Herbal?! Yuck! Trust me.. this chicken will change your mind forever about Chinese herbs and their yucky taste!
I do not like herbs at all! Especially when I was little. Whenever my dad boiled herbal chicken soup for me, my helper will help me to gulp it down the moment my dad walked away. shsss
However, this is the only herbal dish I ever eat and its our family recipe! Passed down from…. ok my dad hehe.. not many generation la…
I learnt to cook this when I was a teenage and managed to convince many guests that I was a good cook with this chicken (actually I only knew how to cook a few dishes back then).
This chicken is baked with a few simple ingredients – Oyster sauce, Chinese Shao Xing Wine (Hua Tiao), Sesame oil, Angelica Roots (当归) and wolfberries. You can leave the angelica root out if you really don’t like the herbal taste. Actually the herbal taste is very subtle. Even my baby nephew keep asking for more of the sauce and the chicken.
This dish comes with sauce which goes very well with rice. So remember to prepare more rice than usual.
You can use whole chicken, or any parts of the chicken (drumstick, thigh, wings, etc).
I wrapped the chicken in a bag made with baking paper and again with another layer of aluminium foil to ensure that the gravy of the chicken will be well reserved in the bag – similar to the French way of baking in a parcel (En Papillote).
This will help to retain moisture in the bag to help steam the food.
Put the whole chicken in the bag and seal it with stapler. Double wrap with aluminium foil to prevent leaking of sauce.
You can also using cooking string to tie both end of the baking paper for smaller parts of the chicken,
Add all the chicken onto a baking paper, fold the 2 ends of the paper into the center
And tie the other 2 ends with cooking string
Cover the opening with another piece of baking paper and fold the side of the baking paper towards the bottom of the chicken (ensure opening still facing up)
And tie the other 2 ends with cooking string
Alternatively, you can just bake it in a baking dish and cover with aluminium foil. Ensure that it is tightly covered.
You can bake in oven for 1 hour for whole chicken or shorter for smaller parts of the chicken. Or, bake in Air Fryer for 30 mins for large chicken leg or shorter for wings.
Open the sealed baked chicken right in front of your guests and let them smell the bursting aroma of the chicken when you open it.
- 1 small Kampong Chicken (About 1.1 kg) or any chicken parts (whole chicken leg x 2 or about 8 - 10 wings, etc)
- 120 ml Chinese Shao Xing Wine (Hua Tiao)
- 100 ml Oyster Sauce
- 50 ml Sesame Oil
- 10g Wolfberries
- 5g Angelica Roots (当归)
- Add all the ingredients in a large bowl and ensure that the chicken is well coated with the marinades.
- Spoon some of the sauce into the inside of the chicken and ensure that the inside of the chicken is also well coated with the sauce
- Cover with cling wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight (turn the chicken over to ensure the other side of the chicken will also be soaked in the marinade half way through the marinating process).
- Preheat the oven @ 250 degree Celsius 15 mins or airfryer @ 200 degree celsius for 5 mins before baking
- Prepare the baking paper and make into a bag. Use stapler to seal the edges of the bag leaving the top open to put the chicken in;
- Put in the marinated chicken and seal the top of the bag.
- Double wrap with a layer of aluminium foil to ensure that the liquid will remain in the bag when cooking.
- Alternatively, you can also seal the chicken in the baking paper by tying the ends of the opening with cooking string (ensure the top opening is closed up or layer another piece of baking paper over it and tie with another cooking string). OR just put the chicken in any baking dish and cover with aluminium foil.
- Bake the chicken in oven at 250 degree Celsius for 1 hour or 20 to 30 mins in airfryer (air fryer might not be able to fit in whole chicken; more suitable for parts of chicken).
- To check if the chicken is cook, cut the thigh area and check if the meat is still pinkish. If yes, continue to cook for another 15 mins or until the thigh area is no longer pink.
Can this be steamed? Just wondering.
Ris Ng
Yes u can! 😊
Do we pour the marinate in to bake together with the chicken?
Yes.. bake with the marination and it goes very well with the rice as sauce.
That’s great! Glad u like it. Keep a lookout for more recipes.