This is a continuation of the previous post introducing 口水雞.
Taken individually, 口 is mouth, 水 is water and 雞 is chicken. This alludes to the fact that this dish is mouth-wateringly good.
One reason for calling it Anniversary Chicken is because 2014 has been a year of anniversaries, and this is the kind of dish suitable for a celebration. It reaches out to your taste buds with its blend of spicy, salty and sour notes, and its mix of soft, slithery and crunchy textures.
This dish was part of a meal for 10 people. I used a 2 kilo chicken and this was sufficient, along with 2 kilos of pork (made into red-braised pork) and a large salad. As I didn’t have any mungbean sheets, I omitted it from the dish.
The original recipe was short on information about quantities (except for the sauce), so I have weighed out what I used and listed it here.
For the Chicken:
1 chicken, weighing 2 kg
3 preserved duck’s eggs, cooked
1 pack mung bean sheets
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
100 g roasted peanuts
3 stalks Chinese celery, diced
For the Hot and Spicy Sauce:
8 tablespoons soy sauce
2½ tablespoons Zhenjiang Vinegar
4 tablespoons cold boiled water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground Szechuan peppercorn
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped Chinese parsley ( coriander)
Chilli oil to taste
4 tablespoons sesame oil
How to Make:
Wash the chicken and place it on a steaming rack, set over a pot of boiling water. Place the lid on and steam for 30 minutes.
Turn the heat off and keep the lid on. Leave until it is cool enough to handle.
Dice the preserved duck’s eggs. Cut the mungbean sheets into strips and soak them in boiling water until transparent. Soak in iced water and drain.
Remove the meat from the chicken when cooled. Transfer to a deep dish.
Add the preserved duck’s eggs and the mungbean sheets.
Mix the hot and spicy sauce well and pour it into the deep dish along the rim. Add the sesame oil and chili oil. The amount of chili oil depends on personal preference, and we placed this separately in a bowl, for our guests to add by themselves.
Sprinkle over the sesame seeds, peanuts and diced celery.
