered it to add to the browned paste to make a stock for cooking the rice. Again, this is just my way of minimizing the loss of ingredients and flavour. Also the natural fat is better in flavour than adding more fat/oil.
I don’t have my steamer and other contraptions left behind in the kitchen that I slowly equipped and stocked in Singapore. There wasn’t enough time for me to buy a new one since my friend was coming for lunch. I did my best to make-do with this make-shift contraption. This is a big kadahi or wok along with something we use for roasting chapatis or phulkas. We call this “jugaad” in local parlance. 🙂
Mise en place a bit Misplaced
A lot is actually needed before getting to cooking the rice. 🙂 I have the strained and filtered stock ready now for cooking the chicken rice. It’s rich and thick. I keep aside some for dipping the chicken and take the rest for cooking the rice.
The rest of the ingredients are simple. I’m using regular basmati rice here, but jasmine rice is preferred for this dish. My friend has arrived for lunch. She brought me the pandan leaves which I couldn’t find in my neighborhood market. I have also got some bokchoy greens as a side to go with the chicken rice dish. I add the bokchoy with the rice while cooking to soften it a bit and then do a quick stir fry with some minced garlic.
Final Step of Putting it all Together
The Rice was prewashed and soaked. Now I cook it with water, stock and pandan leaves. I’m using an old pressure cooker here but I don’t put the whistle on. This is to prevent over-cooking and also since I want to steam the Bok choy in it first.
Once the rice is cooked, I take out the pandan leaves and assemble the final plate for my friend. She has been kind enough to help me with the photography and to sample my experimental recipe. Since she has had Chicken rice before during her stay in Singapore I valued her feedback. She seemed to like it, so I guess this qualifies as a successful attempt. 🙂
Do check out the Youtube video on the making of this Chicken Rice with a Twist dish. I hope for some of you who haven’t had this dish before, this inspires you to try tasting it or cooking it for the first time.
Footnote
As I write this, I chuckle at a little writing that I found in the book Singapore A Biography written by Mark R. Frost and Yu-Mei Balasingamchow. I had picked it up a few years ago I think while browsing through bookstores in Singapore.
For those who can’t read Bengali in the little cartoon below- it says “Ingrejer ei Atyacharer Protishodh nao” – roughly translated it reads as “Avenge this British Outrage” which is the headline right on top. I think we have come a long way from such propaganda days. Or have we? As a matter of fact, I still lie below waiting for the penny to drop on my English-speaking husband singing American blues to colonial primness revering elders.
Let’s play fair, shall we? How does one spell this out more clearly?
Hmmm…:)
This is a modified version of my own experimental take on chicken rice. The Hainanese Chicken rice paste pack had instructions which I did not follow. 🙂 Hainanese Chicken Rice with a Twist
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Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
