Fusion Chicken Rice with Roasted Chicken and Bacon

I tweaked and combined a few recipes to come up with this dish; because I wanted to eat everything  from all those dishes. ;)

My son is a rice (and soup) person.  He will ask for rice even when I made chicken cutlet.  Hence, this time, I decided to do a western-style chicken rice.  The rice here was cooked Hainanese Chicken Rice style, but with homemade chicken broth and garlic only. I didn't use pandan leaves as I didn't want a clash of flavours with the western-style chicken.

I usual roast or grill a whole chicken but the breast meat always get 'abandoned'.  So this time, I used boneless chicken thighs instead.  It's is also easier to serve and less messy to eat.

The chicken is a combo of 3 old recipes I have.  It has the Herbs from Grilled Chicken with Herbs,  the Bacon from Roast Chicken with Bacon and the Garlic from Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lemon .

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless Chicken Thighs or Legs, cleaned and pat dry
• 2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
• 2 teaspoon Dried Rosemary
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Dried Parsley
• Rind of 1 whole Lemon
• 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 20 gloves Garlic, skin intact
• 6 to 8 Slices Streaky Bacon
• 150ml Chicken Stock
• 2 tablespoon Sake or any other cooking wine
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper

How to do it:

1. Rub 2/3 of the herbs and lemon rind on all the chicken thighs.
2. Season and rub with salt and pepper.
3. Lay chicken thighs on a baking dish.
4. Place bacon strips over the chicken thighs, covering them.
5. Drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over.
6. Sprinkle the remaining herbs and lemon rind.
7. Scatter the garlic around the baking dish.
8. Pour chicken stock and wine into the dish.
9. Roast in a preheat oven at 200c for 10 -15 mins or till the bacon starts to turn crispy and brown.
10. Remove the bacon and set aside.
11. Continue to roast the chicken for another hour, basting it with juice from the dish occasionally to let the chicken meat absorb the flavours.
12. Do not bast chicken during the last 15 mins of roasting to let the chicken skin become dry and turn crispy.
13. You may want to return the bacon strips back to the chicken to let it heat up for 5 mins.
14. Remove chicken from dish and drain roasting juice from excess oil.
15. Chop chicken into smaller pieces and place bacon together.
16. Drizzle juice over rice if you like.
17. Serve chicken and bacon rice  with the sweet garlic.

Note:

• As different oven works differently, please adjust the timing or temperature accordingly.
• If the chicken is browning too fast, lower the temperature and roast longer.
• Alternatively, you may wish to place a foil tent over the bacon/chicken to prevent them from browning to fast on the top but under-cook inside.