Coconut Hotpot in the Tropics

You may know Hainan chicken rice, but have you heard of 椰子鸡火锅 (yēzǐjī huǒguō), Hainan coconut chicken hotpot? From the largest tropical island in China, Hainan’s local hotpot is a refreshing playground for the region’s revered Wenchang chickens and the fresh coconut water and meat it cooks in.

Elsewhere, you can find mala beef tallow broths and heavy garlic-sesame dips that flood the heart as much as the stomach with rich, sweat-inducing spice. Such is the hotpot that swaddles (sometimes smothers) you in a heavy, intoxicating food coma on a cold winter’s night. In Hainan, you’ll find instead a clean, sippable golden broth—minimal where mala is maximal—perfectly accented by tart, citrus-splashed soy sauce.

If you’ve eaten in southwest China during the summer, you may be familiar with the locals’ ceaseless warm-weather hotpot habit. There’s a saying that eating spicy hotpot in the hot, humid summers helps alleviate dampness through chili-fueled sweat. Of course, it all somehow feels less hot out when you’re burning up inside. But Hainan coconut chicken hotpot just proves Chinese people love hotpot in the summer regardless, since it’s not spicy at all.

It is the hotpot antithesis of Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot. And the best part: It’s stupid easy.

Sourcing Ingredients Outside Hainan

I once spent hours (north of 4-5) making a non-spicy broth from scratch for my last hotpot party. Then, I watched it disappear all the same as a packaged broth base. After that, I decided I’d never do it again. By comparison, the hardest prep for this soup involved cracking open four coconuts and pouring in a liter of store-bought pure coconut water to top things off.

On coconuts:

The secret of Hainan cooks is using a mix of at least two young Thai coconuts and one mature local coconut. The young coconuts produce more water. Older coconuts provide thicker, tastier meat and flavor. Thai coconuts are favored for their sweetness; Hainan coconuts for their freshness. The coconut water makes up at least 50% and as much as 100% of the whole hotpot broth, with the remaining portion constituting a rich chicken stock. Those who don’t prefer sweet soup can split the broth 50/50.

In the U.S., you can find young and mature Thai coconuts easily at large supermarkets. The young coconuts are commonly dehusked, with a white shell; mature coconuts are always dehusked, with a hairy shell. For practicality, I also tested bottled, sugar-free, preservative-free, and GMO-free 100% pure young Thai coconut water.

You may have luck finding purer product in paper packaging (see photo above) rather than export-friendly cans. Cans are often heat-treated more aggressively to maximize shelf life (learned this from Pailin at Hot Thai Kitchen years ago!). However, the most important factor is single-ingredient coconut water—especially if your broth ratio of coconut water is higher. Bad, packaged coconut water with preservatives will be very obvious.

Harmless Harvest’s raw cold-pressed coconut water is tasty, but its naturally pink color won’t suit a clean hotpot broth. C2O and Amy & Brian are reliable alternatives distributed nationwide. The regional brand I used, Bogopa, is a family-owned distributor that runs Food Bazaars in NY, NJ and CT (founded by a Korean immigrant in Queens by way of Argentina!).

If you cannot find sugar-free, preservative-free, GMO-free, 100% pure young Thai coconut water, you’re better off sticking with real coconuts.

On chicken:

Hainan’s Wenchang chicken is known for “thin skin, tender meat, and a markedly sweet flavor that comes from the coconut and other tropical fruits added to its feed.” I’ve also heard it from more than one Singaporean (where Hainan chicken rice was made famous) that Hainan chicken should have a meaty bite. This is counter to the super-soft give of many a Stateside Hainan chicken rice. This is likely due to Wenchang being a free-roaming chicken, firmer than economy chicken, and why Hainanese chicken is poached and almost never boiled (to help retain juiciness). Every household has their own method—this blog features a good overview on the many practices of Wenchang chicken.

To get a nice chicken that will also hold up to hotpot cooking elsewhere in the world, your best bet is selecting organic, Animal Welfare Approved/”pasture-raised” chicken (or as close to it as possible—apparently this is less restrictive than the U.S.’s “cage-free” or “free-range” labeling).

A whole bird is useful for brewing up the good stock in advance, if you want a savory coconut-chicken stock mix. A close friend born in Hainan, whom by chance shared this hotpot with me, said her own mother’s broth was more strongly chicken stock. If you want to save yourself the trouble of butchering for a simple coconut water-forward broth, you can buy organic, pastured, bone-in, skin-on chicken legs and breasts. Then, preferably add a real (not boxed) chicken stock to top off, if desired.

On dipping sauce:

As any Hainan chicken rice connoisseur may know, the dipping sauce is as important as—sometimes more important than—the chicken. The local method submerges fresh 小米辣 (xiǎomǐlà) chilies and fresh sand ginger with a squeeze of calamansi juice in soy sauce. By preference, there are cilantro leaves to top, and sometimes garlic. The camphor-y, peppery aromatic sand ginger and sour, sweet calamansi set these flavors apart.

Of these four must-have sauce ingredients, everything but the high-quality dipping soy sauce is a tough find in the States. There are a few redeeming workarounds: fresh (or pickled) Thai bird’s eye chilies, my family’s usual replacement for fresh xiaomila; dried sand ginger, which could be soaked in the sauce (or ground, if you prefer); and key lime, still fragrant but more acidic and less sweet than calamansi, its cousin (both citrus are native to southeast Asia). Key lime is known as 酸柑 (suāngān) in China, and dayap in the Philippines.

Tips for Hosting a Hainan Hotpot Party

The Mala Market’s new gold hotpot is the perfect vessel for a 4-5 person affair. Hainan coconut chicken hotpot is also the perfect cooling 阴 (yīn) to mala’s warming 阳 (yáng). Pair this recipe with a packaged or DIY mala broth in The Mala Market’s gorgeous heavy-gauge, tri-ply magnetic steel yinyang pots for your next hotpot party and see for yourself. These large stainless steel yinyang pots serve 6 people easily.

If you don’t have a special hotpot, the next best options are a heat-keeping 砂锅 (shāguō) claypot or dutch oven! Using whatever you have at home is an especially good options for smaller gatherings. This way, you can control the size of the pot (and, therefore, cooking portions).

For bonus points, you can even make 椰子饭 (yēzǐfàn), sticky rice steamed in the leftover coconut shells.

For more DIY hotpot broth recipes, see Taylor’s from-scratch Sichuan beef tallow hotpot broth and Michelle Zhou (@nosweetsour)’s Yunnan mushroom hotpot broth! Or, consider my recipe for at-home Sichuan Malatang: DIY Personal Hotpot.