15-Minute Leftovers Meal: Chicken Rice (Hainanese Style)

This is my recipe for some pretty comforting chicken & rice that loosely resembles the stuff you get in Singapore. Real chicken rice is amazing, stock simmered for hours, labours of love etc. etc.

I want you to make this version with the leftover chicken and rice you saved from a meal you had a night or so ago. Don’t ever let rice go to waste. Salvage those gems and make something ab fab delicious and in only about 15 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 servings leftover cooked rice

  • 1 cup Chicken stock/chicken stock cubes

  • 1/2 onion, sliced

  • 1 sliced Spring onion

  • 1 thumb size Ginger, sliced

  • 2 cloves Garlic, crushed

  • 1 or 2 servings of left over cooked Rice

  • 1/2 Cucumber

  • Garlic Chilli sauce (optional, but trust me you want this—pick some up from your local Asian grocer)

    • Alternative sauce is: crushed fresh chillies, 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce, 1 teaspoon Sesame oil, squeeze of lemon, and crushed clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt.

METHOD

In a medium sized pot, heat up the stock until simmering. Shred your leftover chicken with two forks, or your hands and add to the simmering stock. Throw in your sliced ginger and half your garlic. Give it like 10 mins to get to know each other.

In a separate pan heat some oil (or ghee if you have it) and fry onion (chopped) and the other half of your garlic. Let it brown slightly and then add your cooked rice. Stir fry it all together for a minute or two. Add salt to taste.

MAKE IT FANCY

If you have a small bowl, spoon your rice into it and pack it down. Now put a plate over the bowl and flip it. Fancy cup of rice on a plate. Take some chicken from the broth and arrange it over the rice and add some sliced spring onion to the top.

Dollop a spoon of your garlic sauce and serve with a bowl of the gingery, garlicky, chicken broth.

Add your sliced cucumbers to one side and your dish is complete.

Nothing like the classic, but a fast, comforting meal to make with leftovers. Perfect for some #IsolationCooking and you’ve even #MadeItFancy

Anjalee Sewpaul