Day 2 – Chicken in a Bag, Asian Style
There are lots of advantages to cooking meat in a roasting bag, or for that matter, covering meat with paper, foil or even paperbark. It locks in the juices, steams rather than roasts the food and creates tender, juicy food packed full of flavours. This is a variation on a roast chicken, using asian spices to marinate the meat, and with a wonderfully piquant sauce to serve. Don’t carve the chicken as you usually would – simply chop the chicken into eight or ten pieces and spoon the sauce over.
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
1 large oven bag; 1 tbspn plain flour; 1 x No. 18 – 20 sized chicken (whole); 2 tbspn Szechuan peppercorns; 1 tsp five spice powder; 1/2 tbsp salt; 2 tbsp peanut oil; 1 stick lemongrass, white part only, bruised then finely sliced; 2 tbsp sliced fresh galangal*; 2 tbsp peanut oil, extra; 2 shallots, finely sliced; 3-4 star anise; 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced; 2 chillies; 1 1/2 cups chicken stock; 1 tbsp arrowroot; 1 tbsp water; 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200C
Place the flour in an oven bag, and shake well to distribute evenly. Place peppercorns, five spice powder and salt in a mortar and pestle and crush to a fine powder. Brush chicken lightly with 2 tablespoons of oil and season liberally with seasoning mixture. Place chicken in the oven bag and set aside until required.
In a small food processor, mince the lemongrass to a coarse paste. Heat remaining peanut oil in a wok until hot, add the minced lemongrass and sauté for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the galangal, shallots, garlic and chillies and fry until tender.
Add the stock and simmer gently for five minutes until sauce has reduced slightly and has concentrated in flavour. Remove sauce from heat, and pour carefully into the oven bag. Tie the bag loosely but do not pierce.
Roast chicken for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. Rest the chicken for 5-10 minutes before carving.
Place the liquid from the bag back into the wok and bring to a simmer. Combine the arrowroot and water together and stir to form a paste. Add arrowroot mixture to the sauce and stir until thick. Add the chives.
Using chicken shears or a cleaver or large chef’s knife, cut up the chicken along the breast bone and through the back bone. Cut away the thighs, separate the thighs from the drumsticks and place on a platter. Chop up remaining chicken breast into two or three pieces and place onto the serving platter. Pour the sauce over the top and scatter over a few more chopped chives or spring onions. Serve immediately
COST
$9.20 for six people
*Galangal is a rhizome and looks very similar to ginger, although the skin is a darker red. Fresh galangal is available from asian food stores and also good fruit and vegetable retailers throughout the year. It currently retails for $14.99 at my local shop. You will only need a small amount for this recipe. Treat it as you would ginger: Peel the skin and either slice finely or grate into your next curry.
I am going to make this tomorrow night. If I can’t get any galangal, would you recommend anything to add instead?
There’s not really anything you can substitute for galangal Angela. Galangal is a relative of ginger, so a little more ginger might help, otherwise look for dried galangal in asian food shops. I buy galangal in Woolworths fruit and veg section (near the ginger and garlic), also in my local Harris Farm fruit and veg shop.
This is SO yummy. I have made it twice this week! My local woolworths doesn’t have galangal but the local fruit and veg shop did.