我從小就很愛吃葱，不管是葱油餅、葱爆牛肉、油葱煨麵，只要葱很多菜我都愛吃，就連吃火鍋時我的那一碗醬料一定有一座坐小山的葱。可能是從也很愛吃葱的媽媽遺傳的吧。
這一道葱油雞有著無敵多的青葱，上桌前淋上熱油，勾出青葱的香味但保留青葱的脆度，配上滑嫩多汁的鷄腿，是一道令人回味無窮的好菜。常常忍不住一口接一口的吃不停，葱油雞配上飯，一不小心就會吃完平常兩倍的量。如果是用燒過鷄腿的葱薑水煮的飯，我光吃飯就能吃一大碗公。
說穿了，這一道葱油雞其實就是海南鷄飯的變身版，照著海南鷄飯的做法再加一個步驟，煮好切塊的雞腿鋪上葱絲薑末粗鹽，淋上爆了葱白的熱油，就轉身一變成了葱油雞。
鷄腿的煮法并不難，可是火力和時間的控制需要小心，因爲是鷄腿滑嫩多汁的關鍵。鷄腿其實是半煮半燜熟，先用小火保持微微沸騰的水煮到鷄腿快熟，再用熱水的餘溫將鷄腿燜熟，鷄腿一熟就抛進大盆的冰水迅速降溫。如果用帶骨大鷄腿煮的時間要加幾分鐘，用去骨的小鷄腿煮的時間要少幾分鐘，如果不确定要煮多久就先煮十分钟、燜十分钟，检查看看熟了没，没有的话就多燜两分钟燜到熟就是了。這也是西方Poach Chicken 的做法，只不過我們在煮雞的水裏加了薑片、葱段、紹興酒，所以鷄腿多了一種東方料理的香味。
只要煮鷄腿的時間火候抓好，這道菜其實可以挺隨性的。葱油也可以先另外做好 – 将葱丝姜末放在一个小碗里，把爆香葱白的热油倒入碗里拌匀，再铺在煮好切块的鸡肉上????。
[recipe]
2-3 Servings
[ingredients]
- 4 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
- 3 slices of ginger + 1/4″ knob of ginger
- 1 Tbsp rice wine
- 4 stalks of scallions
- 1/4 cup of canola oil or other mild flavored oil
[directions]
- Boil a pot of water enough to cover chicken thighs completely. Add in the 3 slices of ginger, rice wine and white part of 1 stalk of scallion.
- Place chicken thighs into boiling water and bring back to a boil. Cook for 10-12 minutes. (If using boneless chicken thighs, just 8-10 minutes will do.) Turn off the fire and cover the pot with lid. Keep the thicken thighs in the hot water for 10 minutes.
- While the chicken thighs are cooking, prepare an ice bath. Once the chicken finishes cooking, submerge them in the ice bath until cool. This helps keep the meat from over-cooking.
- Separate the white and green parts of the scallion. Cut the white part of the scallion into 1/2″ sections. Thinly slice the green scallion parts into thin ribbons. Grate the 1/4″ knob of ginger onto the green scallion ribbons and mix together.
- Remove the chicken from the ice bath, de-bone (optional) and slice into thick slices. Grate coarse sea salt over the chicken slices. Arrange the green scallion ribbons on top of the chicken. Grate just a little more sea salt over the scallion ribbons.
- Heat oil in a small pan with white sections of the scallion until scallions are golden and fragrant. Quickly pour the hot oil and crisp scallions evenly over the green scallion ribbons and the chicken.
[/recipe]