The chicken of my people (khao man gai)
Chicken second courses
When I was growing up, my mom called her version of this very simple chicken dish "cold boiled-chicken" because it was essentially a boiled chicken served cold or sometimes sort of tepid but never blazing hot. The Chinese version, known as Hainanese chicken, is usually served with salted, skin-on peanuts and a garlicky, gingery condiment. The Thai version, called Khao Man Gai, is usually served warm on a bed of rice that's been cooked in chicken broth with a thick, spiced soybean paste and cucumber slices on the side.
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<br />My mom is Chinese and my dad is Thai, so is it any wonder that simple chicken and rice is one of my favorite dishes? For this recipe, I've streamlined the process considerably and made a simple mish-mash of the two styles; Instead of cooking the rice in the chicken broth made by the cooking the chicken, I just spoon a little of the savory liquid over the top, and the condiment I use is heavy on the green onions and only contains chiles if I'm craving them (because despite my genetic predisposition to like really spicy food, I don't). This recipe also employs the use of residual heat to cook the chicken, which warms the cockles of my energy-efficiency-loving heart.
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<br />Use white rice to go old-school or use brown for some flavor and fiber. If you have the patience and don't plan on eating the chicken sooner than later, go ahead and use the chicken cooking liquid to cook your rice. It will only make it that much more delicious.
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<br />To mince the green onions for the condiment, I slice them in quarters lengthwise before I work my way down each stalk; it's a good knife-skills exercise and helps to get evenly sized pieces of onion.
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<br />I usually eat my chicken warm-ish, but it's also great cold. The variations on this recipe are endless. Sometimes I'll go for a pho-like flavor in the broth, adding in a stick of cinnamon and a piece of star anise and a clove or two. You can also add a chunks of bitter melon (or another vegetable) to the broth to make it extra fortifying.
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