Rotisserie Chicken - BUT BETTER: JiaoHuaJi (叫化雞)

Meet rotisserie chicken’s hotter, older cousin: jiaohuaji (叫化雞) aka beggar’s chicken 🍗

It’s baked wrapped inside of a lotus leaf, then finished off in the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Smoker on the smoke setting. Truly perfection in chicken form, if I’ve ever seen it.

Here’s how to make it ⬇️ Serves 4-5:

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, about 2-3 lbs

• 2 lotus leaves (dried, then rehydrated)

• 4 cups flour

• 1.5 cups of water (with a few tbsps more to bring dough together)

• Chicken marinade:

  • 1/4 cup rice wine

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce

  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp honey

  • 2 tsps five spice powder

  • 1 tsp white pepper powder

  • 6-7 pieces of ginger

  • 2 scallions, cut into thin strips

• For the stuffing:

  • 2-3 green onions, chopped

  • 6-7 pieces of thinly sliced ginger

  • 4-6 kumquats, cut in half

  • 3-4 pieces of dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated

Instructions:

• Start by washing and drying your bird, then placing in a large basin

• Top the chicken with all the ingredients in the marinade, including the ginger and scallions, then massage well, making sure to get some of the wet mixture underneath the skin too

• Place in a Ziploc bag and let it marinate overnight in the fridge

• On the next day prep your stuffing ingredients and set the oven to 400F to preheat

• For the lotus leaf, place in a large bowl with warm water for 30 mins, making sure to weight it down in the water with a cup or small bowl

• For the shiitake mushrooms, rehydrate them by placing them in a bowl of freshly boiled water and letting them soak for 10 mins at least

• Remove the chicken from the Ziploc bag and stuff with scallions, ginger, kumquats, and rehydrated mushrooms

• By now the lotus leaf should be soft and flexible from rehydrating, so place on a plate, then put the chicken in the middle, wrap the leaves around, and tie up with kitchen twine

• For the dough casing, mix together 4 cups of all purpose flour with 1.5 cups of water first until a dough ball forms, adding a few more tbsps of water here and there if it’s a bit too dry

• Roll the dough out wide enough to cover the chicken, then wrap closed as much as you can

• Place chicken in the oven with a foil lined baking sheet to catch any drippings that come out and let it cook for 3.5 hours — if using Ninja’s Woodfire Outdoor Grill & Smoker, you can also decrease the heat after 3 hours, add smoke pellets at the end at 250F and cook for another 2 hours to infuse the smokey flavor

• Once the chicken is done, remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 mins, then enjoy!