If you have any interest in making a great Hainanese chicken rice recipe, you will need to ensure that you have all the secret ingredients before you start. Although a lot of people use the standard ingredients to make Hainanese chicken rice, like ginger, green onions and other marinades, the secret ingredient is actually pandan leaves. If you can get a hold of some pandan leaves, which are usually found in the Asian supermarket freeze aisles, then you can truly recreate a great Hainanese chicken rice recipe at home.
You have to stuff the pandan leaves, along with the ginger, garlic and green onions into the cavity of the chicken before you boil it. This keeps all of the flavors in the chicken and it will bring out the natural flavors of the chicken. Make sure you keep all of the fat drippings from the chicken, as you will be using that to flavor the rice, which makes for a delicious meal.