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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Chicken Rice

Inspired by a meal I never ate in Singapore

On my travels in Thailand there were some anti government demonstrations that closed down all the airports. I had to travel overland through Thailand and Malaysia to get to Singapore to make a flight. The trip down was great fun and met some great people along the way, who were all in a similar position to me. So really felt like a bonus as I got to visit Kuala Lumpur and see parts of Malaysia. Also I got to visit my friend Alan who was living in Singapore at the time. This is the most incredible city for food - every corner is overflowing with amazing places to eat, every kind of food imaginable - super extra bonus food!

Alan's friends insisted on taking us to eat 'Chicken Rice' that she'd always had growing up. After some driving we arrived at the place only to discover it was closed, we found something else equally delicious to eat in an old golf club. The idea of the dish however never left me. This recipe is based on what I think chicken rice would have been like!

Ingredients
1 chicken
2 onions - peeled and halved
3 carrots - peeled and halved
2 sticks of celery - halved
1 thumbs length of ginger finely sliced
6 cloves of garlic gently crushed
1 red chili finely sliced
2 cups of rice (I used basmati) but any fragrant rice would be good
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 scallions finely sliced

1) Put the chicken, onions, carrots, celery, ginger, garlic and chili in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer gently covered for about 2 hours.

2) Remove chicken and veg from the pot. Discard pieces of ginger, celery and most of the garlic.

3) Add the rice into the stock then bring to the boil. Simmer until the rice is cooked. 

4) Meanwhile shred the chicken, and chop up the carrots.

5) When the rice is nearly cooked add back in 4/5s chicken, carrots and add in the soy sauce. Serve scattered with some scallions and the remaining shredded chicken.

Perfect for a grey wintry day - oh yes! This dish is only a little Asian but very delicious


2 comments:

Sasa said...

I used to eat Hainanese chicken rice at this great little place across from Bangkok station and I've made it a couple of times but it never measures up; such a soothing and lovely dish - I like how colourful yours is with the veges ^_^

Lu said...

Thanks Sasa - yeah they never quite compare to the originals but you gotta try!!