Hainanese chicken rice

Ingredients

Quantities for 4 servings.

• 1.6 kg Whole chicken
• 400 g Jasmine rice
• 80 g Ginger
• 8 clove Garlic
• 6 piece Spring onions
• 3 tbsp Sesame oil
• 4 tbsp Soy sauce
• 6 piece Red chillies
• 2 piece Lime
• 1 piece Cucumber
• 2 piece Pandan leaf, optional
• to taste Salt

Method

1. Rub the chicken with salt inside and out and stuff the cavity with half the ginger and the spring onions.
2. Bring a pot of water to the boil, lower the whole chicken in, bring it back up and turn the heat off immediately.
3. Keep it covered for forty minutes without lifting the lid. It is done when the juices from the thigh run clear.
4. Move the chicken into iced water for ten minutes, then pat it dry and brush it with sesame oil.
5. Skim the fat from the broth, fry the chopped garlic and ginger in it, add the rinsed rice and toast it three minutes.
6. Add broth to the rice at one and a half to one, drop in the pandan leaf and cook covered for fifteen minutes.
7. Pound the chillies with garlic, ginger and lime into a sauce. Joint the chicken and serve with the rice, cucumber, sauce and a bowl of the broth.