Friday, September 10, 2010
Margaret Xu's Yellow Earth Roast Chicken
Labels:
# International,
# WOW Personal Favourite,
baking,
homebaked,
homemade,
recipe,
roast,
roast chicken,
spicy food
Margaret Xu's signature "Yellow Earth Roast Chicken" is a must-try at her Yin Yang restaurant in Hong Kong. She uses a terracotta oven to achieve superbly crispy skin and evenly roasted tenderness.
I found a recipe online at Gourmet.com, probably adapted from her cookbook (in Cantonese). It sounds really manageable - pound some galangal, curry leaves and salt into a paste, add olive oil and Chinese rice wine. That's the marinade you put into the cavity of the chicken. After 8-24 hours, sprinkle some coarse salt on the chicken's skin and roast it. That's it.
Of course I had to try this, even if I didn't have a terracotta oven.
It sure looked nice enough. No butter or anything used under the skin, but it crisped up quite nicely anyway. Not as crisp as Margaret's, of course. Hers seemed to have the subcutaneous fat all rendered out! And hers stayed crisp for much longer.
There may be some marinade that spills out of the chicken while it sits in the fridge. Just pour it over the vegetables and roast it together with the chicken. Yummy!
Instead of carving the pieces, I just tore it by hand - the way Margaret likes to serve it too. Surprisingly the meat is very moist.
So did it taste the same? Well, similar but not quite. The marinade was certainly fragrant but the chicken still tasted a little bland. I think it needs serious marination - I only did mine for 7-8hrs. It will be interesting to see what a 24-hour marinade will achieve. I do think the use of curry leaves for this is quite a brainwave - the irony is learning about this from a Hong Kong chef!
We enjoyed the chicken, and tossed the leftovers into some aglio olio pasta with chilies and mushrooms.
P.S. The recipe calls for 15 curry leaves - I was sure if it meant 15 leaves or stalks, but I went for more, so 15 stalks! I don't know about you, but I do love the smell of curry leaves!
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I am always looking for good roast chicken recipe. I must try this recipe.. I like the fact that curry leaves are used:D
ReplyDeleteLook yummy!! I am drooling looking at this!
ReplyDeletethe pics of the roast certainly looks yummy! ... btw where do i get galangal ... cant seem to find any at ntuc supermarts here ...
ReplyDeleteI love chicken, it's so soft and when it's a bit juicy I like even more. I'm drooling too. it's irresistible.
ReplyDelete