Hainanese Chicken Rice

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (1-1.5kg)
about 4 inches of ginger, sliced
a bunch of spring onion
salt
cold water to make an ice bath
sesame oil
dark soy sauce
soy sauce
2 cups of long-grain rice
4 cloves of garlic

Method

For the chicken

1. To clean the chicken, rub it all over with salt, giving it a good salt bath. The salt removes any impurities and dead skin and will leave the skin smooth and taut.
2. Remove excess fat from the chicken and stuff the chicken with slices of ginger and spring onion (the white part which has the most flavour). Use about 3 inches of ginger and reserve the remainder for frying later.
3. Transfer to a large pot and cover with enough water. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for at least 45 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken and transfer to an ice bath. The ice bath stops the cooking process. Keep the broth to cook rice and serve as soup later, discard the spring onion and ginger. Pat the chicken dry and cut into small pieces.
5. Season the broth with salt to taste.
6. To make a light sauce to go with the chicken, mix a teaspoon of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil and 4-5 teaspoons of broth. Adjust the amount of broth according to taste. Pour over the cut chicken.

For the rice

1. Wash 2 cups of rice and set aside. This should be sufficient for 4-5 adults.
2. Sauté the minced garlic and slices of ginger in sesame oil.
3. Add the washed rice and cook with about 2 cups of chicken broth.
4. Once rice is cooked, add the chicken, sauce and garnish with spring onions.