Hainanese Chicken Rice... without chicken, or the Hainan.

Had a sudden craving for good Chicken Rice, so I IM'ed my good pal Charlestopher (not, not his real name. Not even a proper name. Insider joke. sorry). Being a great guy that he is, he eventually divulged his family's secret recipe for the Perfect Hainanese Chicken rice.

I was drooling by the time he was done, and then I realised a problem - the only ingredient I had from his list was Rice and Soy Sauce. Potong Stim oni. No, cannot give up.

Improvise!!
No chicken oil? use sesame seed oil and butter loh.
No chicken stock? use chicken essense cube loh.
No chicken? errr... Make roasted char siew loh. I have chops and Lee Kum Kee char siew sauce.
No shallots? Big onions loh.
No ginger? Close one eye loh.
... (the list goes on)
No garlic? Hmm.. maybe can buy. Downstairs shop got.

Cheap-Buy! Pool-Key! Mile-High! Lunch-Hour! Poon-Deck! Pan-Tart! Stew-Near-Marr!!

One pathetic garlic 50p (>RM3) ??!!!!?!! 50p can buy 5 eggs liao leh! A big cup or yogurt! Half a pack of mince meat! Half kilo rice! Call home for half and hour!

No wonder Mat Salleh county got Vampires, Malaysia don't have. Here, no one can afford to buy the damn garlic (and the Vamps know it).

Ok.. enough. Back to my "chicken" rice.

Fry the mince garlic in butter till brown, then throw in washed rice. Add in some soy sauce (dark and light). Let it fry for a while, stir now and then to avoid burning it.

Put everything in the rice cooker, and instead of plain water, use chicken cube diluted in water.

Let it cook as usual. Most of the work is done.

For the char siew, it's similar to the Grilled Chops I made last time. Important thing is to let it grill on low heat so the inside is properly cooked. Then, when it's done, turn up to heat and burn it a little to get that crispy crust. Oh, and make sure the meat you use has some fat on it. That gives it the sweet crunchy texture.

Chop up the char siew. Serve on the rice.

For more oomph, make some garnishing oil. Sesame seed oil + soy sauce + onions, fried till brown.

Mix it up, and top it over the char siew.

Serve with some fresh tomatoes (and cucumber if you have any).

It's a pretty easy dish. Hardest part is timing - doing everything simultaneously so that the grilled chops, rice and condiments are ready at almost the same time. Tastes best when served with steaming hot rice, and chops just off the grill.

Char Siew with Hainanese Chicken Rice (minus the Hainan and the Chicken). Yummy!