truffles in the kitchen:
chicken rice
my lizzie loves chicken rice
but i'm not keen to give her hawker food all the time as it's loaded with msg and salt
the easiest way to cook this is to buy a packet of the ready mix and cook it with your rice cooker
but i'm skeptical of all these commercial ready mix stuff even though some claim to have no msg added
you never know how much salt and sugar and substitutes are added
hence i thought of a way to cook chicken rice quickly, easily and still as tasty for just 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 children
i do this while the kids nap
takes me about 30 to 45 mins to prepare and cook
if the instructions are not clear below, do let me know because this is the first time i'm writing down a recipe!
ingredients for boiling the chicken and making the stock:
2 chicken thigh with skin on, rinsed
2 slices of ginger peeled
2 stalks of spring onions (just the white part)
2 small shallots peeled
2 small cloves of garlic
ingredients for cooking the rice:
1 cup of white long grains, rinsed
thinly sliced ginger (think enough to pick out cos kids don't like it)
1 clove of garlic
chicken fat from the 2 thighs
chicken stock enough to cook 1 cup of rice as indicated by rice cooker
salt
ingredients for the sauce:
3 tbsp of chicken stock
1 to 2 tbsp of light soya sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
some fried shallot and it's oil (i bought the commercial ones!)
alternatively, use the cooked garlic and shallot from the stock
for garnishing:
fried shallots
chinese corriander leaves
method:
place all ingredients except chicken in a small pot of water (about 500ml ) and bring it to boil
while waiting for water to boil, place chicken fat in a non-stick pan over small to medium heat, take care not to burn it
add chicken to boiling stock and bring it to boil again (you may add a pinch of salt)
turn down the heat and remove the lid
simmer for about 20 to 30 mins depending on the size of chicken thighs used
if the chicken is not fully covered by stock, cover the pot half way with the lid so that the top part of the exposed chicken can be cooked by the steam
using a ladle, remove any impurities that come to the surface (if the water is boiling, the impurities will be drawn back down to the bottom and the skin of the chicken may tear, so it's important to make sure that the soup is barely moving)
while this is happening, add ginger slices, garlic and sliced shallots to the pan which should be very oily by now and the chicken fat turning golden
fry till fragrant and ginger slices turn golden
then add rice grains to fry till they turn opaque, slightly puffed up and fragrant
remove from pan and transfer into a rice cooker and set aside till the chicken is ready
remove chicken after 20 mins and place on a plate to cool
to check for doneness, prick the middle of the thigh and clear liquid should flow out if it's cooked
add the chicken stock and salt to the rice and cook
cooked rice can be kept warm in the rice cooker till dinner time
just before serving, heat up the sauce and add the crispy shallots or crushed cooked garlic and shallot
blanch some pak choi in the remaining chicken stock just before dinner time and spoon over some sauce and shallot oil
cut the thigh with scissors and spoon sauce over
to make nice chicken soup, season with salt or add chicken stock cube
