Cook your own begger chicken
Ingredients:
1 large chicken (at least 2kg)
2 cups filling
1 quantity salt dough
Baking parchment
1 cup Chinese white wine (fen jiu) or any aromatic cooking
wine
4 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp five-spice powder
1 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar
Method:
1. Combine ingredients for marinade into a bowl. Mix well. Rub
chicken inside and out with the marinade. Put in large zip-lock bag
or covered casserole and turn over occasionally. Leave for at least
an hour, or overnight.
2. Stuff chicken with filling. Close cavity with metal or bamboo
skewers.
3. Place bird on top of baking parchment and wrap tightly. (You may
want to staple the opening shut.)
4. Roll out salt dough and wrap over chicken parcel. Pat dough down
and prick with a fork to eliminate air pockets. Decorate with
sprigs of coriander if you like.
5. Bake in hot pre-heated 220 deg C oven for 45 minutes. Turn oven
down to 180 deg C and continue cooking for another hour. Bring to
table, break open crust and serve.
Begger Chicken Filling
Ingredients:
1 carrot, diced
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, finely sliced
100g salted vegetable ´óÍ·²Ë, sliced fine (see Ingredients)
200g belly pork, finely sliced
1 tbsp chopped back bacon
1 brown onion, sliced very thinly
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp Chinese wine
Sesame oil, light soy sauce to taste
Method:
1. Fry the chopped bacon and belly pork in a hot wok until oil has
rendered.
2. Add minced ginger and brown onion slices. Fry till fragrant. Add
mushrooms and salted vegetables next.
3. Add diced carrot and sesame oil, light soy sauce and Chinese
wine and cook till filling gives off a pleasant aroma.
4. Take filling off fire and allow to cool completely before
stuffing the chicken.
Note:
If you cannot find the salted vegetable, substitute with shredded
cabbage.
Salted Dough
Ingredients:
1kg all purpose flour
200g rough salt or sea salt
Enough water to mix a firm dough.
Method:
1. Place plain flour in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the salt.
2. Make a depression in the middle of the flour and slowly mix in
the flour. (You can use the dough hook in your mixer if you
want.)
3. When the flour, salt and water mixture clumps and forms a dough,
it¡¯s ready.
4. Turn out the dough onto a floured board and knead with well
floured hands. When the dough feels elastic and is no longer too
sticky, roll it out into a large rectangle.
5. Place wrapped chicken over dough and bring up the sides of the
dough to the TOP of the chicken. If you tuck dough ends UNDER
chicken, you¡¯ll lose all the juices when you break open the
chicken and serve. Remember to quickly spoon the pan juices
out.
