[Taiwanese Chicken Rice]
We love the combination of chicken and rice, such as Singapore's chicken rice and Thai boiled chicken rice, but Taiwanese chicken rice is appearing more and more frequently on our tables these days. It is a Taiwanese snack consisting of boiled and chopped chicken on top of rice, topped with a spicy sauce. Recently, I buy chicken meat for this dish on bargain days and freeze it. The taste is so good that two people can finish three cups of rice cooked in a tin can rice pot in no time. Starting with the standard style of white rice topped with chicken, you can enjoy the umami-rich soup in which the chicken is boiled, and ending with a rice porridge using the soup, rice, and egg, so that not a drop of soup is left in the bowl.
Taiwanese chicken rice is a gourmet dish that originated in Chiayi City, located north of Tainan, a city in southern Taiwan. It is said to have originated in Chiayi City, where turkey meat brought in by the U.S. military during the food shortages that occurred after World War II was served with Taiwanese pork stew soup and sold. In Chiayi, turkey meat is still the basic ingredient, while in other areas, turkey and chicken are also available. Chicken and rice with fried shallots and chicken oil sauce is so enticing that it is hard to resist just one bowl.
We always use Hakusan Porcelain's Hirachawan when eating such chicken rice. It is a masterpiece of Masahiro Mori, who was one of Japan's leading product designers as well as Hakusan Porcelain's in-house designer. Because it is 3 cm larger in diameter than a typical rice bowl, it not only makes rice look beautiful and delicious but also makes it very easy to eat "a type of rice with something on it" like chicken rice. Since there is plenty of space in the bowl, it is also possible to add vegetables or pickles as side dishes. One bite and your heart will be in Taiwan. Please try it at home.
Hakusan Porcelain's Hirachawan
https://www.shokunin.com/en/hakusan/hirachawan.html
Appi Urushi Studio's Flat Bowl
https://www.shokunin.com/en/appi/bowl.html
Koizumi Glass's Flat Bottom Evaporating Dish 120mm
https://www.shokunin.com/en/koizumi/johatsu.html
Suzuki's Hagama Rice Pot
https://www.shokunin.com/en/suzuki/
References
https://80c.jp/column/20230703-1.html
https://www.hotpepper.jp/mesitsu/entry/tae-mikubo/2022-00692 (recipe)
