Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken

5 from 3 votes

Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken

Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken (芽菜鸡) recipe - The chicken is poached in a water bath then quickly dunk into cold water to stop the cooking process to retain its juicy smoothness texture. The bean sprouts will only need to be blanched no more than 10 seconds, then drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce, and a smidge of white pepper for a bit of kick.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1

Total Time1 30

Course: Malaysian Recipes

Cuisine: Chicken

Keyword: Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken

Servings: people

Calories: 104kcal

Author: Bee Yinn Low

Ingredients

Poached Chicken:

1 whole free range chicken
3 cloves garlic halved
2 stalks green onion chopped into 10cm lengths
1 tablespoon black peppercorn
1 tablespoon goji berries wolfberries
1 bowl ice water

Blanched Bean Sprouts:

250 g (8 oz) bean sprouts, root discarded preferably

Sar Hor Fun (Rice Noodle soup):

1 packet fresh rice noodle microwavable type
1 handful dried anchovies (江魚仔)
1 cube vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorn
20 g (¾ oz) rock sugar
1 pinch salt to taste
250 g (8 oz) mixed pork bones, optional (to add rich flavour)
100 g (3½ oz) soy bean, optional (to add sweetness)
Sesame oil and soy sauce to taste

Instructions

Poached Chicken

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Make sure the pot is deep enough to submerge the entire chicken with the lid on.
Place garlic, scallions, peppercorns and goji berries into the cavity of the chicken.
When the water has boiled, remove the pot from the heat and place the chicken into the water, neck first. Put the lid on and leave the chicken to stand for 1 hour.
Then lift the chicken out of the water and set aside, as we need to boil the water again for its second bath.
Bring the pot of water to the boil again. Remove the pot from the heat and put the chicken back in for another 30 minutes bath. The chicken should be cooked by now, but sometimes the bone can be still bloody when cut up. If you prefer it to be fully cooked, add an extra 30 minutes for the second bath, but the texture of the chicken might be slightly different.
Act quickly, transfer the chicken to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Important! Do not discard the pot of water bath! It is now a perfect pot of chicken stock, ready to be used for the noodle soup later.
Once the chicken has cool down, discard all the mixture in the cavity. Rub sesame oil and soy sauce all over the chicken, and it is ready to be cut up. Garnish with chopped red chillies and scallions, and a good sprinkle of white pepper powder.

Sar Hor Fun

Place the pot of water that has been used to poach the chicken back to the heat.
Add dried anchovies, peppercorns, rock sugar, and vege stock into the pot and bring to boil.
Turn on high heat, and reduce the broth by half, then the soup is ready. (You don’t have to discard the ingredient we just put in. Just turn the heat down to medium or low, the longer it boils, the richer flavor it gets)
Bring a different pot of water to boil. We will use this to cook our rice noodle.
Place the fresh rice noodle in microwave for 10 - 15 seconds, now it should be soft and easily to separate apart.
Fill a wire skimming ladle with rice noodle, then dip it inside the boiling water for no more than 30 seconds.
Take the ladle out of the boiling water, your noodle is now cooked. Drain then put rice noodle in a bowl, ladle the hot broth over the rice noodle. Garnish with chopped red chillies, scallions and coriander.

Blanched bean sprouts

(This should always be the last process, as we need to keep the bean sprouts nice and crunchy.)
Place the bean sprouts in a wire skimming ladle and dip it inside the hot broth (NOT the boiling water for rice noodle) no more than 15 seconds.
Drain and serve on a plate.
Drizzle a good dash sesame oil and soy sauce all over.
Garnish with chopped red chillies and scallions, and a good sprinkle of white pepper powder.
For condiments, chopped hot green chilli padis and soy sauce on a saucer as a dip for the chicken.

Nutrition