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Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry

10 min prep · 10 min cook

Recipe

Rice Cooker Hainanese Chicken Rice

Fragrant ginger-garlic jasmine rice with chicken thighs on top, cooked in one rice-cooker cycle and served with chili, scallion oil, and cucumber.

Prep
20 min
Cook
45 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
easy

A weeknight rice-cooker method compiled from common home adaptations of Singapore-style chicken rice. It will not match a whole-bird hawker poach. You need an instant-read thermometer and a cooker large enough for 1½ cups rice plus four thighs in one layer. The broth amount is set short of a normal rice cook so the thighs do not flood the pot.

Hawker chicken rice starts with a gently poached whole bird and rice cooked in the broth with chicken fat, ginger, and garlic. This version keeps the fragrant rice and the sauce plate, and puts bone-in thighs on top of the grains in a rice cooker so one cycle does both.

The liquid amount is intentionally a little short of a normal rice cook. Chicken releases juice into the pot. If you fill to the usual water line, the rice turns sticky. Drain the rinsed rice well, use the broth quantity below, and do not slice until every thigh reads 165°F / 74°C at the thickest point.

Chicken and rice

  • 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1½–2 lb / 680–900 g total), excess loose fat trimmed
  • 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more for the sauces
  • ¼ tsp ground white pepper
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1½ cups (280 g) jasmine rice, measured with a standard US cup
  • 2 Tbsp chicken fat or neutral oil (canola, grapeseed, or peanut)
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger, plus 4 thin slices ginger
  • 1 small shallot, minced (optional but good)
  • 1⅓ cups (320 ml) low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 scallions, cut into 3-inch lengths
  • 1–2 pandan leaves, tied in a knot (optional)

Scallion-ginger oil

  • 3 Tbsp finely minced fresh ginger
  • 3 Tbsp finely minced scallion (white and green)
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 3 Tbsp neutral oil
  • ½ tsp toasted sesame oil

Chili sauce

  • 4 red Fresno chilies or 6–8 Thai chilies, stems removed (seed Fresnos if you want less heat)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
  • 2 Tbsp chicken broth (from the carton is fine)
  • 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt

To serve

  • 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce or kecap manis
  • ½ tsp toasted sesame oil (for the dark soy dip)
  • ½ English cucumber, thinly sliced
  • Optional: cilantro sprigs

Method

  1. 1Pat the chicken dry. Rub with the kosher salt, white pepper, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Set aside while you prepare the rice. Do not use a delay-start timer with raw chicken sitting in the cooker.
  2. 2Put the jasmine rice in a bowl and rinse under cold water, swishing and draining, until the water runs mostly clear, 3–4 changes. Drain in a fine-mesh strainer for at least 5 minutes so the grains are not dripping wet.
  3. 3In a small skillet over medium heat, warm the chicken fat or neutral oil. Add the minced garlic, minced ginger, and shallot if using. Cook, stirring, until fragrant and just turning pale gold at the edges, 45–90 seconds. Do not let the garlic burn. Add the drained rice and stir 1–2 minutes until every grain looks glossy.
  4. 4Scrape the rice mixture into the rice cooker pot. Add the 1⅓ cups (320 ml) broth and stir once to level the rice. Nestle in the ginger slices, scallion lengths, and pandan knot if using. Arrange the chicken in a single layer on top of the rice, skin side up. Pieces can touch but should not stack.
  5. 5Close the lid and cook on the standard white-rice setting. When the cooker switches to warm, leave the lid closed and rest 10 minutes.
  6. 6While the cooker runs, make the scallion-ginger oil: combine minced ginger, minced scallion, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a heatproof bowl. Heat the 3 tablespoons neutral oil in a small pan until it shimmers and a ginger scrap sizzles hard on contact (just short of smoking). Pour the hot oil over the ginger and scallion. It should sputter. Stir in the ½ teaspoon sesame oil. Set aside.
  7. 7Make the chili sauce: blend or pound the chilies, garlic, grated ginger, 2 tablespoons broth, lime juice, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt until mostly smooth. Taste; it should be hot, sour, and a little sweet. Adjust lime or salt.
  8. 8Stir the dark soy with ½ teaspoon sesame oil in a small dish. Slice the cucumber and keep it cold.
  9. 9Open the cooker. Insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of each thigh, avoiding bone. Every piece must read 165°F / 74°C. If any piece is under, close the lid and run another full cook cycle, or move underdone pieces to a covered skillet with a splash of broth over medium heat until they hit 165°F. Do not serve undercooked poultry.
  10. 10Lift the chicken onto a cutting board. Discard the ginger slices, scallion lengths, and pandan. Fluff the rice with a paddle. Pull the meat from the bone into serving pieces, or use a heavy cleaver to cut through the bone if you prefer hawker-style chunks. Plate rice with chicken, cucumber, cilantro if using, scallion-ginger oil, chili sauce, and the dark soy dip.

Notes

Useful details

  • Use a rice cooker that can hold 1½ cups uncooked rice plus four thighs in a single layer (most 5–6 cup models work; tiny travel cookers do not).
  • An instant-read thermometer is required. Color and clear juices are not enough for bone-in poultry in a cooker.
  • Bone-in, skin-on thighs are the most reliable cut here. Thick boneless breasts often finish dry or underdone while the rice is already ready. Keep thighs in the 1½–2 lb total range so they cook through in one cycle.
  • Measure rice with a standard US measuring cup (240 ml), not the smaller cup that ships with many cookers. The 280 g weight is the check.
  • If your broth is unsalted, stir ½ teaspoon kosher salt into the rice and broth before adding the chicken. Taste a grain after cooking before adding more salt at the table.
  • Cooker models differ. If the rice is still hard after the rest, sprinkle 2 tablespoons broth over it, close the lid, and warm 5–10 minutes. If it is wet, fluff and leave the lid ajar on warm for 5 minutes.
  • Pandan is optional. Frozen leaves from an Asian grocery work; thaw just enough to tie a knot.
  • This is not an ice-bath hawker bird. The win is fragrant rice and a full plate in one appliance.