Foil-Wrapped Herbal Chicken

by wiffy on October 30, 2007
(find me @ twitter . facebook . flickr)

in Asian,Illustrated Recipes,Steaming

I love love love chinese herbs (most of them anyway). I am the type who happily breathe in the pleasant tonicky aroma whenever I walk pass chinese medical halls. And I especially love the taste of dang gui. Some people may say it’s not the best herb around, but I think everything is fine in moderation. Just avoid dang gui during ‘that time of the month’ and drink more water as they are considered more to the heaty side. This is a simple home-cooked version of the chinese herbal chicken. Buying the herbs individually is definitely more economical than buying the pre-packaged mixes, and I can always experiment using the herbs for other soups and dishes ;P

Foil-Wrapped Chinese Herbal Chicken
Foil-Wrapped Chinese Herbal Chicken

Herbal Chicken

Ingredients
(Serves 2)

Herbs for Herbal Chicken

2 chicken thighs
2 shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
8 red dates
8 slices of Dang Gui
2 pieces of Dang Shen, cut to approx. 2 inch length
2 tsp of wolfberries
6 pieces of Pao Shen
6 garlic cloves
2 inch ginger, finely sliced

Marinade Sauce:
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp grated ginger

Directions
In a bowl, mix the ingredients for the sauce evenly and marinade chicken in the sauce for a few hours. Turn the chicken halfway through the marinating process to ensure that the marinade sauce is absorbed evenly. On a large piece of aluminium foil, place a small amount of ingredients at the bottom and place the chicken on top. Pour half of the remaining marinade sauce over the chicken and lay the rest of the ingredients over the chicken. Wrap the aluminium foil tightly (just 1 layer). Steam at high heat for 35 minutes. Open the parcel and flip the chicken to the other side and steam for another 10 minutes. Serve.

How to lay the ingredients on the foil
Putting the good stuff in the foil

Preparing to steam the foil packages
Foil-wrapped chicken awaiting to be steamed

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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 didally October 31, 2007 at 9:56 am

I love herbal chicken too! But didn’t dare to eat often cos of the heatiness. I like the intro to the different herbs. I can only name out a few basic ones. lol

Reply

2 Ling November 1, 2007 at 5:22 am

“I am the type who happily breathe in the pleasant tonicky aroma whenever I walk pass chinese medical halls.”

Haha, I have that habit too! It makes me feel healthy for an instance! =D

Reply

3 WokkingMum November 1, 2007 at 10:42 am

I love dang gui too! It’s the female ginseng leh. I think it’s good! I love it with prawns!
My confinement lady used to make dang gui egg for me … think tea eggs … sooooo nice!!

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4 Hendra August 30, 2008 at 12:46 am

It needs more than 35 minutes to cook…. I think 1 hour.

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5 wiffy August 30, 2008 at 1:17 am

Hendra … that’s why I mention in the instructions that after 35 mins, you need to open up the parcel to flip the chicken and steam for another 10 mins… however, if you don’t flip, I guess steaming it for an hour will cook it too :)

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6 Winly January 7, 2009 at 11:54 am

Can i use microwave to cook it?

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7 wiffy January 7, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Hi Winly, metal (aluminium foil, spoon, container)in microwave oven – is a huge no no. It will cause sparks and even fire. For more info read these::

http://science.howstuffworks.com/aluminum-foil-in-the-microwave.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_heat_aluminum_foil_in_a_microwave

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8 Sharon April 23, 2010 at 9:06 am

Can i put this into the oven instead of steaming it?

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9 wiffy April 23, 2010 at 11:20 am

Hi Sharon, I’ve never tried baking with this recipe before but based on my experience with other recipes, it’s challenging to bake chicken in foil, so I usually dice the chicken to small pieces first or pre-cook a bit (either microwave or pan) before putting in the oven. Hope this helps.

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10 lisa August 11, 2010 at 2:12 am

This is perfect post Wiffy!
I have a box chinese herbs prepack my mum gave me.
I was debating if i should make soup tonight but this method looks really good.
Really enjoying your blog !well done :)
Thank you,
Lisa

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