Hainanese Chicken Rice: From Wenchang to the World

Wenchang chicken

In Hainan, there is no Hainanese chicken rice, only Wenchang chicken. In Hainan, there is a saying that “there is no banquet without chicken” （無雞不成宴）as chicken is served in all celebrations from birthdays to Chinese New Year. So, wherever the Hainanese went, the Wenchang chicken dish followed.

Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice

The original Wenchang chicken dish from Hainan is quite different from Hainanese chicken rice in Southeast Asia today. The Hainanese dish is made with a specific breed of chicken from Wenchang county. Wenchang chicken is poached, air cooled, chopped into large pieces with bone and skin intact, and served without dressing sauce. It is eaten with an aromatic boiled rice which is made by frying garlic and rice grains with chicken fat before boiling in chicken stock. The dipping sauce is made with chopped ginger, garlic and chicken stock.

Hainanese immigration peaked between the 1860s to 1930s following the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858 which opened Hainan's port of Haikou to international trade and travel. The vast majority of Hainanese migrants went to Southeast Asia, bringing along their food culture, including the Wenchang chicken dish. In British Malaya, most Hainanese settled in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Johor Bahru and Singapore. Hainanese also settled in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines.

While the Hainanese preserved the custom of eating chicken at home, they adapted the dish to local conditions. To start with, it is not possible to get the specific breed of chicken from Wenchang in Southeast Asia, so it is replaced by locally available breeds (which required some adjustments in cooking techniques).

Thai Hainanese chicken rice

In Thailand, where the dish is known as Khao Man Gai (ข้าวมันไก่), the chicken and rice are prepared and served like it is on Hainan Island. The main difference is in the dipping sauce. In Thai style Hainanese chicken rice, the sauce is made with chili pepper, garlic, coriander, lime and fermented soybean paste. Known in Thailand as Tao-Jeow (เต้าเจี้ยว 豆醬), fermented soybean paste reflects Teochew (Chaozhou) influence in the dish, since Teochew Chinese use Tao-Jeow in many of their dishes. There are 10 million Chinese Thais in Thailand, a large proportion of which has Teochew ancestry.

In Vietnam, the dish is known as Cơm Gà Hải Nam. The Vietnamese have been using turmeric in their food for over 2,000 years for colour, flavour and its medicinal properties. Hence, Hainanese in Vietnam poach their chicken in water with a spoonful of turmeric powder added. They boil their chicken rice with the stock leftover from poaching the chicken. Hence, both the chicken and the aromatic rice in Vietnamese style Hainanese chicken rice have an even yellow hue.

The Vietnamese use fermented fish sauce in their cooking and so in Vietnam, the dipping sauce for chicken rice is made with garlic, ginger, chili, lime juice and fish sauce.

In British Malaya, some Hainanese retained their Hainanese style of chicken rice as much as possible while others developed the style of Hainanese chicken we see in both Malaysia and Singapore today.

Singapore Chicken rice sauces: ginger and chili

Chicken rice shops like Yet Con （逸群） at Purvis Street in the old Hainanese enclave of Singapore was founded in the 1940s and sold a version of chicken rice close to the version in Hainan except for the breed of chicken. The poached chicken was air cooled, chopped into large chunks with bones and skin intact, and served without dressing sauce. The chili and ginger sauce were made with chicken stock.

Sadly, Yet Con closed in 2020 after almost 80 years of operation.

Yet Con was one of the rare exceptions that stuck to the traditional version of chicken rice, as most chicken rice shops and stalls in Singapore and Malaysia serve an evolved version which included Cantonese influences.

Today, most chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia is a hybrid of both Hainanese and Cantonese culinary practices.

Poached chicken with “jelly” under the skin

The poached chicken is dunked in cold or iced water to prevent overcooking by residual heat, which tightens the skin while congealing the fat under the skin into a coveted flavoursome jelly. This is the version sold today by Restoran Nam Heong in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown (founded by Hainanese in 1938).

In Ipoh (in Malaysia's state of Perak), the Cantonese also serve chicken rice with Hainanese characteristics, such as rice cooked with chicken stock, but serve it with a dressing of soy sauce and sesame oil as well as pair it with blanched bean sprout. Some Ipoh restaurants offer an option of aromatic rice or hor fun (in soup). One restaurant in Ipoh, the popular Cowan Street Ayam Tauge & Koitiau （⾼溫街芽菜雞沙河粉）even serve only hor fun with their chicken and have no rice on their menu.

In Singapore, chicken rice remained in Hainanese homes until after the Second World War when economic hardship led more people to become street hawkers. Wong Yi Guan (王義元) started hawking chicken rice in two baskets across a bamboo pole on his shoulders in the streets of Singapore's Hainanese enclave in the 1940s. He sold the aromatic rice in the form of chicken rice balls.

Aromatic rice is essential to the chicken rice dish

Wong Yi Guan's disciple Moh Lee Twee （莫履瑞）’s Swee Kee restaurant, which operated from the 1950s to 1990s at Middle Road, was credited with popularizing Hainanese chicken rice among Singaporeans and regionally. Swee Kee's fans included Hong Kong movie producer and food critic Chua Lam （蔡瀾）. Chua Lam's endorsement helped made Swee Kee and Singapore Hainanese chicken rice famous regionally.

If Swee Kee affirmed Hainanese chicken rice as a Singapore and regional food icon, it was Mandarin Singapore Hotel's Chatterbox Coffee House that put chicken rice on the world map. When owner of Mandarin Singapore Lien Ying Chow（連瀛洲）opened his five-star international hotel in 1971, he boldly included three hawker dishes, namely, laksa, char kway teow and Hainanese chicken rice (with the appropriate premium price tags to match) in the menu. They were well received by both international and regional guests, especially the Chatterbox chicken rice.

Caption: Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice

To make chicken rice easy to eat, especially for international guests, Chatterbox served the dish deboned. Boneless chicken rice was born and is today a widely served option even at hawker centre stalls. At the famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice （天天海南雞飯）stall at Maxwell Food Centre, deboned and skinless chicken is the default option (a far cry from Wenchang chicken). Today, Tian Tian has also opened a branch in Hong Kong, where Hainanese chicken rice has become a common dish enjoyed by Hong Kong people.

Wenchang chicken have come a long way from Hainan Island to adapt to different parts of Southeast Asia by incorporating local characteristics. From this springboard, the footprint of Hainanese chicken rice spread around the globe as a much-loved Chinese food icon.