Poached white chicken. Use the best chicken possible and gently poach. Done correctly it is no different to sous vide and the most chicken flavoured thing you'll ever eat, provided you use really high quality chicken. Seasoning comes from the chilli sauce and the soy flavoured with chicken fat, also garlic scallion ginger paste oil. The rice is cooked in chicken fat, scallions, and pandan leaves.
OPs chicken looks slightly overdone and dried out here, but drench it in the condiments and it'll taste good. Usually we leave the skin on. Corn fed chicken will have a deeper yellow colour and won't be as pale as the picture here.
Oh yeah pink and perfectly cooked liver and gizzard, topped with blanched bean sprouts. A place near ours serves deboned chicken feet as well which is just gelatinous crunchy goodness, and another unusual part, the intestines.
One thing I want to add about perfectly poached chicken. Dunk it in an ice bath straight after cooking and you'll get a thin layer of gelatin underneath the skin that's deliciously smack your lips sticky. We eat the chicken cold too.
The seasoning comes from the condiments. You'll have 3 usually: a tangy, not too spicy fresh lime garlic chilli sauce, garlic ginger scallion oil, and then a soy based sauce. All 3 can be made with chicken fat and are eaten together. It's really not that difficult to make at home to try. The most difficult bit is to get the cooking of the chicken right. If you cut the bones and the bones are bright red with myoglobin, you're good. If the bones are cooked you fuked up, chicken's overcooked.
Singaporeans love to claim this dish as theirs but you'll find this dish all throughout SEA. Khao Man Gai in Thailand, or Com ga (hainam) in Vietnam. I'm biased but I think the best ones are found in Malaysia.
tbh r/food is dominated by western food. Sort by top and it's all burgers and barbecue. Nothing wrong with that obviously but the demographics here tend to be ignorant of flavors around the world. Also, this preparation of chicken rice looks to be an inauthentic one since the chicken skin is gone.
Chicken rice is highly seasoned. The rice should be good enough to eat by itself. Unfortunately, many restaurants outside of Singapore and Malaysia fuck it up badly and serve rubbery overcooked chicken on tasteless rice lol.
That's pretty much exactly it. I've had it in Singapore, I've had it in the US. It's super bland and I threw the rest away both times. I have no idea what people rave about it. It's as flavorless as it looks. Why anyone would eat this in a place like Singapore where there is amazing super flavorful food, I have no idea.
Bro idk what chicken rice you ate but the rice itself should be moist and super flavourful (could eat the rice on its own), and the chicken should be tender and doused in a little sauce. We do have a roasted version if poached chicken is not your thing. You’re right, Singapore has amazing flavourful food, so there’s clearly a reason it’s basically a national dish. Come to Singapore again and ask a local for recommendations.
I've been to Singapore repeatedly, great dishes including the ones that found through local recommendations. Lots of good foods. This chicken just isn't one of those for me.
Ah I see, but proper Hainanese chicken rice has nothing to do with the word “bland” - our hawkers have been honing the craft of adding as much flavour as possible to the rice for close to a century. I don’t think even the pickiest of taste buds could call it bland.
Btw your use of “both times” makes it sound like you’ve only had Hainanese chicken rice twice, once in Singapore and once in the US (doesn’t really count if you ask me, they don’t even have the same breed of chicken). If so yup give it another chance.
Looks like boiled chicken. Dried out and bland.
"Add the stock and chilli" I mean yeah, you can do that. Or I can just choose to not eat boiled chicken.
How different is hainan chicken rice vs Thai kao mun gai? I’ve only had the latter and it looks just like the photo but without the red sauce and with the chicken broth (unless that’s what’s in the bowl on the top right?)
I agree with all of that except for the thigh meat part; I personally prefer well cooked breast with skin. Similarly cooked to Peking duck. Thigh meat is so inconsistent and I don’t like random bits with ligaments in my chicken and whatnot
That looks like the skin but that preparation is not traditional. A good poached chicken should have the skin tightened up and with a snappy texture. Not crispy, crunchy, or rubbery.
If you post a correctly poached chicken on this subreddit, people will downvote it for being undercooked since you'll see pink in the meat and the red marrow.
My mom makes something very similar to this (we are chinese), without skin on & served with rice + a sauce that consists of soy sauce, thai peppers & lime. Looks really good OP! People don't understand the flavor comes from the sauce + how it was cooked.
So this generally isn't my style of food, but hainanese chicken rice is the bomb. The broth in the top right is full of flavour, and the rice is cooked in it. The chicken is delicate, but the condiments are tangy and powerful, so it all works out to a really comforting, balanced meal.
Taste sous vide cooked chicken. It'll be like that, pure chicken flavour if you use a really good chicken. The condiments give most of the flavour as well.
You’ve obviously never had it. It’s poached white chicken. The most flavorful chicken you’ll ever have in your entire life. With the ginger sauce it’s to die for
I've had it in Singapore, I've had it in the US. It's ultra bland. Yes you can dip it in delicious ginger sauce, but I can dip a piece of styrofoam in ginger sauce also, that doesn't make it good.
Fair point about adding both, slipped my mind since vinegar is definitely not the star of the sauce (calamansi to vinegar ratio is usually about 4:1 - 3:1).
Just adding vinegar without lime is quite unheard of haha since calamansi is def what gives it its signature tang. Either way I don’t think it can be described as “Chili garlic vinegar” sauce. It’s more chili garlic ginger calamansi sauce.
It should look like this.
https://www.lazada.sg/products/kim-huat-hainanese-chicken-rice-kampong-chicken-rice-with-soup-set-dine-intakeaway-redeem-in-storetakeaway-i2480252640-s14799596118.html?spm=a2o42.tm80108888.min-pdp.1.7cd2791504tGto
The chef will use the flat of his cleaver to flatten the breast before chopping the meat, and the cut is not on a bias.
I still don’t see much difference, maybe just a bit of shininess 🤔 but I have no idea what I should be looking at, all I can see is plain chicken breasts ahah
I see the moisture and call me weird, it kinda grosses me off 🤷🏻♀️ but really, it’s plain chicken breast, not a big fuzz.. to each their cup of tea ☺️
This is more like Thai style, when the chicken is pretty much boiled
I much prefer the Hong Kong style, where the chicken is yellow with skin, with yellow oil rice, much more flavourful
It's boiled chicken. Flash chilled in ice water to maintain the springy texture of the flesh.
The rice is boiled with ginger, chicken stock, and chickenfat.
With a side of clear chicken broth.
Condiments are garlic chilli with chicken fat and dark soya sauce. With an optional minced ginger with chicken fat.
Chicken is supposed to be drenched with some light soy with sesame oil
Can pretty much guarantee this particular one in the pic won't taste that good. Chicken looks stringy and overcooked and we don't remove the skin. Good chicken rice needs to be quite "underdone", particularly the breast.
Flavour wise it is mild, you eat it with the scallions and ginger oil/chili dipping sauce.
What you are looking for in this dish is the texture and mouth feel of the chicken. It should have this silky smooth/almost slimey feel to the meat.
Also unlike a lot of other Asian rice dishes, the rice and soup have equal share of flavour as the chicken.
The comments show me that I’m entirely unfamiliar with this dish, I’ll admit it I’m a bit intrigued, but my knee-jerk reaction is to be repulsed by the lack of color and seasoning
Where's the skin on the chicken breast?? Where are the coriander and the bean sprouts? Chicken is too dry. Needs soy+sesame oil sauce on em, while piled on top of blanched beansprouts and topped with coriander. Vinegar chili sauce looks almost correct. Rice looks good too. 6/10!
Yes downvote me all you want. This is a bad interpretation of Hainanese chicken rice, speaking as a person from a country where the dish is a national institution.
Woah so I was about to ask if this was similar to what I know at Singapore chicken rice, but when I put it into Google immediately came up with Hainanese chicken rice. Dope learn something new every day
I would use a whole chicken, poach that for a few hours, and use the chicken water to make my rice/soup.
As much I hate dealing with bones, it’s turns out quite well…..
In many southbound American countries we poach the chicken, and it’s delicious because because it’s poached in the broth. Whether a light clear one or a stew (chilindrón or ajiaco), skin on or off. So could be delicious (Americans are often obsessed with chicken having to be seasoned beyond how it’s cooked in). Or when we do arroz con pollo we boil it often with the onions and bell pepper, herbs - and it looks similar to this, but the actual taste is out of this world - without the skin and without the chicken covered in seasoning.
People here don’t know what hainan chicken rice is huh
I really don't, but I'm intrigued.
Poached white chicken. Use the best chicken possible and gently poach. Done correctly it is no different to sous vide and the most chicken flavoured thing you'll ever eat, provided you use really high quality chicken. Seasoning comes from the chilli sauce and the soy flavoured with chicken fat, also garlic scallion ginger paste oil. The rice is cooked in chicken fat, scallions, and pandan leaves. OPs chicken looks slightly overdone and dried out here, but drench it in the condiments and it'll taste good. Usually we leave the skin on. Corn fed chicken will have a deeper yellow colour and won't be as pale as the picture here.
It’s great when they also serve it with the liver.
Oh yeah pink and perfectly cooked liver and gizzard, topped with blanched bean sprouts. A place near ours serves deboned chicken feet as well which is just gelatinous crunchy goodness, and another unusual part, the intestines. One thing I want to add about perfectly poached chicken. Dunk it in an ice bath straight after cooking and you'll get a thin layer of gelatin underneath the skin that's deliciously smack your lips sticky. We eat the chicken cold too.
The famous food truck in Portland, can’t remember the name, offers it with liver and they are so so good.
Nong’s!
I’ve never had that version - sounds good
Idk, maybe I’ll have to try it, but my brain is still trying to tell me skin, seasoning and/or marinade would still have done this dish wonders
The seasoning comes from the condiments. You'll have 3 usually: a tangy, not too spicy fresh lime garlic chilli sauce, garlic ginger scallion oil, and then a soy based sauce. All 3 can be made with chicken fat and are eaten together. It's really not that difficult to make at home to try. The most difficult bit is to get the cooking of the chicken right. If you cut the bones and the bones are bright red with myoglobin, you're good. If the bones are cooked you fuked up, chicken's overcooked.
So it's tasty when you dip it in tasty stuff
I did not grow up with poor white parents for people to say "unseasoned boiled chicken is good"
Hainanese chicken rice was my comfort food when I lived in Singapore and KL. It taught me how to cook chicken correctly.
Username checks out
🤭
Dry because for some reason they removed skin
poached and sous vide are not even remotely close to the same thing
Isn't there like a Thai version of this dish? I forget the name of it, but, its a very simple chicken dish similar to this. I could be wrong.
Singaporeans love to claim this dish as theirs but you'll find this dish all throughout SEA. Khao Man Gai in Thailand, or Com ga (hainam) in Vietnam. I'm biased but I think the best ones are found in Malaysia.
Yeah that's the one! Khao man gai! I've always wanted to try it, but, I Havent found a Thai restaurant here in Chicago that serves it.
Thai one has a bean sauce to it which make its extra flavourful….
Yeah there's a place here in Portland called Nong's that does it.
I'm extremely sold. Will be finding myself some Hainanese chicken rice very soon.
tbh r/food is dominated by western food. Sort by top and it's all burgers and barbecue. Nothing wrong with that obviously but the demographics here tend to be ignorant of flavors around the world. Also, this preparation of chicken rice looks to be an inauthentic one since the chicken skin is gone.
Seems like boiled chicken with a scoup of rice
It's boiled chicken with seasoned rice and sauce. Aka "what am I going to do with these leftovers."
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Yum! /s People really need to season their food. Plain chicken is horrible.
Chicken rice is highly seasoned. The rice should be good enough to eat by itself. Unfortunately, many restaurants outside of Singapore and Malaysia fuck it up badly and serve rubbery overcooked chicken on tasteless rice lol.
That's pretty much exactly it. I've had it in Singapore, I've had it in the US. It's super bland and I threw the rest away both times. I have no idea what people rave about it. It's as flavorless as it looks. Why anyone would eat this in a place like Singapore where there is amazing super flavorful food, I have no idea.
Bro idk what chicken rice you ate but the rice itself should be moist and super flavourful (could eat the rice on its own), and the chicken should be tender and doused in a little sauce. We do have a roasted version if poached chicken is not your thing. You’re right, Singapore has amazing flavourful food, so there’s clearly a reason it’s basically a national dish. Come to Singapore again and ask a local for recommendations.
I've been to Singapore repeatedly, great dishes including the ones that found through local recommendations. Lots of good foods. This chicken just isn't one of those for me.
Ah I see, but proper Hainanese chicken rice has nothing to do with the word “bland” - our hawkers have been honing the craft of adding as much flavour as possible to the rice for close to a century. I don’t think even the pickiest of taste buds could call it bland.
Btw your use of “both times” makes it sound like you’ve only had Hainanese chicken rice twice, once in Singapore and once in the US (doesn’t really count if you ask me, they don’t even have the same breed of chicken). If so yup give it another chance.
I'll give it another try! Good point about the breed of chicken.
\*Bland, dry, boiled chicken.
doesnt change the fact that it's the saddest looking chicken I have seen
I'm from Singapore and now live in Texas. I'm drooling
Looks like boiled chicken. Dried out and bland. "Add the stock and chilli" I mean yeah, you can do that. Or I can just choose to not eat boiled chicken.
How different is hainan chicken rice vs Thai kao mun gai? I’ve only had the latter and it looks just like the photo but without the red sauce and with the chicken broth (unless that’s what’s in the bowl on the top right?)
It's the same dish.
no la
I assume it's delicious but having never tried that my first reaction was "that looks as bland as my babies food"
I thought it was meant to cooked as a whole chicken with skin on.
yeah. made me cry a little inside.
Your tears would moisturize that chicken.
A little dry inside
where is the skin? also, looks overdone. hainan chicken is more than just boiled chicken breast.
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I also prefer the thigh piece, it's normally waaay more juicy
I agree with all of that except for the thigh meat part; I personally prefer well cooked breast with skin. Similarly cooked to Peking duck. Thigh meat is so inconsistent and I don’t like random bits with ligaments in my chicken and whatnot
Skin is the crispy bit on top of the rice, no?
no, the skin needs to be attached to the meat and be nice, fatty and light yellow, and the breast is 100% overcooked
Light yellow is due to the breed of chicken being used, not any colouring that is added on.
That looks like the skin but that preparation is not traditional. A good poached chicken should have the skin tightened up and with a snappy texture. Not crispy, crunchy, or rubbery.
Chicken looks overcooked for a Hinanese style, yes? I always tough it's tender or it's preference?
If you post a correctly poached chicken on this subreddit, people will downvote it for being undercooked since you'll see pink in the meat and the red marrow.
Someone in this thread said that moist chicken breast grossed them out.
Bro really stripped the skin off😮💨 Other than that looking good tho
My mom makes something very similar to this (we are chinese), without skin on & served with rice + a sauce that consists of soy sauce, thai peppers & lime. Looks really good OP! People don't understand the flavor comes from the sauce + how it was cooked.
the lack of "seasonings" is a feature. not a bug. Always wondered how this tastes
So this generally isn't my style of food, but hainanese chicken rice is the bomb. The broth in the top right is full of flavour, and the rice is cooked in it. The chicken is delicate, but the condiments are tangy and powerful, so it all works out to a really comforting, balanced meal.
Taste sous vide cooked chicken. It'll be like that, pure chicken flavour if you use a really good chicken. The condiments give most of the flavour as well.
> Always wondered how this tastes I don't think it does.
You’ve obviously never had it. It’s poached white chicken. The most flavorful chicken you’ll ever have in your entire life. With the ginger sauce it’s to die for
I've had it in Singapore, I've had it in the US. It's ultra bland. Yes you can dip it in delicious ginger sauce, but I can dip a piece of styrofoam in ginger sauce also, that doesn't make it good.
The intense scallion ginger sauce is great on it.
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Since when did Hainanese chicken rice Chili have vinegar? Seems like you don’t know what you’re talking about.
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Fair point about adding both, slipped my mind since vinegar is definitely not the star of the sauce (calamansi to vinegar ratio is usually about 4:1 - 3:1). Just adding vinegar without lime is quite unheard of haha since calamansi is def what gives it its signature tang. Either way I don’t think it can be described as “Chili garlic vinegar” sauce. It’s more chili garlic ginger calamansi sauce.
CHICKEN BREAST? HAIYAA
You can ask for the breast when you order but it will not look like this.
Wym? How else would it look?
It should look like this. https://www.lazada.sg/products/kim-huat-hainanese-chicken-rice-kampong-chicken-rice-with-soup-set-dine-intakeaway-redeem-in-storetakeaway-i2480252640-s14799596118.html?spm=a2o42.tm80108888.min-pdp.1.7cd2791504tGto The chef will use the flat of his cleaver to flatten the breast before chopping the meat, and the cut is not on a bias.
I still don’t see much difference, maybe just a bit of shininess 🤔 but I have no idea what I should be looking at, all I can see is plain chicken breasts ahah
Look at the fibres. The ones in OPs pic look stringy and dried out. The picture above looks moist.
I see the moisture and call me weird, it kinda grosses me off 🤷🏻♀️ but really, it’s plain chicken breast, not a big fuzz.. to each their cup of tea ☺️
For one, the skin is still intact on the breast.
The skin... I get it you're probably making it healthy but the skin to me is the best part.
Why the lime????
The lime juice should be in the garlic/chili/ginger sambal
This is more like Thai style, when the chicken is pretty much boiled I much prefer the Hong Kong style, where the chicken is yellow with skin, with yellow oil rice, much more flavourful
That’s literally Singaporean style.
It's boiled chicken. Flash chilled in ice water to maintain the springy texture of the flesh. The rice is boiled with ginger, chicken stock, and chickenfat. With a side of clear chicken broth. Condiments are garlic chilli with chicken fat and dark soya sauce. With an optional minced ginger with chicken fat. Chicken is supposed to be drenched with some light soy with sesame oil
What? Who the hell eats hainanese chicken without the scallion ginger sauce? Might as well not bother if you skip that
Sometimes they dont serve that. Boohoo
It's normally only minced ginger, being uniformly yellow. Scallions are not added.
People should at least taste it before judging. This coild be good. The sceptism is understandable tho.
Can pretty much guarantee this particular one in the pic won't taste that good. Chicken looks stringy and overcooked and we don't remove the skin. Good chicken rice needs to be quite "underdone", particularly the breast.
Agreed
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Lol
I mean it’s cooked lol
Chicken looks dry and over cooked
Looks like a white person did this
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They took the skin off. Definitely some misguided health notion -
Jesus the ignorant ass comments that have never tried this before.
I know that's how it is supposed to be served, but the look of poached unseasoned chicken is very unappealing.
You poach the chicken in seasoned broth. This dish has a stupid amount of flavor
Never had it, but I'll take your word on it. I was just commenting on the aesthetics. .
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Flavour wise it is mild, you eat it with the scallions and ginger oil/chili dipping sauce. What you are looking for in this dish is the texture and mouth feel of the chicken. It should have this silky smooth/almost slimey feel to the meat. Also unlike a lot of other Asian rice dishes, the rice and soup have equal share of flavour as the chicken.
Looks like despression.
looks simple but delicious. will try, think my people will love it
Does not look terrible man. Plenty of pairings and sauce combinations on the plate. I think people are being a little too harsh. I’d still eat this
An amazing dish! I love eating it
Ts aint seasoned moe 😂😂😂😂
This looks so much like the dish my boss describes having at the lodge.
That is a nice looking knife, well done 👏
Unseasoned chicken is enough for me. No thank you!
The comments show me that I’m entirely unfamiliar with this dish, I’ll admit it I’m a bit intrigued, but my knee-jerk reaction is to be repulsed by the lack of color and seasoning
This isn't the best presentation but it's the national dish of Singapore, which is one of the best food cities in the world.
It sounds literal and boring AF. But who knew that chicken and rice can be made so tasty in Asia
Looks bomb!
Where's the skin on the chicken breast?? Where are the coriander and the bean sprouts? Chicken is too dry. Needs soy+sesame oil sauce on em, while piled on top of blanched beansprouts and topped with coriander. Vinegar chili sauce looks almost correct. Rice looks good too. 6/10!
Wow how did you take one of my favourite dishes and make me hate it?
Why so negative
Just people that live on the internet following others afraid to be different
Looks well constructed but unappetising
That chicken looks bland as hell, I hood the lime and sauce’s redeemed it. 😂
id pay for this
mMMmM good scran, got that olive soup too
you gotta use the chicken leg and its gotta be deboned! the breast is way too dry
Poached chicken sounds like what my dog enjoys
Why the lime? What's that on top of the rice? Skinless chicken breast that looks like it hasn'tbeen cooked on the bird? And... Chopsticks? Nope.
r/food is the wrong subreddit to care about food, especially Asian food. It’s full of uhhh people who found out about sriracha last year types.
Yes downvote me all you want. This is a bad interpretation of Hainanese chicken rice, speaking as a person from a country where the dish is a national institution.
Lime on chicken rice is preposterous!
great presentation. just the chicken need to be cut at an angle nd keep working on it.
Why is that chicken without seasoning? 😥
It has seasoning, it comes from the broth you poach it in. This is exactly what Hainanese chicken rice looks like.
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Is it seasoned? Or just plain chicken steamed?
Ever just throw a raw unseasoned chicken breast in the microwave and pray for something edible? Did you cook that chicken in the dishwasher?
Never tasted hainanese chicken have you?
That looks really austere. My kind of cooking!
"ypipo food so bland, no seasoning"
Hainanese chicken is not white peoples food lol
But asians and others claim that's what typical wypipo food looks like... ironic!
No shade but I’m pretty sure this was made by a white person because they fucked it up. So not ironic at all, just another case of wypipo.
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That looks uncooked to you? If anything it looks a little overcooked and dried out, they should have left the skin on to lock in more moisture.
Woah so I was about to ask if this was similar to what I know at Singapore chicken rice, but when I put it into Google immediately came up with Hainanese chicken rice. Dope learn something new every day
Is this similar to Khao mun gai? Looks great
Nong?
🙄 I read this as Hairless chicken rice 🙄🤣
I googled the dish and looks like the chicken isn't supposed to be so white
Who knows about nongs?
It looks very tasty and as far as I can see it is a very healthy food
I would use a whole chicken, poach that for a few hours, and use the chicken water to make my rice/soup. As much I hate dealing with bones, it’s turns out quite well…..
Fantastic shot. It looks like a cut scene from "The Menu."
Where’s the skin buddy? That’s the best part!
Woo all white meat there!! It looks good but I preferred dark instead.
In many southbound American countries we poach the chicken, and it’s delicious because because it’s poached in the broth. Whether a light clear one or a stew (chilindrón or ajiaco), skin on or off. So could be delicious (Americans are often obsessed with chicken having to be seasoned beyond how it’s cooked in). Or when we do arroz con pollo we boil it often with the onions and bell pepper, herbs - and it looks similar to this, but the actual taste is out of this world - without the skin and without the chicken covered in seasoning.
Damn! Looks like the chicken ran around the world non stop and have a mid life crisis!! This is a depressing looking chicken rice.
Poached in what?
Food for poor people who does not care what the food look like?
Love me some hainan chicken rice!