Kimi's Chicken Rice dinner with garlic stir fry spinach and car moulded rice!
Special Green Dip & Chilli Sauce for the adults
I was thinking of making Chicken Rice for us for dinner so I thought why not make a baby version so I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone. And also to introduce this dish to Kimi and see if he likes it. He loves it!
But hubby did not give him all the rice as he was afraid he may not be able to stomach it all. After all, this is the first time Kimi is having rice as a meal.
For adults, this is a healthy version as I do not use any of the chicken fat. This way, you will never be guilty eating the rice! Haha! There's also no need to add too much seasoning as the fragrance from the pandan leaves, lemon grass and sesame oil makes it tasty enough. We can always add a little dark soya sauce if we need it later.
I've also included recipes for the chilli sauce and green dip which we enjoy. Hope you can take some time to make these as they are really great with the chicken and rice. My new U-Like blender made it a breeze for me to churn these out. I'm sooo happy with this blender!
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (approx. 1-1.3kg)
- 1 stalk of lemon grass
- 1 bunch of pandan leaves
- 1 cleaned root of the chinese parsley - optional (look here to see wat I mean)
- 4 large slices of ginger
- Boil a large pot of water and add all the above ingredients except chicken
- Lightly rub the chicken with kelp (optional)
- Make sure the pot is large enough to hold the chicken comfortably
- Once the water is boiling on high, slide whole chicken in and let it boil on high for 30-40 mins (depending on size of chicken)
- Remove and plunge into cool water
- Once the chicken is cooled, cut as needed
- Drizzle some of the fragrant oil over the chicken
- Serve with rice and your favourite greens
** If you don't want to use whole chicken, you can use breasts or fillets but I suggest you steam them instead as the meat will toughen up as there is no skin and fat to 'moisture' it as you boil it. Whole chicken is the most juicy as you really need the skin and fat. You can always remove prior to serving. Alternatively, use a whole chicken thigh.
Frangrant Oil Ingredients- Shallots thinly sliced and fried till crispy. Remove shallots from oil and set aside
- Ginger & garlic oil (kept from the oil used to fry rice)
- Sesame oil
- 1tbsp light soya sauce
- Mix all the above together and lightly drizzle over chicken
** If you find frying the shallots too troublesome like I sometimes do. I will buy the pre-fried ones in oil from supermarkets like NTUC, etc. It is a plastic bottle with a yellow cab and the crispy shallots have oil. So you only need to take some oil from here and warm up and use.
** Or like me who don't like waiting endlessly and hogging the stove top, I use the microwave. Yes, the micro makes very crispy and good shallots! And you won't get splattered by runaway oil too. Just slice as per norm, use hand to separate the shallots and put into micro-safe bowl. Add oil and micro on high UNCOVERED for 2-3 mins. Use fork to stir and keep at it till golden. Monitor, monitor as the last few minutes just before browning are crucial as may burn easily. So go on short pulses of 10-30 sec till nice n golden.
Rice Ingredients- 2 cups rice (or how much you need) washed and drained
- 2 stalks of lemon grass cut into smaller sections
- 2 tied up bunches of pandan leaves
- 8 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 thumbs of ginger, minced
- Sesame oil + oil
Rice method
- Use half sesame and half oil to fry the minced garlic & ginger till fragrant. Remove 1/3 of the oil and set aside. If not enough oil in the pan, add a little more. Let it warm up before adding the rice
- Add the drained rice and fry till fragrant
- Throw in the pandan leaves & lemon grass
- Fry till frangrant
- Transfer to rice cooker
- Add home-made chicken stock or water and let it cook as per normal
** Should you find that the rice is too hard, add a little water and put the rice cooker to cook again
** For adult version, add in the chicken granules or salt and fry before putting into the rice cooker
Chilli Sauce Ingredients
- 4 medium red chillies de-seeded
- 2 thumbs size ginger
- 1 small clove garlic
- 4-6 green limes (squueze and strain juice)
- Pinch of chicken granules (or salt)
- 1 tsp sugar
- Place chillies, ginger, garlic, lime juice, salt & sugar and blend till smooth
- Try to check taste. Add more sugar if too spicy or salt if not tasty enough or more strained lime juice if too thick
- If you like more spicy, u can add a few chilli padi or do not remove the seeds
** I like to use lime juice as it is not too acidic and gives a nice aroma to the chilli. But if you like, you can still use the traditional way of adding some white vinegar. But if you are adding vinegar, pls remember to add some water and sugar. Taste to check.
Green Dip Ingredients
- 2-3 sprigs of spring onion
- 1 sprig of chinese parsley/cilantro
- 1/2 small clove garlic
- 1 thumb size ginger
- Pinch of salt & sugar
- Sesame oil (approx 10 tbsp)
- Blend garlic & ginger roughly, add spring onions & parsley and continue to blend till smooth
- Remove to dish, add sesame oil, salt and sugar
- Stir well, pour into air-tight container
