Boiled Chicken on Rice (Khao Mun Kai) (Rice Cooker)

Adapted from an internet recipe.

Yep, sounds pretty boring, but this is actually quite good. This is one of the first meals I had in Thailand when I visited here my first time in 1986. This is a popular lunch dish served everywhere in Thailand, and it is inexpensive, commonly selling for 30-40 Baht a serving. There is more to this than the name implies.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Course Lunch, Main Dish

Cuisine Thai

Servings servings

Equipment

Rice Cooker

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, large, skin on, bone in, or 4 breasts
3 cups jasmine rice, uncooked
½ teaspoon salt
6 slices ginger, peeled
6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 cucumber
7 cups water

For the Sauce

3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1½ tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons vhite vinegar
3 tablespoons ginger, finely minced
2 Bird's Eye Chilis, finely sliced

Instructions

Rinse the rice as is normally done then add the rice to your rice cooker. Set the rice cooker aside.
Trim excess skin from the chicken and cut the trimmings into small pieces. Place the skin trimmings in a nonstick pan on medium heat.
Stir often until the oil releases from the skin, cook until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Remove the skin from the pan and discard or as a treat for your dog, leaving the oil created in the pan, and add the garlic.
When the garlic is lightly browned, pour the garlic and the oil into the rice cooker. Sprinkle the salt over the rice and add the sliced ginger. We'll get back to the rice cooker in about 20 minutes.
In a large pot add 5 cups of water and the chicken thighs, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and simmer, while it is simmering, any of the fat from the chicken, spoon that off and put into the rice cooker. Simmer for about 10-20 minutes, continuing to spoon the fat into the rice cooker. You are making broth and flavoring the rice.
After about 20 minutes, measure out 3 cups of broth and pour that into the rice cooker, stir the rice well and now you can proceed to cook the rice as usual.
Add 2 more cups of water to the pot with the chicken and continue to simmer for about 45 minutes.
While the chicken is simmering, time to make the sauce. Place all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Set that aside.
Peel the cucumber and cut into ¼ inch thick slices. Chop the cilantro.
When the chicken and rice are both done, remove the chicken from the broth and pull out the bone from each thigh. For each serving, scoop some rice on a plate. Take a chicken thigh and slice into about ½ inch thick slices, use the edge of the knife and your hand and pick that up and place on rice. set some cucumber slices on the side of the rice and a small dish of the sauce. Spoon some broth into a bowl and sprinkle some cilantro onto the broth that is the side dish. Enjoy.

Notes

The chicken might cost 60 Baht. For 4 servings, this is about 45 cents per serving.