Steamed chicken with mushrooms

Name: Steamed chicken with mushrooms
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Cantonese
Ingredients: Chicken thigh 600 g; Dried shiitake mushroom 6; Cloud ear fungus 10 g; Dried daylily buds 15 g; Red jujube date 4; Fresh ginger 1 tbsp; Spring onion / scallion 2; Oyster sauce 1 tbsp; Light soy sauce 1 tbsp; Sugar 1 tsp; Rice wine (cooking wine) 1 tbsp; Cornflour 2 tsp; Sesame oil 1 tsp; Cooking oil 1 tbsp

冬菇蒸雞

SteamedChickenWeeknightWeekendKids like itEasyhands-on 20 min · start to finish 1 hr 15 min

“Ready when the rice is. Nothing simpler.”

Ingredientsserves 4

街市Chicken thigh· chopped through the bone; or half a chicken600 g

百子櫃Dried shiitake mushroom· about 25 g dry, soaked and halved; keep the water6

百子櫃Cloud ear fungus· soaked and torn10 g

百子櫃Dried daylily buds· soaked, hard tips pinched off, knotted15 g

百子櫃Red jujube date· stoned4

街市Fresh ginger· shredded1 tbsp

街市Spring onion / scallion· in lengths2

雜貨舖Oyster sauce· for the marinade1 tbsp

雜貨舖Light soy sauce· for the marinade1 tbsp

雜貨舖Sugar· for the marinade1 tsp

雜貨舖Rice wine (cooking wine)· for the marinade1 tbsp

雜貨舖Cornflour· for the marinade2 tsp

雜貨舖Sesame oil· to seal the marinade1 tsp

雜貨舖Cooking oil· to seal the marinade1 tbsp

Method

Soak the shiitake in warm water thirty to sixty minutes until soft, squeeze and halve them, and keep the water; soak the cloud ear and lily buds twenty minutes, pinch the hard tips off the buds and tie each in a knot, then blanch both two minutes in boiling water and drain.
Mix the chicken with the oyster sauce, soy, sugar, wine, a pinch of white pepper and the cornflour, then seal with the sesame oil and oil; marinate thirty minutes.
Toss the shiitake, cloud ear, lily buds, dates and ginger through the chicken so the dried goods take up the marinade; HK01 calls this the step most people miss.
Spread in one layer on a wide, deep plate, chicken skin side up, the dried goods around and under it, spring onion on top.
Steam over fully boiling water on high: twelve to fifteen minutes for chopped thigh pieces, twenty for large pieces or half a bird, until there is no pink at the bone and the juices run clear.
Serve on the plate with its juices, which are the point, over rice.

Take care

Contains soy and wheat (soy sauce, oyster sauce) and sesame (sesame oil); oyster sauce contains mollusc (oyster). Chicken must be cooked through at the bone; pieces on the bone need the full time and no pink at the joint. Dried lily buds must be soaked and cooked, never eaten dry; do not leave cloud ear soaking overnight at room temperature.

The story

Steamed chicken with mushrooms and its sister with lily buds and cloud ear are the home dishes Christine’s Recipes files as her mother’s cooking and HK01 calls a dish one never tires of: the dried-goods cupboard (shiitake, cloud ear, lily buds, red dates) turned into dinner with half a chicken. It is the home cousin of the dim-sum 北菇滑雞, and the same marinade goes into the chicken and mushroom claypot rice.

Same technique

Steamed whole fish

Pork patty with preserved mustard

Spare ribs in black bean sauce

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.