Hainanese-style chicken with ginger pickle

Carolyn Robertson

Ginger is the most versatile of spices - superb in baking and sensational with both meat and seafood.

Ingredients

5 cm	Fresh ginger, roughly sliced
1 2/5 kgs	Free-range organic chicken, jointed (Main)
1	Onion, chopped
400 g	Long grain rice, washed to remove excess starch
1 tsp	Sea salt
1 Tbsp	Sesame oil
1	Red chilli, chopped
½ cup	Fresh coriander, chopped
3	Spring onions, chopped

Directions

1. Place chicken, ginger, onion and salt in a large saucepan and cover with 2 litres of cold water.
2. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer gently, covered for 40 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the chicken to finish cooking in the residual heat for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken and use 1 litre of the stock to cook the rice. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Rub the sesame oil into the skin of the chicken.
6. Chop the chicken portions into pieces and arrange on top of some rice, sprinkle with chopped chilli, coriander and spring onion.
7. Serve the ginger pickle on the side. Serve the remaining stock in bowls as a soup.