Hainanese chicken rice is a Singaporean hawker dish that came from China but evolved into its own thing over time. Hainanese immigrants brought this dish from Wenchang, Hainan. Eventually, it became known simply as Hainanese chicken rice. In the Straits of Malacca, this dish developed three essential companions—aromatic rice, a tangy chilli sauce, and a simple clear soup.
The ingredients to create this vegan Hainanese chicken rice are basically ginger and garlic. The fragrance of ginger is carried across all components and ties them together. Another important part to create an authentic taste is the stock. I have two favourite vegan chick’un stock powders: Vigor & Health Vegetarian G Seasoning (sadly not as kinky as it sounds) and Massel Premium Stock Powder Chicken Style. You can also use vegetable stock, of course!
Unlike the non-vegan version of this dish, we don’t have to cook the meat for ages. By boiling the king oyster mushrooms in chick’un stock and then in their own juices, the mushroom absorbs the taste while staying moist. In this dish, the flavour of the meat is supposed to be mild and delicate. We add a salty and sweet note to it with a simple sauce that is drizzled over. A tangy chilli sauce on the side adds the optional spice.
To be honest, the most exciting part of vegan Hainanese chicken rice is the rice! It’s so yummy I can finish bowls of it on its own. I learnt a hack for the rice from The MeatMen, where you add glutinous rice to normal rice. This makes it a little stickier, in case you want to serve the rice in balls. Also worth a mention, is that this dish set is always served with clear soup in Singapore. I made a very simple clear soup with chick’un stock and winter melon.
The ideal garnish should be coriander, but I didn’t have any, so I used spring onion!
Ingredients
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For the Rice
- For the Chick'un
- Drizzling Sauce for the Chick'un
- For the Chilli Sauce
- For the Soup
Instructions
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Prep 3 tbsp of minced ginger, 2 tbsp of mince garlic, 2 tbsp of spring onions, 1 tbsp of minced shallots, and 1 tbsp of shallot oil. Also prep 5 cups of vegan chick'un stock.
Making the Rice
- Wash and soak the rice for 1-2 hours beforehand.
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Heat the shallot oil over medium heat in a pot and fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant but not brown.
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Add the rice and pandan and mix, making sure the rice grains are coated in oil. If you will be using a rice cooker, transfer everything into the rice cooker.
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Add the stock and salt. You may need to add less/more water depending on the type of rice used. Turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the rice cook.
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Then the rice is cooked, remove the pandan and fluff up the rice. Turn the heat off and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Making the Chilli Sauce
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Blend all the chilli sauce ingredients aside from the sesame oil.
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After blending, pour into a little bowl, add the sesame oil and mix well.
Making the Chick'un
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Tear each king oyster mushroom stem into 4-5 parts by hand. The texture is not quite the same if you cut it with a knife.
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Put the ginger, spring onion, shallots into a bowl.
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Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a bowl until smoking hot.
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Pour the hot oil over the ginger, spring onion and shallots. This is your ginger-scallion mixture.
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Put the quarter cup of stock into a pan over medium heat and add 2 tbsp of the ginger-scallion mixture (avoiding the oil if you like) into stock.
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Add the mushrooms and bring to boil. Cover the pan with a lid.
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The mushrooms will start to sweat out all their moisture. Keep cooking until the mushrooms are almost dry. Don't cook till dry or the mushrooms will brown.
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Plate the mushrooms with some cucumber.
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Pour the drizzling sauce over the mushrooms.
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Serve hot with chick'un rice and chilli sauce.
Hi! Random comment, but some of the checkboxes in the ingredients list are pointing to the wrong ones, the 0.75 tsp Sugar for the Drizzling sauce for example, or the 0.25 tsp Sal in the Chilli sauce. Lol sorry for testing your page 😀
Hey Paolo, thanks for that but I can’t replicate the error on my end. Could you let me know what browser and version you are using? Also mobile or PC 🙂 Thanks!
Oh I can’t reproduce it either now, probably just a loading failure at some point. But just in case I’m using Chrome 92 on PC. I’m trying this recipe on Saturday and I’ll post something not “test” related then 😛
Haha cool, keep me updated! Hope you enjoy!
Tried this again today with the king oysters (first time was without. Delicious!
How can I make the king oysters even more tender?
You can cut off the harder ends if you like or shred them thinner, but their chewy texture is kind of why people like them! If you want it super tender like very fatty thigh meat you can try to use dried beancurd sticks instead. They also absorb flavours very well. Like in this recipe: https://www.vforveganista.com/recipes/mushroom-horfun/
Hi, where to buy Shallot oil in the Philippines?
Hi Gianna, I am in the PH too! You can find it sometimes on Lazada or Shopee. Or you can make your own. Peel and slice shallots, dry them with a paper towel, then fry them in medium temperature oil until just a little darker than yellow. Then scoop out and drain on paper towels. They will cook on residue heat. Save the oil for drizzling and use the fried shallots for garnish.
Thank you Jak for being so kind to share your shallot oil recipe as well! Now i can’t wait to try your Hainanese Unchicken Rice 😁
Will update you 🤗
I finally made it Jak! This is Hainanese Chicken Rice Spot on! The only modifications i did is double the drizzling sauce cause hubby is a “sauce” person 😁. Then i also added more broth to the mushrooms so I can use the extra broth as soup. The whole family enjoyed it and finished everything including all the dipping sauce. Your recipe is very detailed. Thank you for sharing. Will definitely try your other recipes. 😁