Hainan chicken rice soy sauce
Oct 21, 2018, 9:57 pm
#1
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Hainan chicken rice soy sauce
The web has been polluted with Anthony Bourdain-inspired posts about the dish in the past few years.
I can't remember out what is the soy sauce one should use for Hainan chicken rice as it is served in Singapore and Malaysia (the origin of the dish is WenChang chicken from eastern Hainan an is served, as is typical of Chinese food, as a whole chicken, head and all, with just a garlic, ginger, oil dressing).
Haven't eaten the stuff in Singapore for the better of 40 years - Swee Kee (sp?) used to be the place for it though my sister liked the (old) Mandarin hotel's café's version. The cook book I found the recipe to make the chicken says heavy soy sauce but that's not right.
I've tried ABC sweet heavy soy sauce from Indonesia but that's too sweet, and Aik Choeng cooking caramel (came in a triangular cross-section glass bottle, red label and had an elephant logo, and owned by Campbell Soup for quite a while) is a bit too undersalted My current version is a mixture of all hree (or five as I also use regular and light sauce).
Made the dish about 6x in the past 3 months with enough leftovers so I think I'll leave it for a year at any rate.
I can't remember out what is the soy sauce one should use for Hainan chicken rice as it is served in Singapore and Malaysia (the origin of the dish is WenChang chicken from eastern Hainan an is served, as is typical of Chinese food, as a whole chicken, head and all, with just a garlic, ginger, oil dressing).
Haven't eaten the stuff in Singapore for the better of 40 years - Swee Kee (sp?) used to be the place for it though my sister liked the (old) Mandarin hotel's café's version. The cook book I found the recipe to make the chicken says heavy soy sauce but that's not right.
I've tried ABC sweet heavy soy sauce from Indonesia but that's too sweet, and Aik Choeng cooking caramel (came in a triangular cross-section glass bottle, red label and had an elephant logo, and owned by Campbell Soup for quite a while) is a bit too undersalted My current version is a mixture of all hree (or five as I also use regular and light sauce).
Made the dish about 6x in the past 3 months with enough leftovers so I think I'll leave it for a year at any rate.
Oct 24, 2018, 5:36 pm
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I think it's regular dark soy diluted with a splash of chicken broth and a drop of seasoned oil.
Oct 25, 2018, 11:43 am
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Oct 28, 2018, 8:39 am
#4
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I consulted with chinese malaysian girlfriend and she was quite specific about it being cooking caramel (the one we have at home is from cheong chan, red label with an elephant. Not the Air Cheong apparently, she knows it and was quite clear about it being wrong) with chopped spring onions, garlic and a bit of chicken broth.
Oct 28, 2018, 10:53 am
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Thanks. Indeed the name is Cheong Chan (Aik Cheong is some brand of coffee). Used to come in a triangular cross-section bottle but now it's plastic. Of interest is who the corporate owner has been for over a decade.
I just don't find it salty enough but maybe I've been eating it wrong all these years.
I just don't find it salty enough but maybe I've been eating it wrong all these years.