This one makes me so happy. My wife’s mom makes a Ginger Scallion Chicken unlike any Hainan Chicken I’ve ever had in any restaurant. I love it almost as much as I love my wife. Seriously, I mentioned this 薑蔥雞 in my vows when I got married. It’s that good. I have at least three bowls with rice every time she makes it, and I always leave feeling so full and happy. It’s my mother in law’s recipe that she’s been cooking for decades, and now I am so happy that I get to share it with you!
The chicken is so juicy. The sauce has a kick since it’s slightly heavier on ginger and is less oily than most restaurant sauces. The soup is hearty and wholesome.
Things you’ll need before making this recipe:
A good food processor (not required, but you’re welcome). Mincing the amount of scallion and ginger for this recipe, you may develop carpel tunnel in your wrist. (Just kidding) But we have technology, so use it! As a pro tip: you still want to pre-chop the scallions and ginger into smaller chunks before throwing in the processor. A long piece of scallion may “catch” on the processor, spinning it around helplessly rather than mincing. You’re already killing the scallion, no need to torture it (If you’ve watched Sausage Party, you know).
A big pot that fits a whole chicken. In this recipe, you’re cooking a whole chicken by boiling it. Invest in a big enough pot so that the raw chicken water doesn’t spill out of the pot making a mess. I used a 8CL pot for this recipe. As the chicken cooks, there may also be some splatter. A taller pot minimizes the splash zone around your stove.
Experience cutting a whole chicken. If you’ve cut a chicken before, great! If not, watch a few videos before attempting. Here are some I followed How to butcher a chicken, How to chop chicken Chinese style. Once you start searching, you’ll find there’s a whole community of chicken choppers online. Be careful not to get sucked into a rabbit hole of poultry butchers! Watch one or two videos, then try it yourself to learn the best technique To get the full Chinese chicken experience, you also want to chop some of the pieces using a hefty meat butcher knife. A swift and heavy chopping motion is required to cleanly break the bone, cartilage, and fat. Don’t worry, this chicken is already dead.
Fresh ingredients. Buy some fresh ginger or scallions the day of for this. Also buy a fresh whole chicken if you can. Preferreably not previously frozen. This is a very simple recipe and fresh ingredients make a HUGE difference.
Vietnamese style Ginger Scallion Whole Chicken plus Soup (薑蔥雞飯和湯)
Ingredients
Chicken and Soup
- 1 Whole chicken
- 2-3 cups Rice
- Fresh water
- 10 Button mushrooms
- 10 Bok choy
Ginger Scallion Sauce
- 2-3 Bunches of scallion (green onion)
- 1.5 Ginger root
- 2 tbsp Neutral oil (avocado oil, vegetable, grapeseed)
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
Cook chicken
- Add enough Fresh water in a large pot to submerge chicken. Turn on heat and wait for water to boil. Once boiling, add 1 Whole chicken to the pot.
- After cooking chicken for 5 minutes, carefully pour out the water in the drain and remove the chicken temporarily. Pouring out the water reduces odor in the soup.
- Add more Fresh water to the large pot, enough to submerge the chicken. Turn on the heat and wait for water to boil again.
- Using the edge of a spoon, peel about 1 thumb worth of the 1.5 Ginger root. Cut the bit of ginger into thick slices.
- Once the pot of water is boiling, add the whole chicken and sliced ginger to the pot. Boil for 25 minutes.
- Wash and rinse 2-3 cups Rice. Start the rice cooker so it's ready when the chicken and soup are ready.
- After 25 minutes, carefully remove the chicken from the pot. Set chicken aside to cool for 5 minutes.
- Using a heavy butcher's knife, chop up the whole chicken and plate. Chicken may be served either hot or cold.
Make ginger scallion sauce
- Peel and cut the remaining 1.5 Ginger root.
- Wash and cut up the 2-3 Bunches of scallion into 3 inch chunks.
- Using a food processor, chop the Ginger and Scallions until it's a fine, green, pulpy paste.
- Heat up a small flat pan and add 2 tbsp Neutral oil. When oil is hot and runny, add the processed ginger scallion paste. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly so the ginger scallion paste doesn't burn. Add more oil if desired.
- Add 2 tsp salt to the cooked ginger scallion sauce and stir the salt in.
- Set ginger scallion sauce to the side to cool.
Finish up with soup
- Wash 10 Button mushrooms and chop into quarters down the stem.
- Wash 10 Bok choy and chop off about a ¼ inch of the stems. Make sure to wash off all the dirt.
- After the chicken is removed from the pot, continue the soup on a medium simmer. Add chopped mushrooms and cook for 15 minutes total.
- 10 minutes after adding mushrooms, add bok choy and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Turn off heat.
- Serve chicken, either hot or cold, with rice and ginger scallion sauce. Serve soup on the side. Enjoy!
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