Is there anything edible that’s more quintessentially Singaporean than Hainanese Chicken Rice?
The truth is, the Hainanese Chinese brought it over to Southeast Asia when they migrated in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Back home, they had the wencheng chicken, which was scrawny, fibrous and on the whole not very tasty. When they reached the melting pot that is Singapore, they met the Cantonese who swiftly added modifications of their own. Changing the chicken used and adding lime into the chilli sauce changed the dish into the icon it is today.
Chicken rice first gained popularity in the Middle Road and Purvis Street area, close to downtown Singapore in Bugis. In the 1950s, many Hainanese who formerly worked as chefs in the hotels nearby struck out on their own and popularised this dish. Swee Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant on Seah Street, which was coincidentally located opposite Raffles hotel, was said to be have been the pioneer, but the truth has been lost to time.
My own love affair with chicken rice began early in life. I’ve loved this since I was a kid. The aromatic and flavourful rice, with a fragrance of pandan leaves and slight caramelisation from frying. The tender, succulent poached chicken with jellied skin, sprinkled with light soya sauce. My favourite part has always been the chilli sauce; to me it’s like the cheese to pizza. We could have chicken rice without it, but what’s the point?
I wouldn’t call my self a chicken rice snob, but I am quite particular about how it should be made. The rice should not clump like porridge, and each individual grain has to be lightly coated in chicken flavour. The chicken should be soft and flavoured with the natural taste of chicken, not drowned in soya sauce to compensate for a lack of flavour. The perfect chicken rice chilli sauce is balanced between sweet, sour and spicy; it is not watery nor too thick, but has a texture and consistency close to blended pineapple.
Have I found the perfect chicken rice in Singapore? Sad to say, I have not. There are many contenders to the throne, but none quite captures every single element perfectly. Tian Tian at Maxwell Food Center is overrated; there’s way too much soya sauce used. Chatterbox at Meritus Mandarin I find to be priced overly high and the taste lacking.
The best compromise I found was Boon Tong Kee. The rice is plenty fragrant and well cooked, the chicken is a little stringy (except for the drumsticks and thighs, of course), but I think the soya sauce and chilli are sublime. It’s still my favourite and you can see it pictured above.
It does puzzle me that few people have written about pairing this wonderful homegrown dish with alcohol, but I suppose people think it is too “atas” or high brow to have wine with your good old local food. I think that’s nonsense. All food can be enjoyed with some drink, and very often the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Of course, seeing as how chicken rice and drinking are two of my favourite things in the world, I couldn’t resist figuring it out for myself.
For this tasting, I focused on white wines that were of recent vintage and reasonable price; none of these will run you past $60 bucks a bottle. They are all of different grape varieties and countries of origin, and they all have different elements that work quite differently with chicken rice.
I tried them in this order:
Chateau Lamothe-Vincent Sauvignon Blanc 2013: Bordeaux. Pale gold, smells and tastes of grapefruit, apricot and peach. Tiny bit of pineapple in the aftertaste. Crisp, dry and very tart. Substantial but not thick mouthfeel. A nice example of a Sauvignon Blanc, though the origin is a little strange to most; Bordeaux is more famous for its reds.
Pauletts Late Harvest Riesling 2013, Clare Valley: Very pale gold, strong sweet pineapple taste, green apples, pears, light citrus. Balanced tartness and sweetness, but definitely a lot sweeter and a little bit thicker than the Sauvignon Blanc. I chose this sweeter Riesling to act as counterpoint to the Sauvignon Blanc.
Disznoko Tokaji 2011, Tokaj, Hungary: Deep yellow, almost amber. Apricots, oranges. Very sweet. Made from furmint grapes that undergo the same “noble rot” process as the Riesling, the wine is sweet and thick because of the loss of water in the grape that results in more concentrated sugar in the grape. Very reminiscent of extremely late harvest Trocken Rieslings, Eiswein or Sauternes wines.
The Sauvignon Blanc’s crisp acidity works well with the light, poached chicken and gives the mouth a burst of sour, fruity flavour that was quite palatable. The light texture was definitely a plus as it didn’t burden the mouth with too much detail. With the rice, however, it was not as good. The greasiness of the chicken rice slightly overpowered the wine and while there was nothing particularly bad about it, it still didn’t taste quite right. With the chilli, it was definitely not as good; the sourness of each heightened by the other, and they killed all the other flavours in the dish.
The Riesling was next. The balanced sweetness and sourness went well with the chicken, complementing both the chicken and the soya sauce. It’s quite a bit heavier in texture than the Sauvignon Blanc, though, and that definitely cost it a few points. With the rice, I felt the sour part definitely helped to lighten the grease, but the sweet part wasn’t quite working as well for me. That is, until I added the chilli sauce. What a world of difference it makes! Sweet, sour and savoury were balanced and all the flavours were present and recognisable on their own, but combined together well to create a harmonious blend; the chilli’s spiciness was toned down slightly by the sweetness of the wine, the chicken enhanced by the sourness, and the texture of the wine not complicating the mix.
The Tokaji didn’t fare as well. A little too sweet, it overpowered both chicken and rice. leaving nothing but sweetness in the mouth. With the chilli, it fared a little better, but still overpowered everything else. It was pretty good after the meal though!
So what’s the verdict?
I’d say that the Sauvignon Blanc went best with the chicken, but came up wanting when paired with the chilli. If you’re not a fan of chicken rice with chilli, then it would be a good choice.
That being said, the sweet Riesling would be my overall pick for pairing with chicken rice. The Riesling worked reasonably well without chilli and very well with. It was very well rounded and completed the meal for me in a way that Sauvignon Blanc could not. Absolutely lovely. I will be definitely be pairing it again in future.
Now that’s done, I turn to thinking about what’s next on the pairing challenge. Char Kway Teow? Bak Chor Mee? A Big Mac? Let me know in the comments!
