My Simplified Version of "Yim Guk Gai"

I have been having some craving for Yim Guk Gai recently but I don't have much salt at home. The traditional version of YGG requires very large amount of course salt. It involves wrapping the whole chicken with parchment paper, covering the parcel with heated salt. It has to be baked for at least 1 hour covered with salt. The traditional way of cooking this dish usually takes more than 1 hour using charcoal. I do not have the luxury of the time to go through such elaborate preparation.  I am also afraid that my wok will be spolit. 

So what I did was to drastically simplify the preparation method with the hope that similar taste can be achieved. I used 2 chicken thighs. Instead of salt-bake it, I steamed it. I prefer to have it still juicy and springy, so I didn't steam it very long; just long enough for the chicken to be cooked through. The result? Addictive!!! I prepared oiled fragrant rice and soup to go with the chicken. Hubby was actually quite full and intended to give me half portion of his rice initially.  But after he had his bite, he can't resist to have more.

Recipe for my version of YGG:

Ingredients:

2 pcs chicken thighs
Salt
1-2 tsp sesame oil
5 tbsp shao xing wine
3 slices ginger
6-8 pcs red dates
5 slices dang gui
A pinch of sugar

Method:

1. Wash and pat dry the chicken tighs.

2. Marinate thighs with salt, 4 tbs of shao xing wine and sesame oil. Insert the ginger, red dates and dang gui under the thighs. Marinate for several hours.

3. Before steaming the chicken, pour another tbsp of wine and a pich of sugar on the thighs.

4. Steam the thighs on high heat for roughly 16 to18 minutes depending on how big your chicken is.

Red skin turnip, carrots, red dates, chicken, pork ribs & dried cuttlefish for the soup

This is how the red skin turnip looks like