Beggars chicken (hot yee gai)

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Whole chicken; 3 to 3 1/4 pounds, cleaned, fat and membranes removed
3 tablespoons Whiskey or spirits (Ng Ga Pei, a bottled potent grain spirit from China)
1 Cinnamon stick; broken into 4 pieces
2 Pieces of star anise
1 teaspoon Salt
2½ teaspoon Sugar
1 pinch White pepper
2 teaspoons Peanut oil
2½ teaspoon Peanut oil
1½ cup Diced onions
6 Chinese black mushrooms; soaked for 30 minutes in hot water, stems discarded, caps cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 ounce Preserved mustard; washed 3 to 4 times, leaves opened and rinsed, finely sliced
2 teaspoons Shao-Hsing wine or sherry
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
½ teaspoon Five-spice seasoning
½ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Sugar
1 pinch White pepper
4 cups Unbleached flour
1¾ cup Hot water
2 teaspoons Peanut oil
2 larges Lotus leaves; soaked in hot water for 20 minutes until
Softened
2 Feet heavy duty foil

Directions

MARINADE

STUFFING

DOUGH

COOKING LIVE SHOW #CL8964

All recipes courtesy of Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, The Chinese Way To prepare the chicken, combine marinade ingredients and rub outside and inside of the chicken with it. Place in a dish and set aside.

To prepare stuffing, heat wok over high heat for 30 seconds. Add peanut oil and coat wok. When a wisp of white smoke appears, add onions and cook until soft, about 1½ minutes. Add mushrooms and preserved mustard and mix well. Add wine and mix. Add sesame oil, five-spice seasoning, salt, sugar, and pepper and stir to mix well. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.

To prepare dough, place flour on a work surface and make a well in the center. Add hot water slowly with one hand, mix with the other. When water is absorbed, knead until a dough forms. Coat your hands with peanut oil and rub dough, with some pressure, to coat it. Rub hands over work surface as well. Flatten the dough until it is large enough to wrap the chicken.

Stuff the chicken with the prepared stuffing, packing it loosely in the cavity. Close neck and tail openings with skewers. Wrap the chicken completely in the lotus leaves, overlapping if necessary. Place wrapped chicken in center of flattened dough and wrap the chicken, sealing the edges with the fingers. Spread out the foil and place the chicken on it, breast side up. Fold foil around the chicken, closing it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Place chicken in a roasting pan and bake for 3 ½ hours at 325 degrees. Remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes. Remove foil, cut the hardened dough with kitchen shears and peel it back, cut lotus leaves and peel away, cut chicken skin and peel that back. The chicken is soft, falls away from the bone, and is best served by scooping the meat and the stuffing together to serve.

Yield: 6 servings

Per Serving: 102 calories, 2.3 grams of fat, 20 percent calories from fat, 33 mg cholesterol, 622 mg sodium Posted to Digest eat-lf.v097.n238 by "Tina D. Bell" <tdbell@...> on Sep 19, 1997

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