When it comes to steamed rice dishes — the kind served in dim sum restaurants — I only really top mine with pork (see this recipe, incidentally my most popular). This variation with chicken and mushroom came out of randomly surfing the YouTube cooking channels. My parents were away so I could afford to experiment. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
First, the chicken. I bought half a kilo of thighs, had them skinned and then filleted, keeping the trimmings. Back in my kitchen, I made sure to remove any extra fat and whatever tendons or ligaments the butcher had missed before slicing the meat into strips.
Mushrooms. I used canned shiitake, sliced into thin strips, the tough stems set aside for later use. The mushrooms joined the chicken. For marinade, a teaspoon each of chicken powder, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, garlic powder, sugar, oil, and cornstarch. (I did not really measure, but I believe it is a fair approximation. In any case, I choose to err on the side of caution as it is always easier to compensate for underseasoned food.) The marinated mixture went into the fridge while I made stock.
Into a heated pot, some oil, followed by sliced ginger (about three thumbs’ worth), five cloves of crushed garlic (skin on), coarsely chopped red onion, a bay leaf, and some black peppercorns. They were sautéed until burned in places before I added mushroom stems and chicken trimmings, and when the latter had lost their raw color, I poured in five cups of water, turned the heat to low, and let everything simmer for an hour, then seasoned with salt and oyster sauce — just enough to keep the broth light.
For the rice, a combination of three-quarter cup each of Thai jasmine and glutinous, cooked in two and a quarter cups of the strained chicken stock.
Finally, I heated up the wok, poured in two tablespoons of peanut oil, and waited for it to smoke before adding the chicken and mushrooms. After 10 minutes of intermittent stirring, I added the remaining chicken stock and cooked for another 5 minutes. To thicken, some cornstarch slurry. I added a bit more soy sauce and oyster sauce to both season and color the dish, plus a drizzle of sesame oil for that hint of toastiness.
You can tell it turned out pretty well, no? I had a friend over for lunch and he cleaned out the rice cooker (I had seconds, too). Next time, maybe some seriously fat-flecked Chinese chorizo to go with the chicken. It sounds so good it scares me.
This post has no comments.
Post a Comment