I used to think that the only way to cook white chicken, or Hainanese chicken as some readers call it, is to steam it and serve it with the ginger sauce on the side. Seems not.
Based on Kylie Kwong’s recipe as cooked in her TV show, this is a simple chicken dish that requires a large pot and a very sharp and very heavy cleaver. The pot has to be large enough to contain the chicken and the cleaver has to be heavy and sharp enough to cut through the bones. The only cooking skills required — knowing how to simmer, cut, slice, mix and pour. The cooked dish is not colorful but what it lacks in color, it more than makes up for in flavor.
Serves 4 to 6.
Ingredients :
To cook the chicken:
1 2-kg. whole chicken
1 whole onion
1 whole garlic
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 tbsp. of peppercorns
4-5 tbsps. of salt
1 c. of Shiaoxing rice wine
For the sauce:
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
12 to 15 stalks of onion leaves
2 cloves of garlic
6 tbsps. of light soy sauce
1 c. of chicken broth
1 tsp. of sesame seed oil
1 tbsp. of sugar
6 tbsps. of peanut oil
Pour about 10 cups of water in large cooking pot. Add the garlic, onion, ginger, peppercorns. Bring to the boil. Pour in the Shiaoxing rice wine. When the mixture boils once more, lower the whole chicken in. Make sure that there is enough liquid to completely cover the chicken. Add more water if necessary. Weigh down the chicken with a heavy heatproof plate so that it does not float during cooking. Simmer the chicken for 40 minutes then turn off the heat and let the chicken and broth cool for a couple of hours. Don’t think that 40 minutes aren’t enough to cook a 2-kg. chicken through. Allowing it to stay in the hot broth for a couple of hours after the heat has been turned off will cook it sufficiently. It will also give the chicken a chance to fully absorb all the flavors of the spices. The rice wine gives it body.
When the chicken has cooled, carefully remove it from the broth. Sturdy kitchen tongs are helpful. Lay the chicken on a chopping board. Carefully cut off the thigh and leg so that they remain as a single piece. Do the same for the other thigh and leg. Score the breast vertically from neck to tail then cut through the bones. Lay one portion on the chopping board, cut side down. Score the meat at one-inch intervals then chop through the bones. Using the cleaver, scoop up all the cut pieces and transfer to a serving platter. Do the same with the other half, and the thighs and legs portions. Arrange on the serving platter so that all pieces form a single layer.
Prepare the sauce. Peel the ginger and garlic. Cut into two-inch lengths then cut vertically into thin, thin matchsticks. Cut the onion leaves into two-inch lengths then slice them vertically as finely as you can. Place the ginger, garlic and onion leaves in a bowl. Pour in the soy sauce, sesame seed oil and cooled chicken broth (use the broth in which the chicken has cooked). Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
Heat the peanut oil until smoking profusely. Pour over the chicken (it will sizzle so keep your distance) then serve your Hainanese chicken immediately.
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I have to get a very sharp cleaver, because can’t seem to get that chicken chopped the Chinese way. I’m slightly surprised by the soy sauce in the sauce, but hey, looks delicious anyways.
I was surprised too when I first saw Kylie Kwong add soy sauce. I still like the older sauce better (in the link in the entry) but Kylie’s cooking method for the chicken is pretty good.
Hi! would like to ask if your chicken is frozen or not, because what my mom taught me the chicken should be fresh which is not supposed to be frozen for you to get the color you want.
Wow! This is one of my favorite Chinese chicken dish. Never tried cooking it though.
By the way, Ms. Connie, I’m starting up a blog and I’d like to add your blogs to my favorite’s list and friends online. hope it’s OK with you.
Fresh, Janice.
Phynkee, wow, pasilip! And syempre thanks for including me in your favorites.
hi there! can i use some other rice wine? i don’t think the local stores here in uk carry that brand
i’m looking forward to trying this dish!
It’s not exactly a brand. Shaoxing is a city and good quality Chinese rice wine is preceded by “Shaoxing” in the label to refer to the quality.
I watched this episode of Kylie Kwong and was fascinated to learn it is so easy to make. I’ve cooked it already at home and it was a hit. Have yet to post this on my blog. But this is really a must-try!
I love Hainanese Chicken.
For better flavor, use a “kampung” chicken – one that has been running around a lot. It is tougher, but tastier.
I prefer a garlic-ginger-chile sauce, but no soy in it.
Yes, best to use free ranged, grass fed chickens
It is firmer and tastier.
We tried this without the rice wine. It’s still delicious! Thanks for sharing it Ms. Connie!
Dry sherry can be a substitute to shaoxing rice wine.
In my first five days in Singapore, this Chicken Rice (Hainanese Chicken) was the first dish I managed to eat without curry. A kick-ass one.
The way you describe on how to cook the dish is exactly the way my CIC is doing it except for 40 minutes simmering time which she has found out to be too long for a Magnolia or Swift dressed chicken.
BTW, you might stumble one of these times the other way to prepare a Hainanese Chicken dish in which boiling the chicken in plain water is the procedure.
Something like you put the dressed chicken when the water starts boiling and turning off the heat when the water starts boiling again. Then wait until the water is cold. Start to heat the water again and pull out the chicken after a minute or two of the water is boiling. Then cool it by “bathing” it with running water from the faucet all over its body.
After that, I don’t know on how one would have the same appearance (and taste) as what you have in the photo.
My mother-in-law cooks this basically in the same way in her Tatung rice cooker. After letting the chicken rest, she rubs salt and pepper all over then chop into pieces. The sauce is served on the side.
Can I just use chopped chicken so I won’t have to chop it anymore after simmering it in hot broth?
Oh no. The texture won’t be the same.
Hi there. Your recipe includes salt but I could not see that in your procedure. Shall I add the salt while boiling the chicken? Thanks.
Yes.
Hi! I’m real hit-or-miss with the cleaver too! Have you tried using kitchen shears instead of chopping? Just look for the joints that make life easier – not as pretty as Kylie’s chopping, but no compound-fractured bones either!
With raw chicken, shears work. With cooked chicken, the meat gets torn.
I love hainanese rice and chicken. Never done that at home, so I think I have to refer from your recipe. Hope hubby will like it too!
i think i got lost somewhere… so was the chicken was served cold…? no more reheating after the iced water dunk?
More like room temp. The dunking took less than a minute, just to tighten up the skin.
your blog is too fine. Thanks for sharing this.
Why, thank you! And you’re a spammer so I deleted your URL.
A commenter in Marketmanila (bettyq) suggested that for the ginger sauce, pour smoking-hot oil over the grated ginger/garlic/onion leaves for that “Chinese” taste. Been doing that and it seems to work pretty well
That trick is used for garnishing steamed fish (examples here and here), as far as I know, which use larger pieces of ginger. But for a dipping sauce with grated ginger, well, hmmm…
I really really like this and would love to cook it at home. I suck at chopping a chicken though. I’ll probably serve it whole.
been a silent fan of your site. Just finished cooking it a few minutes back (around 1 AM ). yep -midnight cooking rocks. Moment of truth will be later at breakfast, when my wife comes home from work. Hope she’ll like it. More power to you Connie! — and more cooking to me.
I will be cooking this next weekend. Can you recommend a kid friendly souce that can go with it? I have a 7 & 3 yr old kids that loves chicken and soy as a dip. Thanks Connie for your recipes I’ve been recreating them every weekend and it’s always a hit!
Light soy sauce and kalamansi, perhaps?
Thank you for sharing this. I always refer to your site to look for recipes. I must say your recipes never lets me down. I always get a thumbs up sign and a kiss from my husband. I will be trying your version of Hainanese Chicken for dinner. Wish me luck!
You can do it! YOU CAN DO IT!
may i use broth cubes instead of the home made broths? if so, how much should i put? thanks! want to try this. btw.. who’s speedy? i know someone named speedy and i thought he was the only one who had that name besides speedy gonzales lol
I don’t use broth cubes and I don’t recommend them. The flavor is simply too artificial.
Speedy’s my husband.
Hi Connie, how much fish sauce did you use for the chicken? This is one of my favorite dishes in Chinese restaurants and I would like to make this at home for my family.
More power and thank you.
“To taste”, Malou.
Hi Ms. Connie, what’s a nice substitute for onion leaves? I currently don’t have it in my pantry.. Can spring onions work?
They’re the same thing.
hi connie, am cooking this now for potluck. same as I did the last two times I cooked this, I use the chicken oil I got from the soup for the ginger-garlic sauce.