Tea and Rose Smoked Chicken

Ingredients:
Fresh Young Chicken - approx 2.5 catty
1 tbsp salt
2tbsp Shaoxing wine

Soy Marinate:
shallots x 10 cloves - sliced
spring onion x 4 stalks
ginger x 5 slices
chicken marinate sauce x 2 to 2.5 bottles
dark soy sauce x 1/2 cup
light soy suace x 1/4 cup
sugar x 3 tbsp
shaoxing wine x 1/2 cup
chicken stock x 1 cup, extra maybe necessary.

Smoking Ingredient:
white rice x 2 tbsp
6 tea bags of your choice
dried roses x 2 tbsp
brown sugar x 3 tbsp

How to make this:

1. The night before your dinner, wash and wipe dry chicken and hang chicken in a windy place for 3 hrs until dry. You can place a bowl beneath the chicken as excess water will drip down from chicken.

2. Marinate the dried chicken with the salt and wine and place in ziploc bag in fridge overnight.

3. On the day of dinner, take out chicken to rest at room temperature for 30 min.

4. Make the soy marinate now by heating oil in a deep pot, stir fried the spring onion shallots and ginger until fragrant.

5. All all soy marinate ingredients to the wok and bring to boil. Adjust seasonings to your desired tastings.

6. Place the chicken to the pot with the soy marinate, make sure the whole chicken is submerged inside the soy marinate, if not, add some more chicken broth and dark soy sauce.Then reduce the high heat to medium heat for 7 min with lid covered. Best to have the back side face up and breast side face down.

7. After the above 7 min, spoon soy marinate inside pot all over chicken a few times. Then switch off heat and leave the lid covered for another 50 min.

8. Line an wok with 2 layers of aluminium foil. Place the smoking ingredients on top of foil in the centre of the wok. Then put steaming rack on top. Cover with lid, switch to high heat until you see white smoke coming out from the side of the lid.

9. At this point, remove chicken from soy marinate and place chicken over the steaming rack in wok. Cover with lid and smoke for 7 mins.

10. Remove chicken from wok and chop and debone as desired.

11. You can brush the remaining soy marinate over chicken to add the glossy feel.

Serve and enjoy with a bowl of white rice!