today's menu: Hainan chicken and rice

i just took a Chinese cooking class this morning at the Towngas Cooking Center in Causeway Bay. the main dish: Hainan chicken and flavored rice.

if you've ever tried a dish of Hainan chicken and flavored rice, you'll know that the rice is as important a part of the dish as the chicken, if not MORE important! that's because the rice is flavored and tasty, a welcome change from the normal, plain-jane white rice that many of us from Chinese families grew up eating all our lives. i personally LOVE flavored rice-- whether it's sticky rice mixed with meats and Chinese sausage, or fried rice, or some kind of sauce over rice! i much prefer *something* in the rice, rather than plain ole' white steamed rice on it's own.

so i cooked the chicken and rice during this morning's cooking class, and i'm waiting for Larry to come home from work so that we can have it for dinner together. i'm crossing my fingers that it turns out decent... those of you who know me knows that i'm not much of a cook... but i definitely want to learn and improve! surprisingly, the chicken wasn't that difficult to cook. it was just my first time cooking a WHOLE chicken, complete with head and all... and FRESH, not frozen! i had to clench the poor bird's tiny head in one hand, meanwhile its long neck was all elongated, while blanching it in the pot... and it was such a weird experience! i almost freaked out when i looked at its face with the eyes closed, but i told myself to get over it and tried to keep my focus off the head while i held its neck to maneuver it around the pot... ick!
anyways, i did it! and here's the recipe!

**HAINAN CHICKEN AND RICE**
ingredients:
1 fresh chicken (plucked, cleaned, and gutted)
3 tbsp ginger wine
3 litres water
1 tbsp salt
300 grams rice (about 2 plastic cups)
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped

ginger dip ingredients:
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil

chili dip ingredients:
1 tspn red chili, chopped
1/2 tspn garlic, chopped
1/4 tspn salt
1 tbsp oil

cooking the chicken:
1. wash chicken, pat to dry. rub well with ginger wine to marinade, making sure to get both sides. pour remaining ginger wine into the cavity.
2. in a stock pot, bring water to a boil, season with salt. before cooking, blanche chicken a few times in the boiling water and rinse the boiling water through the cavity 2-3 times.
3. lower chicken into pot and cook for 20-30 minutes on low heat with the pot lid off until done. (after 15 minutes, flip chicken upside down to cook both sides evenly, then cook for the remainder of time.)
4. when chicken is done, let it sit in in a large bowl of ice water to cool down.
5. when fully cooled down, chop into bite-sized pieces.

cooking the rice:
1. rinse and drain rice.
2. in a wok or stir-fry pan, heat 3-4 tbsp oil and add a few pieces of fatty chicken fat pieces to the oil for a few minutes, then take out and throw away the fat pieces (this is to add color and flavor to the rice. can also add tumeric instead for color.) then saute chopped garlic until fragrant. add rice and stir-fry for a few minutes on medium heat until the rice dries up a bit.
3. transfer rice to a saucepan (or earthenware/clay pot), add enough chicken stock to cook (approx. 400-450 mL chicken stock straight from the pot where we just finished cooking the chicken), and add 1 tsp salt to flavor. may also add a stalk each of lemongrass and pandan (pandanus) leaf on top.
4. bring water to a boil, then simmer on low, covered, until done (20 minutes).

final step: mix the dip ingredients. serve with the chicken and flavored rice. voila!