歡迎光臨高雄市新聞局

Country Style Chicken Courtyard's Signature Dish

Sticky Rice Pilaf with Chicken in Ginger Sesame Oil Dressing

◎English translation: Peng Hsin-yi　◎Photos by Pao Chung-hui

　　In Kaohsiung City's Alian District, the most popular restaurant is not one with a fancy menu or a celebrity chef. "Country Style Chicken Courtyard" is as straightforward as its name. It serves authentic Taiwanese home-cooking just like the older generation used to make. "People who've been everywhere in the world fly in for it," says owner and chef, Ms. Li Mei-lian.

　　Ms. Li's signature dish is the Sticky Rice Pilaf with Chicken in Ginger Sesame Oil Dressing. For Taiwanese people, it's the ultimate comfort food, deeply embedded in their memories. Consisting of perfectly cooked sticky rice saturated with rich chicken broth, it exudes a mouth-watering fragrance of sesame oil and ginger. Ms. Li has perfected her art over the years: She uses a very specific brand of sesame oil that's rich in fragrance but light in color so the pilaf doesn't turn dark brown. The dried shiitake mushrooms, from Puli in central Taiwan, are button-sized delicacies which don't need to be sliced. They look cute, and are just the right size to be eaten in a single bite.

　　Ms. Li uses cage-free chickens more than six months old. Kept initially on a contracted chicken farm for three or four months, Ms. Li then moves them to her own coop where she feeds them with corn and grain to make them leaner. For the final month, the chickens roam free in her yard, resulting in a superior flavor. The dish isn't complete without ginger, and Ms. Li has a neat trick: rather than cut the ginger into thin slices, she dices it so it's easier to toss in the wok and cooks more evenly.

　　Ms. Li has been making this dish on a daily basis for over 10 years, and there's a rhythm to her movements as she pours sesame oil into the wok, throws in the diced ginger, then adds the mushrooms, followed by chunks of chicken, sticky rice, and a generous amount of rice wine. If you stand and watch, the wonderful smell not only stimulates your appetite, but also evokes a sense of well-being.

　　The rice turns translucent as it absorbs the liquid, glistening as each grain is coated with sesame oil. But that's just the beginning. At this stage, Ms. Li scoops up the mixture and puts it into a steam basket. It's then placed inside an electronic rice cooker for about two hours to ensure everything is cooked through. Even then, the process is not quite complete. The final touch is just as important: Ms. Li stirs the finished product gently so the whole batch is mixed well, and the texture and flavor blends evenly throughout.

　　The charm of the pilaf is in its subtlety. The fragrances of sesame and chicken complement each other. The scent is a perfect prelude to the flavorful mushroom and chicken. Zesty ginger hangs in the background, making each and every bite as satisfying as can be. Ms. Li's pilaf is wonderfully plump rice, fully flavored with chicken, sesame oil and ginger, yet still retaining a toothy texture. This dish was originally a winter staple, but here it's on the menu year-round because of demand. People don't allow something as trifling as summer heat to stop them from feasting on food which feeds both heart and soul.

　　Another favorite in Ms. Li's restaurant is rustic roasted chicken. Free-range chickens are hung on iron hooks, lowered into a barrel-shaped kiln made of date wood and roasted for one hour. The result is a golden bird with crispy skin and juicy meat. It's finger-licking good!

田野香雞庭園

古早味麻油雞米糕

◎文／侯雅婷　◎攝影／鮑忠暉

　　位於阿蓮區的「田野香雞庭園」餐廳吸引饕客上門造訪的正是招牌料理─古早味麻油雞米糕，老闆李美蓮表示，這道菜就是小時候吃到的味道，只是我們的米煮起來不軟爛，很Ｑ喔！這道作法和味道都純正的麻油雞米糕，讓負笈海外的學子和僑胞念念不忘，返台時，總會飛奔前來嚐嚐那記憶裏的家鄉味道。有趣的是，愛吃麻油雞的客人並不因為南台灣在夏季特別炙熱而不吃麻油雞，這道麻油雞米糕始終可是長年暢銷熱賣的必點單品。

　　麻油雞米糕要做的好吃，食材樣樣都得講究，使用特選的麻油，香氣飽滿但麻油呈色不能太深，免得烹煮時影響食材顏色；再來是體型略小但渾圓且肥厚的埔里鈕菇，大小剛好可以一口吃掉，不必再切片，破壞美感；拌炒過程中不可或缺的老薑則切成丁狀；雞肉則使用成長時間超過半年的純土雞，純土雞先委由養雞場照料3個半至4個月後再移回自有雞舍展開剷肉大作戰，先餵食玉米飼料2個月，消除脂肪，再用1個月，使雞肉緊實，食用起來就不會有飼料雞的味道。

　　李美蓮累積十年以上的麻油雞拌炒功力，炒起麻油雞不急不徐、節奏分明，但撲鼻而來的麻油香讓人聞了就覺得很幸福，先用麻油爆香丁狀的薑，再放入一顆顆渾圓的鈕菇以及肉質紮實的土雞肉，後是糯米，最後倒入米酒，各種食材吸納了麻油後，一顆顆糯米閃耀著麻油的晶瑩亮度，香噴噴，這還沒完，還得放進電鍋蒸它個2小時，之後再充份攪拌，攪拌也是門功夫，起鍋後糯米Ｑ而不爛。