Sesame Oil Chicken Rice (麻油雞飯)

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless chicken thigh, cut into bite size
• salt
• 1½ cups white rice, or sticky rice
• 15 slices ginger, thinly slice
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ⅛ teaspoon white pepper powder
• ¼ cup rice cooking wine (michiu)
• 1 tablespoon goji berry, optional

Instructions

1. In a bowl, toss chicken pieces with ½ teaspoon of salt and set it aside for 15 minutes.
2. Wash and drain the rice really well, cook it in a rice cooker with 1½ cup of water (or 1 cup of water if you use sticky rice ) with a slice of ginger and a few drops of sesame oil.
3. In a Dutch oven, add in the rest of the sesame oil and ginger slices, sauté it over medium low heat until the ginger begins to brown and the edges become curly (this usually takes 5-7 minutes). This is the key step, so be patient and make sure the ginger slices are nicely golden brown as in the picture in the post (but don’t burn the ginger either).
4. Add chicken pieces into the pot and sauté until the surface of the chicken turns white before adding soy sauce, white pepper powder and rice cooking wine. When the liquid is boiling, cover and let it cook for 5 minutes.
5. Finally, add goji berries and cooked rice into the pot. Mix everything together and it’s done! If you have time, cover the lid and let it sit for 5-10 minutes after turning off the heat, as this will allow the flavor to meld together better.