Hainanese Chicken Rice Guide

Hainanese chicken rice is one of few local dishes served in the menu of Singapore Airlines. It is also listed at number 45 on the World’s 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011. Chicken rice can be found anywhere in Singapore, from hawker stalls, franchised outlets to restaurants. This tasty and reasonably priced food is one of the daily meal choices of locals and travelers.

The cooking method hails back to its Hainanese roots. The chicken is steeped in boiling water or blanched till it is fully cooked, before soaking it in cold water to ensure the meat remains tender. In a local twist, the chicken can also be roasted or braised in soya sauce for a different taste. In Singapore, the dish is infused with local Cantonese influences which inspired the tangy red chili sauce dip and the use of tender and young chicken. It is, however, the rice and chili sauce that can make or break the dish. The rice, cooked in chicken stock with ginger and pandan leaves, with just the right amount of oiliness. And the chili must have the right blend of spiciness and sourness.

Born out of frugality, Hainanese chicken rice may seem simple, but you'll figure out yourself it’s the kind of dish you’d cross continents to eat. Hainanese chicken rice is the chickeniest chicken dish one can find in the chicken-eating world, once you finish it, don't be surprise if you'll be clucking.