A One Dish Deal or Lunch
Chicken on Rice with Hot Yellow Bean Sauce - Kow Mun Gai 
When I was growing up, there was a very good Kow Mun Gai vendor near our house. Their Kow Mun Gai was great in large part because their sauce was punchy and strong. You could tell that they were popular. They started the morning with their glass case absolutely stuffed with the chickens. By the early afternoon, the chickens were all gone.
Kow Mun Gai is supposed to be served with yellow bean sauce and winter melon soup. You will occasionally see vendors and restaurants cut corners by switching the winter melon soup to just chicken broth, but it is not a good substitute.
Kow mun gai is not off-limit for kids. As kids, we got a special sauce, dark sweet soy sauce instead of the spicy yellow bean sauce. If you don't have dark sweet soy sauce, you can make your own sweet soy sauce by adding molasses to soy sauce. Add 2 teaspoons of molasses to a teaspoon of soy sauce. It should taste sweet with the hint of soy sauce.
2 Servings
| 4-5 | cups | water | |
| 1 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1 | jasmine rice | ||
| 1 | pinch | ground pepper | |
| 7 | cloves | garlic | |
| cucumber | |||
| 10 | sprigs | cilantro | |
| 1 | chicken breast | ||
| 2 | cups | winter melon, cut | Optional |
Cook rice with the chicken broth. The ratio of rice to water is one to one. Add some of the garlic cloves along with the broth. If your broth is very lean, you may want to add a tablespoon of oil. After all, kow mun gai means rice cooked in chicken's fat. If you are cooking the rice in a rice cooker, you know what to do; just add rice and chicken broth. If you are cooking rice in a regular pot, when the water boils, turn down the heat to the lowest heat available on your stove. Close the lid and let it cook until tender. It should take about 15 minutes or so.
If you decided to add winter melon, remove the hard skin and cut the melon into big chunks, 2 inches by 3 inches. Drop the melon in the broth. Let it simmer until tender. You can also keep it simmering for a long time.
To serve, put rice on a plate and top with sliced chicken. Add sliced cucumber. Sprinkle cilantro on top of chicken and soup. Serve with hot yellow bean sauce in a small bowl and a separate bowl of soup.
Learn more about this and other similarly prepared Steamed or Boiled Dishes (Neung) recipes
Hot Yellow Bean Sauce - Nam Jim Kow Mun Gai
| 1 | tablespoon | yellow bean sauce | |
| 1 | tablespoon | vinegar | |
| 1-2 | Thai chili pepper, sliced | ||
| 1 | teaspoon | sugar | |
| 1 | piece | ginger | |
| 1 | teaspoon | dark soy sauce | |
| 10 | sprigs | cilantro, chopped | |
| 1 | tablespoon | chicken soup |
Peel a piece of ginger, about 2 inches long. Ground the ginger in mortar or blender or julienne the ginger. Slice Thai chili pepper and cop the cilantro. Combine all ingredients.
Serve in a small bowl with Kow Mun Gai.
Serve in a small bowl with Kow Mun Gai.
Learn more about this and other similarly prepared Category Defying Recipes (Other) recipes
