Steamed Ginger Chicken with Black Beans

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Chop the chicken, bones and all, into Chinese serving pieces--about an inch
and a half. Use a juicer to get the 2 teaspoons of ginger juice. You can
just mince it, but there will be a subtle difference. Put the chicken into
a big bowl and sprinkle with the ginger juice or minced ginger. Combine
sugar, salt, cornstarch, sesame oil, soy sauce and booze in another bowl.
Blend it to a smooth paste. Rinse the black beans in a strainer until
visible salt is gone. Drain and mince finely along with the garlic. Add to
the seasoning paste and mix well. Add all this to the chicken and mix to
coat thoroughly.
At this point, I put the chicken on two 8 inch pie plates and put each
plate into a steamer compartment on my aluminum steamer. If you don't have
one you can improvise using a large pot and a low-sided dish held just
above the water by an inverted dish or whatever. The idea is to allow the
steam to circulate around the chicken while keeping the boiling water from
splashing into the dish holding the it. Start the water boiling and place
the plate onto the inverted dish in the large pot. Cover tightly and steam
for 25 to 30 minutes--a little longer if you like your chicken well done.
The water should be boiling just enough to produce steam. When you're
handling the dish, BE CAREFUL. Steam burns are no fun.
This makes enough for four served with rice. (And there won't be any
leftovers.) I serve it with steamed rice, a bowl of chopped up green
onions, and small dishes of hot mustard, hoisin sauce and Vietnamese chili
dip. I usually put out small dishes of Chinkiang vinegar and spiced salt as
well. Dip a piece of chicken into the sauce of your choice and then into
the green onions and enjoy! The taste is rich and subtle, the chicken
succulent and steamy. The green onions and dips serve as a counterpoint the
richness.
It's one of the few Chinese dishes I know that I can serve to someone who
"doesn't like Chinese food" with no problems. It's a quick and easy dish
once you get it down. The fermented black beans, hoisin sauce, fresh ginger
and sesame oil are fairly specialized, but any good Oriental market and
many supermarkets will carry them. All will keep for a long time in the
fridge. The sesame oil is the dark, cooked Oriental variety, not the health
store variety. The latter won't work. While you're in the Chinese market,
pick up a can of preserved tea melons or sweet mixed pickles. They're an
excellent accompa- niment. Water melon pickles or chutneys also go well
with it. One hint--don't let the chicken sit in the bean sauce mixture too
long. It's not a marinade and will become overpowering if left too long.
From "The Step-by-Step Chinese Cookbook" by Georges Spunt. Thomas Y.
Crowell Company, New York. 1973.
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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