One of the most popular Chinese New Year (CNY) dish is steam chicken.  A whole chicken prepared with the head and feet still intact represents togetherness, rebirth, unity and good marriage between families. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to tell the chicken vendor not to cut the head and feet out haha...

Steam chicken is quite an inexpensive dish which can serve quite a few people with just one bird. You can boil or steam it. But boiling takes out the flavor of the chicken as the flavors have gone into the soup. Hence, steaming is the best way to preserve its flavor. Now, I have learnt many ways of steaming chicken in the past but most of them are not fail proof until this. This is a fail proof method which I learnt from the chicken vendor. There are no scientific or special skills required. All you need to do is to steam the chicken at high heat for 20 minutes. Then steam for another 20 minutes at low heat. Finally, turn off the heat and leave the chicken covered in the wok for 10 minutes. The chicken will be perfectly cooked, moist and tender.

Of course, it's important to get a good quality chicken for steaming too.  After steaming, there would be some natural chicken stock produced so do not discard them as they are useful for soup or cooking. Sometimes, after chopping the chicken and serving in a plate, you may notice that there is some bloody liquid underneath the chicken. This is not a sign that the chicken in undercooked. This is an indication that the cavity is not clean enough. You need to discard the lungs inside the cavity completely. Normally, I will remind my chicken vendor to thoroughly remove organs from the cavity of the chicken. If I forget then I will remove them myself.

Before steaming, just rub salt liberally all over the chicken including the cavity. Then insert 2 knobs of ginger into the cavity and place the chicken on a steaming plate together with innards if any and steam according to the mentioned method.

My favorite dip is the ginger and spring onions dip. It is so fragrant, tasty and super easy to make. All you need to do is to mince the ginger and mix with chopped spring onions and add salt. The ratio is 1/2 cup ginger and 1 cup spring onions. Heat some cooking oil mixed with sesame oil until hot then pour onto the ginger mix. There will be a sizzling effect which produces the most fragrant aroma. Stir to mix well and set aside. Another common dip which my family members love is soy sauce mixed with sesame oil and some sliced onions. Most often, I serve the steam chicken with both dips. Now, if you're too lazy to make any dips, just rub more salt on the chicken before steaming and it would taste just as good on its own.

Once the chicken is cooked, drain the excess liquid and brush with sesame oil all over the chicken. This helps to make the chicken skin looks glossy and keep the chicken moist. Next is to cut the chicken which I am not so good at. Hence, I got my sister-in-law who is a veteran at it. So, thanks to her, you will learn how to cut the chicken too from watching the video.

Try this classic steam chicken for this forthcoming CNY and you will surely impress your guests. I will be making two birds for a reunion dinner with my mum and siblings. I made the same for last year and they enjoyed it. So, it's a repeat for this year hehe...

n/a

n/a