Serves:
4 to 6

Preparation Time:
20 minutes

Cooking Time:
2 hours

1. Wash and clean the chicken and cut off all the skin and fat. If you weigh the skin and fat you will realise how much fat there is in each chicken – about 20% of the chicken. Dry the chicken thoroughly inside and outside with paper towels.
2. Leave mushrooms whole. Wash old yellow cucumber and cut into large wedges and do not remove the skin.
3. Put the whole mushrooms, Chinese dates, scallops and the mushroom water and the scallop water with the chicken in the top layer of a double boiler. Or use a claypot or a large covered bowl.
4. Double boil the soup over medium heat for about 2 hours or till the chicken is tender. If you are using a covered bowl or claypot, put it on a metal stand in a large steamer filled with enough water to reach about 2 cm up the bowl.
5. You will find that the chicken will exude oil. Remove the oil by skimming it from the top with a spoon or by running a piece of paper towel across the top of the soup. The oil will cling to the paper towel.

1 whole
frozen chicken (about 1.3 kg), defrosted for 8 hours in the fridge

10
dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked till soft in 2 cups water

1
yellow cucumber (650g)

6 to 8
dried Chinese dates, soaked till soft

1 tsp
Chinese yellow wine (hua teow jiu)

3
dried scallops, soaked in 1 cup water for 2 hours

20g
sliced ginseng (optional)