Herbal Chicken

This is steamed whole chicken with Chinese herbs and sauce.  Steaming the chicken wrapped in foil, helps to retain the natural juice from the chicken thus enhancing the taste.  Tasted somewhat like the Salted Baked Chicken except that this is wet with more gravy!

Place the herbs and sauce in a small pot, bring it to the boil, leave to cool.

Spoon this sauce over and inside the chicken before wrapping in the foil.

Chicken after steaming for about an hour.

I prefer to put the chicken under the grill for a good 3 mins. to get the slightly singed texture.

This gravy will pair very well with a bowl of hot white rice ..................  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 800 gm free range chicken, head and legs removed
• 10 gm  Dong Quai/Angelica Sinensis 
• 10 gm Kei Chi/Wolfberries
• 10 red dates, seeded and cut

Seasoning

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp each of - sugar and light soya sauce
• 2 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 cup water

Preparation

1. Clean the chicken, pat dry and rub in some salt, inside out, keep aside.
2. In a small pot add in 1/2 cup water, dong quai, red dates and all the seasoning, bring to a boil and toss in the washed kei chi/wolfberries.  Leave to cool.
3. Prepare a steamer to steam the chicken.
4. Slowly spoon the seasoning into the cavity and over the whole chicken, wrap up the chicken in foil.
5. Put the wrapped up chicken on a steamer rack.  Steam under rapidly boiling water for about an hour or more, depending on the size of the chicken.
6. Open up the foil, test for doneness by pricking on the chicken thigh with a fork, to see whether there's any blood coming out.
7. Put the chicken under the grill for about 3 mins.
8. Cut up the chicken with a pair of kitchen scissors.
9. Serve hot with rice.