Traditional Hakka Salted chicken 传统客家咸鸡

Here presenting my homemade traditional Hakka salted chicken which was passed down by my mother in law.  This is a must dish during all occasions. Why ???  During festive season most Chinese families will boil one or two whole chicken for dinning and also for offering ancestor prayer. By end of the day, there will be lots of leftover chicken. And this is how salted chicken begins...... Please read on for more.

STEP 1 : Boiled chicken 

***For 2 whole chicken leg, boiled for 20 minutes over medium heat then off the heat and let to rest in the soup for 30 minutes before transfer to plate.

***For whole chicken, boiled for 45 minutes over medium heat  then off the heat and let to rest in the soup for 30 minutes before transfer to plate. (for whole chick you need to turn chicken around on and off, so that all part well cooked)

STEP 2 :  Rub chicken with salt immediately after out of the soup pot. So that the salt will easily melt & stick to the surface of the skin after cool. Next, after cooling down rub chicken with a bit of light soy sauce and then steam for 10 minutes over medium heat for whole leg only and high heat for whole chicken. Off the heat then only bring out the chicken 20 minutes later. This will give time for the salt to do its work.

Note :  for leftover chicken meat, rub all chicken with salt then go straight to steamer. Adjust the quantity of salt according the leftover meat. Then can keep in the fridge after cooled.

*** for 2 whole chicken leg ~ 2.5 tspn of salt or adjust as your own preference but the more the merrier.

*** for one whole chicken ~ roughly about 1 TB or more salt (1.8kg chicken) need to rub inner core as well.

STEP 3 : Let chicken totally cool and you can either wrap it up for storage. Best to keep in freezer or fridge. Keep the chicken stock as well. It tastes superb.

STEP 4 :  For serving, just chop the chicken into small pieces and add in the stock. Again steam for 15 minutes over high heat before serving. At this stage, you can actually smell the difference. Something like wax duck. Super duper tempting. Hope you will like it too ! Enjoy.