Rice · Hawker Classic

Hainanese Chicken Rice

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The dish's earliest known Singapore seller carried his chicken and rice balls through the streets slung over his shoulders.

Chicken is gently poached, then served over rice cooked in the chicken's own fat and stock, alongside cucumber, chili sauce, ginger paste, and dark soy. Hawker stalls slice the chicken to order and serve it with a bowl of the poaching broth on the side.

Why it's made this way: Hainanese immigrants adapted a poultry dish from Hainan island to local ingredients and tastes, and the trade grew fastest during the hardships of the Japanese Occupation, when many household cooks turned to street hawking to survive.