FoundationsSingaporeComponent 15 of 24

Chicken Rice Chili Sauce

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Nationwide

Chicken rice chilli sauce: a small saucer of bright red-orange, coarse, raw-blended garlic, chilli and lime sauce flecked with chilli seeds, with a halved lime and fresh red chillies beside it.

About this component

The bright red-orange chili-garlic-ginger sauce, sharpened with lime, that is inseparable from Hainanese chicken rice. Many say the sauce, not the chicken, is the soul of the dish.

Component facts

Yield
About 1 cup (240 ml)
Prep
15 minutes
Heat
Medium–Hot

Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.

Ingredients

  • 8 red chiles
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 in (2.5 cm) ginger
  • 2 tbsp (30 ml) lime juice
  • 2–3 tbsp (30–45 ml) chicken stock (from the rice)
  • 1 tsp (4 g) sugar
  • Salt to taste

Method

  1. Blend chiles, garlic and ginger to a smooth paste.
  2. Loosen with warm chicken stock and lime juice.
  3. Season with sugar and salt to a tangy, spicy sauce.
  4. Serve fresh alongside the chicken and rice.

Notes from the book

Balancing
Hot, garlicky and sharply sour; the stock rounds and enriches it.
Substitutions
Water for stock in a vegetarian context (thinner flavor).
Storage and food safety
Best fresh; refrigerate up to 4 days (contains stock).

The Complete Edition

Chicken Rice Chili Sauce sits in the foundations

The book carries this component alongside the other twenty-three, the twenty-seven pantry studies, and the Singapore chapter it belongs to.

Available from Amazon

  • Kindle edition — $9.99 (Kindle Store price) — available now
  • Paperback — $49.99 (print list price) — available now

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The Singapore chapter

Imagery is produced with generative AI tools and reviewed by the author. It is illustrative, not documentary photography of a finished dish. This recipe is a development draft and is not described as tested. How these images were made.