Beggar's Chicken
Recipe
- Title:
- Beggar's Chicken
- Categories:
- Chinese, Poultry
- Yield:
- 4 servings
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 lb Frying chicken
- 4 lb Wet modeling clay
- 3
- Dried lotus leaves
Ingredients
STUFFING
- 1/2 lb Ground pork
- 1 tb Peanut oil
- 2 tb Salted mustard green,
- 1 ts Sugar
- Minced
- 1 ts Fresh ginger root, minced
Directions
- MIXTURE FOR SKIN 1/2 ts Salt 1 ts Sesame oil 1 tb Medium sherry 1 tb Dark soy sauce
Directions
- Prepare Chicken: Trim excess fat from chicken; remove wing tips.
- Mix mixture for skin; rub chicken inside & out with it.
- Leave uncovered at room temperature, while coating is absorbed and dried.
- Repeat if necessary.
Directions
- Stuffing: In hot wok, heat peanut oil to smoking.
- Stir-fry ground pork 2 minutes; add mustard green, ginger & sugar; stir-fry 1 more minute.
- Remove & cool.
Directions
- Lotus Leaves: Number of leaves depends on their size & that of chicken.
- Reduce heat under boiling water to simmer, & steep leaves for 3-5 minutes, until wet through & pliable (no longer or leaves may shred).
- Now soak in cold water for 10 minutes, or longer, until time to use them; open folded leaves in cold water to wash them.
Directions
- Wrap Chicken: Preheat oven to 550 degrees.
- Stuff chicken with pork mixture.
- Cut hard center out of lotus leaves, then slit along fold about 3" on each side of center, so cut away center can be overlapped.
- Wrap chicken in 3 layers of lotus leaves.
- Tie securely with piece of cotton or fiber string (don't use nylon; it might melt).
- Spread soft, wet modeling clay about 1/2" thick on sheet of newspaper.
- Bring clay pack around chicken & seal.
- Remove newspaper.
- (Use foil if clay unavailable.)
Directions
- Roasting: Place clay-covered chicken on rack in shallow roasting pan in preheated oven.
- Bake for 1 hour; reduce heat to 350 degrees & bake for another 1 1/2 hours.
Directions
- Serve: Present fired clay chicken to table.
- Crack clay with suitable object, allowing some of steam to escape before you proceed.
- Remove clay; carefully cut open lotus leaves with scissors.
- Chicken will be very soft & tender; break apart to get at stuffing.
- Serve guests, or invite them to pick with chopsticks.
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