Recipe - Beggars Chicken

3 One half pound Frying chicken
3 Dried lotus leaves
4 pound Wet modeling clay

STUFFING
One half pound Ground pork
2 tablespoon Salted mustard green,
Minced
1 tablespoon Peanut oil
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Fresh ginger root, minced

MIXTURE FOR SKIN
One half teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Medium sherry
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Dark soy sauce

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.

Stuffing: In hot wok, heat peanut oil to smoking. Stirfry ground pork 2
minutes; add mustard green, ginger & sugar; stirfry 1 more minute. Remove
& cool.

Lotus Leaves: Number of leaves depends on their size & that of chicken.
Reduce heat under boiling water to simmer, & steep leaves for 35 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.

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.)

Roasting: Place claycovered chicken on rack in shallow roasting pan in
preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour; reduce heat to 350 degrees & bake for
another 1 One half hours.

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.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini