Ingredients
For Chicken
whole chicken, ideally around 3.3 lb
4-in piece of ginger, large piece, thick slices
3 scallion, cut into large segments
kosher salt
lime (optional)
ice, prepare lots of it
For Rice
chicken stock, from cooking chicken
garlic, minced, or grated (faster)
ginger, minced, or grated (faster)
shallots, minced
rice, preferably thai/jasmine (not too sticky)
For Green Dipping Sauce
scallion, minced, then pounded in pestle till you get smooth slimy paste
ginger, grated
garlic, grated
lime juice
sugar
chicken stock
fish sauce (optional)
Optional Garnish
cilantro
sliced cucumber
Chicken First
- Once you get the chicken in the morning, immediately scrub/exfoliate skin with generous amounts of kosher salt. Rub all surfaces rigorously, it's pretty hard work. But be sure not to rip/break skin. Optional: After salt-scrub, rub chicken with half a lime.
- Wash chicken thoroughly to get rid of salt and lime. skin should look super smooth and glossy. Pat dry inside and out with paper towel
- Generously salt chicken on the inside and outside (like confit salting). Stuff with ginger and scallion. Leave in fridge until time to cook. (I'd start about 1 to 1.5 hours before serving time)
- Put chicken in large pot, fill with cold water till just covered. Bring to boil, then turn immediately to super low heat. Skim off scum and keep at barely a simmer with lid on for 20-30 minutes. If pot is not big enough (like mine) the water may not complete cover the chicken, in which case, simmer for 15 minutes, then flip chicken and cook for another 5-10 minutes. timing really depends on how big the chicken is. Doesn't take very long.
- Prepare a large bowl/pot ice cold water and lots of ice, enough to immerse the chicken. Once the chicken is cooked, lift out of pot (by it's neck! or just carefully so you don't break the skin) and dunk immediately into ice water. Leave it in the ice for a while, till skin has firmed and entire chicken is cool enough to handle. Then remove ginger and scallion from chicken. Debone: start by splitting chicken in half along the spine. remove legs and wings. separate meat from bones in whole pieces, and make sure the skin and meat stay attached and whole. not too hard, chicken anatomy is pretty simple, and meat comes off easily when cooked... check out the pro version: http://youtu.be/MH88Ll4PcWM
- Strain and reserve chicken stock.
Now Rice
- Wash and soak jasmine rice for 10 minutes in cold water. Then drain well. Set aside.
- In the pot you're going to cook the rice in: sautee a very generous amount of minced garlic, ginger, and shallots in oil (or chicken fat for the fearless) till fragrant.
- Add rice and chicken stock to pot. ratio of rice to stock = 1:1 Taste liquid and adjust for salt. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 min. turn off heat. let sit. you know the drill...
This video pretty much runs through the whole process, it's a bit silly, but a pretty informative overview. http://youtu.be/v3yZnQ3EtdY
Green Sauce
So simple yet so hard. if making a huge amount, you can combine all ingredients and blend w/ blender or food processor till smooth, but we're not running a restaurant. For small batches, everything needs to be done by hand.
- grate garlic and ginger.
- mince scallion as fine as possible. then transfer to pestle (I used a suribachi) and pound until smooth. It'll be a slimy paste.
- Mix all ingredients and find the balance of flavors.
Alternatively there's also a red sauce. Same ingredients as the green, just replace scallions with red thai peppers, super hot.
chicken rice is often served with a bowl of clear chicken soup, since there will be lots of stock left over. Just remember to taste for salt.
