Throwback Jan 2020
Chef Benny Yap who runs his chicken rice stall inside the food court at Block 148, Silat Avenue, prepared what he called a non-Hainanese version. Personally, I couldn’t differentiate his Cantonese rendition from the ubiquitous Hainanese one.
But he certainly got his flavours down pat: perfectly-poached chicken, drizzled with the lightest of dressing made from chicken fat, chicken stock, light soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil.
I guess in Singapore, one can’t escape from the demand for two standard dips for any chicken rice meal: a scallion-ginger-salt dip, and a watery chili-garlic-chicken stock dip.
Chef Benny Yap’s chicken rice itself is similar to the Hainanese preparation, i.e. uncooked rice grains were first fried in rendered chicken fat, then cooked in a chicken stock flavoured with ginger and scallions till fluffy. The Cantonese would’ve simply served their poached chicken with steamed plain, white rice.
White cut,poached, Hainanese etc I like them all and eat them in different Asian countries. Can’t eat the skin, however. It’s one of my texture aversions. Always need more ginger sauce.
I used to like to eat the skin during my growing up years. The squiggly, slippery texture reminded me of poached jellyfish, which happened to be a favourite appetiser of mine as a kid.
Also, most of the dressing would be on the skin, so that’s where we find quite a bit of flavour. However, I somehow developed an aversion to eating chicken skin upon reaching adulthood. Never understood why, maybe psychological - the idea of eating white fat. Love crunchy fried or roasted chicken skin, though.
Curiously, I can eat jellyfish even though the texture is similar to soft chicken skin (and intestines) but it’s crunchy at the same time. Without the crunch and added flavourings I don’t think jellyfish would be used as food.
I’m a fan of (white) fat in the form of Schmalz, it’s the slimy texture of chicken skin and intestines that triggers a gag reflex. Mealtimes were sometimes difficult as a child, mainly due to my texture sensitivity. Nobody seemed to understand my aversion to slime.
Anything that has a texture like intestines is a big no no.
Oh yes - that’s why, IMHO, Singapore is light years ahead of Malaysia when it comes to Hainanese chicken rice: Singaporean spots use high quality, fragrant Thai rice.
Malaysian places, on the other hand, inadvertently have poorer quality rice - probably to cut overhead costs.
