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When I was in high school, lunchtime would be only me and my mom as I finished school at 1.30pm. We mostly have leftovers from the night before, but very often she would send me to the local hawker stores (street food) to take away some chicken rice. As she did not speak cantonese, I was sent in to place the order. There are usually a variety of meats available , from the traditional ‘white’ chicken to char xiu and roasted duck. I only ever go for one. Without a doubt, I would always order the roasted chicken breast with extra chilli dipping sauce. Every single time. Even now. I drench my roast chicken breast with the sweet, tangy and spicy light chili sauce, which pairs up wonderfully with the rice cooked in chicken stock and lightly uplifted by a drizzle of soya sauce.

Living in the UK, Hainanese Chicken rice was one of the first item that was added to my repertoire. I have ordered it from a takeaway here before, but it does not even come anywhere near. And now that I’ve got the hang of it, I can make this from scratch under an hour, making it an easy enough weekday dinner when I feel a pang of homesickness, or just need to turn a whole chicken into something wonderful.

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Roasted Hainanese Chicken Rice
serves 4

1 whole chicken
4 inch ginger
1.5 tbs 5-spice powder
flaked sea salt
1 stalk spring onion
1 cucumber
soya sauce

Rice
3.5 cup jasmine rice
4 cup stock
1 inch ginger
2 pandanus leaves, tied in a knot
1 tbs butter

Soup
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 cabbage leaves
cracked white pepper

Chili sauce
2 inch ginger
1 clove garlic
2 chilli
splash of rice vineger
1/3 cup water
2 tbs sugar

1) Get prepared. Turn the kettle on (around 1.5l water); place the chicken and ginger in the pot. Chop up the veggies, put them in the pot with the chicken and pour the boiling water in until it just covers the chicken. Let it boil rapidly for 10 minutes, skimming surface scum. You want a light stock, but the veggies can continue to simmer after you’ve removed the chicken.

2) Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the chilli sauce in a food processor, and whiz away. Bear in mind that chillies vary in amount of heat, so please ensure you keep tasting it to ensure that it is to your taste. If it is too spicy, add sugar/water. Preheat the oven to 220 C.

3) Wash the rice, place the pandanus leaves and ginger. Slice some spring onions and cucumber

4) Take out the chicken, and plunge in ice cold water to stop cooking. Pat dry. Rub ginger slices on the skin, tucking in pieces between the chicken drumsticks, wings ect. Gently rub the 5-spice powder on the skin of the chicken, and sprinkle flaked sea salt all over the skin. This will crisp up the chicken. Pop in oven.

5) Scoop in 4 cups of the chicken soup in the rice cooker (or pot) to cook the rice in. Turn it on to cook. When rice is cooked (roughly 20 mins) , rest covered for 5 minutes, and then stir in the butter. Replace cover.

6) Test the chicken for cook-ness after 40 minutes. Leave to sit for 5 minutes, before slicing it up.

7) Serve it up with rice topped with soya sauce and spring onion, cucumber on the side. Chilli sauce and the sliced chicken can be served family-styled or individually. Serve up the remaining chicken soup in individual bowls

Enjoy!!!

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PS: Traditionally, Hainanese Chicken Rice is just white chicken. You can do this by skipping the roasting part. Boil the chicken in the soup for 30 minutes, and plunge into ice cold water to tighten the skin up. Leave to rest, keeping warm before serving.

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Love it or hate it, Marmite divides the culinary world into half. I am an exception – I don’t mind marmite/vegemite, but I don’t yearn for it like some people. I’ll have it if it’s there, but would very rarely venture out and get myself a jar. Used in a cooking though, marmite takes on a completely different character completely.

I had previously made marmite ribs, which caramalised baby back ribs into a lip-smacking finger-lickin dish. Marmite chicken is a dish that is popular in Malaysia and Singapore in chinese ‘tai chou’ places – where families and friends usually orders a couple of dishes to share with their party with steamed white rice. I find that ‘tai chou’ chefs are an inventive and creative lot, I’ve had other odd dishes before like watermelon pork. Hmm.

The dish itself is fairly simple in composition; however the flavours are complex but light. Chicken pieces are usually deep-fried, and then tossed in a thick sauce made of marmite and honey. That’s it. But when you use marmite in cooking, it takes on a completely different character and loses its yeasty smell that puts so many people off. Paired with steamed white rice and a side of stirfried vegetables, this is a perfect weekday dinner whipped up in 30 minutes. I panfried my chicken instead of deep-frying, but that’s just because I ran out of oil .

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Marmite chicken serves 2

500g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 inch minced ginger
1 clove minced garlic
2 tbs marmite
1 tbs honey (more if you prefer it sweeter)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp toasted sesame

marinade
1 tbs cooking wine (shaoxing wine)
1 tbs light soy sauce
1 tsp marmite
1 tbs cornflour

1) Marinade the chicken for at least 1 hour. I usually do this overnight; just put it on the night before and it is ready to cook when I get home from work the next day. Deep fry or pan fry chicken until golden brown. Drain the oil and set chicken aside.

2) Fry the ginger and garlic in a little oil until fragant. Add the rest of the ingredients (except sesame), plus leftover marinade. Simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly to ensure that the honey in the sauce does not cause it to burn to the pan. This should be a few minutes.

3) Add in chicken, completely coating it with the sauce. Sprinkle in sesame seeds. Serve up with a simple vegetable stirfry and freshly steamed white rice.

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