Ingredients

3-1/2 lb. frying chicken
4 lb. wet modeling clay
3 dried lotus leaves
Stuffing:
1/2 lb. ground pork
1 Tbsp. peanut oil
2 Tbsp. salted mustard green
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. fresh ginger root; minced
Mixture For Skin:
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. medium sherry
1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce

Cooking Instructions

Prepare Chicken: Trim excess fat from chicken; remove wing tips. Mix mixture for skin; rub chicken inside and out with it. Leave uncovered at room temperature, while coating is absorbed and dried. Repeat if necessary. Stuffing: In hot wok, heat peanut oil to smoking. Stir-fry ground pork for 2 minutes; add mustard green, ginger and sugar; stir-fry 1 more minute. Remove and cool. Lotus Leaves: Number of leaves depends on their size and that of chicken. Reduce heat under boiling water to simmer, and steep leaves for 3-5 minutes, until wet through and pliable (not for long or leaves may shred). Now soak in cold water for 10 minutes, or longer, until time to use them; open folded leaves in cold water to wash them. Wrap Chicken: Preheat oven to 550. Stuff chicken with pork mixture. Cut hard center out of lotus leaves, then slit along fold about 3 inches on each side of center, so cut away center can be overlapped. Wrap chicken in 3 layers of lotus leaves. Tie securely with piece of cotton or fiber string (don’t use nylon; it might melt). Spread soft, wet modeling clay about 1/2-inch thick on sheet of newspaper. Bring clay pack around chicken and seal. Remove newspaper. (Use foil if clay unavailable.) Roasting: Place clay-covered chicken on rack in shallow roasting pan in preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour; reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 1-1/2 hours. Serve: Present fired clay chicken to table. Crack clay with suitable object, allowing some of steam to escape before you proceed. Remove clay; carefully cut open lotus leaves with scissors. Chicken will be very soft and tender; break apart to get at stuffing. Serve guests, or invite them to pick with chopsticks.

My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” (Psalms 42:3)