Chicken Rice Used to Be Served as a Ball

Chicken rice originates from the city of Wenchang on Hainan, an island in southern China. In Chinese the dish is called ‘Wenchang Ji’ (文昌鸡)
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Back then, the Hainanese would boil a chicken in chicken-bone stock until it was just cooked, then take the chicken fat floating on top of the pot and fry raw rice in it with garlic and ginger, before cooking it into soft, fragrant rice
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When everything was ready, the rice was shaped into round balls about the size of a fist, rather than being served under sliced chicken as it is today. This let villagers carry it to eat at work. They would simply pick up a rice ball and eat it with boiled chicken and a simple dipping sauce
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Then came the era when large numbers of Hainanese Chinese migrated south, known as “Nanyang” migration (covered in an earlier article), and they brought the chicken rice recipe with them
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The Hainanese arrived much later than other Chinese groups such as the Teochew or the Hokkien, so most jobs had already been taken. Some Hainanese worked as butlers and cooks for Westerners, then saved up money to open their own coffee shops and restaurants, selling their hometown dish, Wenchang chicken. This was the beginning of chicken rice spreading far and wide
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The dish became hugely popular in both Thailand and Singapore, to the point that Singapore counts it among its national dishes
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In Thailand, we adapted the recipe to suit local tastes, making a richer fermented soybean dipping sauce and serving it with chicken blood, cucumber and hot winter melon soup. We even invented “fried chicken rice” (khao man kai thot)
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Today, if you go to Singapore you will start to see Thai-style chicken rice sauce, and even on Hainan itself in China, the original chicken rice has been adapted into a Thai-Singaporean version that has made its way back to be sold there..

P.S. Next year, The Wild Chronicles will be running a Shantou-Chaozhou tour in China, in March or April 2027!

This will be a relaxed tour with a chilled-out program and plenty of delicious local food, suitable for all ages, and especially for older travellers.

If you are interested, message our Line OA with the text “Interested in the Shantou tour” and you will receive the tour program in advance!

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