One-pot chicken and rice with scallion-ginger sauce

Name: One-pot chicken and rice with scallion-ginger sauce
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups sushi rice or other short-grain white rice; 2 cups chicken stock; 1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated (about 3 tablespoons); 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 2 lb; kosher salt and black pepper; ¼ cup neutral oil; 6 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced; 2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar; 1 jalapeño, halved, seeded and thinly sliced; 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 1 tsp soy sauce (my addition, the sauce wants it); ½ tsp granulated sugar

Dinner steams itself under one lid while you make the only sauce that matters.

At a Glance

Time

45 min

Serves

Story

Scallion-ginger sauce is the Cantonese table's great condiment, the classic companion to white-cut poached chicken, and it proves a point I hold dear. Aromatics plus fat plus salt need no cooking at all to be a sauce. Everything raw, everything sharp, and it makes plain poached anything taste deliberate.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups sushi rice or other short-grain white rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 3-inch piece fresh gingerpeeled and grated (about 3 tablespoons)
4 boneless skinless chicken breastsabout 2 lb
kosher salt and black pepper
¼ cup neutral oil
6 scallionstrimmed and thinly sliced
2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
1 jalapeñohalved, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp soy saucemy addition, the sauce wants it
½ tsp granulated sugar

Method

The chicken steams directly on top of the rice, which means the rice cooks in stock and drippings both and dinner is one saucepan and a bowl.

Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh sieve under cold water until the water runs clear. You are washing off surface starch, and the difference between gummy rice and distinct grains is exactly this minute at the sink.
Combine the rice, stock and a tablespoon of the grated ginger in a medium saucepan. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and lay it on top of the rice. Lid on, bring it to a boil over high heat.
Once boiling, drop the heat to medium-low and simmer until the rice is plump, the stock is absorbed and the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 22 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it, covered, 10 minutes. Do not peek before then. When the steam escaping the lid subsides, the rice is telling you it is done.
Meanwhile, stir together the oil, scallions, vinegar, jalapeño, sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy and sugar with the remaining ginger. Season with salt and pepper. The soy is my tweak and it earns its place, a quiet salty backbone under all that raw green heat.
Slice the chicken crosswise, fluff the rice with a fork and divide among bowls. Spoon the sauce over everything with abandon. Leftover sauce, should you manage any, is brilliant on eggs.