It's turning out to be thermal week for Takoyaki, who enjoys having some hot soupy or saucy meal (she's really very afraid of cold, unlike me) when she has a long recess period at school. Seems the queues are super long on combined recess days, so she's glad to be able to just sit down and start wolfing food down while her friends are queueing up to buy food d:P
This Herbal Chicken is not Chicken Soup, which comes with lots of... soup. This is a chicken double-boiled or steamed with only the chicken's juices and some Shaoxing wine so it's really thick and flavourful.
When I first started cooking Herbal Chicken, I bought a packet of spices usually called Emperor Chicken Spices 帝皇鸡. But these packets of spices (across the brands) all contain MSG, and I always felt rather guilty using them for my family. After all, it's home-cooked food so there really should be as few additives as possible, right?
Then one day my Chinese cuisine sifu (master) served up her own version of Herbal Chicken and told me that that delicious dish was NOT made with those spice packets. Instead, she used commonly found herb packets for herbal chicken soup, except instead of following the instructions and using enough water to cover the chicken, she only added a little bit of water and wine to achieve the same result as the double-boiled dish. And to my conundrum, there the solution was.
Recipe for Herbal Chicken 药材鸡
Ingredients:
One whole chicken about 1.3-1.5kg (I always buy Sakura)
Two packets of 炖鸡汤料 dun ji tang liao (Stewed Herbal Chicken Soup), whichever brand you like
Extra goji berries (optional)
Half to one cup of Shaoxing wine
Half cup water
Half teaspoon salt
Method:
Wash the chicken well, pat dry if you wish (I don't) and rub all over with salt.
Place chicken feet and neck (if you like them) in bottom of Dutch oven big enough to hold chicken with some extra space.
Place chicken on top of feet and neck. The makeshift "rack" made up of feet and neck help prevent the chicken from sticking to the pot and potentially burning.
Rinse all the herbs (it says so on the packet - Wash before using), drain well and scatter all over the chook. Stuff a few inside the cavity. Add extra goji berries if you have them and like them.
Pour water and wine over, put the lid on and cook on low heat.
Set timer for one hour.
After one hour, remove the lid and gently poke the chicken meat with a fork. It should be almost falling off the bone or at least, shred very easily. If not, replace lid and cook an extra 15 min.
Serve hot with rice.
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