Recipe - Beggars Chicken (Hot Yee Gai)

1 Whole chicken; 3 to 3 1/4
pounds, cleaned, fat and
membranes removed

MARINADE
3 tablespoon 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
2 One half teaspoon Sugar
1 pn White pepper
2 teaspoon Peanut oil

STUFFING
2 One half teaspoon Peanut oil
1 One half cup Diced onions
6 Chinese black mushrooms;
soaked for 30 minutes in
hot water, stems discarded,
caps cut into 1/2inch dice
1 ounce Preserved mustard; washed 3
to 4 times, leaves opened
and rinsed, finely cut or sliced up
2 teaspoon ShaoHsing wine or sherry
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
One half teaspoon Fivespice seasoning
One half teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoon Sugar
1 pn White pepper

DOUGH
4 cup Unbleached flour
1 Three fourths cup Hot water
2 teaspoon Peanut oil
2 lg Lotus leaves; soaked in hot
water for 20 minutes until
Softened
2 Feet heavy duty foil

COOKING LIVE SHOW #CL8964

All recipes courtesy of Eileen YinFei 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 1 One half minutes. Add mushrooms and preserved mustard and mix
well. Add wine and mix. Add sesame oil, fivespice 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 One half 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 eatlf.v097.n238 by "Tina D. Bell"
tdbell@altair.csustan.edu on Sep 19, 1997