Drunken Chicken Recipe

As a child, I always imagined that this dish of drunken chicken was prepared by feeding the chicken a bottle of rice wine before it was cooked. I thought that it would make the meat taste of alcohol. How wrong I was! I love the taste of drunken chicken even though I am not a big fan of food that tastes of alcohol. Classic drunken chicken uses Shaoxing rice wine which has a strong but special flavour.

Ingredients :

2 chicken legs, including drumsticks and thighs, deboned
1 tsp salt

Marinade

250 ml (8 fl oz / 1 cup) chicken stock
250 ml (8 fl oz / 1 cup) water
2 spring onions, cut into 3-cm (1¹/₄-in) lengths
2 thin slices ginger
1 Tbsp Chinese wolfberries
1 thin slice Chinese angelica root
2 thin slices licorice root
1 tsp sugar
200 ml (7 fl oz) Shaoxing wine

Method :

This dish must be prepared a day in advance.
Rub the chicken legs with the salt and set aside for 20 minutes.
Wrap the chicken tightly with several layers of plastic wrap, then twist the ends to seal. Set aside.
Prepare the marinade. Place the chicken stock, water, spring onions, ginger, wolfberries, angelica root, liquorice root and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
When the marinade is cool, stir in the Shaoxing wine.
Steam the wrapped chicken for about 20 minutes until the chicken changes colour and is cooked.
Remove the plastic wrap and place the chicken into the marinade. Cover and leave to soak for at least 12 hours in the refrigerator. Slice and serve chilled.

Serves 3

Drunken Chicken Recipe