Hainanese chicken rice

I'm not the best cook around and I know many other people who are better cooks than I am (some are men to boot, which I have to admit makes me feel rather embarrassed). In the quest to be less of a klutz in the kitchen and also as my resolution this year, I'm going to learn how to cook proper dishes instead of the usual cakes that I like to bake - You know, the kind of food that makes a well-balanced meal instead of just being sweets and desserts.

I love a good chicken rice. Who doesn't, right? It's one of the first few dishes that come to my mind when I think of a one-dish rice meal.
The menu for Sunday dinner tonight was Hainanese chicken rice, served with soup. Okay I admit that I much prefer the roasted version instead of this one, but it's still good fun to cook and even more fun to see my family enjoying the food I cook. :)

Ingredients:
Preparing the chicken:
3 big drumsticks
1 tsp salt
Sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, and spring onions for garnishing
Soy sauce

Preparing the rice:
1 1/2 cups long-grained rice
2 Tbsp cooking oil
10g finely sliced young ginger
10g garlic, chopped
10g shallots, chopped
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp chicken stock granule
Chicken stock
5 blades pandan leaf, knotted

Directions:
Preparing the chicken:
1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Rub salt all over the chicken skin to season it. Let it marinade for about 15 minutes.
2. Put the chicken into a pot of boiling water, cover and bring to boil.
3. Remove the pot from heat and leave the chicken to soak in the water for about 45 minutes. Dish up the chicken and soak it in cool water immediately for about 20 minutes until cool. Plunging the chicken into cold water stops the cooking process immediately and it makes the chicken meat tighter and more firm.
Remember not to throw away the chicken stock because you will need it to cook the rice.
4. Remove and drain the chicken from the water, and chop up the chicken into pieces.
5. Garnish with cucumbers, tomatoes and spring onions. Add a dash of soy sauce for some taste.

Preparing the rice:
1. Rinse the rice and drain well.
2. Saute the garlic, ginger and shallots until fragrant. Add in the rice and the salt and chicken stock granule, continue stir-frying until the rice looks almost translucent.
3. Transfer the rice into the rice cooker. Add in the chicken stock (that was used to boil the chicken) and pandan leaves, cook until done.

I served my chicken rice with salted mustard leave (kiam chye) tofu soup. I like that the salty and sweet nature of this soup compliments any rice dish really well.