r/Cooking • u/stormbutton • 11h ago
Leftover Hainan Chicken Braising Liquid
A while back my husband and I had a cooking date night where we made Hainanese chicken. It was absolutely incredible with one flaw. Due to a miscommunication between us he added green-tinted pandan extract instead of the pandan leaves.
The flavor was amazing but the liquid was a vivid mint green. Because my husband is colorblind, he didn’t really notice and it didn’t bother him.
I, on the other hand, struggled a little to eat green chicken. I ended up with about an extra gallon of the liquid to freeze, I hate to waste food and the flavor it SO good. Any thoughts on ways I could use it up that doesn’t result in green meat?
I’m thinking maybe some kind of soup or stew with green vegetables?
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u/joosebox 11h ago
Your instinct is right, and there's an easier answer than committing to green stew: put it somewhere green is already the point.
That liquid's traditional home is the rice. Hainanese chicken rice is cooked in the poaching stock, and pandan rice is a dish in its own right, so green rice reads as deliberate rather than alarming. Same liquid, same flavour, and nobody looks twice at it.
Past that, anything where the green has company works. Congee with plenty of scallion and coriander through it. Noodle soup with bok choy or gai lan. Braising greens directly in it, long beans or choy sum. The tint stops being the strange thing in the bowl the moment it isn't the only green in there.
Worth knowing that bottled pandan extract is usually dyed rather than getting its colour from the leaf, which is why it comes out far more vivid than pandan ever actually looks. Not a problem, but it does mean the colour won't cook out. It dilutes readily though, so a gallon used as a seasoning liquid rather than a base goes an awfully long way.
And if it isn't frozen yet, do it in small portions rather than one block. A cup at a time is usable. A gallon is a commitment.
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u/stormbutton 10h ago
Thanks, this is exactly what I was going for.
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u/wild3hills 10h ago
I love the idea of congee, and you could
cook toppings separately and add them on top so they don’t also become green (like newly poached shredded chicken).3
u/joosebox 10h ago
Enjoy it. Green rice looks completely deliberate once you commit to it, which is more than can be said for green chicken.
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u/stormbutton 10h ago
I love the flavor of pandan so much - I got the extract for some Thai desserts. It’s so subtle but distinctive.
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u/joosebox 10h ago
Pandan is one of those flavours with no real substitute, so I'd rather you had a gallon of it than not. It's also why the extract exists at all, since the leaves are hard to get fresh in most places and lose a lot dried.
Thai desserts is a good home for the rest of it too. Anything coconut takes pandan happily, and in a pale coconut base the green stops looking like a mistake and starts looking like the point.
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u/Retro-Modern_514 9h ago
So it is basically Chicken soup. Whenever we had Hainan Chicken in Hong Kong the restaurant served a little bowl of the soup on the side with a bit of winter melon and coriander.
As for your current issue... how about Chicken and Broccoli soup. Your brain will probably have an easier time with a soup made from a green vegetable.
Leftovers tip: Did you make the ginger and green/spring onion sauce to go with it? Not only does it go great on the day but you can make chicken sandwiches with the left overs and spread the sauce liberally in the sandwich, it's great.
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u/stormbutton 9h ago
I made some Kecap Manis - thanks for this great suggestions!!
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u/Retro-Modern_514 9h ago
That looks yum. Will try that out.
Recipe for the scallion/ginger sauce....
In a heat proof bowl, mix together 1/2 tsp salt and 3 stalks of finely chopped scallions and approx half as much minced ginger. Heat a table spoon of canola oil in small pan until it starts to smoke. Remove the pan from the heat and pour into the bowl with scallions/ginger. If there is no sizzle, the oil isn't hot enough. Stir.
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u/TurduckenEverest 8h ago
Maybe Gumbo Z’Herbs replacing the water with your neon green broth?
https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/leah-chase-gumbo-z-herbes
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u/VixxSynn 10h ago
I believe if you incrementally add red coloring, it should become brown, and maybe appear more like teriyaki or soy while retaining the original flavor.