Simple Poached Chicken
An easy meal is “white poached chicken”, a classic Chinese dish. The chicken is poached in water or broth and served with a sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and scallions. This is similar to Singapore’s famous Hainanese Chicken Rice dish that made its way there with Chinese immigrants from Hainan Island. It’s my kind of recipe simple and delicious! Leftover chicken can be used in salads, sammies, any recipe that calls for cooked chicken.
Poached Chicken with Soy Ginger Scallion Sauce
Classic Asian Homestyle Dish, Simple poached chicken with soy ginger scallion sauce. A favorite in our house!
Ingredients
Poaching Liquid for Chicken
- 1 4-5 lb. chicken or you can use chicken pieces*
- 3 scallions (green onions) smashed
- 1 inch knob of ginger, smashed
- 1/4 cup rice wine can substitute dry sherry or sake (not Mirin)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 T Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base optional
Ginger Scallion Sauce
- 6 T vegetable oil
- ¼ cup finely shredded fresh ginger
- 3 scallions trimmed and cut into fine strips or diced
- 3 T soy sauce
- 3 T chicken stock use poaching liquid
- 1.5 T Rice wine or sake'
- 1 tsp sugar
- 11/2 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Fill an 8 qt pot approximately 2/3 full with water. Bring water to a boil and add 1 1-inch knob of ginger crushed, ¼ cup rice wine, 1 t salt, & 3 scallions that have been crushed. Add chicken to boiling water (poaching liquid). Bring poaching liquid back to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer, cover the pot, and simmer for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let the chicken sit covered for 45 minutes. Save the stock for soup or sauces.
- Pieces of chicken can also be poached this way. Reduce time of simmer to 5 minutes and let chicken pieces sit covered in pot for 20-25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prep sauce. Shred ginger, dice the green onions, if you like it spicy, add ½ -1 jalapeno pepper, sliced. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, stock, sugar, dry sherry and sesame oil. Set aside.
- When chicken is done, remove from liquid and let sit until cool enough to handle. Cut chicken into serving pieces and place on platter.
- Heat oil in a small saucepan until you can see wisps of smoke. Add ginger, scallions and peppers to the oil. Be careful, as mixture will sizzle. Remove from heat immediately and add soy sauce mixture. If the sauce clouds, return to heat for a minute. Add a dash of white pepper.
- Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately with plenty of rice!
- The sauce can also be used for steamed fish or as a dipping sauce for seafood.
Garlic-Ginger Rice Pilaf
Garlic Ginger Rice Pilaf perfect with poached chicken
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 cups long-grain rice washed and drained well (use the measuring cup that comes with the rice cooker)
- 1 cup actual cup small pasta such as letters, stars, orzo, or broken vermicelli (found in Indian stores)
- 2 T vegetable oil or peanut oil
- 1 T salted butter
- 1/2-3/4 inch piece of ginger minced
- 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil and butter in a saucepan, add ginger and garlic and saute until garlic just starts to brown.
- Add rice and cook until the grains are evenly coated with the oil/butter.
- Add stock to saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook until stock is fully absorbed and rice is cooked through approximately 15 - 20 minutes.
- Or do what I do and transfer the sauteed rice to a rice cooker, add stock to the 3 cup line and let the rice cooker do its thing!
2 Replies to “Simple Poached Chicken”
Hi Debbie,
I have made this chicken dish twice to the delight of my picky daughter. Everything works well until I get to the dry sherry. Its not on the ingredient list. Can you let me know how much dry sherry. I made it with sake instead and put in about 2 Tablespoons. The sauce was a hit the second time I made it. I also keep the sauce separate and have people put it on the chicken on their plate because it tastes great on top of rice.
Thanks
Maniko
Yikes! Sorry about the omission! I generally use about one quarter cup of Chinese rice wine, but sake or dry sherry are both fine substitutes! My kids literally tip the plate and pour the sauce all over their rice!