Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast by Susanne Kerner Cynthia Chou Morten Warmind

Author:Susanne Kerner,Cynthia Chou,Morten Warmind
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: From Everyday Food to Feast
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2015-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chicken rice

The dish known as Hainanese chicken rice consists of two parts. First, a chicken is poached in a rich stock of garlic cloves, ginger, chicken fat, and pandan (screwpine) leaves. The chicken is then lifted from the stock and immediately soaked in ice-cold water to ensure succulence and tenderness. It is allowed to rest for a while before it is chopped into bite-size pieces and then neatly arranged on a bed of thinly sliced cucumber on a serving plate. Just before it is served, it is drizzled with light soy sauce and sesame oil, and topped with sprigs of coriander leaves. Accompanying the chicken is the rice, which is cooked in a separate chicken stock that gives it a shiny crust and a fragrant aroma. The Chicken Rice dish is served with a bowl of chicken soup, and a trio of sauces: thick dark soy sauce, ginger purée, and a tantalizing garlic cum red chili dip with a touch of vinegar. It is a dish of flavor, aroma, and texture.

Although it is called “Hainanese,” it has been documented that “the only chicken rice found in Hainan in China, an island off the southern coast of China, is made with the Wengcheng chicken, a bony fowl with very little flesh served with rice thick with oil and accompanied by ground green chilli dip. Hainanese chefs also use pork and chicken bone stock unlike their Singaporean counterparts who avoid the pork base in their chicken rice” (Singapore Infopedia, 2010).

Why has this humble street food appealed to national imaginaries of such a large portion of the citizenry? The much adored local food celebrity, Seetoh (http://www.makansutra.com/Makanzine/aug00/national_day.html) of the Makansutra fame wrote a mischievous but easily identifiable article for the ordinary person on the street:

National Day is when I eat chicken rice. Why? …

If I can, I’ll vote chicken rice to be my Home Affairs Minister. You see, every time I eat it here, it tells me I am home and the state of affairs about is a-ok! …

You see, I don’t need massive fireworks, dramatic flypast and mobile column displays to remind of how much home means to me.

All I need is chicken rice.

Mmmmm … I cannot quite articulate what this national dish reveals every time I savour a plate when I return home after a trip abroad, which is quite often. This $3 meal reminds me of my history here. I can hear the noise of the neighbours with their nosey kids waiting impatiently for you to vacate your hawker centre seat for them. I can also see the son of the chicken rice seller, a political science graduate, helping papa out on weekends when he is not on duty in the SAF. I can also smell the thick CBD traffic air whizzing by me—and my mind tells me, it alright, it’s home.

The simplicity—rice, chicken and cucumbers—tells me that there is greatness in this humble arrangement. Like the way this country grew up. Though alien in content, the ginger and chilli sauce add that zing that can only complete this Hainanese delight.

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