Hainanese Chicken Rice
海南鸡饭 Khao Man Gai

Hainan 海南 is an island in the South of China, 雞 (jī) means chicken and 飯 (fàn) rice. It is a Chinese chicken rice dish, it is also very popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In the traditional version of the recipe, the chicken is boiled, then the broth is used to cook the rice. In the version of this recipe, I steam the chicken, it remains tastier. Traditionally, the chicken flesh is eaten pink, so it tastes better. But I prefer to extend the cooking a little bit, just enough so that it is no longer pink but it remains tender and juicy.

To cook the rice I use a tasty chicken broth that I get from a carcass. The quality of the rice also counts in the pleasure of eating this dish. I like to use Thai jasmin rice from the new crop, it is very fragrant and has a tender texture. When the new annual rice crop goes on sale, Asian gourmets rush to buy it, rediscovering very fragrant rice for several months. After six to seven months of storage, the rice loses some of its fragrance and becomes less tender. We must then wait for the next new harvest. To cook the rice, 600ml of broth is necessary, if it is rice from the old harvest, use 700ml. If you don't have a rice cooker, you can use a pan, check out my video on how to do it.

In this dish, the ginger sauce is essential, in the traditional version, much appreciated especially in Thailand, it also contains salted mung beans and sugar. Bon appétit.