Have you ever experience brain freeze when you can stared at the chicken and do not know what or how to prepare it? I do, I will be staring at it and the mind goes blank. But when your mind has thawed :p you would think should I roast it, deep fried with Kentucky flour or stir fry with ginger and spring onions or cook a stew with it or curry ? Then I took out my iPod and start to googled what to do with the chicken in hand. Many chicken recipes will pop up on your screen....still don't know what to do with it . Sat down and watch a cooking show and tada....it was showing how to do smoked duck......LOL! inspiration just comes in and yea ...smoked chicken....simple and it turned out yummilicious....I shot up from the sofa and ran to the kitchen. Marinated the chicken with Chinese five spice powder and sea salt for 30 minutes ( better if half a day at least ) I added a bit of ground black pepper and pan seared the chicken on both sides till 3/4 cooked. Then smoked it for another 20 minutes in a wok.....Wow ....it tasted so good that this simple recipe had me eating it with my hand and licking my fingers clean :) Inspiration came just watching the idiot box...should be seated more often in front of the box so that I can think out of the box :p
finger licking good piece of smoked meat :)
cleaver has to be sharp to give a clean cut :)
Smoked Chicken
Half a chicken -wash , drain and leave skin on
1/2 tbsp of chinese five spice powder
1 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of ground black pepper
for smoking the chicken :-
chinese wok
a piece of aluminium foil as base
tea leaves - I used Lipton tea leaves
sugar
steaming rack with holes * see picture above
Method:
Lined the wok with a piece of aluminium foil big enough to take the drips during the smoking process. Spread out the tea leaves and sugar evenly over the foil. Sit the steaming rack over the leaves and sugar and heat up the wok until you see smoke under medium high heat. Place the chicken , which has been pan seared till 3/4 cooked, on the rack and cover the wok with the lid. Smoked the chicken for 20 minutes. Off heat and cool the chicken before cutting into desired pieces with a sharp cleaver. Serve with rice.
Enjoy !
This sure looks sooo good. Must give this a try!
ReplyDeleteCheah...you must try this...simple and easy :) and finger licking good too !
DeleteOh this looks like the yummy 'char yip kai' that I just had in Tapah. How much tea leaves to use? And how much sugar (what's this for ya)?
ReplyDeleteHi Stacy...I have not tried the Tapah one . Is it good? roughly about 3 tbsp of lipton tea leaves...( I used Lipton coz that is the only tea leaves available at home :p) you can use any tea leaves and 1 tbsp of sugar. Sugar , for 2 purposes I think ...the smoke and gives the caramel aroma so that the chicken will absorb in the aroma. Coz I smell the caramel aroma on the chicken :)
DeleteThanks so much, I gotta try this!
DeleteTried it, love it! Funny thing is I had to keep reassuring people not to worry about the smell from the kitchen, I'm just smoking some chicken. And when I brought some over to my parents I also had to inform that this chicken is SMOKED and is not BURNT!
DeleteStacy, glad that you tried it and liked it ;)
DeleteTea smoked chicken legs..wow...Elin, it looks fingerlickingly delicious!
ReplyDeleteAngie..we both think alike ! :) we are wise women who think alike Oink Oink
Deletehi elin
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing your finger licking good recipe. Do you put any liquid at all in the wok, wont the wok be so hot, to burnt the bottom out.
Yeah, it sounded silly to ask, I am afraid, my smoke detector will be activated. thanks again, God bless
lori
Hi Lori,
DeleteNo water required. We want the smoke from the tea leaves and sugar . What you can do is wrap a wet cloth around the edges of the cover so that smoke cannot escape. After all it takes about 20 mins to smoke the chicken. Make sure you pan seared the chicken till almost cook so that you don't have to smoke it too long. Yea, another alternative is smoked it in your oven...same principle.
wow this looks amazing smoked salmon once but never chicken amazing flavors
ReplyDeleteRebecca.....Chicken will taste just as good :) Give it try and I am sure you will like it better than those served at restaurant .
Delete