Hainanese Chicken Rice

A super easy take on Hainanese Chicken Rice that you can make in the rice cooker? I'm in!

Recipe by 肥媽 (translated from Cantonese) 

Effort: 1/3

Ingredients

- Chicken stock

- 1tbsp oil

- Salt

- Pepper

- Ginger

- Lemongrass

- Spring onions 

- Pandan essence (leaves are even better if you have them)

- Chicken thighs 

Prep

-  Cut 3 slices of ginger - I'm not a massive fan of ginger, if you are you can add more if you like!

-  Chop the lemongrass into chunks, we only want the bottom half.

NOTE: The lemongrass needs to be picked out later (we don't eat that!) so just chop it in half - I've made the mistake of chopping it too small so you don't have to!

- Take the spring onions and chop off the whites. Don't worry we'll use the greens later. 

- If you have pandan leaves, knot one leaf, if not you can use a tsp of pandan essence like me!

- Make chicken stock. I used about 2 tbsp to about 300ml of water but I will be adding more water later.

- Season your chicken with salt and pepper. I have used thighs because I prefer the smoother texture but you can use whatever cut you like!

Let's Cook!

1. Wash your rice and put everything on top. Yep, that's right! Everybody in!

2.  After pouring in the chicken stock, top up the water like you normally would when you make rice.

3. Make sure you add the tbsp of oil after the water or it'll be a bit gross when you put you finger in to check. I measure the water using the finger method and if you do too, I have once again made the mistake so you don't have to!

4. Lastly, put the chicken in.

NOTE: If you're using boneless, skinless chicken like me I would recommend adding the chicken once the rice is at a bubbling stage as I thought it was a bit overcooked. If you're using chicken on the bone and with skin on, you're probably fine to put it in together.

5. Hit cook and let the rice cooker do it's thing!

NOTE: Keep and eye/ ear out for the bubbling stage if you want to put your chicken in later to avoid overcooking.

This smells AMAZING while it cooks!

6. While the rice cooker works it's magic, finely cut the greens from our spring onions.

Et voila! It is done!

7. Take the chicken out to cut for serving and remove the lemongrass. 

I took the ginger out too because not a huge fan but you can leave it if you like.

8. Heat a little oil to pour over the spring onions (you should get a tiiiiny sizzle!) and add a little soy sauce.

Let's eat!

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Costings

Rice (250g) - 20p

Chicken thighs x3 - £1.14

Lemongrass x2 - 43p

Spring onions x3 - 21p

Ginger (3 slices) - 3p(ish)

= £2.01 AND there's enough rice for tomorrow! 

Welcome to Cook Cheep D!

Hellos ~

Welcome to Cook Cheep D, a foodie's blog dedicated to sharing recipes for yummy food without breaking the bank! 

If there is anything you need to know about me it's that I LOVE to eat, like I am ALWAYS hungry! Having said that, I am also stingy (that's why this blog is called 'Cook Cheep D', more on that in the ole 'About' section) but that doesn't mean I can't eat like a Queen!

So! Let's do a quick walk through of my kitchen essentials!

DRY GOODS

The Necessities

As long as I have rice, I can make it! I have done the maths, one bowl of raw rice makes 4 bowls of cooked rice (size depending) so if you're like me and have 2 bowls of rice for dinner, that's 10p a meal ;) (based on Amigo 20KG bought at £16)

Damae Ramen is my favourite instant ramen, a good 49p savour for a 30 minute lunch break or to make a noodle soup dish.

Noodles

Noodles are an excellent basic! Both the shrimp noodles and noodle king by Sau Tao are SUPER fast to cook and were saviours during my crazy 20 minute lunches! The egg noodles I tend to save for stir fry and chow mein because they're sturdier. 

Not pictured: Pasta. I've a lot of pasta too!

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COOKING FRIENDS

Always Out

[L-R: oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, red beancurd, oil & salt]

- Oyster sauce: stir fry, marinade, sauce or simply drizzled over steamed veggies.

- Dark soy: marinade, dipping sauce... mostly for colour to be honest, also has a sweet undertone.

- Soy sauce: EVERYTHING 

- Red Beancurd: marinade, sauce, stir fry or almost everything if you're me. This is tofu's best friend!

- Sugar and cornflour should also be here but I forgot them...

Frequently used

[L-R: doubanjiang (hot bean/ chilli bean sauce), ketchup, chicken stock, honey & garlic powder]

- Doubanjiang: mapo tofu comes to find but you can use this in ANYTHING where you want to amp up the danger levels.

- Ketchup: I use this in all tomato dishes (tomato prawns, egg & tomato, etc) because it adds a nice depth of flavour and colour. 

- Chicken stock: noodle soup, you can add it to rice, congee... also pretty good for stir frying veggies!

- Honey: mostly sauces but sometimes watered down for marinades. Also helps tenderise meat. 

- Garlic powder: any time you want to intensify garlic!

Occasional Cameos

[L-R: hoisin sauce, drunken chicken marinade, soy sauce chicken marinade, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce, 5 spice & char siu sauce]

- Hoisin Sauce: add to marinade for char siu

- Drunken Chicken & Soy Sauce Marinade: literally stick it in a pot and boil your chicken in it, it's that easy and it's DELICIOUS! The leftover liquid can be kept in the fridge for a while to reuse but keep an eye on it.

- Teriyaki sauce: what it says on the bottle!

- Char siu sauce: marinade or use to make the filling for char siu bao!

The Good Stuff  (you can tell from the packaging!)

[L-R: sweet & sauce sauce, satay sauce, salt & pepper & peking sauce]

For when you get those takeaway cravings! 

These are in derpy recycled thingies because they're my Dad's secret blends but you can get these kinds of sauces/ seasoning in most supermarkets or at the Chinese supermarket if you want a brand like Lee Kum Kee or Yeos. 

And that's a wrap!

Unless you're a fiend for certain things (like me for red beancurd) these are all goods that will last months.

Happy cooking!