Hainanese chicken rice 海南雞飯

Ingredients

For sauce
1 tsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp chicken stock or water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
⅛ tsp Himalayan pink salt
1 tsp coconut oil, unmelted
2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 2-cm sections

chicken thighs, cut 3 slits through
tamari, to taste (optional)

1 C wholegrain basmati, washed and soaked
2 C filtered water
red chilli, for garnish (optional)
parsley, for garnish (optional)

green bok choy

cherry tomatoes, halved

Method

1. Blend all the ingredients for the sauce, except the unmelted coconut oil and lemongrass, to form a smooth paste.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a non-stick pan and sauté the paste with the lemongrass pieces until it is fragrant and turns into a greenish brown hue.
3. In the same pan, stir in the rice and water. Mix through.
4. Place the chicken thighs on top of the rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the rice and chicken are cooked through. Turn off the heat.
5. Let stand for 10 minutes. In the meantime, steam the bok choy.
6. Remove chicken and season with tamari.
7. Garnish the rice with parsley and chilli if desired.
8. Serve chicken with rice, cherry tomatoes, and steamed bok choy.