Recipe: Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls

Hainanese chicken rice is a famous dish in Southeast Asia, whereby poached chicken is served with seasoned rice cooked in chicken stock, chilli sauce and cucumber.

A couple of weeks ago, I made the Melaka version at home, serving the rice in ball form rather than just in bowls. History has it that the rice were shaped into balls as they keep warm for longer; from the time it is made in the morning at home until the time it is consumed at work later on in the day. We personally like it this way cos it's much more fun to eat as you can just pop them straight into your mouth.

The kids had fun helping me roll and shape the rice into balls. The rice is usually seasoned with ginger, garlic, salt and chicken stock and cooked with pandan leaves. For convenience, I used the Taste-Me Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste, which contains all the prerequisite ingredients to make an authentic tasting Hainanese chicken rice. Simply add the paste to your rice and water in a rice cooker and stir well to combine and voila!

The chicken is also extremely easy to make - I used chicken breast, which is first poached in boiling water and sliced, then drizzled with a sauce made from chicken broth, soy sauce and sesame oil. The remaining broth can be seasoned with just a little salt and you have a delicious bowl of clear soup to go with the meal as well. Taste-Me Sos Cili Padi is the perfect accompaniment to your chicken; it's pretty fiery and definitely has a kick to it.

Beansprouts are usually served with the Ipoh's version of chicken rice, and since I had some homegrown beansprouts (which were fat and juicy), so why not just add it onto the meal. Simply blanch the beansprouts with hot water and then drizzle with some of the same sauce you used for your chicken. Everyone at home loved the Hainanese chicken rice meal;  super satisfying and delicious, and very healthy too!

Good news guys!

Sin Tai Hing is currently running the "Road 2 Recovery Promo" whereby with any purchase above RM5, you will get a FREE rendang paste! Promotion runs from 10 to 24 June, do visit either the Taste-Me official stores on Shopee and Lazada. Don't forget to also check out their Facebook page for the latest news and promos.

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Hainanese Chicken Rice 
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
For the rice balls
1/2 pack (50g) Taste-Me Hainanese Chicken Rice Paste
250g rice
400ml water
2 pandan leaves, knotted

For the chicken
400g chicken breast
1l water
1/2 tsp salt

For the chicken rice soy sauce
4 tbsp chicken broth
1 tbsp Taste-Me soy sauce
1 tsp Sin Tai Hing Fook Tong sesame oil

For the beansprouts
2 cups beansprouts

To garnish
2 spring onions (green parts only), finely chopped
1/4 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1/2 Japanese cucumber, peeled, halved and sliced

A. For the chicken:

1. In a large pot, bring water to the boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the chicken and cook, covered, over medium heat for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave chicken to steep in covered pot for a further 15 minutes.

2. Remove chicken from pot and allow to cool for 10 minutes, before slicing. Plate.

3. Mix the ingredients for chicken rice soy sauce in a small bowl. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of sauce over the chicken and then garnish with spring onions, red chilli and Japanese cucumber.

4. Reheat the chicken broth over medium heat. Season with salt. Spoon into bowls and garnish with spring onions.


B. For the chicken rice balls:

1. Wash rice until water is clear. Place rice in pot or rice cooker, then add water and Hainanese chicken rice paste. Use a clean spoon and mix well. Add pandan leaves and cook, like you would normal rice, until rice is tender.

2. Remove pandan leaf and fluff up the rice, using your rice scoop. Transfer to a large plate to help cool slightly, so you can shape the rice into balls.

3. Grab a small mound using your hands and pat to form balls, the size of golf balls. This recipe yields about 20 rice balls.

C. For the Ipoh-style beansprouts:

1. Blanch beansprouts in boiling water for a minute. Drain and place on plate.

2. Drizzle remaining chicken rice soy sauce over beansprouts.

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Check out my other recipe using Taste-Me products - wantan mee with chicken char siu here.

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