There comes a point in life when I can no longer depend on my mama's homemade Hainan Ji Fan (translate: Hainanese chicken rice) because she lives too far away from me. There is a vast ocean between my parents and I. That is how far we are from each other. Growing up and seeing my mum constantly being busy in the kitchen, I always think the epitome of a good Chinese wife is the ability to whip up everything from scratch. Be it chicken curry, pork dumplings, or chicken satay with homemade peanut sauce. There is no such thing as curry paste out of a jar, frozen pork dumplings, or ready-made peanut sauce in mum's kitchen. I remember seeing her grinding all the ingredients using her trustee mortar and pestle, so focused in getting the paste into the consistency she wants.
This was my first time making Hainanese chicken rice using a whole chicken, instead of chicken pieces. I had to ask mum several times how to make this dish without being dependent on those chicken rice mix in boxes you see dotting the shelves of an Asian grocer. I had to properly time the poaching time so as not to over-cook the chicken. I added lots of garlic, spring onion, shallots, salt, and a generous amount of Shao Hsing cooking wine.
I also made the garlic chilli sauce, and the spring onion-ginger-lime sauce to go with the chicken rice. No out-of-a-jar business here. I made all the sauces from scratch. Just like mum.
I don't think the dish tasted as good as mum's ... but I am pretty sure I made my mum proud. =)
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