TWO APPROACHES TO A CHINESE CHICKEN

Sometimes you just want to hang around drinking Genever with a few friends and snagging tasty bits with your chopsticks. In summer, when the weather is nice and indolence is tempting, this is precisely the thing to do.

[Of course if those friends are Chinese they might not like Genever, and you'll just have to make do with Remy Martin or Courvoisier. Weird.]

Here are two chicken dishes which are easy to make, and good for casual eating. The first one can also be done with pigeons, and is served cold. The second is great with liquor.
Serve both with some stirfried vegetables glazed with a little broth, cornstarch, and chicken fat (which makes it glisten nicely - appearance is very important).



HAM-SUI KAI
[Saltwater Chicken]

One three pound chicken.
Two cups water.
Half a cup of cane sugar.
Quarter cup of salt.
Jigger of rice wine or sherry.
Two star anise pods, two chopped scallion, two or three thick slices ginger (whacked with the back of the cleaver), and one clove garlic (also whacked).

Bring the water and the various flavourings listed to a boil. Simmer briefly, cool down and refrigerate.

In a second vessel heat enough water to inundate the chicken entirely. When it boils, do precisely that. Remove the chicken, rinse under cold water, and repeat. The third time place the chicken in the boiling water, put a lid on the pot, and turn off the heat. After thirty minutes remove the bird and rinse under cold water. It is now at the exact stage of cooked that Chinese people like, but if you are a queasy white person it would have done no harm if you had simmered it for a few minutes before turning off the heat. Or you could turn on the flame, and once it boils place the chicken in it one more time, turning off heat and letting it stand for ten minutes.

Once the birdie has been removed from the water for the last time wipe it dry, then brush it very thoroughly with sesame oil (the dark Chinese kind, not the healthfoodstore crap that white people buy).
Now prick the chicken all over with a needle, and place it in the cold salt-water mixture in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours.
To serve, chop it into chopstickable chunks, strew with a little freshly minced scallion, and sprinkle with a little of the soaking liquid.

[Note: the boil-water can be used for broth.]



LIEM KAI KIN
[Drenched Chicken Chunks]

One three pound chicken, chopped into chunks.
Half a cup of shelled peanuts.
Quarter cup of rice wine or sherry.
Two TBS expressed ginger juice.
One TBS cornstarch.
Half TBS sugar.
Half TBS soy sauce.
Plus:
Four cups broth.
Four cups rice wine or sherry.
Minced ginger and garlic.
Chopped scallion.

Marinate chicken pieces for an hour in the half cup sherry, ginger juice, corn starch, sugar, and soy sauce. Drain and pat dry. Reserve marinade.
Meanwhile wash and soak the peanuts to remove the red skins and to soften them.

Heat oil in a pan, add ginger, add garlic, then add chicken pieces, followed shortly by the peanuts. Stir over high heat till coloured somewhat and fragrant. Add the sherry and the broth, bring to a boil, turn low and simmer for twenty minutes. Remove the chicken pieces to a dish. Add the reserved marinade to the pan, bring to a boil, and pour over the chicken. Let it stand a few minutes, then garnish with the chopped scallion and serve.


Some plain boiled rice would not be amiss, nor some lengthwise sliced cucumber for nibbling either. Also put a large pot of tea on the table - it stimulates conversation and helps you deal with a surfeit of alcohol. Melon and oranges.