RECIPE: HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE WITH CHAR SIEW (THE WORKS)

Imagine my surprise today when I came home from work and saw a poached chicken and homemade CHAR SIEW (Chinese barbeque pork) on the kitchen bench! Mr G decided to make chicken rice all by himself. I don’t know why I am surprised for he does help me when I do make the dish but it is more due to his initiative to make it on his own accord that caught me by surprised. Anyway, I did contribute a tiny little bit to the effort – I made the chilli sauce, cooked the rice and seasoned the soup ;)

The recipe that we use is from a book called ‘Singapore Food’ by Wendy Hutton (1979) and it’s been my bible for all my favourite Malaysian/Singaporean food. The poor book is looking thin from wear and it is one book that I don’t loan out; ever. My eldest daughter has even earmarked it as hers when I die! I hope that is not likely to happen any time soon….touch wood! Like all recipes, it makes a good base. It is up to the individual to alter some of the basics to suit their palate. For example, this household is very partial to garlic and chilli so we may change some recipes to reflect this.

Anyway, below are the recipes for HAINANESE CHICKEN Rice with CHAR SIEW.

PS: I would have loved some stir fried bean sprouts to go with it but Mr G said that the supermarket had not been replenished since the weekend trade. Bummer!

To serve Hainanese Chicken Rice:
On a plate, arrange the HAINANESE CHICKEN, CHAR SIEW (optional), CHICKEN FLAVOURED RICE and sliced cucumber. Serve with CHILLI GINGER SAUCE in individual sauce bowls, accompanied with CHICKEN SOUP. Nice with Chinese tea or a cold beer (during summer).

PS: My fingers are aching from typing today's posts!