DRUNKEN CHICKEN & BRUISED SALAD

When I first saw this on Masterchef Australia Season 2, I thought it is a great dish to cook and have at home over the weekends (yes, without even tasting it, I know)..

Anyway, I have always like Alvin's chinese dishes and I thought I share this one here.

I improvised a little due to lack of ingredients I have at home (although Carrefour is just within walking distance to home but when you're lazy and cozy at home, you just have to be creative, right ;-) )...


Unfortunately, I did not take any photo of both the chicken and salad :-(
I would strongly recommend this dish as it is simple, not that difficult yet tasty!

My improvised version will be in Red.. *This one serves 4*

Chicken stock

·   1 litre shaoxing (Chinese rice wine) 

I used ‘’langkau’’ a well-known distilled rice wine from Sarawak (Borneo Island)

·   500ml mirin (I used Soju – Korean rice liquor, with slightly sweet flavour to it)

·   1-2 litre(s) water, or enough to cover chicken

·   50g gula melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)

·   1 whole chicken

·   4-6cm ginger, thickly sliced

Place the shaoxing, mirin, water and palm sugar in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.

Add the chicken and ginger, then cover and simmer gently for 45-60 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the chicken to cool in the poaching liquid.

Salad

·    3 garlic cloves, peeled

·    1 tablespoon roasted peanuts

(I did not use peanuts because I generally do not like it in any cooking)

·    1 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked, drained

·    2 bird’s eye chillies (4 for me - deseed them)

·    2 lime cheeks

·    6 cherry tomatoes, quartered

·    6 snake beans, cut into 4cm lengths

·   2 Lebanese cucumbers, peeled, cut into matchsticks (I used regular cucumber but I got rid of the seeds)

·    1 teaspoon sesame oil

Place the garlic, peanuts and dried shrimp in a mortar and pestle and pound to a coarse paste.

Add the chillies and bruise gently - the amount of heat you want from this salad depends on how  hard you bruise the chillies.

Add the lime cheeks and bruise to release some juice.

Add the cherry tomatoes, beans and cucumber and mix through gently with a spoon.

Salad Dressing

·   2 tablespoons very finely chopped gula melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)

·   Juice of 2 limes

·   2-3 tablespoons fish sauce

Place the palm sugar and lime juice in a bowl and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Add fish sauce to taste and whisk to combine. Add sesame oil and combine.

To serve

·   Add enough dressing to coat the salad and then taste, it should be a good balance of sweet, salty and sour.

·  Remove the chicken from the broth and place on a chopping board. Cut off the legs (thigh and drumstick), then chop off the end of the drumstick and trim the end so it is free of skin. Cut the legs into 2 pieces through the joint. Slice the breasts off the carcass and cut each one cut into 5 thick slices. Place the pieces of chicken in a shallow bowl, pour over a little broth and serve with the bruised salad.

Happy trying :-)