Adapted from Pick Yin’s Life is Great , who adapted hers from Maameemoomoo on Dollop of Me

http://cupcakesncurries.com/2015/03/16/cheats-chicken-rice/

Serves 2-3

For the chicken marination

• 4-5 bone-in chicken thighs/drums
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp Shaoxing rice wine (can be replaced with lemon juice)
• a dash of white pepper
• pinch of sea salt

For the rice

• 4 tbsp peanut oil / chicken fat* (See Recipe Notes)
• 5-6 small shallots, thinly sliced
• 12 slices of fresh ginger
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lemongrass, bruised and cut into 1/2

• 4-5 pandan leaves
• 2 cups long grained Thai Jasmine rice
• 1  1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock (See Recipe Notes)
• 1/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine* ( can be replaced with chicken stock) (See Recipe Notes)
• pinch of sea salt

For garnishing/serving

• chopped spring onions
• coriander leaves
• fried shallots
• sesame oil
• cucumber and tomato slices

For the chilli sauce

• 8-10 fresh red chillies, deseeded (not thai/ bird’s eye chillies!)
• 5 inch piece ginger
• 3 large garlic cloves
• brown sugar
• low-sodium chicken stock
• lime juice
• salt

1. Using a fork, prick the chicken at the thickest part so that it would be better marinated.

2. Marinate chicken thighs with light soy sauce,sesame oil, Shaoxing Rice Wine, white pepper and sea salt for about 20-30 minutes. Set aside.

3. Wash rice until the water is almost clear. Completely drain and set aside.

4. In a medium pot/ rice cooker pot, heat peanut oil/ chicken fat over medium heat. I used a combination of both chicken fat and oil.

5. Sauté sliced shallots and ginger slices till shallots have softened slightly and are lightly browned. Then add minced garlic. Sauté for 1 minute more and make sure the garlic doesn’t burn.

6. Add drained rice and coat it with all the oil/shallot in the pot and keep stirring for about 1-2 minutes to slightly cook the grains.

7. Add the chicken stock and Shaoxing Rice Wine to the rice. Layer the lemongrass halves and pandan leaves and then the marinated chicken on top of the pandan leaves. ( See 2nd photo above)

8. Turn heat to lowest flame, cover pot and cook till chicken and rice and cooked or return your rice pot to the rice cooker and cook.

9. For the chilli sauce, blend all ingredients until it reaches a slightly runny consistency, like a dip. Adjust salt according to taste. If its too spicy, add more sugar and add a little more chicken stock and lime juice. The level of spiciness will depend on the type of chillies used. Duh! Or you could used any store-bought chilli-garlic/ chilli sauce you like. (Much easier!)

10. To serve, scoop rice onto plate. Throw out any ginger, pandan leaves & lemongrass. Place chicken pieces on top of rice. Drizzle with a little bit of sesame oil and sprinkle some fried shallots, spring onions or coriander leaves. Place the cucumber and tomato slices on the side. Put chilli sauce in dipping bowl. Done!

Or if it’s just the 2 of you, eat directly from the pot! No one will know & it’s more romantic because there’s less washing up after!

Recipe Notes

1. If you’re using a rice cooker, follow the rice cooking instructions for your machine and adjust the amount of chicken stock+Shaoxing rice wine. But I found that after the rice being partially cooked, it requires less liquid than usual for the rice cooker method.

2. I found that very thick chicken drums do not work for this recipe, unless you increase the amount of rice cooked and doubled the recipe. So adjust the ‘thickness’ and size  of your chicken pieces accordingly. If you’re using chicken breasts, add them for the last 10 minutes of cooking time to avoid overcooked, dry chicken.

3. You could use any type of neutral oil for the recipe. However, if you choose to use very mild flavoured oils like rice bran , then make sure your chicken stock has enough flavour. Of course, adding chicken fats add more flavour to the rice. Whenever I clean chicken,  I don’t throw away the fats that I remove. I freeze the fats in a ziplock bag and use them whenever needed.

4. For a healthier version, you could replace the rice with white quinoa and use chicken breast instead. It cooks faster and is also very tasty.

5. Use the same measuring cup to measure out the rice and stock amounts. It’s not like in baking where you would use a measuring jug for liquids and measuring cups for solids.