Singapore is famous for many things, and one of them is the local food here. You can find lots of different cuisines here like Chinese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Indian, western, Mediterranean, Thai, Japanese, Korean and so on. Being a pukka foodie me and my husband love to explore the food courts here. Our initial stay here was completely filled with both of us trying out the multi-cuisine here. From stall hopping we have gathered the local taste and now understand what makes Singapore so hot and popular when it comes to food.One of our favorite is the Chicken rice. Its simply delicious and mouth-watering and healthy too. I would suggest to anyone visiting Singapore to dig their teeth into this exquisite dish of Chicken and Rice.
Chicken rice originating from China and originally known as Hainanese Chicken rice is very popularly associated with Singaporean or Malaysian cuisine. It’s a boneless chicken dish which is steamed and then treated with ice cold water. Every food court in Singapore would have a stall of Chicken rice. One can typically locate a Chicken rice stall by the whole chickens hanging from rods both steamed and roasted.
To taste the perfect chicken rice you must visit the Food republic at the Suntec City at City Hall. It’s the second stall on your right from the convention center end. And ask for Sergeant’s special set meal. This set meal comes with a portion of Steamed boneless chicken, I usually like it roasted so I make it a point to go for roasted one, a portion of rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, a portion of veggies which is pak choy in oyster sauce. I have eaten the simpler version of chicken rice at my office food court and other food courts but it’s best in food republic. And almost all weekends you can find us here.
How I like my chicken rice: I like to add a spoonful of fried onions on the soup and Pak Choy. As the rice is also cooked in chicken stock and some garlic and ginger it is very delicious on its own. I like to mix some spoonful of soups (we Indians have got something with the curries, so I make it more watery) and add a generous portion of pounded ginger sauce and the chili paste (again the Indian tongue for spicy food). And every mouthful is a juicy bite of the rice and a piece of chicken or the veggie.
For all those who want to give this a try at home here’s a very simple recipe picked from uniquely Singapore site.
Ingredients
1 (2-pound) chicken
1 young green onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 slices fresh, peeled ginger
6 tbsp vegetable oil or chicken oil rendered from chicken fat
6 to 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and drained
1 tsp fine salt
Mix together for Chilli Sauce
2 to 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice, 5 tbsp finely chopped fresh red chilies, 5 cloves garlic, chopped, 3 tbsp finely chopped ginger, 1 tsp fine salt, 1/2 cup boiling hot chicken soup
Method
Boil a large pot of water. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with onion and ginger. Add chicken to boiling water, breast side-down. Lower the heat to a simmer just under boiling point and cook, covered until just cooked through, about 40 minutes. Bathe the chicken in an ice water bath till chicken is cold to create a tender, springy texture. Heat oil in a rice cooker, add garlic, stir fry till fragrant. Add uncooked rice, stir fry for two minutes, add salt and enough chicken soup to cover 1/2 inch above the top of the rice. Boil on high heat, lower heat when steam holes form, cover and steam for 30 minutes till rice is cooked. Chop chicken and serve with steaming hot rice and chilli sauce. Dark soya sauce is the ideal accompaniment.
