Steamed ginger chicken with black beans

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
Stephen Ceideburg
1 Frying chicken
2 teaspoons Ginger juice, or minced ginger
2 teaspoons Sugar
¾ teaspoon Salt
3½ tablespoon Cornstarch
4 teaspoons Sesame oil
2½ tablespoon Soy sauce
2 tablespoons Sherry
¼ cup Salted fermented black beans
1 Clove garlic

Directions

Chop the chicken, bones and all, into Chinese serving pieces--about an inch and a half. Use a juicer to get the 2 teaspoons of ginger juice. You can just mince it, but there will be a subtle difference.

Put the chicken into a big bowl and sprinkle with the ginger juice or minced ginger. Combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, sesame oil, soy sauce and booze in another bowl. Blend it to a smooth paste. Rinse the black beans in a strainer until visible salt is gone. Drain and mince finely along with the garlic. Add to the seasoning paste and mix well. Add all this to the chicken and mix to coat thoroughly.

At this point, I put the chicken on two 8 inch pie plates and put each plate into a steamer compartment on my aluminum steamer. If you don't have one you can improvise using a large pot and a low-sided dish held just above the water by an inverted dish or whatever. The idea is to allow the steam to circulate around the chicken while keeping the boiling water from splashing into the dish holding the it. Start the water boiling and place the plate onto the inverted dish in the large pot. Cover tightly and steam for 25 to 30 minutes--a little longer if you like your chicken well done. The water should be boiling just enough to produce steam. When you're handling the dish, BE CAREFUL. Steam burns are no fun.

This makes enough for four served with rice. (And there won't be any leftovers.) I serve it with steamed rice, a bowl of chopped up green onions, and small dishes of hot mustard, hoisin sauce and Vietnamese chili dip. I usually put out small dishes of Chinkiang vinegar and spiced salt as well. Dip a piece of chicken into the sauce of your choice and then into the green onions and enjoy! The taste is rich and subtle, the chicken succulent and steamy. The green onions and dips serve as a counterpoint the richness.

It's one of the few Chinese dishes I know that I can serve to someone who "doesn't like Chinese food" with no problems. It's a quick and easy dish once you get it down. The fermented black beans, hoisin sauce, fresh ginger and sesame oil are fairly specialized, but any good Oriental market and many supermarkets will carry them. All will keep for a long time in the fridge. The sesame oil is the dark, cooked Oriental variety, not the health store variety. The latter won't work. While you're in the Chinese market, pick up a can of preserved tea melons or sweet mixed pickles. They're an excellent accompa- niment. Water melon pickles or chutneys also go well with it. One hint--don't let the chicken sit in the bean sauce mixture too long. It's not a marinade and will become overpowering if left too long.

From "The Step-by-Step Chinese Cookbook" by Georges Spunt. Thomas Y.

Crowell Company, New York. 1973.

Submitted By JOAN MERSHON On 11-05-94

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