Name: Beggars Chicken (Hot Yee Gai)
Ingredients: 1 Whole chicken; 3 to 3 1/4 pounds, cleaned, fat and membranes removed; 3 tb 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 ts Salt; 2 1/2 ts Sugar; 1 pn White pepper; 2 ts Peanut oil; 2 1/2 ts Peanut oil; 1 1/2 c Diced onions; 6 Chinese black mushrooms; soaked for 30 minutes in hot water, stems discarded, caps cut into 1/2-inch dice; 1 oz Preserved mustard; washed 3 to 4 times, leaves opened and rinsed, finely sliced; 2 ts Shao-Hsing wine or sherry; 1 ts Sesame oil; 1/2 ts Five-spice seasoning; 1/2 ts Salt; 2 ts Sugar; 1 pn White pepper; 4 c Unbleached flour; 1 3/4 c Hot water; 2 ts Peanut oil; 2 lg Lotus leaves; soaked in hot water for 20 minutes until; Softened; 2 Feet heavy duty foil

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Meats, Grains	Chinese		1	Servings

INGREDIENTS

1		Whole chicken; 3 to 3 1/4 pounds, cleaned, fat and membranes removed
3	tb	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	ts	Salt
2 1/2	ts	Sugar
1	pn	White pepper
2	ts	Peanut oil
2 1/2	ts	Peanut oil
1 1/2	c	Diced onions
6		Chinese black mushrooms; soaked for 30 minutes in hot water, stems discarded, caps cut into 1/2-inch dice
1	oz	Preserved mustard; washed 3 to 4 times, leaves opened and rinsed, finely sliced
2	ts	Shao-Hsing wine or sherry
1	ts	Sesame oil
1/2	ts	Five-spice seasoning
1/2	ts	Salt
2	ts	Sugar
1	pn	White pepper
4	c	Unbleached flour
1 3/4	c	Hot water
2	ts	Peanut oil
2	lg	Lotus leaves; soaked in hot water for 20 minutes until
		Softened
2		Feet heavy duty foil

INSTRUCTIONS

MARINADE
STUFFING
DOUGH
COOKING LIVE SHOW #CL8964
All recipes courtesy of Eileen Yin-Fei 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 1/2 minutes. Add mushrooms and preserved mustard and mix
well. Add wine and mix. Add sesame oil, five-spice 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 1/2 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 eat-lf.v097.n238 by "Tina D. Bell"
<tdbell@altair.csustan.edu> on Sep 19, 1997

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