Chicken Rice night

One of my favourite meals to cook is chicken rice. You know that you have poached the perfect white cut chicken when its skin is supple and flesh filled with succulent chicken juice. At our household, Chicken Rice night is never complete without stir fry bean sprouts as well as spring onion and ginger pesto. My top tips for a successful Chicken Rice night:
1. Fill the stock pot with enough water to cover the chicken;
2. Chicken should be at room temperature prior to poaching; and
3. Plunge poached chicken in icy cold water. This will result in its supple skin.

Here are the recipe. Serves 2.

White Cut Chicken

Ingredients

Medium whole chicken (at room temperature)
Spring onions (1 bunch cut into 2 inch batons)
Fresh ginger (3 inch chopped roughly)
Garlic (1 bulb crushed with skin in tact)
Chinese cooking wine (1 cup)
Sesame seed oil (3 tablespoon)
Soy sauce (3 tablespoon)
Water (enough to fill the pot and just about cover the uncooked chicken)
Salt (3 tablespoon)
Ice water (enough to fill the pot and just about cover the poached chicken)

Method

1. Fill a stock pot with enough water to just about cover the uncooked whole chicken. Toss in spring onions, ginger, garlic, salt and Chinese cooking wine. Bring water to boil over medium heat;
2. Once stock is boiling, place uncooked whole chicken and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes with lid on. Turn the heat off and poach for 3 hours.
3. Plunge poached chicken into pot filled with ice water for 5 minutes. Remove and dress with sesame seed oil and soy sauce. Serve with rice.

Rice preparation suggestion:

Jasmine rice (2 cups washed)
Chicken poaching stock (enough to cover approximately an inch above the rice using a rice cooker)


Spring Onion and Ginger Pesto

Ingredients

Spring onion (3 stalks chopped finely)
Ginger (2 inches sliced thinly and crushed using a mortar and pester)
Vegetable oil (5-6 tablespoon)
Salt to taste

Method

1. Combine spring onions, ginger and salt in a mixing bowl;
2. Temper vegetable oil in a wok until oil is piping hot. Pour over spring onions, ginger and salt;
3. Serve as a condiment with white cut chicken.

Stir fry bean sprouts

Ingredients

Bean sprouts (400g)
Garlic (2 cloves chopped finely)
Soy sauce (2 tablespoon)
Sesame seed oil (2 tablespoon)
Vegetable oil (2 tablespoon)

Method

1. Heat vegetable oil in wok until hot. Add garlic and sauté until slightly golden;
2. Add bean sprouts and stir fry lightly for 2-3 minutes;
3. Add soy sauce and sesame seed oil. Toss bean sprouts for another 2 minutes;
4. Serve hot.