Friday, July 9, 2010

Hainanese Chicken Chop 海南雞扒




No you won't get this on Hainan Island, in fact you won't get it outside of Malaysia and Singapore as this is a British colonial legacy shared by both our countries. A dish created by the Hainanese who worked for English households using tomato ketchup, worcester sauce, potato chips and peas. It is still served at most remaining Hainanese owned coffee shops in Malaysia and Singapore these days. I got this recipe from a childhood friend's father who used to work for an English household; he still owns a coffee shop in Cameron Highlands and you bet this is on the menu. To read more about the Hainanese in my hometown, click on Hainanese beef balls in tomato sauce.

There are many versions of this wonderful dish but I am always partial to this one from my hometown. Do you have a different version to share?

Update 3/10/12 - to check out the equally if not more popular version with pork, click here.



serves 4 as part of a Malaysian or Chinese meal
you'll need;
2 chicken breasts, butterflied (pork is commonly used too)
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1/2 cup of peas
1 onion, sliced
3 cm piece of ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
breadcrumbs or biscuits crumbs
dash of light soy*
dash of white pepper*
dash of sesame oil*
1 egg, beaten*
marinate chicken with ingredients marked * for 15 minutes.

for the sauce mixture;
5 tbs of tomato ketchup
2 tbs of HP sauce
1 tbs of worcestershire sauce
2 tbs of oyster sauce
2 tbs of sugar
dash of white pepper
1/2 cup of water or stock
mix all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
corn flour solution


Butterfly chicken breast and flatten with a mallet to give it a uniform thickness. Marinate then coat with breadcrumbs or biscuit crumbs.


Fry crumbed chicken til golden. Drain, rest and cut into bite size pieces.



Fry potato wedges til golden. Drain and set aside.



Saute chopped garlic and ginger til fragrant then add in the onion. Fry for a minute to soften then add in the sauce mixture and cook for another minute.



Add pea and tomato wedges and cook for a further minute. Thicken with a little corn flour solution and check for seasonings.



Place chicken slices and fried potato chips in a shallow bowl.



Pour the sauce over and serve immediately as part of a Chinese meal.



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37 comments:

  1. I am a Hainanese and this has always been my favourite - but I grew up with pork chop not chicken chop. Wow, you use a basin to fry your stuff, how cool! Just like the pro at the coffee shop! (compliment) hahaha..

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  2. I only know Hainanese chicken rice. This addition of another Hainanese dish is most welcoming...looks delicious...mmm.

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  3. Oh you are cooking all my favourite food and I am feeling really homesick now :( My grandfather used to take me to have this at his favourite coffee shop! I prefer pork chop though hehe

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  4. It is almost 1am but I will be very happy to help you with that plate! We tries the meat balls before so will sure to try this soon!

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  5. Your dish reminds me of what we normally had when we stopped by rest houses enroute to KL, long, long ago! We still get this chop in the clubs but they've renamed it 'Chicken chop Oriental Style'.

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  6. This is also my favorite too! There are 2 streets at Beach Road where most Hainanese opened small restaurants there selling popular Hainanese chicken rice and pork chop even curry fish head.

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  7. pasti menu ni akan masuk list..satu menu baru ni.Terima kasih kerana sudi berkongsi resepi yang begitu menarik dan unik

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  8. Wowwwww, cant take my eyes from the click, very tempting dish..

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  9. Un plato expectacular, debe de estar buenísimo.
    Gracias por compartir.

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  10. I think I can get all the listed ingredients for the recipe....must give it a try!
    Looks irresistible!
    Angie

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  11. This sounds so interesting. I'll have no problem getting the ingredients here. They sell HP in our grocer. We have a lot of English that has relocated and now live in Sarasota. I'll have to try it.

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  12. That looks fabulous. I am doing a double take at the amount of oil though..When one is on the wrong side of 30 it matters. :(. But my heart desires for that plate of goodness.

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  13. The chicken alone looks amazing to me! A great dish!

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  14. Crispy, tender chicken with tomato is a awesome combo! Thanks for the recipe as always :)

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  15. This is a new dish to me...I think I will make this for my Malaysian friends to surprise them :) Looks very delicious. Is HP short for something?

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  16. i miss chinese food already.. and this blog made it worst

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  17. Really enjoying your Malaysian week buddy! They are a creative bunch indeed, using all the "English ingredients" and come out for such a wonderful dish! Plenty of eggs if you want to come and collect some.

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  18. Shirley,
    Oh I hope this will pass the test ;) We often use pork too. That is actually not a basin but a frying pan, the handle is out of frame lol

    MaryMoh ,
    Oh you must try this :)

    KL girl in MELB ,
    Thank you! I am glad the post are making you homesick lol Get some pork and make some this weekend!

    love to eat,
    Haha love to share it with you! Please do!

    Cheah,
    Oh they have changed the name? I actually made a Hong Kong dish with beef and it is called Chinese style beef steak, the sauce is very similar. I will post that soon.

    Anncoo,
    Oh I must get the address from you when I visit Singapore next. I lived on Beach Road for many years, shame I didn't explore the area better.

    makcikmanggis,
    Terima kasih makcik.. ni pasti sesuai buat boss besar and kecil :)

    Priya ,
    Thank you very much!

    kesito,
    Gracious! :)

    Angie,
    Thank you very much! Please do if you are able to get the ingredients :)

    Lyndsey ,
    Thank you! Please try and I hope you will like it!

    tigerfish ,
    Thank you very much!

    Cool Lassi(e) ,
    Oh Just drain well dear lol Have a walk after eating!

    Me, Myself and Pie ,
    Thank you very much! :)

    the lacquer spoon ,
    Thank you very much!

    shanshan s,
    Thank you! I hope they will like it! HP stands for Parliament House.

    Made2Order,
    Oh I hope you will cook some Chinese food soon!

    fitzboy ,
    Thanks buddy! I hope you will give it a try! I will give you a buzz before coming over. Thank you!

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  19. Very interesting dish! I am really loving all this new dishes you are serving up each day!

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  20. 這我沒聽過呀! 我老爺一定會喜歡的一道菜!

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  21. I like it. The sauce you made is almost the same as what grandma used to make. YUM!

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  22. hmm can't remember having this, think I'm blinded by Hainanese chicken rice. Looks so good!

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  23. I've never seen this dish before but after reading your recipe I can see whay it became a favorite to so many. It looks delicious. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  24. My borther and I LOVED this dish when we were kids. We used to go to a coffee shop in Rawang that served it :) Thanks for the memories.

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  25. This dish looks incredible. Since it's hard to get, I really appreciate you sharing the recipe. I will have to give it a try.

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  26. I remember eating this dish at an old coffee shop near Jalan Masjid India in KL. It has been a long while. It brought memories of us going there after church on Sunday. The coffee shop sell nice butter cake too :)

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  27. omg! i have finally found a cooking site with great selection of Asian recipes!!! I just started cooking recently, and man! it is not easy. All your recipes look "makeable." Thank you for all the wonderful ideas! i am sure my husband will thank you too. :D

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  28. God bless you 3 Hungry Tummies! This recipe is awesome. This Malaysian living abroad with a huge appetite is coming back to your site for more recipes!

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  29. Thank you most sincerely for sharing this recipe. My family, we have migrated to Australia and we miss all those yummy food in those yester-years, known only by Malaysians. Dad used to bring us to Fraser's Hill for family holidays in the 1970s and 1980s. There are lots of old colonial bungalows there that are hosted by Hainanese caretakers, who were particularly good at cooking this dish. We also frequent Colliseum Restaurant in KL, also run by Hainanese for generations and this is one of their signature dishes. Imagine my delight, stumbling upon this blog and this recipe! Priceless! And the sauce was fantastic, although I did reduce the sugar to only a 1/4 portion. I cooked this for my dad last weekend and I swear, he was misty eyed at the first bite. He cleared his plate and had 4 pieces of toasts to lap up all that lovely sauce! Thank you again for sharing. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the lovely comment...I am so glad it turned out nicely for you :)
      We used to go to the collisuem too!
      Good luck with the wat dan hor :)

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  30. Hi,
    Thanks for sharing the lovely dish above, really brings back a lot of good memories of Hainanese Food.
    I wonder if you have the Hainanese version of Butter Cake, been searching high and low but have not been successful. Would love to hear from you.
    Thanks again for sharing this site, awesome!
    ivy

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  31. Thanks Ivy,
    I will have to check with my aunt, I do remember baking such cake when I was little

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  32. Hi,
    Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe. Even my daughter who is a fussy eater loves it :)

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  33. hello! thanks so much for sharing this. i hv fond memories of cameron highlands where i used to holiday at this bungalow and the chef was hainanese. he made the best chicken chops ever! I don't know where he is now and have been trying to track him down. does your friend whose dad is in CH happen to have the surname Goh? I'm definitely going to try making this, for old time's sake!

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  34. Very happy to discover your blog.
    Its amazing. Keep it up.

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