Tiki-Tiki Chicken in Parchment

Hot, gin-soaked, hoisin-glazed chicken and scallions...This appetizing appetizer recipe was a signature at The Islander restaurant in Los Angeles in the '50s. To make it, you deep-fry little packets of gin-spiked marinated chicken with onions. Yum! We like the result served in lettuce cups.

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NEED SERVING SIZE

Ingredients

1 lb white chicken meat
2 Tbsp each hoisin sauce, gin, and ketchup
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp salt
2 bunches scallions, cut into 1-inch lenghts.

Instructions

Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes, 1/4 inch thick. Put the pieces in a bowl and cover with a mixture of the hoisin sauce, gin, ketchup, oil and salt. Let the chicken marinate for 2 to 3 hours. Wrap two pieces of chickien and 2 pieces of scallion in small squares of parchment or aluminum foil.(I just snipped the scallions into the packets as I went.) Fold packets over to make a tight seal. Fry the packets in deep hot fat for 3 minutes each. Open carefully and serve packet contents in lettuce cups, or, over a nest of noodles.

Yes, this is a labor-intensive recipe. You'll have to cut squares of foil, fill them with the marinated chicken and scallions, carefully seal the packets, deep fry and then reopen all the little packets. Sheesh. But, my boys liked the taste enough to help cut and fold.