Plantation Chicken Long Rice
Sunday Ohana Suppers
She skims the ginger-spiked broth, shreds the chicken thighs with two forks, and drops in the dry bean thread noodles—the taste of a rainy Sunday afternoon at Tutu’s house. Brought to Hawaii by Chinese plantation laborers in the mid-1800s, this austere bowl relies entirely on restraint and patience: extracting gelatin from bone-in thighs and maintaining a lazy, rolling simmer. While you can find everything in a standard mainland supermarket today, the method demands care. Keep the simple things simple, and do not skip the noodle soak, unless you want them to stubbornly drink up all that hard-won liquid.
Before you start
Hydrate the mung bean noodles in warm tap water for twenty to thirty minutes.
This softens the noodles so they cook evenly without absorbing all your broth. Once pliable, drain them well and use kitchen shears to cut the bundle in half for easier serving.
Ingredients
- mung bean glass noodles8 oz
- neutral cooking oil1 tbsp
- fresh ginger3 tbsp
- garlic4 med cloves
- bone-in skin-on chicken thighs2 lb
- low-sodium chicken broth6 cup
- kosher salt1 tsp
- shoyu2 tbsp
- white pepper1/2 tsp
- green onions4 med stalks
Method
- 01
Build the aromatic base by sautéing the smashed ginger and garlic in neutral oil until highly fragrant.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil, ginger, and garlic, cooking for 60 to 90 seconds without letting the garlic brown.
- 02
Establish a lazy simmer with the chicken thighs, broth, shoyu, and white pepper.
Bring the liquid just to a bubble over medium-high heat, then immediately drop the heat to low to prevent a hard boil.
- 03
Simmer gently for thirty minutes, skimming the broth to keep it clean.
Cover partially and let it cook, occasionally using a spoon to skim off any gray foam that rises to the surface. A rolling, aggressive boil will emulsify the fat and turn your hard-earned broth cloudy.
- 04
Remove and shred the cooked chicken, discarding the skin and bones.
Transfer the thighs to a cutting board to cool slightly. Use two forks to shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, returning only the meat to the pot.
- 05
Integrate the soaked noodles and finish the dish with fresh green onions.
Simmer the drained noodles in the broth for 5 to 8 minutes until they are entirely translucent. Turn off the heat, stir in the sliced green onions, and serve immediately.
Notes
Ensure you purchase the correct noodles.
Look for cellophane, glass, or bean thread noodles in the Asian aisle made from mung bean starch. Do not substitute with rice vermicelli, which will turn to mush.
This recipe adapts effortlessly to an electric pressure cooker.
Sauté the aromatics, add the chicken and broth, and cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes followed by a natural release. Shred the chicken, then simmer the soaked noodles on the sauté function for 2 minutes.
From Cook Hawaiian in America.