What's
New
Roast Chicken with Glutinous Rice (Lo Mai Kai) Stuffing
East-Meets-West Roast Chicken with Glutinous Rice Stuffing
Once again for Christmas, I’ve decided to roast a chicken rather than a turkey. It’s simpler, cheaper, faster and may I also add my biased view, more juicy & yummy than a turkey. A large chicken is more than enough for two, and with the planned leftovers, I can make chicken salad and chicken macaroni soup made from the chicken bones – that’s at least 3 meals in 1 for two of us! So I’ll be experimenting with a few versions of roasted chicken, starting with this one, proceeding up to Christmas. This particular recipe is taken from 8 days (our local entertainment magazine), written by Chef Willin Low from Wild Rocket Restaurant. What I love about this recipe is its touch of fushion. Instead of roasting the chicken with some potatoes and vegetables which everyone is familiar with, the main carbohydrates accompanier of the roast chicken is the glutinous rice stuffing (or better known as lo mai kai in our region). In the words of Chef Willin “This is like a reverse lo mai kai with the rice inside the chicken. While the chicken is roasting, the rice absorbs all the juice”.
Please note that in the recipe, the portion of the rice cooked is much more than needed for stuffing. If you want just enough rice for stuffing, half the ingredients for (A). In my opinion, since it’s a bit of work to prepare the rice, it’s not much effort to cook more. For the leftovers, you can heat it up over the next few days as a meal on its own so that post that great Christmas feast, you can relax for the next few days and not bother about food or cooking. To simulate the process of the rice being stuffed in the cavity of the chicken, I place the leftover rice in an oven proof dish, drizzle a couple tablespoons of chicken broth, cover with aluminium foil (you don’t want the top to be dried out), and then I heat it up in the oven for about 8 minutes or until warm. Take the dish out, use a spoon to mix the rice evenly, and the result is moist and tender rice much like the one in the chicken stuffing. B told me that this lo mai kai, even the ones I reheated, was the best he has ever eaten!
Ingredients
(Makes 1 roast chicken, serves 4)Recipe from 8days magazine (Issue 948, Dec 18 2008) by Chef Willin Low, with slight modifications to the original recipe.
(A) Glutinous Rice (For Stuffing)
– 2 cups glutinous rice
– 10 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water and sliced thinly or diced (reserve the water)
– 10-15 roasted diced chestnuts (or substitute with dried chestnuts), diced
– 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
– 1 tbsp dried shrimps (hai bee)
– 1 tbsp vegetable oil
– 1/4 cup rice wine
– 1 tbsp light soy sauce
– 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
– 2 tsp sesame oil
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp pepper
– 1 1/3 cup chicken stock(B) Roast Chicken
– 1 whole chicken, neck and feet removed, cavity emptied
– 2 tbsp melted butter (I heat the butter in microwave for about a minute)
– 1/4 cup olive oil
– 1 lemon, juiced
– rosemary & thyme sprigs (2 each)
– sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
– 1 bay leafTools Needed
– pastry brush (for brushing and basting the chicken)
– a large oven-proof tray for roasting the chicken
– kitchen twig for trussing (optional)Directions
Glutinous Rice Stuffing
1. Rinse rice and soak in water overnight, then rinse again till water runs clear. Sieve and set aside.
2. Fry mushrooms in veg oil till fragrant. Add wine, soy, sesame oil, salt, pepper and remove from heat. Add rice, chestnuts, peanuts and shrimps. Toss.
3. Add stock and return to stove. Bring to a simmer, stir, then reduce heat. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, then remove from heat. Stir to distribute the ingredients.
4. Sprinkle some of the water used to soak mushrooms just before stuffing so the rice doesn’t dry out in the oven.Roast Chicken
5. Brush chicken with melted butter, oil and lemon juice. Season with rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.
6. Place a slice of lemon, a bay leaf, 1 rosemary, 1 thyme into the cavity and pack the cavity with the glutinous rice stuffing.
7. If you like to truss the chicken (it looks better but it’s optional), tie the two drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Roast at 220C for half hour, take out the bird and baste with its juices. Return the bird, roast at 200C for another 20 minutes to 30 minutes till chicken is cooked (you can baste once more in between if you like).
8. Remove from oven and garnish with cranberries, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, chestnuts, rocket and rosemary.
Cooking Tip
The leftover juice in the roasting tray and the chicken bones can be used to make the best-ever chicken stock. But note that the glutinous rice stuffing will soak up all the juices in the cavity, hence you may need 2 chicken carcass (instead of 1) to make the chicken stock. You can freeze the bones and carcass till you have enough to make the stock.
That is an outstanding looking roast chicken…and the east/west flavours totally work here!
So early for Christmas….hmmm…but again you have other dishes to go….
’tis the month to enjoy all the roasts and Christmas treats :)
That chicken looks flawless! Amazing pictures too.
The rice stuffing with mushrooms and chestnuts sounds fantastic, and your chicken looks delicious!
oh mamamia! yesterday i roasted chicken but didnt look as good as this one. do you have rotisserie function in your oven? (i want this function T_T)
i’d love that sticky rice stuffing. yum!
nono, I don’t have rotisserie function, my oven is so basic T_T It’s a cool feature to have!
I “cheat” by placing my chicken on a wire rack, and a lower tray beneath it to catch the juice and oils … it doesn’t rotate but at least the chicken is dry and crisp all round hehehe
Whoa! Eye appeal overload! :? :? HOW do you make it look so fresh and tasty? The ingredients are mouthwatering (minus the shrimps…..sorry :P ) and I wanna come to your house for Christmas dinner!
Thanks dear, you always have such kind words for me :XO: How I wish we live near too, it’d be awesome if we can share a meal and watch a movie together ;)
All your holiday recipes look so good!
Agreed, chicken beats turkey. Wait, so this recipe doesn’t require the glutinous rice to be actually stuffed in the chicken?
This recipe reminds me a bit of this Korean herbal dish, where it’s baby chicken stuffed with herbs and glutinous rice, served in a hotpot.
This recipe looks simple enough to try.
Did you use a baby chicken or a normal sized chicken for this recipe? The reason why I ask is because the chicken fits nicely on the dinner plate.
Thanks Ippo! Yes, the cooked glutinous rice is stuffed in the chicken.
I use a normal sized chicken, not the biggest but it’s normal. The dinner plate is slightly bigger than usual hehe :-)
I’m so jealous reading all your yummilious Christmas recipes including this one. Mouth-watering now!
Don’t be jealous, coz your cranberry scones look really inviting too, hehe
This is such a great idea! Looks sooo delicious!
I love the sticky rice stuffing! it’s like an inside out lor mai kai :)