If you have been reading my blog, you would probably have read about my chicken-head-and-feet drama. If not, you can read about it here.
It is stranger than strange but I can gut a fish or a squid without blinking an eyelid, yet I cannot deal with a chicken if its head and feet have not been removed!
A few months ago, I was at the supermarket buying some pork. I didn’t have time to go to the wet market. When I got home, I was more than irate because the butcher had cut my pork wrongly. This is one of the reasons why I am such a huge supporter of wet markets. It is very important to me that I am able to tell my butchers what I am cooking and have them understand and cut the meat in the way that is required for my dish.
Then my workload increased 200% and I just didn’t have time ‘to go to the market. This was also why I was really happy when PurelyFresh Online Grocery approached me to try out their online grocery services. Because PurelyFresh owns and runs wet markets, I am able to leave instructions when checking out on how I want my meat to be processed.
I think it is brilliant that we can now communicate our needs to butchers even when shopping online! You can ask the butchers at PurelyFresh to slice, chop, mince, de-skin or gut your meat and seafood and be assured that your order will arrive the way you want.
This is how modern marketing should work!
For this dish, Herbal Emperor Chicken, I used one of the whole chickens I had bought from PurelyFresh. Apart from from the fact that this is one tender and delicious chicken dish, it is very nutritious, with the addition of 9 herbs!
And best of all, it is unbelievably easy to cook. Here’s how.
Place the herbs in a heat-proof bowl. I bought my herbs from a local Chinese herbal shop. All you need to do is to give the shop keeper a list of the herbs you need and he will put them together for you in a packet.
Add the water to the herbs.
Steam this for 5 minutes. Allow the herbs to cool down a little before proceeding to the next step.
Stuff half of the herbs into the chicken cavity.
Place the chicken on a sheet of baking paper and place this on a sheet of heavy-duty aluminium foil. Transfer this onto a heat-proof dish (I used a casserole dish). Scatter the remaining herbs on the chicken.
Pour the water used for steaming the herbs onto the chicken. Seal the foil.
Steam the chicken for 2 hours.
When done, carefully open the foil and serve immediately.
Season with salt to taste, or add some light soy sauce to the sauce and stir to mix.
Cook in this way, the chicken is super tender and sweet, and you can taste the light flavors of the herbs. This is one superb dish indeed!
Get $15 off your first order, and $40 off your subsequent order when you buy from PurelyFresh. Click on the icon below to find out more.
- 1 chicken (1.2-1.5kg)
- 500ml water
- Salt (or light soy sauce, to taste)
- 24g Huai Shan 淮山 (Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae)
- 18g Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosulae)
- 16g Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon's Seal Rhizome)
- 22g Long Yan Gan 龙眼干 (Dried Longan)
- 10g Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)
- 6 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates)
- 3g Chuan Gong 川芎 (Szechwan Lovage Rhizome)
- 5g Tang Gui 当归 (Angelica Sinensis)
- 15g Bei Qi 北芪 (Astragalus Membranaceus)
- Place the herbs in a heat-proof bowl. I bought my herbs from a local Chinese herbal shop. All you need to do is to give the shop keeper a list of the herbs you need and he will put them together for you in a packet. Add the water to the herbs.
- Steam this for 5 minutes. Allow the herbs to cool down a little before proceeding to the next step.
- Stuff half of the herbs into the chicken cavity.
- Place the chicken on a sheet of baking paper and place this on a sheet of heavy-duty aluminium foil. Transfer this onto a heat-proof dish (I used a casserole dish). Scatter the remaining herbs on the chicken.
- Pour the water used for steaming the herbs onto the chicken. Seal the foil.
- Steam the chicken for 2 hours.
- When done, carefully open the foil and serve immediately.
- Season with salt to taste, or add some light soy sauce to the sauce and stir to mix.
I am also submitting this post to Cook and Celebrate: CNY2016, which I am hosting together with Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Yen from Eat Your Heart Out.
Have you cooked or baked something for the up-coming Chinese New Year? If so do share your creations with us! Please note that your post has to be a current post (ie, posted in the months of January & February 2016) and remember to link it back to us: Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from GoodyFoodies and Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe. Happy cooking and baking folks! 
