Drunken Chicken (醉雞)

When Alvin placed his Drunken Chicken with Bruised Salad before the MasterChef judges, it’s amazing to watch how the judges were impressed by Alvin’s creation on TV show. The satisfaction shown through the judges’ facial and verbal expressions really got me want to try Alvin’s drunken chicken at that moment. The meat is succulent and penetrated with the rich flavour of Chinese rice wine. Best of all, it’s simple and easy to make. Yet, I never thought that mirin could be used in this famous Chinese dish. The mirin adds a bright touch to the chicken and enhances the flavour of the stock.

Alvin’s dishes always shine his cleverness of mixing sweetness, tang and heat as Matt Preston, one of the MasterChef judges quoted on the magazine,

“Alvin stole our hearts with this dish (in fact, it was George’s favourite of the series), which he put up at the start in the childhood memories challenge. At its best, Alvin’s food is loaded with crunchy textures and a delicious interplay of sweetness, tang and heat. This dish is no exception.” – Matt Preston

Follow Alvin’s thinking of how to incorporate childhood memories in cooking, I also added some wolfberries (杞子) that my mother used to put in this dish because my mother believes they are beneficial to our health, still keeping the traditional savory taste by adding a small amount of soy sauce. (Hop over to see how I made use of the sauce leftover - Updated on 11 Aug. 2010)

Drunken Chicken (Printable recipe)

Adapted from Masterchef Magazine August 2010 Issue4

Ingredients:

• 1.6kg whole chicken, rinsed, patted dry
• 1 L Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine), available at Asian grocery stores
• 500ml/2 cups mirin, available at Asian grocery stores
• 90gm/1/2 cup palm sugar, grated
• 200 ml light soy sauce (I added this in the original recipe)
• 30 wolfberries (I added this in the original recipe), rinsed
• coriander/cilantro leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Place 3L water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add chicken and blanch for 5 minutes. This removes any impurities. Remove chicken from the pan and discard water. Reserve pan.
2. Combine Chinese rice wine, mirin, sugar, 750ml (3 cups) water and soy sauce in the reserved pan. Stir until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil. Add wolfberries. Reduce heat to low, return the chicken to the pan, cover with a lid and simmer for 45 minutes or until the juices run clear when the thickest part of a thigh is pierced with a skewer.
3. Remove the chicken from the pan. Cut into pieces. Divide and serve on plates with soup, sprinkle with wolfberries or coriander for garnish. Served with steamed rice, sweet & sour cucumber or any salad you like.