Beat the heat with this luxurious chilled soup

Hainan gets short shrift as a cuisine, even in China. And I agree, this is not as an extensive a cuisine as that of its big brother to the west, Guangdong. 

However, this tropical island perched off of the southernmost coast of China near Viet Nam is home to some delicious dishes that - like the foods of Guangxi and Guizhou on China's southern border - blur the lines between Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine. Called Qióng cài 瓊菜, the signature of this cuisine that just about everyone has heard of, if not tasted, is Hainan Chicken, which is so popular in Singapore that it is pretty close to the national dish.

The fishing grounds around Hainan have traditionally been the source of much of this island's cuisine, and it has become especially famous among local cognoscenti for its crustacean dishes. Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Shrimp Steamed with Garlic, Hainan Shrimp Balls, and Steamed Lobster all are perfectly delicious and have that tropical character characteristic of this relatively unknown province.

The titles of some of its dishes can harbor something even more delectable than the first image that pops into your mind. Take, for example, Four Treasure Hainan Bean Curd. There's actually no bean curd in there, as it is a delicate custard created out of egg whites, coconut milk, and stock. The smooth texture of this delicate creation is studded with tiny fresh shrimp, crab roe, and bits of fresh calamari for the most comforting approach possible to seafood.

The easy ingredients

But it's that coconut milk that characterizes Hainan the most, as far as I'm concerned. And nothing else - other than the lovely pandan leaves that scent many of its sweets - provides such a sensual link between the tastes of China and Viet Nam.

Coconut milk is a big deal here because this is China's very own Hawai'i. Coconut palms cover the island and are used in a plethora of savory and sweet dishes. My own favorite for countless years has been Sweet Coconut Tapioca Soup. If you are not a fan of tapioca, I completely understand. In my book, tapioca puddings were things to be dreaded as a child, sickly sweet and of questionable solidity, almost as bad as instant pudding but somehow even scarier.

Chinese tapioca is different. Often labeled as "sago" since the main ingredient in tapioca comes from the sago palm, Chinese and Southeast Asian tapiocas are perfectly round pearls that keep their lovely shape as they swell, and they therefore retain their chewy texture rather than leaking it out into their surroundings. (And a quick note here for all the Chinese-language students out there: the Chinese name for tapioca - ximi - actually is short for Xīgòng mǐ 西貢米, or Saigon rice, showing that this did indeed make its way into China via Viet Nam.)

One of the most refreshing tapioca recipes has to be this one. It is just perfect for this time of year when the weather is hot and the melons are truly ripe and fragrant. You can use any type of melon you like, or you could even use a mixture of them (green honeydew, orange cantaloupe, red and yellow watermelon, for example) to make this a riot of color.

Melon matchsticks

My own twist on this is that in addition to the coconut milk, I add a dash of coconut rum to really give the flavor an extra jolt. Since there is only ¼ cup of rum to 10 cups of soup, that works out to, um, let me calculate that... just a little bit per bowl. However, if you want, you can omit the rum and serve it the traditional way.

Chill the soup for a couple of hours before serving, and thin it out with some ice water if it seems too thick. There's plenty here for seconds and leftovers, which is the way I like it!

Sweet coconut tapioca soup 

Yēzhī xīmǐ lù  椰汁西米露

Hainan

Makes about 10 cups soup

3 cups water, divided

1 cup Chinese tiny tapioca pearls (ximi, or sago)

½ cup sugar (rock, white, sugar substitute, or agave nectar to taste)

1 cup ice water

1 (19 ounce) can good quality coconut milk

3 cups melon cut into matchsticks (see note below), or a 2½-pound slice of melon

¼ cup coconut rum, optional

More ice water, as needed

Ice cubes and mint sprigs, optional

1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a 3-quart saucepan. Stir in the tapioca pearls, and keep on stirring until the water comes to a boil again. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer the tapioca, stirring occasionally, until the tapioca has swelled and the mixture is very thick. Add the remaining 1 cup water to the tapioca, which will "shock" the pearls and turn them translucent with little white centers. Bring the pot to a boil again then remove from the heat.

2. Stir the sugar into the tapioca until the sugar has melted. Add the cup of ice water to further shock the tapioca and loosen up the pearls, and then stir in the coconut milk, melon matchsticks, and rum, if desired. 

Those tapioca pearls

3. Pour the soup into a covered container and chill for a few hours before serving. If the soup is too thick, thin it by stirring in some iced water until the desired consistency is achieved. On really hot days, float an ice cube or two in the soup, garnish with some mint, and get ready to feel refreshed.

Note: To slice the melon into matchsticks, cut the melon into wedges about an inch wide on the outer (rind) edge. Trim off the rind and then slice the melon wedge into long sheets about an eighth of an inch thick. Finally, cut widthwise across the the sheets to form matchsticks that are more or less an inch long and an eighth of an inch on the other two sides.

  

Hainan chicken & rice

This recipe is basically the same as the previous one for White Cut Chicken, as the bird is slowly poached into a perfect state of juiciness. Then, the resulting stock is used to cook the rice, which adds a wonderful savory balance to this one-dish meal. All that is needed are some vegetables to round out the plate, and you’re done.

If you’ve ever been to Southeast Asia, you’ve probably seen – and even tasted – Hainan Chicken and Rice. This is probably the most famous thing to ever have emerged out of China’s second largest island, and was most likely brought to more tropical parts of Asia by immigrants who knew a good thing when they tasted it. 

What you might not know is that this actually developed out of another Hainan specialty, Wenchang chicken, a dish that is locally considered one of the island’s four greatest culinary creations.

Perfume for the rice

Hainan Chicken and Rice is a no-brainer meal because almost all of the work is done by the refrigerator and the stove. Little is required of the cook, except for keeping an eye on the clock. As with White Cut Chicken, the secret is all in the timing, so that the bird cooks all the way through without even beginning to dry out. 

If you are like me and tend to avoid chicken breast because it has more or less the texture of newspaper, this recipe should rock your world. Plump, ever-so-gently pink, and dripping with juices, you can really appreciate how the folks in this region understand what white meat is supposed to be.

Hainan chicken and rice 
Hǎinán jīfàn  海南雞飯
Hainan

Serves 4 as a main dish

Chicken:

1 fryer (about 2½ pounds)

1½ teaspoons sea salt

1 tablespoon Cantonese white liquor or other white liquor or vodka

Boiling filtered water

Chinese pilaf in the wok

Toasted sesame oil

Rice:

2 cups long grain white rice (basmati is great here), although short grain rice is great, too

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

3 bay leaves

5 slices ginger

2 green onions, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths

3 cups stock from the chicken (including the fat, as well)

½ teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

Dipping sauces (any or all):

A            2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tablespoons fresh peanut or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

B           2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider or rice vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

C           3 red jalapeno peppers, finely diced

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider or rice vinegar

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Prepping one of the sauces

Sugar to taste

D          Fresh limes

             Cilantro sprigs

1. Prepare the chicken as in White Cut Chicken up to step 3, but don’t cut it up yet, and reserve the poaching liquid as stock for the rice.

2. Rinse the rice and drain it well. Heat the oil in a wok on high until it starts to shimmer, and then add the bay leaves, ginger, green onions, and salt. Stir them around in the oil until you can smell their fragrance, and then dump in the raw rice. Stir-fry the rice until it begins to turn opaque and white. Stir in the stock, bring the wok to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to very low. Slowly cook the rice for about 17 minutes, or until the stock has been completely absorbed and the rice is fluffy. Turn off the heat and let the rice steam by itself while you prepare the rest of the meal. Just before serving, use chopsticks to pluck off and discard the bay leaves, ginger, and green onions.

3. Make sauces A, B, and C by cooking them lightly and quickly over high heat. You just want to take off the raw edge of the aromatics and seasonings, so as soon as they barely come to a boil, pour each sauce into a separate small bowl; taste and adjust seasonings. Slice the limes and coarsely chop the cilantro.

A full, easy, perfect meal

4. If you want to serve the chicken chopped up, now is the time to do it, but that’s not how I like it. If you are like me and prefer to shred the meat, heat up the stock to a simmer, turn off the heat, and then plop the chicken back into the stock for a minute or two to warm up. Remove and drain the chicken, place it on a rimmed plate, and then pull off all of the meat. (Return the bones to the stock for further simmering, by the way.) Cut up the skin into thin shreds, too.

5. Prepare 4 dinner plates and one rice bowl. To serve, scoop a quarter of the rice into the bowl, smooth off the top, and then turn it upside-down on a dinner plate. Repeat with the rest of the rice and plates. Arrange the chicken alongside and on top of the rice, and decorate the plate with the limes and cilantro. Serve while still hot, and pass around the various dipping sauces.

White cut chicken from Guangdong

The Chinese name and its English translation do little to express the absolute level of succulence in this dish. So, that might be the reason why the inimitable southern Chinese way of poaching chicken has remained such a secret. But that is all about to change…

Instead of actually cooking the bird in water over an open flame, some chef long ago probably was interrupted while boiling a chicken, and he or she turned off the stove and left the bird to sit in the pot for an hour or so. When the chef came back and looked inside, the chicken was done to juicy perfection, and White Cut Chicken was born. Or, at least, that’s my explanation.

The first time I had this in a Cantonese-style restaurant in Hong Kong, it blew me away. I am not a huge fan of breast meat because it is just so dry and flavorless, and it feels like penance to eat it. So I usually aim for the thighs or back where moistness and flavor reign supreme, graciously letting others chew on the white meat.

Salt the aromatics

But this dish showed me that even the breast can be great if given half a chance. Here, the meat is not cooked to pure whiteness, but rather has the most subtle shade of shell pink imaginable. You see, chicken breast – like that of a duck – is best when it still is soft. But unlike duck breast, which is actually dark meat and is superb when slightly pink, chicken breast has to be cooked, and hence the dilemma.

What is done here to achieve this perfect balance is to quickly boil the chicken for 10 minutes, and then let the whole bird sit in the covered pot for an hour off the fire. The heat then travels into the center of the chicken, slowly but fully cooking the innermost fibers while not shocking out the juices. It’s genius.

White cut chicken 
Báiqiējī 

白切雞 

Guangdong, Hainan
Serves 8 to 10 as one of many entrées, or 4 as a main entrée

Chicken:

1 whole fryer (about 2½ pounds), organic and free range, if possible

1 ½ tablespoons sea salt

1 tablespoon Cantonese white liquor

Dunking the bird

Boiling filtered water

Ice water

Roasted sesame oil

Dipping sauces:

3 green onions, trimmed

2 inches fresh ginger, peeled

2 teaspoons sea salt

½ cup fresh peanut or vegetable oil

1. Start this recipe at least 10 hours or even a day before you plan to serve it. Rinse the chicken under cool running water, being sure to remove all of the kidneys stuck in the back ribs. While you’re doing this, pluck out any stray pinfeathers and remove any stray viscera and extra fat. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and place in a medium work bowl. Rub the salt and white liquor all over and inside the chicken. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours. Remove it from the fridge about an hour or so before you start to cook.

The ice bath

2. Cook the chicken no more than 8 hours before you want to serve it, as it should not be refrigerated once it’s done. Select a pan that is wide enough to just hold the chicken and tall enough so that the chicken can be covered by at least 3 inches of boiling water. Bring enough water to cover the chicken to boil (have a tea kettle full of extra boiling water, just in case). Lower the chicken carefully into the boiling water, adding more water as necessary to cover it by at least 3 inches. Cover the pot and boil the chicken on high for 10 minutes, and then turn off the heat. Let the chicken sit in the covered pot for 1 hour.

3. Prepare an ice bath that is large enough to hold the chicken, and then place the ice bath next to the pot with the chicken. Gently remove the hot chicken from the stock and lower it into the ice bath. (Reserve the stock for something else, like the Hainan Chicken in the next post.) Roll it around in the ice water until the skin cools and tightens. Drain the chicken well, lightly rub sesame oil all over the skin, and place the chicken on a rimmed plate to cool thoroughly. Cover the chicken lightly and place it in a cool spot, but don’t refrigerate it unless it’s absolutely necessary (i.e., your house is very hot).

4. When the chicken is completely cool, you can prepare the chicken a number of ways. If you are eating it at home with friends and family, I like to serve it whole and let everyone rip into the bird, tearing it apart like cavemen. Traditionally, though, the chicken is chopped into 1-inch wide pieces. If you are serving this at a fancier dinner, you can also remove as many bones as possible without destroying the skin or shape of the chicken; the drumsticks and wings can keep their bones, though, as they are a) hard to bone and b) help make the final dish look like chicken. Then cut each boned piece into ¾ inch wide (or so) pieces, and arrange the meat on a serving platter so that it looks like a complete bird. Place the wings and drumsticks in their appropriate positions and garnish the plate with something, if you like.

My ginger grater

5. Cut the onions as finely as possible and place them in a bowl. Add half of the salt and rub the salt into the onions to make them sweat.

6. Grate the ginger as finely as possible, removing any long fibers, and plate it in a bowl. Add the rest of the salt and rub the salt into the ginger to release its juices.

7. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat, and when it starts to smoke, pour half of it over the onions and the ginger. Lightly stir each bowl, and then serve these alongside the chicken.

Tips

As always, use the best chicken possible, but this is particularly essential in a dish like this where nothing hides the essential quality of the bird.

Some recipes call for the raw bird to come to room temperature before it is poached, but that seems like spreading a welcome mat for all sorts of bacteria to move in and spoil the meat. So, I suggest that you let the chicken just rest outside of the fridge for no more than an hour or two to take off the chilly edge.

Barely done breast meat

I don’t really like chopping up White Cut Chicken because the bones sometimes are still a bit red, and there’s nothing like blood leaking out of the marrow to ruin an appetite. So, I recommend that you just rip the meat off of the bird. It makes for happier eating because there’s no need to pause while working on the bones, and the carcass can then be tossed back in the pot for even more flavor.

Other dipping sauces can be used, but these two are the most traditional pair. The ginger and green onions can even be combined in the same bowl, and that is very good indeed.