This is the 3rd entry for the Food Inspired by People project. Every Monday for three months, I will post a dish that is inspired by a person. Today is Taiwanese Chicken Rice inspired by Mr. V – my whacky hubby.
1st Entry: Sambal inspired by my mom
2nd Entry: Dry Wonton Noodles inspired by my dad
When I first stepped onto Taiwan soil, the very first bite I had of a local, authentic Taiwanese food was a bite of Chicken Rice. Specifically, Chiayi Chicken Rice. It’s actually turkey rice, but due to the way the Chinese language is… which we shall not address today, let’s stick to calling it chicken rice.
So, it wasn’t the best damn chicken rice in the world. It was bad. I bluntly asked Mr. V, “You guys eat this kind of stuff?”. He nodded in full enthusiasm with his mouth stuffed with chicken rice. “It’s famous”, he added. If this is ‘famous’ I thought for for I’m going to starve in Taiwan.
I didn’t have my second bite. I hated it. I later found out why.
That bite that I took had fermented bamboo shoots in it. The entire box reeked of the smell. The best way I can describe the smell is that it smells like trash. Nay. One week old trash that has banana skins in it. Let’s throw in a baby diaper too. Yes a soiled one.
Bamboo shoots for Taiwanese are like durians for Malaysians or stinky tofu for Chinese or Hong Kongers. They cause utmost perplexing thoughts for the outsiders as to why local people can’t get enough of them.
So I smarted up and requested to put the bamboo shoots at the side. Few chicken rice later, I was hooked. This dish is very simple in nature. The secret to a good chicken rice is the sauce. Obviously, this still can’t beat the Malaysian roasted chicken rice that I absolutely love, but it does fantastic as second place in my heart.
Besides, this post is not about me. It’s about Mr. V.
And what Mr. V loves is me… making Taiwanese Chicken Rice.
Can’t get enough of Taiwanese food? I think this Taiwan Braised Pork Over Rice (Lu Rou Fan) will be perfect for you. Melt in the mouth pork braised in a gorgeous thick sweet & savory sauce of soy sauce, five-spice powder, fried shallots & garlic. So addictive!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, check out my last post Asian Zing Chicken Wings. Sticky, sweet, spicy & tangy. It’s full of tropical Asian fusion flavor in your mouth and a sure crowd-pleaser.
To see all the delectable entries for the Food Inspired by People project, click here.
What does your special someone love?
Taiwanese Chicken Rice Serves 4-6
what you need:
4 skin-on, boneless chicken/turkey breast (about 2 lbs)
4 cups chicken broth
Sauce:
2 cups chicken broth from simmered chicken
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
A big pinch of sugar
Salt and white pepper, to taste
1/4 cup fried shallots
Oil:
1 tbs shallot oil
2 tbs chicken oil (rendered from chicken skin)
Rice:
Chicken broth
Uncooked rice
1″ ginger, sliced
Pinch of salt
Garnish:
Fried shallots
Cilantro, roughly chopped
directions:
Chicken:
1. Separate the skin and fat from the meat of the chicken. Over medium low heat, place chicken skin and fat in a skiller and render chicken oil from it. This takes about 30 minutes. Discard crisp skins and set rendered oil aside.
2. Over high heat, pour the chicken broth in a pot. Bring it to a boil.
3. Using a meat tenderizer or a bottle, pound the chicken meat so that it’s even in thickness. When the stock is boiling, place the chicken in (make sure they are fully submerge) and turn the heat to the lowest.
4. Barely simmering, simmer the chicken for 20 – 30 minutes or until thickest part of chicken registers 165 F. If overcooked, chicken will be dry and tough. Remove chicken from the stock, let it cool, hand shred it and set aside.
Sauce:
In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients for the sauce. Over high heat, bring it to a boil. Turn it to medium low heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat.
Oil:
Combine both oil and set aside.
Rice:
Cook the rice like you normally would but replace water with chicken broth, add the ginger slices and a pinch of salt.
Assembling the chicken rice:
Arrange shredded chicken on rice. Pour sauce and oil on top of chicken and rice. Garnish with fried shallots and cilantro. Optionally combine the oil and sauce and let shredded chicken sit in it for awhile to allow the chicken to absorb the flavor before serving with rice. You can even add some sauce from this Taiwanese Braised Pork Over Rice (Lu Rou Fan) to finish it off. Dig in.
Notes:
1. As I mentioned above, this dish traditionally uses turkey meat. Chicken meat is fine too. Use either or a mix of both, use white meat or dark meat or a mix of both. There’re no hard rules.
2. Mr.V enjoys his chicken rice with stir-fried cabbage, braised eggs, as well as tofu and century eggs. You can make whatever sides you wish.
3. The oil and the sauce is what makes or breaks the chicken rice. It’s the secret weapon.
4. Store the extra chicken broth for other use.
5 comments
Forgot to note: I am Taiwanese American. I have lived in Taiwan for four years.
While growing up, I visited Taiwan frequently.
Dear Author:
You are saying exactly the opposite!
Stinky bamboo shoots is what Mainland Chinese people love.
Stinky tofu is what Taiwanese people love.
Btw, there is no such thing as ‘stinky bamboo shoots’ in Taiwan!
Hey Maria.
Thanks for coming by and dropping me a message. I was merely pointing out that there are just some things the local love that ‘outsiders’ will never understand (like fried insects in Cambodia).
I totally agree that Chinese people love fermented bamboo shoots and Taiwanese love stinky tofu, but it’s also vice versa. I think it’s safe to say that we can’t generalize who loves what. In fact many Malaysian Chinese love both fermented both bamboo shoots and stinky tofu too.
With regards to ‘stinky bamboo shoots’ in Taiwan, I’m referring to the fermented kind found in Taiwanese Chicken Rice. It’s similar to the ones found in Japanese Ramen. But since you say there’s no such thing as stinky bamboos, well, my hubs and plenty other Taiwanese people will agree with you. They don’t think it’s stinky at all. I, on the other hand, think that otherwise. That’s just because different people perceive food differently, that’s all. 🙂
Hahaha! I had the same reaction the first time I tried chicken rice! I thought is was disgusting, and ate curry for a week straight because I was too afraid to try any other authentic Taiwanese food. Even Winter Melon tea didn’t impress me…until one night my friend had me add pudding to the winter melon tea, and from that moment on my taste buds were acclimated and I suddenly loved everything! Thanks again!
I even hated their curry. It’s wasn’t spicy and was actually sweet. Such a shock in my life for a Malaysian. :p My hubby loves winter melon tea. Oh my, this is really funny. But yeah, I generally disliked Taiwanese food for the longest time until it suddenly changed as well. And then I loved everything. Funny how things are sometimes.