Wings of desire
Recipes and preparation: Andrea Burgener; photography and styling: Roelene Prinsloo
HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE
This dish is all about the rice: cooking it in the stock gives it great velvety depth. The recipe is simple, but you need to start at least 1½ hours before eating. Serves 4
Ingredients
1 free-range chicken salt and white pepper
25g fresh root ginger (after peeling), sliced 15g garlic cloves, peeled
3 spring onions
About 3 litres water
Ingredients for dipping sauce
25g peeled garlic cloves
25g fresh root ginger, peeled
1 red Thai chilli, thinly sliced 30ml (2 tbsp) palm sugar, melted and cooled
30ml (2 tbsp) rice vinegar
30ml (2 tbsp) soy sauce
15ml (1 tbsp) coarsely ground white peppercorns
Ingredients for the rice
15ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil 350g uncooked jasmine rice 10ml (2 tsp) sesame oil 2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
Method
Season chicken liberally with salt and white pepper. Bruise ginger, garlic and spring onions and place inside chicken. Place chicken in a pot with enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, leave covered for 30 minutes, then take the chicken out of the pot. Skim the fat off the stock, return to stove and simmer until reduced to about 1 litre.
For the sauce, blend garlic, ginger and chilli to a smooth paste, whisk in the remaining ingredients and pour into dipping sauce bowls.
For the rice, heat the oil in a pot, add rice and stir to coat well. Add 600ml of the reduced cooking stock from the chicken, bring to the boil, then stir in sesame oil and salt. Cover and cook on lowest heat for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered for another 10-15 minutes, while you take the chicken meat off the bone and cut it up.
Serve chicken on rice, topped with sliced cucumber and shredded spring onion, with dipping sauce and fresh coriander on the side.
NOTE: You can serve the remaining stock — seasoned to taste with extra coriander and spring onion added — as a soup with the rice dish.
OLIVE-OIL-POACHED LEMON, FENNEL & MINT SALAD
The ratios here are rough, and you can play around to suit your taste. Be generous with the salt; you need it to match the sour and bitter from the lemons. Serves 4 as a side dish, excellent with chicken.
Ingredients
1 large lemon, washed, cut into thin rounds, pips removed
80ml (third cup) olive oil
Dash of honey or real maple syrup 5ml (1 tsp) salt flakes, or more to taste 1 large or 2 medium fennel bulbs, sliced 250ml (1 cup) loosely packed fresh mint leaves, torn
Method
Layer the lemon slices in a small pot or pan, pour over the oil and cook on lowest heat until softened but still holding their shape roughly 10 minutes. Remove lemons from pot and set aside. Add honey and salt to warm lemon liquid and whisk to form the dressing. Once cool, toss lemons, fennel, mint and dressing together and serve.
CHICKEN BAKED WITH CREAMY MUSTARD & BAY LEAVES
Serves 6
Ingredients
8 garlic cloves, roughly crushed 60ml (¼ cup) Dijon mustard 30ml (2 tbsp) fresh thyme leaves 8 bay leaves
15ml (1tbsp) olive oil
5ml (1tsp) salt
About 12 chicken pieces, skin off thighs and drumstick only
2 onions, thinly sliced
300ml fresh cream
100ml white wine or chicken stock 5ml (1 tsp) sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 190°C. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, mustard, herbs, olive oil & salt. Rub the mix all over the chicken, add the onions, and lay chicken and onions in a roasting pan large enough for the chicken to form a single layer. Roast uncovered for 20 minutes. Mix together the cream, wine or stock and sugar, then pour over the chicken, Bake for another 20 minutes, after which time the cream should be golden brown in places. Great with boiled potatoes, mash or just green beans.
ALMOST-ZIMBABWEAN CHICKEN PEANUT SOUP ’
Serves 4
Ingredients
30ml (2 tbsp) vegetable oil
1 free-range chicken, portioned
(or equivalent in chicken pieces) 2 onions, thinly sliced (shallots are often used instead, in Zim)
3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 litre water
250ml (1 cup) finely ground roasted peanuts, or unsweetened peanut butter 2 Thai chillies, finely chopped (seeds and membrane removed if you don’t like it crazy-hot)
Salt, to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a pan and brown chicken pieces on all sides. Remove chicken and set aside. In the same pan, fry the onions till transparent, then add the tomato, water, peanut paste and chillies and return the chicken to the pot (the peanut paste may seem lumpy at first, but will amalgamate with the sauce after some cooking). Simmer on low heat until the chicken is tender. If soup is still very watery, take heat up a bit and carry on cooking, while stirring, making sure to get into the pot edges (peanuts burn easily). Once soup is slightly thickened — still loose but not watery add salt to taste, and serve with mealie meal or jasmine rice.
INDONESIAN CHICKEN ON THE COALS
The flavourings in this traditional Indonesian dish are deep and addictive: hot, sour, sweet, savoury, and fragrant. Serves 4
Ingredients
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 stalks lemon grass, chopped
5 spring onions
2.5ml (½ tsp) shrimp paste or 30ml (2 tbsp) fish sauce
2.5ml (½ tsp) chopped red chilli 2.5ml (½ tsp) ground turmeric 10ml (2 tsp) ground coriander
5ml (1 tsp) brown sugar
5ml (1 tsp) salt, plus extra to taste 60ml (4 tbsp) vegetable or coconut oil 8 chicken pieces (breasts, drumsticks and/or thighs)
400ml coconut milk
Method
Prepare a braai. You’ll need 30 minutes kitchen time, so prepare fire accordingly. Pulse garlic, lemon grass, spring onions, shrimp paste, chilli, turmeric, coriander, sugar and salt to a coarse paste. Heat half the oil in a pan and fry paste for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken pieces and coconut milk and simmer
five minutes for breasts, 15 for thighs and drumsticks. Turn off heat and leave chicken in the sauce for 10 minutes, then remove, brush with remaining oil and braai on medium coals until well browned.
If using a mix, only place breasts on braai when legs/thighs are half-done. Cook remaining sauce/marinade for a few minutes until thick and serve with the chicken, with vinegarred cucumber and plain steamed rice.