Khao Man Gai (Hainanese Chicken)
My Asia trip was months ago but I'm still being inspired to cook things that remind me of that vacation.
Lately, I've been buying chicken leg quarters almost every week because they're only $0.99 per pound and insanely cheap. Basically, a pack of 4 leg quarters ends up costing less than $5 and that's enough meat for two, sometimes three meals for three people. I was just simply seasoning them with salt and pepper and then roasting them in the oven until the skin was golden. But once autumn really hit and the air was really crisp, I started making soup with them. And then I realized, I should try and make khao man gai, which is Thai-style Hainanese chicken.
Hainanese chicken is a Chinese dish (from the Hainan province) but has been enthusiastically adopted by Thailand; we saw it everywhere in Thailand. It is simply poached chicken served with rice cooked in the poaching liquid and it's typically served with raw sliced cucumbers and a bowl of the chicken broth. It's so simple, so low-maintenance, and so delicious. My version isn't necessarily the most authentic, but the style and flavors are an homage to what I remember from my visit to Thailand.
We had the most amazing savory, sweet, salty, everything sauce at an eatery in Bangkok and I was trying to recreate it and failed, but the version of sauce I made was still delicious enough to share.
Ingredients [serves 4]:
chicken
2 chicken leg quarters
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
6 to 8 cups water
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2" knob ginger, crushed
¼ onion
rice
3 tablespoons chicken fat
3 cloves garlic, minced
½" knob ginger, crushed
2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups chicken broth
tamarind sauce
4 to 6 sweet tamarind pods
¼ cup hot water
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar
½ teaspoon soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 to 4 sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
3 to 4 Thai chilis, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
¼" knob ginger, finely chopped
The sauce needs time to marinate and mellow out and for the flavors to marry so let's discuss that first. I found fresh sweet tamarind pods in the produce section of my regular grocery store which leads me to believe that they're common and should be relatively easy to find.
Start by shelling the tamarind and squeezing out the seeds.
Discard the shells and seeds and place the tamarind pulp in a bowl of warm water to soak for about 10 minutes.
Drain the pulp and then press it through a sieve to get rid of all the fibrous bits. The goal is to get about 3 to 4 tablespoons of tamarind pulp.
Squeeze in loads of lime juice, add fish sauce and palm sugar, and the rest of the aromatics and stir to combine.
Let this sauce sit for about 2 hours to give all of the ingredients a chance to get to know each other.
To make the chicken, start by generously salting the meat all over and set it aside for about 30 minutes. The salt will not only season the chicken, but also tenderize the meat.
Add the garlic, ginger, and onion to the pot and top off with enough water to submerge the chicken. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a rapid boil. The rapid boiling will encourage all of the denatured proteins to coagulate and bubble up and stick together and you'll end up with bits of foamy-looking scum. Take this opportunity to skim all of that off.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and let the chicken hang out for 30 to 40 minutes or until it's cooked through (to 165F).
Skim off as much fat from the surface as possible. Since leg quarters are all dark meat, there will be a significant amount of fat in teh pot.
Remove the chicken from the stock and set aside to cool.
While the chicken is cooling, work on the rice.
Add the skimmed off chicken fat to a saucepan over medium heat and add in the minced garlic and ginger. Cook until the garlic is lightly browned.
Add in the rice and stir to coat in the fat and then lightly toast for 2 to 3 minutes. Giving the rice a bit of time to soak up some of the chicken fat will ensure that the individual grains stay as individual grains and that the rice fluffs up nicely. Plus, it'll enhance the flavor of the rice.
Add in some of the chicken poaching liquid and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce heat to low, pop a lid on the pot, and let the rice cook for 12 to 15 minutes or until the stock has been completely absorbed and the rice is tender.
While the rice is cooking, prep the chicken. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the bones, and then roughly chop the chicken into 1" pieces.
Hainanese chicken is typically served with raw sliced cucumbers. I really love that juxtaposition of a watery, crunchy, fresh vegetable with the homey, comforting, fatty chicken and rice. I wanted a little more color and crunch, and frankly, I didn't have many cucumbers left in the fridge, so I supplemented with some carrots and it was actually really good and it totally brightened up the table a bit more.
The chicken is so tender, the rice is so flavorsome and satistfying, and the sauce adds brightness and spice and acidity to help tone down the unctuousness of the chicken skin. The bright and fresh crunchy vegetables help to lighten up the meal and then the warm broth is so soothing and comforting. It's a really well-balanced meal and it's perfect for a chilly autumn evening.
Here are the recipe pages:
Lately, I've been buying chicken leg quarters almost every week because they're only $0.99 per pound and insanely cheap. Basically, a pack of 4 leg quarters ends up costing less than $5 and that's enough meat for two, sometimes three meals for three people. I was just simply seasoning them with salt and pepper and then roasting them in the oven until the skin was golden. But once autumn really hit and the air was really crisp, I started making soup with them. And then I realized, I should try and make khao man gai, which is Thai-style Hainanese chicken.
Hainanese chicken is a Chinese dish (from the Hainan province) but has been enthusiastically adopted by Thailand; we saw it everywhere in Thailand. It is simply poached chicken served with rice cooked in the poaching liquid and it's typically served with raw sliced cucumbers and a bowl of the chicken broth. It's so simple, so low-maintenance, and so delicious. My version isn't necessarily the most authentic, but the style and flavors are an homage to what I remember from my visit to Thailand.
We had the most amazing savory, sweet, salty, everything sauce at an eatery in Bangkok and I was trying to recreate it and failed, but the version of sauce I made was still delicious enough to share.
chicken
2 chicken leg quarters
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
6 to 8 cups water
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2" knob ginger, crushed
¼ onion
rice
3 tablespoons chicken fat
3 cloves garlic, minced
½" knob ginger, crushed
2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups chicken broth
tamarind sauce
4 to 6 sweet tamarind pods
¼ cup hot water
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar
½ teaspoon soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 to 4 sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
3 to 4 Thai chilis, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
¼" knob ginger, finely chopped
Start by shelling the tamarind and squeezing out the seeds.
The chicken is so tender, the rice is so flavorsome and satistfying, and the sauce adds brightness and spice and acidity to help tone down the unctuousness of the chicken skin. The bright and fresh crunchy vegetables help to lighten up the meal and then the warm broth is so soothing and comforting. It's a really well-balanced meal and it's perfect for a chilly autumn evening.
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