Vegan Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice is a very interesting recipe. It is extremely delicious, and can be nutritious if you decide to serve it with a vegetable soup. I have written about all this in the tips below. This recipe was perfected in Singapore and Malaysia, upon the arrival of migrants from Hainan, China. I am pleased with those who made a vegetarian version of this dish happen, because there are so many great flavours combined. Honestly, this recipe is very tedious to make, but I will try to simplify it as much as possible by doing it in parts. You can choose to make or not to make certain aspects, e.g. keeping the rice just plain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5Oys_QkKc

Rice

2 cups white rice (or brown rice), washed well and soaked for 15-20 mins or till there are no impurities
Salt to taste
Water for boiling
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/2" ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 stalk spring onion (scallion), finely chopped
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 caps full of screwpine (pandan) essence- optional

 

Steamed chicken
1 stalk spring onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/2" ginger, peeled and finely chopped
250g Su Tung Vegetarian Plain chicken OR any other variety of soft vegetarian chicken, defrosted
Water for boiling

Salt to taste- optional (if you do not need any extra salty flavour, you need not use it)

2 caps full of screwpine (pandan) essence

 

Chilli sauce

1 large fresh red chilli, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2" ginger, peeled and sliced
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
2-3 tbsp soy sauce to taste
1 tbsp sesame oil
2-3 tbsp sweet Thai chilli sauce
2-3 tbsp chilli garlic sauce

1/2 large cucumber, sliced

Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

 

METHOD

For rice:

1. Heat water in a saucepan or rice cooker, and cook rice until well done.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, ginger and spring onion. Cook till garlic and ginger brown.

3. Add rice and pandan essence, and mix very well. Keep aside.

 

For steamed chicken:

1. Cut the chicken lengthwise into 3-4 layers. In each layer, stuff with garlic, spring onion and ginger.

2. Heat water and add chicken. Add pandan essence and salt if you wish. Bring to a boil and cook till chicken gets soft.

3. Remove from heat and run in cold water for around a minute or two, and keep aside.

 

For chilli sauce:

1. Blend chilli, garlic, ginger and shallots into a paste.

2. Mix this paste with soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli garlic sauce and sweet Thai chilli sauce. Keep aside.

 

How to serve:

1. Mould the rice into a bowl, and take it out on the plate.

2. Serve the rice with steamed chicken, fried chicken and a little chilli sauce.

3. Garnish with cucumber and coriander leaves.

 

 

Tips:

1.      You can make roast chicken rice the same way using the CF Hang vegetarian chicken drumsticks as specified below, but only instead of boiling it, you grill it. If you like, you may also decide to make deep fried (KFC style) chicken, by following the recipe below.

 

Fried chicken
5 pcs. CF Hang vegetarian chicken drumsticks OR any vegetarian chicken drumsticks, defrosted
6 tbsp white flour + 3/8 cup extra for batter (1/4 cup + 1/8 cup)
Salt to taste
Dash of black pepper
Dash of red chilli flakes
Enough water or milk for binding
Oil for frying
Breadcrumbs to top

 

For fried chicken:
1. In one plate, take the 6 tbsp white flour and season with salt and pepper. Keep aside.
2. In another plate, take breadcrumbs and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Keep aside.
3. In a bowl, mix the 3/8 cup white flour with salt and pepper. Gradually add milk until it becomes a creamy consistency. This has now become a batter.
4. Heat oil for frying.
5. Now take the drumsticks and coat first with white flour, and then batter. Then again, repeat the same process once and coat with breadcrumbs.
6. Deep fry the chicken until golden brown, and do the same with the other 4 pcs.
7. Serve hot

 

 

2.      You may decide to make this chicken rice more nutritious. Here’s how…

-          The chicken rice is boiled in water with delicious ginger, garlic etc. Season it up a bit with salt and pepper and add your favourite vegetables, e.g. carrot, French beans, capsicums, potatoes, cabbage. You may add soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce etc. Serve it as a nutritious broth and don’t waste the delicious water! You can also add that same liquid to your chicken rice chilli.

-Don’t forget to garnish with cucumber and coriander leaves/cilantro

-          You may follow the recipe for stir fried greens (kailan/Chinese broccoli/Chinese kale). I will put this in the link to my Youtube description and below this:

 

STIR FRIED KAILAN
1-2 tbsp oil
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
3-4 shallots, sliced thinly
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 large bunch Chinese broccoli/Chinese kale (kailan)

 

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a pan; add garlic and shallots. Fry till fragrant.
2. Add red chilli and water spinach. Cook till spinach reduces.
3. Add oyster sauce and season with salt, if you like.

Hainanese Chicken Rice (including Rice, Chicken & Chilli only)
Calories (kcal)	354
Total Fat (g)	5.7
Saturated Fat (g)	0.9
Cholesterol (mg)	0
Sodium (mg)	575
Total Carbohydrates (g)	58.6
Dietary Fibre (g)	2.3
Total Sugars (g)	2.7
Protein (g)	15.4
Vit D (%)	0
Calcium (%)	0.04
Iron (%)	0.36
Potassium (%)	0.04