Hainanese Chicken Rice (Singapore Style)

Peel garlic and ginger, then slice ginger into ½-inch thick pieces.

Prepare chicken thighs by rubbing salt on the skin and washing it away under cold running water. Cut any excess fats on chicken thighs and set aside for rice. Make sure to reserve at least ⅓ cup of chicken fats.

Place garlic, ginger, spring onions and chicken stock cube into a large pot. Pour water into the pot and cook over high heat on the stove for 10minutes.
Place chicken thighs in the pot and bring it back to a full boil. Once the broth is boiling, cook the chicken at a full boil for 15 minutes (uncovered without a lid). Turn off heat, cover pot with lid and let chicken sit in broth for 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from the pot and immediately place in ice water. Remove from ice water after 5-10 minutes, pat dry with kitchen towel and coat with a generous amount of sesame oil.

Strain any leftover solids from the broth, making sure that the broth is clear.

With a small pan, cook excess chicken fats over medium-low heat until dark brown. Remove browned chicken fats and leave behind the liquid chicken oil on the pan. Proceed to stir-fry garlic and ginger in chicken oil until fragrant (1-2 minutes).

Place uncooked rice, chicken broth, pandan leaves, sugar and salt in the rice cooker pot. Pour all of the ginger/garlic chicken oil mixture over the uncooked rice. Cook rice in the rice cooker until fully cooked (follow instructions for white rice). When rice is fully cooked, remove ginger and pandan leaves from rice. Gently smash any garlic that's left behind in the rice.