A Yunnan pot is an earthenware soup pot with a chimney. The pot cooks food by closed steaming, which gives a clearer, more intensely flavored stock than ordinary steaming. Instead of a Yunnan pot, you can use a clay pot or casserole inside a steamer.
Ingredients: (Serves 6)
- 25 jujubes (dried Chinese dates)
- 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) chicken
- 6 wafer-thin slices dang gui (dried angelica)
- 6 slices ginger, smashed with the flat side of a cleaver
- 6 scallions (spring onions), ends trimmed, smashed with the flat side of a cleaver
- 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) Shaoxing rice wine
- ½ teaspoon salt
Method:
Soak the jujubes in hot water for 20 minutes, then drain and remove the stones.
Rinse chicken, drain, and remove any fat from the cavity opening and around the neck. Cut off and discard the parson’s nose. Using a cleaver, cut the chicken through the bones into square 4 cm (1½ inch) pieces. Blanch the chicken pieces in a pan of boiling water for 1 minute, then refresh in cold water and drain thoroughly.
Arrange the chicken pieces, jujubes, dang gui, ginger and scallions in a clay pot or casserole about 24 cm (9½ inches) in diameter. Pour rice wine and 1 liter (35 fl oz/4 cups) boiling water over the top and add the salt. Tightly cover the clay pot or casserole, adding a layer of wet muslin between the pot and lid to form a good seal, if necessary, and place it in a steamer.
Steam over simmering water in a covered wok for about 2 hours, replenishing with boiling water during cooking.
Remove the pot from the steamer and skim any fat from the surface of the liquid. Discard dang gui, ginger and scallions. Season, if necessary.
Serve directly from the pot.
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