Tea Leaf Smoked Chicken

茶叶熏鸡

Tea leaf smoked chicken is a super-straight forward dish which you can cook at home using simple equipment and ingredients. The delicate smoke flavour infused into the chicken will definitely wow your family as it did for mine. 

Based on this website, the tea smoke mix comprises dried tea leaves (for flavour and aromatics), raw/uncooked rice (to moderate the burn off of the tea leaves) and sugar (to help the smoke penetrate and adhere to the food). 

Ingredients:

8g dried tea leaves (I use oolong tea leaves)

30g raw/uncooked rice (alternative: 4g dried osmanthus flowers, guihua,  桂花 )

12g sugar 

1 kampong chicken (approximately 1.2kg)

2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Wash and clean the chicken. Then butterfly it by cutting the chicken into two from the backbone. Marinate it with salt for at least 3 hours.

2. Place the chicken on a steaming rack, and put the rack in a dish/tray to collect the chicken juices (to make stock). Steam for 30 minutes on high heat. Remember to monitor the water and top up if required. 

3. In the meantime, prepare the tea smoke mix by combining dried tea leaves, raw/uncooked rice and sugar. Cut out aluminum foil of 40cm length, and lay it on the bottom of the wok. Spread the tea smoke mix evenly on the aluminum foil.

4. Place the steamed chicken including the steaming rack on the aluminum foil. Cover the wok with lid and turn the stove/burner on high heat. When smoke appears, reduce heat to medium and set timer to smoke chicken for 8 minutes. 

5.  Rest chicken for 10 minutes before cutting it up to serve.