The traditional way to make Hainanese chicken rice, known in Thai as khao man gai or khao mun gai, is a bit of a project as it requires poaching a whole chicken, as per my classic Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe. This recipe simplifies it by using chicken parts and cooking the chicken and rice at the same time, making it instantly weeknight friendly without compromising the flavour at all. It now only takes 30 minutes to cook, and I no longer go back to the whole-chicken method after discovering this one!
However this does require that you have some good chicken stock on hand. You can use store bought chicken stock if you wanna make it super quick, but for the most authentic flavour I recommend you use homemade Asian style chicken stock.
I always keep homemade chicken stock in my freezer, and I recommend you do too because it comes in so handy in so many situations! Chicken noodle soup in a snap, anyone?
A note on the chicken stock
Though store bought stock is okay to use, if you want it to taste like in Thailand, you'll get best results with homemade, Thai style chicken stock. At the very basic level, you can simply simmer chicken bones in water and you'll have chicken stock. But to boost the flavour, adding some aromatics will help.
I like to use daikon and/or onions, garlic, white pepper and cilantro roots or stems. But If you're making the stock specifically for Hainanese chicken rice, adding a few slices of ginger works wonderfully.
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Quick & Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice (Khao Mun Gai)
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 3-4
Description
An easier version of the classic Hainanese chicken rice. No need to poach a whole chicken, we can make an equally delicious dish using chicken parts, all cooked in one pot!
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 3 pc skin-on, bone-in chicken thigh (see note 1)
- 1 large skin-on chicken breast (or 2 small ones)
- 1⁄2 tsp salt
For the Rice:
- 1 1⁄2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed until the water runs clear and drain well (note by "cup" I mean measuring cup and not the rice cooker cup)
- 1 2⁄3 cups chicken stock, unsalted, preferably homemade (see note 2, recipe follows)
- 1⁄2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
- 2 Tbsp chopped ginger
- Optional: Extra chicken stock for serving on the side, about 1⁄2 cup per person (see note 3)
- Optional: Fresh cucumber slices for serving
Classic Dipping Sauce:
- 1-inch knob ginger, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Thai chili, optional, to taste
- 3 Tbsp Tao Jiew (Thai fermented soybean paste) OR 2 tablespoon Korean doenjang + 1 tablespoon water
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce (or use Thai black soy sauce)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 3 sprigs cilantro, chopped
My Grandma's Signature Spicy & Sour Dipping Sauce:
If you only make one sauce, make the classic sauce. But this one is my grandma's own creation, and in our household we make 2 sauces, and I always love it with both!
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 red Thai chilies, or more to taste
- 3 cilantro sprigs, stems and leaves separated, roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp sugar
Basic Asian-Style Chicken Stock
(This makes more than you need, but you can freeze the rest)
- 2 lb chicken bones
- 3 L water
- 3-inch section daikon, peeled and cut into big chunks
- Half and onion, large dice
- 5 garlic cloves, smashed until broken
- 1⁄2 tsp cracked white pepper
- 5-6 slices ginger, optional
- 3-4 cilantro roots or 6-8 cilantro stems
Special tools: A heavy bottomed pot or a rice cooker big enough so that the chicken pieces can be laid in one layer.
Instructions
- Trim extra fat and skin off your chicken thighs and reserve. You will need to render fat from these trimmings for the rice.
- Sprinkle salt over chicken and rub it in. Let sit at room temp while you prep other things.Note: You can do everything from this point on right in the pot that you will use to cook the rice and chicken, and it'll be a one pot meal. But I prefer to sauté the rice in a wok and then transfer.
- In a wok, or the pot you're using to cook the rice in, add just a tiny bit of vegetable oil along with chicken fat/skin trimmings. Saute over medium-low heat to render chicken fat until the trimmings are browned. You want to have about 2 tablespoon of fat total, so if there is too much, remove some. If there isn't enough, add a little more vegetable oil to supplement. Remove chicken trimmings, leaving the fat in the pot.
- In the same pot/wok you used to render chicken fat, add chopped ginger and garlic and saute over medium high heat until garlic starts to turn golden.
- Add raw, rinsed rice and salt, and turn heat up to high, tossing rice for about 2 minutes until hot throughout and dry.
- Transfer rice into a rice cooker or a heavy bottomed pot (unless you're already using that pot). Note: A rice cooker is more convenient, because it will turn itself off, but I personally prefer using a pot so I can use low heat to gently cook the chicken so it will be less likely to overcook.
- Add chicken stock to the rice and and stir to mix. Place chicken in one layer on top of rice.
- Turn heat to high and watch until you start to see the first sign of simmering. Then turn the heat down to low, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken is done. While you wait for it to cook, make the dipping sauce and the broth.
- When chicken is cooked, remove chicken from the rice and let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.
- Fluff rice to distribute seasoning and chicken juices evenly.
- To serve: Slice chicken into thin pieces, and place on top of rice. Serve with dipping sauce, some fresh cucumber and extra chicken broth as soup. Enjoy!
For the Classic Dipping Sauce:
- Pound garlic, ginger and chilies into a paste. Alternatively, finely chop everything and add to a small bowl.
- Add the soybean paste, sugar, dark soy sauce, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Before serving stir in the chopped cilantro right before serving.
For My Grandma's Signature Sauce:
- In a mortar and pestle, pound together garlic, chilies, and cilantro stems into a rough paste, then add the sugar, soy sauce, and lime juice. Stir to dissolve the sugar and then stir in chopped cilantro leaves.
For the chicken broth to be served on the side (optional):
- heat the chicken stock in a pot until it comes to a simmer. Season lightly with salt or soy sauce and a dash of ground white pepper. Garnish with some chopped cilantro or green onions if desired.
To Make Chicken Stock:
- Gently simmer chicken bones for 1 hour in the water, skimming off foam and scum as they come up. However, if you want to keep the fat for your rice, I would not skim after about 30 minutes so you don't end up skimming off the fat.
- After 1 hour of simmering, add all the vegetables/aromatics and simmer for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Drain off the stock and skim off any fat on top of the stock and reserve for your rice. If you are making the stock ahead of time, you can skim the fat after the stock has been refrigerated to make it easier.
Notes
- If you only want to use white meat for this dish, that's fine, but the chicken thighs are also going to be your main source of chicken fat trimmings that you need for the rice. So you need to make sure that whatever chicken you use, you are able to trim enough chicken fat off of it. Or, if you’re making your own chicken stock, choose bones with fatty bits attached (back bones are good for this) and you can skim the fat off the stock when it’s done. You can also trim fat and skin off of chicken thighs that you can save for another dish!
- You can use store bought stock for a super quick/easy version, but for the most authentic flavour I highly recommend using Asian-style homemade stock for this one.
- It’s traditional to serve a bowl of chicken broth on the side since the dish itself isn’t very saucy. The broth can be simply seasoned with salt and pepper, but you’ll sometimes see people putting a few pieces of winter melon in it.
Kate says
Delicious! I never tried the OG recipe, but I won't bother because this was delicious and my family absolutely loved it!
chris says
excellent recipe. would you use this sauce for any other dishes? thanks!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Thank you! You could just use it as an all purpose protein sauce! Or a dipping sauce for hot pot would be great too.
Aparajita says
I tried it, it turned out delicious!
Jean Thana says
I also like to use a peeled & seeded cucumber, sliced into chunks, in the soup, in place of the winter melon, which is not always easy to find. For me, the soup is necessary for the true culinary experience of khao mun gai 😋
Kern Toy says
ZOMG! I made this last night. IT. WAS. AWESOME! This recipe is such a keeper. I have been searching for an easy way to make this for years. Now I understand the difference between plain poached chicken and Hainanese Chicken Rice. Thank you!
Ian says
So delicious!! Really not as hard as I anticipated. Made both dipping sauces from the original recipe and it was so good!
Stephen Chan says
This is a must-have when I visit Thailand, and before this recipe I didn't expect to make it at home as it looks so complex. I haven't tried the traditionally method yet and I can't tell how much difference it makes, but I'm more than satisfied with this simplified method.