Slowly Baked Beggar Chicken Copy Cat Recipe

Uncooked chicken with Chinese herbs. All wrapped up in aluminium foil before baking My copy cat Beggar Chicken all done and ready to eat. Only bones left in split seconds!

The original Beggar chicken covered in clay bought from Jalan Kuching in my previous post http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2010/01/beggar-chicken-jalan-kuching-kuala.html No more quickie recipe to post, so now I am writing about Slowwwwwlyyyy Cook Beggar Chicken Copy Cat Recipe. I tried to make Beggar Chicken, like the one I bought from Jalan Kuching, minus the clay of course! LOL! The Chinese herbs I used are the same as the original Beggar Chicken and instead of baking it in charcoal amber, I used my electric oven. Anyway, the final taste and flavour were almost similar to the original beggar chicken although the aroma of my copy cat chicken is not that strong. Here is the recipe that ‘Superman’ won’t like! Ha ha ha!

Ingredients
Half Chicken (I used half because that is the only one I have in my fridge that day)
Tong Kwai, 2 slices,
Huaishan, 2 slices
Hongzao (Red Dates), 5 pcs
Kei Chi (Qizi, Lycium barbarum), 1 table spoon
Yuk Chuk, 10 slices
Tong som (Dang Shen), 1 pcs
Chinese Rice Wine, 1 table spoon
Soya Sauce, 2 table spoons
Salt to taste
A little water

Put the chicken in an aluminium foil and add in all the other ingredients. Cover the top part with another aluminium foil and seal the joints by folding it so that the steam would not escape during baking. Bake the chicken in a preheated oven at 200 Deg C for around 2 hours. Served while still hot! Happy ‘slow’ cooking! LOL!

Benefits of Chinese Herbs
1) Huaishan (Discorea Yam, Dioscorea opposita) – Improve digestion, respiratory function, kidneys and increases vitality(Qi).
2) Hongzao (Red Dates, Ziziphus jujuba) – Improve Qi (vitality), nourishes the blood and reduces stress.
3) Yul Chuk (Polygonatum root, Polygonatum odoratum) – Moisturises our internal organ, balances Yin energy, clear wind and softens the sinews.
4) Tong Kwai (Angelica Sinensis Root, Radix Angelicae sinensis) – Stimulating effect on the uterus, tonic for blood and regulating menses, lubricate the bowels, improve immune system, antioxidant, protect digestion system and improve blood circulation.
5) Tong Som (Dang shen, Salvia Root, Dang Shen (Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae)) – Tonic for the blood, spleen, stomach, Qi, lungs and lowers blood pressure. It also can increase our white blood cells count. 6) Kei Chi (Lycium Berries, Lycium Barbarum) – Brighten the eyes, moistens the lungs and enriches Yin energy.

Beggar Chicken (Hak Yi Kai) From Roadside Vendor, Jalan Kuching, Kuala Lumpur

Fancy eating Beggar chicken (Hak Yi Kai) without having to travel all the way to Jugra or Ijok? I bought this Beggar Chicken from a roadside vendor along the busy Jalan Kuching in KL. If you are driving from KL town centre, this stall is located by the roadside just before Tesco Selayang (formally Macro) and the middle ring road Batu Caves round about. The first stall is selling live crab, the second one is selling Indian Rojak and you will see this Beggar Chicken replica being displayed by the old uncle who lives around this area. Slow down your car before you reach this location and put your left signal light before your turn out into the dirt road. The traffic here is very heavy and fast moving! I bought one small Beggar chicken (Hak Yi Kai) which cost me RM23 (USD7). The chicken is marinated with Chinese Herbs like Tong Kwai, kei chi, yoke chok and tong sum before it is wrapped with aluminum foil, plastic, oil paper and lastly a layer of wet clay is put over it. Then the chicken is baked slowly in wood and charcoal amber for many hours. The aroma is sealed inside the clay and the chicken is very tender after hours of cooking. The meat is very juicy too! Yum Yum, the taste is ‘mou tak teng’ (damm nice)! Why they called it Beggar Chicken? Try google this term; I bet your will find many sites which explain the origin of this wonderful dish! See the small Chinese character on the hardened clay? I have to use a pestle to break open the hard outer clay layer. Here goes, knock knock.......heeeeyiahhhh! Breaking open the clay layer. The second layer after the clay is oil paper. Then the next layer is plastic to seal all the juice inside. The fourth layer is the aluminium foil with little nice sweet and aromatic soup inside.

Beggar chicken (Hak Yi Kai) all ready to be eaten. Yum yum rice please. The Chinese herbs like tong kwai, tong sum, kei chi, red dates and yoke chok inside the chicken cavity. Mmmmmmm, now I can enjoy my nice dinner!