
Another post from Santhi about Singaporean best-loved dish: Chicken Rice. Happy Reading! This one comes with an amazing recipe! (Sari)
WHO’S AFRAID OF SHARING? Lesson from a chicken rice restaurant in Singapore.
Our time has done wonders to culinary world in many ways. It has changed of what it means to be a cook and it has changed of what it means to ‘to be able to cook’.
In the era where celebrity chefs can afford to live in ultra posh mansions that can put to shame their movie stars neighbour’s mansions, being a superstar chef means willingness to share recipes and cooking skills. Cooking demonstrations and cooking shows are something that celebrity chefs need to do to maintain their status. The more tips and recipes their share with public, the more knowledgeable they appear and the more popular they become.
With the wonderous progress of internet, virtually everybody can cook provided they are willing to do some efforts. Good recipes are just a click away. You can compare one recipe to another before you decide which one to follow. For us ordinary cooks, we certainly don’t need to endure the fiery temper of Mr. Ramsay to learn how to make a perfect custard.
A few weeks ago, newspaper readers in Singapore had something to talk at breakfast time on one glorious morning. These readers found out that their popular chicken rice restaurant called Boon Tong Kee (BTK) together with other two popular restaurants bare all their famous dish recipes in the national sunday edition newspaper. Now, I know that due to all progresses that I have mentioned above, this step is not unprecedented as many restaurants noticeably share their recipes to public before. They launch recipe books or conduct cooking classes. Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, for example, share some of their recipes in a cook book. However, they still keep their finger lickin’ good chicken recipe a secret. Rumour has it that they prepare the special herb mix in portions at several different places in US and the complete recipe is kept in a vault with two separate combination locks. I think what KFC does is understandable, the recipe after all is their weapon to be ahead of the competition right? So what on earth make these restaurants in Singapore share their recipes to public what more in the national newspaper? What made BTK decide to do that?
Let me tell you a bit about BTK and the chicken rice itself. BTK is one of the renown chicken rice restaurants in Singapore. According to the newspaper their annual revenue reaches an impressive amount of 15 million Singapore dollar. They started with selling only chicken rice and then slowly extending their menu to serve a wide array of dishes of prawn, pork and many more. Chicken rice originated in China. More specifically in Hainan island. The dish came to Singapore (and also to some places in Southeast Asia like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) along with the diaspora of Hainanese people. The dish consists of rice cooked with chicken broth served with poached chicken, chilli sauce on the side and garnished with slivers of cucumber and sprigs of coriander leaves. Once in Singapore however, the poached chicken was given a Cantonese twist and the rice a Southeast Asian flavour by adding pandan leaves. The chilli sauce was also adopted to suit the palate of chilli loving people of this region.
(Chicken rice is a beloved Singapore dish, some would claim it as a Singapore national dish. Singaporeans are loyal to their chicken rice restaurant just as men are loyal to their football club. Chicken rice is not only loved by locals, but they are also popular among tourists and expats. There are probably hundreds of chicken rice restaurants in Singapore, each boasts their ‘original unique’ recipes and cooking methods, for example by employing a certain technique of selecting their chicken, making their chicken broth or concocting the chilli sauce. For me, the chicken rice from Boon Tong Kee is simply the best because of their fragrant and fluffy rice and their plump but tender to bite chicken).
Certainly our time has also changed the way chefs and restaurant owners think, so it seems. In a small country with a small population where competition in every aspect of life is high, being able to be the best especially in a restaurants business often means keeping one’s recipes secret from your competitors. BTK’s owner, Mr. Thian Boon Hua said he shared his recipe before to some people who then opened their own restaurant. Mr Thian said that if his chicken rice recipe can help someone make good of their lives and earn a decent living, he is more than happy to share it. He added that they became a serious competition, the competitors will keep them on their toes and motivate them to improve. A very noble cause indeed….
For us ordinary or aspiring cooks, the unveiling of this famous chicken rice recipe is such an event worth of celebration. I have tried to replicate this dish for several times, but something is always not quite right. After studying the recipe thoroughly, I see why I can’t get the chilli sauce right! What an eye popping way of doing it!
So I’m sharing this happy news to Cookaloca readers and friends with a big thank you to Mr. Thian.
The ingredients for chicken rice are available everywhere, it’s worth to try. If you are not too crazy of using MSG like I do, simply ommit the stuff from the recipe.
Here is the recipe as quoted from The Strait Times, The Sunday Times (September 27 2010)
Cantonese poached chicken
Serves five
Ingredients
1 whole chicken weighing 1.6kg to 1.8 kg
20g salt
20g old ginger, smashed
3 tsp shallot oil, drained from frying
Shallots with oil
3 tbs soya sauce
3 tbs water
15 g sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
Method
Place chicken in a pot, pour enough water to cover the bird. Remove the chicken and bring the water to a boil.
Add salt and ginger to the boiling water. Bring to a boil again.
Hold the chicken by the neck, slowly immerse then lift it from the boiling water. Repeat five times.
Place it in the pot, cover and turn off the heat. Allow it to cook for about 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken and rinse under cold tap water for a few minutes until the inside is no longer too hot to touch.
Immerse the chicken in an ice bath and set aside for about 10 minutes or until it is cooled.
Cut it up into serving sizes.
Drizzle shallot oil over.
Dissolve the sugar in the water then mix in soya sauce. Pour this mixture over the chicken before drizzling sesame oil over it.
Hainanese flavoured rice
Serves five
Ingredients
700g Thai fragrant white rice
60g chicken fat, available from wet market poultry stalls.
40g old ginger
40g shallots
20g garlic
900ml chicken stock
7g MSG (optional)
5g chicken essence powder
3g sugar
10g salt
3 pandan leaves, tied into a knot
Method
Rinse rice, drain and set aside for 30 minutes before use.
Blend ginger, shallots and garlic to a smooth paste.
To a heated wok, stir fry the blended paste with chicken fat till fragrant.
Add the rice and stir fry until well mixed. Transfer to an electric rice cooker. Turn the rice cooker on.
Add chicken stock, MSG, chicken essence powder, sugar and salt. Stir continuously until enough moisture has evaporated and the rice is no longer cover with stock.
Add pandan leaves, close the cooker lid and allow the rice to cook.
Wait five minutes after the cooker has automatically switched off when the rice has cooked, before turning on the cooker again. Re-heating the rice ensures that it is dry and fragrant.
Chilli sauce
Serves five
Ingredients
60g fresh red chilli
30g chilli padi
10g dried red chilli, soaked till soft then drained
10g salt
15g ginger
10g shallots
7g garlic
4g MSG
4g chicken essence powder
5g sugar
3ml vinegar
2ml sesame oil
10ml cooking oil
5ml lime juice
Method
Scald fresh red chilli and chilli padi briefly.
Blend fresh red chilli, dried red chilli and chilli padi until a smooth paste form.
Place the chilli paste in a jar, mix well with salt and cover. Keep the jar in a cool dark place for between 10 and 15 days. Mould may form naturally as part of fermentation process.
Blend ginger, shallots and garlic to form a smooth paste.
Remove the layer of mould from the chilli paste and pour the remaining fermented paste into a pot.
Add the ginger-shallots-garlic paste, MSG and chicken essence powder, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil and cooking oil. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over low heat, stirring regularly to prevent the paste from burning.
Turn off the heat when the mixture reaches about 90 deg C and leave to cool before adding lime juice. Mix well. If the paste is too thick, dilute with a little chicken stock.