Easy Chicken Rice (Cơm Gà Hainan)

Rice is a staple of the Asian world, and for the majority of people on Earth, rice plays an integral part of every meal. Simple plain rice is cooked with water as the main dish for Vietnamese families.  Most Vietnamese people feel that they haven't eaten if they don’t have their bowl of steamed rice. As an old saying states, "cơm tẻ mẹ ruột", which means "rice is mother”. In China, a simple greeting between friends is the inquiry whether “rice has been eaten", or a when a family meal is served, it is announced that "rice is ready". In Vietnam, rice is eaten three times a day, and the leftover rice makes fried rice or rice soup for an afternoon snack. Growing up in the devout Buddhist tradition, rice is never wasted because as a Buddhist, we would starve in the next life whenever a grain of rice dropped on the floor. Basically, the lesson is not to waste any food. Naturally, rice plays such an important part of a meal; therefore, there are so many recipes for making rice: Cơm Hoàng hậu (royal rice), Cơm hến (clam rice), Cơm tay cầm (rice cooked in a clay pot), Cơm dừa (coconut rice), Cơm gà luộc (chicken boiled), etc... The chicken boiled rice in Vietnam is one of my favorite dishes, and it is similar to Cơm Gà Hainan of China. However, making Hainan chicken rice is not that hard, but when the serving this dish on a special occasion, free range chicken must be used for this recipe and there are many ways to create the dipping sauce for the chicken .  I love preparing this rice often, so I created this easy boiled chicken rice recipe. I used chicken parts instead of a whole free range chicken that I could not get my hands on. Trust me – it still tastes wonderful!!

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken parts, legs and thighs (bones in and skin on)
6 cups water
2 oz. fresh ginger, smashed
2 shallots, sliced
1 cup of chopped white onions
A bunch of fresh young garlic or 3 cloves of garlic 
Salt and black pepper
For the rice:
2 cups short grain rice (Jasmine is best)
3 cups chicken broth (the broth after chicken is cooked)
2 tbs peanut oil
1 knob of fresh ginger, minced
1 garlic minced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
Rice cooker
Sweet chili dipping sauce:
Red hot chili, sliced
1 garlic minced
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs  chicken broth if desire


Garnish with cucumbers, tomatoes, and cilantro

Directions:
Wash the chicken and set aside.
Bring to boil a pot with 6 cups of water with ginger, white onions, shallots, and young garlic.

Drop the chicken into the boiling water.

Turn down heat and simmer. Skim off any scum floating to the surface – this guarantees the broth is clear.

Do not let the water boil over the top. Season with salt. Simmer for 15 minutes, cover with lid, and then turn off the heat.

Let chicken cook in the broth for another 15 minutes. Remove chicken and place into cold water to keep chicken from discoloring. After removing all residue, keep the clear broth to make rice to serve on the side later, if desired.
To make rice:
Wash Jasmine rice under cold water and drain.

In a sauté pan, heat oil. Stir fried ginger, shallots, and garlic until fragrant.

 Add drained rice into the sauté pan. Stir the rice with herbs until the grains of rice look opaque. Pour  rice into a rice cooker.

Add two and a half cups to 3 cups of broth into a rice cooker. Close the lid and turn on (the amount of water used might have to be adjusted, depending on the quantity of short grain rice used). I use the Chinese ratio method to make rice. After placing your hand flat on the rice in the pot, add water until it rises three quarters of the way up your hand or up to the first joint of your pointed index finger as it touches the top surface of the rice (the Vietnamese method) to determine the correct ratio.
To serve:
Chop chicken in big chunks. Place cooked rice on a serving plate, and top with chicken. Garnish with cucumbers, tomatoes, and cilantro. Combine all the dipping sauce ingredients and serve on the side.