chicken rice Popular hawker dish. Widely regarded as Singapore’s national dish, chicken rice is found in virtually all hawker centres and food courts. It was made popular in the Beach Road area when the Hainanese began setting up chicken rice stalls there in the early 1900s.

Chicken rice originated in Hainan, China, as a simple dish of boiled rice, topped with pieces of boiled chicken, gizzards, liver, intestines and slices of cucumber and tomato. But the local Hainanese have given it a uniquely Singaporean twist. They fry uncooked rice in flavoured oils and then cook it in chicken stock laced with garlic and pandan (pandanus). The whole chicken is boiled in stock and then dunked into cold water or ice. This gelatinizes the oils (while leaving the inside tenderly warm) and smoothes the skin. It is served with a tangy chilli sauce made of ground chilli, calamansi lime and garlic. Sometimes a dark soy and ground ginger dip accompany it. Another version of chicken rice commonly served today uses roasted— rather than boiled— chicken.

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