Photo: Tea Smoked Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/4 cup white rice
- 3 tablespoon Chinese black tea
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Shao-sing wine or medium-dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, preferably dark (See Cook's Note)
- 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 5 scallions (white and green), thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
- 1/2 head iceberg lettuce
- Sriracha sauce or other Asian chili sauce, to taste
- Juice of 1/2 lime
Directions
Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry skillet until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Cool slightly, and then crush in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle with the salt and five-spice powder until very fine. Rub seasoned salt all over the chicken thighs. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
Bring the chicken to room temperature about 30 minutes before cooking.
Line the bottom of a wok, skillet or heavy pot with a double layer of aluminum foil. Mix the rice, tea and brown sugar together and mound on the foil. Set a steamer on top, and evenly space the chicken on the rack. Cover and cook over high heat. Hot smoke the chicken until smokey-brown colored and cooked through, about 12 minutes.
While the chicken cooks, whisk the Shao-sing wine or sherry, soy, ginger, and sesame together in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, remove from heat and steep for 5 minutes. Brush over cooked chicken.
To serve: Dice the chicken into very small pieces. Toss with the scallions and peanuts in a medium bowl. Cut the lettuce leaves into 40 squares or triangular scoops. Place a drop of Sriracha on top of each lettuce cup, and top with about 2 teaspoons of the diced chicken. Squeeze lime juice over the top, and drizzle the remaining soy-ginger sauce over the chicken. Serve.
Cook's Note: Dark soy sauce is thicker and lightly sweeter tasting than other soys. It adds a depth of flavor that is great with the chicken. It can be found in Asian markets or supermarkets with a good Asian section.
Copyright 2007 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved
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By ClaudiaAbate
on May 06, 2012
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This is an awesome dish - a big hit! I tweaked some of the spices to what I had in my cabinet using a Sesame seed blend and red hot pepper corns. I would perhaps use Boston Lettuce next time in lieu of Iceburg. It does take longer than 12 minutes to cook -
By gregg176_7209958
Folsom, PA
on January 04, 2012
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Whooty Booty! I like salt but this was a little too salty for me, and I'm the guy everyone calls "Salty Rodger" This name was derived from the two things I love and they are, in order 1. Salt and 2.Rodger Whitiker songs. But i did love the infusion of the peppercorn and the smokiness of the tea. My grandmother was a tea totteler, she would tote tea back and forth between my parents house and my Uncle 's apartment in the city. She would take a bus twice a week with her satchel of exotic teas and drop them off outside of our side door early tuesday and thursday mornings. All the locals made fun of her and called her the mad hatter. But i understood it was her way of caring about her family and our pets. (cat-Rufus and parakeet-Jesus Grandma is gone now but the memories are something I will cherish until i get the Alzhimers. Thanks food network kitchens for you due dilligence and crafty ideas that keep Americans such as myself well fed and full of memories for our children!
By LauraR67
on November 28, 2011
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This recipe was excellent. I easily found the Szechuan Peppercorns (aka.. Prickly Ash and much different than Black pepper in a local Chinese market. Even though I do like salt a lot, I did follow the advice of a fair number of reviewers and decreased the amount to only 1 tbsp. If you do not care for salt, I would even go down to 2 tsp. The other advice I followed was the cooking time. It was definitely not cooked after 12 minutes. I did not open the lid at all until the 12 minutes was up, took the pan outside to open (absolutely necessary unless you want to smoke up your entire house, flipped the pieces over and put it back on for another 5 minutes. The chicken was perfectly cooked and extremely tender. The person who said it was rubbery either bought bad chicken or did not cook it properly. Next time, I will serve this as lettuce wraps, with larger pieces of lettuce on a serving tray and the chicken in a serving bowl with the sauce and let people assemble the wraps themselves.
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