Fragrant Thai-Style Chicken Rice By Hawker Who Runs Stall Solo Despite Hand Tremors

It’s not even 9am on a Tuesday morning and things are already getting busy for Johor-born hawker May Lee, 50, at Thailand Chicken Rice, her two-year-old stall at the basement of Golden Mile Food Centre. The lady boss is rushing to pack a couple of big orders as a steady stream of customers come to tapow her Thai-style Hainanese chicken rice. She toggles between cooking rice, chopping and packing chicken, and we notice her hands shaking quite badly as she goes about her tasks efficiently.

Mays says she suffers from hand tremors due to a kidney-related condition she’s born with. She tells us it’s worsening with age, but in spite of this, she works fast and reassures us that customers do not have to wait more than three minutes for their food, not even during peak hours.

“The only problem is, I always scald my hand when serving customers their [bowls of] soup. But they really sayang me. Sometimes when they see my hands trembling, they will help me to pack the food into the plastic bag or buy me coffee. They are very friendly,” she says with a smile. She doesn't have a stall assistant as she can still manage on her own. Cost, she says, is also an issue.

When we urge her to get her condition checked, she says: “Medical bills are very expensive for Malaysians. I did go for acupuncture, but I don’t even have enough time to sleep — where to find time to see a doctor?”

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Used to sell Hainanese chicken rice in Bangkok

May’s hawker life began when she was in her late teens. She learned the tricks of the chicken rice trade from her shifu when she came to Singapore in the ’90s. He ran a few kopitiam stalls here, and when he relocated to Bangkok to start a Hainanese chicken rice business in the late '90s, she tagged along.

She returned after a three-year stint equipped with Thai conversational skills and became a homemaker for many years, raising her daughter. Due to some personal upheavals that May, who lives alone with her daughter and prefers not to discuss the rest of her family on record experienced, she decided to strike out on her own and opened Thailand Chicken Rice in 2020, just before the pandemic spread like wildfire.

“It was very tough initially. When I first started, I only sold around four chickens a day (compared to 20 now). When people see that I’m selling Thai-style Hainanese chicken rice, they don’t dare to try it. But it’s actually very similar to our local chicken rice,” she says.

Starts her day at 2am

Despite her condition, May runs the stall single handedly, from cooking to food prep and even cleaning the dishes. As her 14-year-old daughter suffers from dizzy spells — a condition she’s had since young — May gets up at 2am every day to prepare breakfast and lunch for her before heading to the stall at 5am.

As business at the popular food centre is fiercely competitive, May opens her shop at 7am to “get some extra business”. “My stall isn’t very popular, so I have to open early. If there is nothing to eat during breakfast, people might try my chicken rice. I can sell about four or five plates of chicken rice in the morning,” she explains.

This also allows her to end the day earlier — usually around 6pm — so she can make it home for dinner with her daughter. “My daughter always complains that I do not spend enough time with her, but I’m so tired after work that sometimes I just want to go to bed at 7pm,” she laughs. May only takes a day off every couple of months, usually when the food centre is closed for cleaning.

 

We ask if her daughter helps out at the stall on weekends or during the school holidays. “Aiyoh, what if she faints? It’s better that she stays home. At least she can lie down and rest,” says May.

“Which is just as well,” she adds, “so she can stay home and study.” The proud mama tells us that her daughter, who’s in secondary two, is very hardworking and one of the top students of her class. “She’s in CHIJ Katong Convent. I am very lucky to have such a well-behaved daughter,” she beams.

Thai vs Singaporean chicken rice

The Hainanese are believed to have brought the famed rice dish to many parts of Southeast Asia where it is adapted to suit local palates. According to May, Hainanese chicken rice in Thailand and Singapore are basically the same thing — poached or roasted chicken served with rice, clear broth, and a trio of sauces: ginger paste, dark soy sauce, and chilli.

The main difference is in the chilli. Instead of a tangy red chilli sauce, the Thais pair their chicken rice with a pungent chilli dip made with tau cheo (fermented soy bean), coriander, and the usual suspects of chilli padi, ginger, garlic, and chicken stock. However, May has omitted tau cheo from her chilli here as “not everyone likes it”. She also uses the juice of green lemons, instead of lime, as she thinks it’s more tart and fragrant. The result is a potent, zesty chilli which reminds us of nam jim, a colourful Thai dipping sauce often paired with seafood.

Customers have asked to buy her chilli sauce, but May refuses to sell it. “I will just give it to them. I don’t add preservatives in the sauce, what if it goes bad when they keep it for too long? I don’t want to get in trouble,” she reasons.

Her chicken rice is prepared using the same recipe as the one she sold in Bangkok. Prices start at $3.50 for a single portion serving, which comes with chicken, rice, chilli, and chicken soup. You can add sides like braised egg, chicken gizzard or liver for 50 cents. A half chicken portion is $10, while the whole chook is a reasonable $20 (for a smallish bird).

May says her business has improved the past few weeks thanks to fellow hawkers and customers who have been spreading the word about her stall on Facebook food groups.

“I don’t know how to set up social media accounts for my stall, so it is all through word of mouth. I am very grateful to them. I used to sell four chickens a day but now I can sell about 20 to 30. I don’t prepare a lot ’cos I’m afraid I can’t manage. I will close early when it’s sold out,” she says happily.

Poached Chicken Rice, $3.50; $10 for half chicken & $20 whole

It’s no wonder May has her loyal supporters. Her poached chicken is succulent and well-cooked. The chook is blanched in chicken stock for around 30 minutes, then submerged in an ice bath to lock in the juices. This results in silky, tender chicken with a nice layer of gelatin on the underside of the skin. Before serving, the meat is liberally drizzled with a light soy sauce and sesame oil dressing, then sprinkled with crispy deep-fried garlic bits.

May got the idea of adding garlic to the dish when she worked at a Chinese restaurant when the food centre was shut for renovation last year. “I love garlic, so when I saw the cooks adding it to dishes, I decided to copy them,” she laughs. Best decision ever. The garlic bits are a game changer, adding punch and crunch to the chicken.

The rice

The fragrant rice that accompanies the chicken is darker hued than most. It is fluffy, not too oily and very flavourful. The secret is in the garlic, which May browns to a deep golden colour before frying with minced ginger and shallots. Thai jasmine grains are then added and steamed with chicken stock, lemongrass and fresh pandan leaves. It’s so tasty we can eat it on its own with the garlic bits.

The chilli

The chilli is super shiok too. The flavours are piquant and sharp, and sure to kick your taste buds into high gear. We also love the chunks of ginger and garlic which add a different dimension to the dish.

Like everything else at her stall, May makes her chilli from scratch every day. “It can last for three days but I prefer to make a fresh batch daily. I bring the leftovers home to steam with fish, prawns and even pork belly. It tastes really good,” she says.

While the Thais also lace their chicken rice with dark soy sauce and ginger dip, May doesn’t offer the latter simply because she doesn’t have time to make it.

Roast chicken

The deeply brown roast chicken is the more popular of the two varieties at the stall. May sells around 15 roast chickens daily, and only five poached ones. She tells us the bird is quickly marinated in a mixture of maltose, honey, five spice powder, and star anise, before being deep-fried (yes, “roast” is a misnomer here) . Perhaps it’s because the chicken was sitting out on the plate for an hour during our photo shoot, but by the time we ate it, the breast meat, though tender, was a little on the dry side. Overall, it’s still a flavourful plate of chicken rice.

Bottom line

Despite its Thai branding, May’s Hainanese chicken rice is a lot like our local version, aside from the chilli sauce reminiscent of the zingy Thai dip, nam jim. But that’s not a bad thing, since almost everything about the dish here is done right — from the perfume-y rice, tender chicken (go for the juicier poached bird over the roast one) strewn with crispy fried garlic, to the addictive chilli. Pity the lovely, spicy sauce is not sold separately.

The details

Thailand Chicken Rice is at #B1-39 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Rd, S199583. Tel: 93871217. Open daily from 7am till sold out.

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Photos: Alvin Teo