Hainan Coconut-Baked Chicken
Shaped to resemble a whole chicken with a light golden hue and rich coconut aroma, this dish is cooked in a clay pot with shredded coconut via the traditional 锔 cooking method.
Ingredients
Cleaned young hen (a young hen that is about to lay eggs but has not yet laid)
1 whole (about 1000g)
Coconuts
5
MSG (monosodium glutamate)
7.5g
Refined salt
5g
White sugar
2.5g
White pepper powder
1g
Minced ginger
10g
Fenjiu (Chinese sorghum wine)
7.5g
Sesame oil
1g
Scallion segments
2 stalks
Instructions
1
Step 1
Crack open the coconut, pour the coconut water into a container, shred the coconut meat into fine coconut flakes, wrap the coconut flakes in a clean towel and squeeze firmly to extract the coconut juice, and set aside for later use.
2
Step 2
Mix together the MSG, refined salt, white sugar, minced ginger, white pepper powder, scallion stalks, Fenjiu, and sesame oil. Place the mixture inside the cleaned and gutted chicken cavity, rubbing and coating all the inner walls to marinate. After about 20 minutes, take a clay pot, spread a layer of coconut flakes on the bottom, place the chicken in the middle, then cover all around with the remaining coconut flakes, pour in the coconut water, cover with a lid, and place the clay pot on an open stove. Cook first over high heat then reduce to low heat; the chicken will be done in about 15 minutes.
3
Step 3
Remove the cooked chicken, clean out the seasoning residue from the cavity, debone and chop into pieces to line the bottom of a serving plate, slice the chicken meat and arrange on top to recreate the original whole chicken shape. Heat oil in a wok, pour in the fresh coconut juice, MSG, and refined salt, thicken with a wet cornstarch slurry, and pour over the chicken to serve.
