Hainanese chicken rice

Scott left for a three-week trip to Belgium today. As much as I like Scott, I also really like having the house all to myself. It means the usual absent-roommate activities happen: showering with the door open, walking around naked, listening to whatever music I want and turning the volume up, dancing for no apparent reason throughout the house, and doing yoga in the living room without feeling self-conscious. It also means that I use the kitchen more and cook meals more elaborate than my most recent staple of soba, tofu, and vegetables, even if it's just me eating.

Tonight, I made Hainanese chicken rice. For whatever reason, I've been thinking of this chicken and rice dish for the past several days. I remember not too long ago reading Mark Bittman's column about it and how the San Gabriel Valley--my San Gabriel Valley--is home to some of the best Hainanese chicken rice. That, coupled with the fact that I'm running out of freezer space because of all my homemade poultry stock and need to find ways to use it up, meant that chicken and rice would be dinner.

When I got home from the field trip to UC Berkeley and my walk to Whole Foods for a chicken, I defrosted a yogurt container of chicken stock and brought it to a boil with enough water to cover a chicken in my narrowest pot. I rubbed the whole chicken, both inside and out, with salt, and put some chopped ginger and garlic in its cavity. The chicken went into the pot of boiling liquid and boiled over medium heat for ten minutes. Then, I turned off the heat and went to do yoga in the living room.

After trying to hold poses and concentrating on my exhalations for about an hour, I went back to the kitchen and starting chopping. I made a ginger chile sauce for my chicken by blending Serano chiles, a lot of garlic and ginger, lime juice, sugar, salt, and water together. It was pungent; that is all I have to say about it.

I pulled the chicken out of the pot and let it cool down enough for me to handle with my bare hands. In the meantime, I got started on the rice. I sauteed some chopped shallots, garlic, and ginger in some vegetable oil. Then, I added two cups of rice and stirred that around for a bit. After, I transferred the rice to my rice cooker, added about four cups of chicken-cooking liquid, and let the rice cooker work its magic.

With the rice in the cooker, I shredded the chicken. Shredding the chicken might not be traditional, I didn't want to deal with having to pick through bone tomorrow as I'm eating the leftovers for lunch at school. I chopped up some green onions and a little more ginger. Then, I mixed the chicken, ginger, and green onions with some soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt. Again, this is not traditional for Hainanese chicken rice, but, as I was trying to figure out how to add more flavor to the dish, this made the most sense.

When the rice cooker clicked done, the rice inside was a light brown color and each grain was its own and soft without being mushy. I gave the rice a fluff, scooped a little bit out into a bowl, put some of the shredded chicken on top, and drizzled some of the pungent ginger chile sauce on top. Everything got mixed together and then went straight to my mouth. Though the dish probably no longer resembled the traditional style of Hainanese chicken rice, it was still mighty delicious.