Hainan Chicken Rice
One thing I definitely miss about LA is the chicken rice from Savoy Kitchen. It’s 5 minutes from where I live, less than $8 for a plate that lasts for TWO MEALS, and it’s just…good. I will admit that it’s not AS GOOD as it was before (portions shrunk a bit) and I had one bad experience with a server there once. No fist fight or anything k-drama worthy, but just something that made me go “wtf really, dude?”.
So…since it’s not good enough to justify a $800-$1000 round-trip flight back to LA, I decided to make some at home. #domesticated
Let me tell you. Whoever cooks the actual chicken and makes the dipping sauces at Savoy deserves some major MAJOR props. I swear I’ve never experienced such a tiring 3-hour cooking adventure IN MY LIFE. But, it was totally worth it, in my opinion. #rubsbelly
You’d think that the first picture would be of the chicken…because it’s Hainan CHICKEN rice. Not hainan garlic/ginger rice. BUT LET ME TELL YOU…this dish uses the most ridiculous (FO REALZ KINE RIDICULOUS) amount of ginger and garlic. #smellsbreath
No, but seriously. LOTS OF THIS. *points above. Like. I never want to chop/peel garlic/ginger for awhile.
Thought my lime was really pretty looking after cutting it in half. Damn, I sound possessive. MY LIME. Not just A LIME. MY LIME. Anyways, time to share photos of the actual meal. NO MORE PROCRASTINATING!
If you’re familiar with this dish, you’re probably thinking WTF IS THAT GREEN/BROWN/DIARRHEA/PUKE crap in the bottom left bowl. It’s…the red chili sauce. I couldn’t find red chilis at the supermarket #failsauce so had to make do with my colorful thai chilis and jalapenos…It looks like shit, but it is spicy and delicious as hell. I’d pay money to see someone successfully eat a spoonful of this.
Just in case you wanted to see the chili sauce up close…
Wow…it really looks like puke. #ashamed Next time I’ll try harder to find the correct chilis…
Dark soy sauce. DO YOU SEE THE FACE IN THE REFLECTION? I do. Haha #dorkmoment
Ginger sauce. Thank gooshness I had a food processor for this one…and for the chili sauce. That was an adventure in itself.
This was the best part of the meal. Lifting the cover to the rice cooker was magical. I mean. Wouldn’t you be happy seeing rice with bits of garlic, ginger, and pandan leaves looking all steamy and beautiful? Oh and it smelled AMAZING thanks to the special ingredients I added. Just as a sidenote, I’m pretty sure I was supposed to mince the ginger and garlic…but I was so tired of chopping at that point I said “fuck it” and just sauteed it as is.
And finally….*drumroll* THE CHICKEN.
Oh yeah. Look at that. *drools I’d call this a success. ^o^
And finally, a picture of it all plated “nicely” on my plate. As you can probably tell, I just wanted to eat already.
Drooling yet? Wanna try to make it? Yeah you do! The recipe is really long so I won’t post the entire thing here, but you can access it by clicking HERE!
Happy cooking everyone! Hope you can find red chilis!!!
La Poubelle 