Chapter 126 - Smooth Chicken Slices
Chapter 126 Smooth Chicken Slices
He poured the fried chicken wings and seasonings into the clay pot, closed the lid, and slowly cooked it over low heat.
Zhang Liang, who was handling the fresh prawns at the side, skillfully removed the prawn lining. When he saw this, he asked in puzzlement, “Can’t you just fry it thoroughly? Why are you transferring it into the clay pot?”.
“The fragrance of the black garlic needs to be stewed before it can be stimulated to the greatest extent. If the chicken wings are not debone, it’s hard to cook it completely. After boiling it in a clay pot for a while, it’ll be even softer and tastier.”
Zhang Liang chuckled and did not say a word. Clearly, he did not believe that a dish made from black garlic could be that delicious. He said, “The difficulty level of the Smooth Chicken Slices is quite high. It’s even a dish from a national banquet. Don’t tell me you know how to cook that too?”
“Yeah… it’s not hard.”
Xu Le’s words were definitely not because of his complacence. After all, he had practiced the “smooth chicken slices” in the system for more than ten times and was able to make it authentic and original. It was considered one of the easier traditional cuisines.
“Keep your hands light. This is a sea prawn. Its skin is especially thin. It’s most suitable to be stir-fried. There’s prawn paste in the head. If you use a little strength, it will squeeze everything out.”
“Oh, I see.” Zhang Liang loosened his grip on the prawn lining
“The smooth chicken slices is a classic dish. It emphasizes on having the chicken taste but not seeing the chicken pieces. It’s smooth, tender, and fragrant. The taste is light and fresh.” Xu Le said, “I’ve prepared chicken soup, spring onions, ginger grains, chicken meat, fish meat, and water chestnut here.”
“If you don’t know the ratio, you can basically use 25 grams of chicken meat, 5 grams of fish bass meat, 5 grams of water chestnut, 2 grams of onion grains, 1 grams of ginger grains, and 50 grams of clear chicken soup. You can add some salt into the machine and make it into a
paste.”
After turning on the switch, Xu Le covered the lid of the food processor with one hand. In less than half a minute, the chicken and fish meat had turned into white paste.
“The chicken meat itself is the most tender part of the back of the chicken body. Add the fish meat inside to increase the freshness and fragrance. The water chestnuts here are used to neutralize the dryness of the chicken. The traditional method is to use the back of the knife to hit it into paste. At home, you can totally use the food processor to reduce the hassle.”
After all, with the development of technology, the food processor could make the paste smoother and more efficiently.
“Now, we’ve reached the most crucial step. Prepare 200 grams of egg white and add it in batches into the chicken paste that has just been prepared. As you add it, stir it with your chopsticks. Add it bit by bit and stir it in one direction with the chopsticks. Don’t stir the paste too hard, just spread it.”
Xu Le explained to the camera, with the pair of chopsticks slowly and evenly matched in his hands. Soon, the egg white and chicken paste became one. “Add a small amount of starch inside and make sure you don’t too much. Otherwise, the texture will become hard. After mixing it up, sieve it and filter out the fibers inside.”
“Add five grams of ginger juice, five grams of yellow wine, 100 grams of clear chicken soup, salt, and MSG. Add them in moderation. The smooth chicken slices is particular about its light taste, so you can reduce the amount of each condiment. Lastly, add some starch to mix it evenly and you can put it aside.” Xu Le picked up the pot and poured some oil into it to start the fire.
Taking advantage of this time, he opened the back of the prawn that Zhang Liang had just handled and used the back of the knife to break
it.
“Hey, if you break it, won’t the prawn meat be less tight?” “The prawns can’t be rolled up on the back. A few cuts will make it crispier.” “I don’t know much about cooking, don’t lie to
me.!
Zhang Liang curled his lips.
“Hit the scallions and ginger once before dicing them up, so that it is more tasteful. Put the scallions and ginger into the bowl and soak it in the yellow wine, then pour it directly into the prawns to remove the fishy taste. Add salt and pepper powder, and marinate for about 20 minutes.”
After he was done with the prawns, the oil on the side just happened to be 30-40% hot. Xu Le reached out his hand to feel the temperature on the pot and said, “It’s not difficult to cook the Smooth Chicken Slices. The most important thing is the heat. The oil must not be too hot. When you slide a spoonful of the paste into the pot, be careful not to spill the oil. Use the spoon to gently pull and spread it. It will be cooked without having to flip it.”
“As for the time, you just need to add them one piece at a time. Once the previous piece floats up, you should fish it out and remove its oil.”
The chicken slices that had been added into the ladle were white and smooth. As they were easily cooked, Xu Le quickly finished lowering all the paste. The portion in the ladle was exactly the same amount on the plate.
“Add the sauce that I mixed just now and start a fire to let it simmer. Because of the starch inside, it will become thick very quickly. At this time, pour the chicken slices down and shake them a few times so that the chicken slices can be fully wrapped in the white sauce.”
Xu Le reminded them to take note of the key points of the dish and said, “Finally at the last step, don’t use a spatula to pierce through the chicken and cause any deformities. When you’re tossing the pan, remember to flip backward. Otherwise, the sauce will scald your hand.”
He fished out the chicken slices and filled the plate with rosemary, instantly enhancing the color of the entire dish.
Alex looked at it excitedly for a while and commented, “It’s so white.”
He swallowed back the second half of his sentence of ‘I wonder how tasty it will be’. He frowned and changed the topic. “I was just about to write an editorial column for you. Don’t mess up on the show, or I won’t be able to explain myself.”
“Yeah, I’ll try.”
Xu Le replied casually. In fact, he had already reached the perfect standard for this dish.
The oil temperature here was just right. Zhang Liang helped to peel off a few handfuls of garlic and was chopping it with two knives.
His hands were sore from chopping, as he finally chopped the garlic into granules. He raised his eyebrows in confusion. “Why didn’t you just smash it?”.
How troublesome was this?
“I’ll fry it together with the bread crust later. If it’s too crushed, it’ll turn into garlic paste. It won’t taste as good anymore.”
After cutting the garlic, he rinsed it with cold water.
“This step can lower the temperature and prevent the garlic from being burnt in the oil. At 30% of the oil temperature just now, pour the garlic into the pot and fry it.”
With a sizzling sound, the garlic was added into the pot. The choking fragrance immediately burst out, causing Zhou Huangya to cough continuously. She fled to the side and said, “Wow, this garlic smell is so pungent!”
The surface of the garlic was slightly yellow and Xu Le immediately scooped it out and said, “Once there’s a light yellow color on the surface, pour out the oil immediately. Use a spoon to flip it. The remaining temperature will cause the garlic to change color bit by bit.”
As expected, within a minute or so, the slightly yellow garlic was completely golden brown. The minced garlic would lose its spiciness after being fried, and when it was tasted later, all that would remain would be the crispiness and fragrance. “Add a small layer of oil in the pot. Put in the Yangjiang bean paste and slowly stir-fry it until it’s fragrant. Then put in the chili sauce and stir-fry it. After it slightly changes color, add some bread crust and chili. Add some red oil to it to enhance the color and fragrance. Now, add salt according to your own preference. Then, you may add chicken powder and 13-spices powder. After stir-frying it until it’s evenly colored, put it aside.” “Sprinkle corn starch on the marinated prawns, turn them over, and dip them again. Make sure that the prawns are wrapped in starch. This way, when they are fried, it will form a thick layer of crispy shell, making it even more dry and fragrant.”
He cut the lotus root into slices and also dipped them in salt and corn starch.
The temperature of the oil in the pot continued to rise until it was fifty percent hot. When one reached out and felt the heat, it would be ready to cook the prawns.