'Resourcefully', I searched the history behind the given name to this dish. Seems that long time ago, a thief wrapped the stolen bird in clay and baked it in a hole in the ground to avoid being caught in the act. Clay and mud (natural earthenwares, which are now our modern casseroles) are natural insulators that can retain the natural juices of the food during the process of slow cooking. Smart aleck, i mean thief.
This was my 2nd attempt cooking this receipe which I found in Lee Lee, Baking Mum's blogsite some time back and this was cooked for last night's dinner. Arh, no mud or clay was used to wrap the chicken in retaining the juices and gravy, and in this current era, we are using the natural fragrance of lotus leaf wrapping and our 'modernised' aluminimum foil to insulate heat during the baking. However, I skipped the making of the outer most layer made from plain flour (you know, as a replacement of mud ./ clay wrap) but, as I wasnt in the mood to do it coz the last round when i attempted that, the hardened baked plain flour, it was tough to crack and had to be thrown once it was cracked open to unveil the end product.
Instead of baking the chicken for 3 hours, mine was only baked for 2 solid hours. Nevertheless, the chicken meat was tender, moistly soaked in the juices, and no knife was used for the breaking of the chicken parts. We, literally, could detach (tear in the ancient term in the act ) the parts as we desire as the chicken was already very cooked to the bones to the extent that breaking it was effortless.
Again, this dish was a winner with my family members who readily gave thumbs up. Credit goes to LeeLee for sharing the receipe.
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