Herbal Chicken aka Begger Chicken

I had put up this begger chicken post in another website under the pen name of Miss Pinky and had decided to put up this post again on Big Boys Kitchen. I strongly feel that this chicken dish is inviting, warm, fantastic, and delicious as it is embedded with full flavour of chinese herbs.

In this chicken dish, I had used nine types of chinese herbs as follow:

Astralagus Root (Huang Qi/Puk Kei)
The pale yellow roots are believed to be good for the treatment of poor blood circulation and fatigue. This roots can be found in Korea and northern Chinese provinces of Shanxi and Gansu.

Codonopsis Root (Dang Shen/Dong Sam)
The root is generally used as a tonic and stimulant reputedly good for the treatment of gonorrhea, blood circulation and gynaecological diseases. It is widely adopted as a respectable substitute for the more expensive ginseng. Codonopsis root can increase the number of red corpuscles and reduce the number of leucocytes in the blood.

Chinese Yam (Shan Yao/Wai San)
These chalk-white silvers are believed to be a tonic for the kidneys and lungs, and are prescribed for diarrhea, diabetes and urinary problems.

Chinese Wolfberries (Gou Qi Zi/Gei Chi)
Both fruit and bark of the plant are used in medicine to improve vision and to adjust renal function. Chinese wolfberries also believed to be remedial for diabetes but paradoxically impart a sweetish flavour to most rich stews and soup.

Lily Bulb Petals (Bai He/Bak Hup)
The bulbs are harvested from July to September, then separated, blanched, dried and bleached in sulphur fumes. Lily bulb petals are believed to be beneficial for an extraordinary range of illness, from pulmory diseases and ulcers to coughs and dry throats.

Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui/Dong Kwai)
Recognised as one of the most effective herbal ingredient for a whole range of gynaecological ailments, taken by woman after childbirth to alleviate pain, lubricate the intestines and prevent haemorrhage.

Longan Flesh (Long Yan Rou/Long Ngan Yok)
Longan literally mean “dragon’s eyes”, is a small, seasonal fruit that comes in bunches. The flesh beneath is sweet, succulent and translucent and holds at its centre a round, dark brown seed; which is how a shelled longan could resemble and eye. Longan is cultivated in china and parts of Indochina. Stock dried longans come in two forms, in their shells with stones intactor ready shelled as lumps of tightly packed longan flesh.

Soloman’s Seal (Yu Zhu/Yok Chok)
Silvers of yellowish roots are good for treatment of ailments related to the pancreas, lungs and throat.

Red Dates (Hong Zao/Hung Cho)
Red dates should be about the size of grapes or smaller, dark maroon in colour and when dried , very wrinkled in appearance, almost like small, gnarled prunes. They are recommended for the restoration of vigour and vitality

All the herbs are boiled for an hour till the flavour is transfered to the soup.

Paper and aluminium foil are used to wrapped the chicken

Here I used a fresh chicken bought from my favourite market located at section 17, Petaling Jaya.

The chicken is stuffed with the cooked herbs and gravy in the cavity, wrapped and baked for 90minutes in the oven.

Ingredients

2pcs Astralagus Roots
2sticks Codonopsis Roots
5pcs Chinese Yam
20gm Chinese Wolfberries
10pcs Lily Bulb Petals
5thin slices Chinese Angelica
30gm Longan Flesh
3pcs Soloman’s Seal
5pcs Red Dates
1 large Chicken
Paper
Aluminium Foil
Salt
Pepper

Boiled all the herbs with 200ml water till concentrate. Add a pinch of salt for taste. Stuff all the cooked herbs and concentrated soup into the cavity of the chicken. Wrapped the chicken with paper and aluminium foil. Baked for 90 minutes.