Fuzhou Red Wine Chicken (Dry version)

Okie...this is extremely easy. Special thanks to Aunt Alice for her recipe.

Please note that I have made minor changes to the recipe after a few experiements :

50 gm whole garlic (peeled) segments

350 gm ginger (julienned)

2 nos kampung chicken (chopped and marinated with 2 tsp salt & 2 tbsp wine)

2 cups red rice wine (Fuzhou red husk wine or whatever it's called)

2 tbsp red rice wine sediment (i forgot the actual term for this...)

1 tbsp sugar

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil. Stirfry ginger & garlic with medium-low heat until SOFT (but not browned)

2. Add in the sediments (be sure to stirfry constantly or it will burn). Stir in the chicken pieces and stirfry for a while.

3. Pour in 1 1/2 cup of wine and sugar and turn to medium-high heat. Cover wok with lid.

4. Stir every now and then until it thickens.

5. Stir in the last 1/2 cup of wine and let it cook for a further 10-20 seconds b4 turning off the fire.

Season with salt.

Thats it....

Note: Best to chop the chicken into smaller pieces especially the breast meat.

Braised Duck

Ingredients:

1 duck - cleaned (Especially the cavity)

5 cloves - garlic, whole (do not peel)

6 nos - anise seed

3 sticks - cinnamon

4 -5 pcs - dong gwai (sweet) & 'Chuen Gong'

30 gm - lengkuas / galangal (sliced)

1/2 tbsp - peppercorn

20-25 gm - cane sugar

3 tbsp - light soy sauce

2 tbsp - thick soy sauce (caramel sauce)

2 tbsp - oil

extra - coarse salt

1. Rub duck cavity and skin with coarse salt and rinse with water. 

2. In wok, heat up 2 tbsp oil. Add in cinnamon, peppercorn, anise seeds, garlic and lengkuas and stirfry for about 20 seconds or so.

3. Turn to moderately low heat and add in light soy sauce, sugar and thick soy sauce and dong gwai & Chuen Gong.

4. Add in 300 ml of water and bring to boil. Then slowly place in duck. Let it simmer for 10 minutes before turning it to the other side for another 10 minutes.

5. Keep turning the duck in 10 minutes intervals each side scooping in some sauce into the cavity occasionally. If the gravy dries up too quickly, add in further 200 ml of water.

6. The total time for braising the duck take about 50 minutes (the gravy should be reduced to about 300 ml including the melted fat from the duck and thickened). Give an extra 10 minutes if softer meat is desired.

7. Remove duck from gravy and set aside to cool. Pour gravy into a bowl (Skim off the additional fat)

8. The duck should be chopped into thin pieces (unlike chopping chicken) when it is at room temperature. Arrange pieces onto the platter and drizzle with some of the gravy.

Drunken Chicken / Wine-Chicken (updated 2/4/11)

Ingredients :

1 kampung chicken (chopped and cleaned), approx 1.5 kg
(Marinated with 2 tbsp rice wine & 1 tsp salt)

150 gm of old ginger, sliced into thin strips (2 tbsp oil - throw away oil)

100-150gm Wood Fungus - "Muk Yee"

1-2 tbsp sesame oil (add more if u like)

1 tsp peppercorn (optional)

600 ml of Homemade Rice Wine  (good ones)

600 - 700 ml  water

50 ml of extra Rice wine/ quarter cup of mui gwai lou

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1. Heat some oil in wok. Saute gingers until soften (abt 3-5 minutes) under moderate heat. (Do not brown ginger).

2. Discard oil. Add in sesame oil and throw in the peppercorn and wood fungus.

3. Add in the chicken pieces and saute for about 1-2 minutes under high heat.

4. Pour in rice wine and water and add in the salt. Bring to boil.

5. Once boiled, simmer for 5 minutes and turn off heat immediately. Let it soak for at least 1/2 hour.

6. Prior to serving, reheat , turn of hear and add in the remaining of wine/spirit (Mui Gwai Lou).

IMPORTANT NOTE: The choice of rice wine is very important. Some homemade rice wine tend to be quite diluted or even sour. The preferred quality of rice wine should be semi sweet-dry and moderately thick. If the wine used is sour, adding a bit of sugar should help (altho i do not recommend doing so) and if the wine lacks dryness/too sweet, adding a bit of liquor/spirit (Mui Gwai Lou) or brandy should do the trick. 

Also, chicken breast tend to be tougher. Thus the chicken breast can be omitted (cut and keep for other dishes), afterall it is the ribs and bones that gives out the flavors. The pot will not be cramped with too much chicken pieces. Chicken may be marinated with some wine and salt first. 

VARIETY : There is another recipe (my mom claimed that its much better) by my  Grandma which doesn't even use rice wine. Only Mui Gwai Lou is used and boiled peanuts. This way, the wine will not turn sour and will be more consistent.

Hainanese Chicken

There are a few ways in preparing Hainanese Chicken. You can either steam the chicken or poach it. 

There are a few important points to take note in order to make good Chicken Rice (CR):

 - Selection of chicken. Please DO NOT use ayam kampong. My mum uses ayam kampong because the meat is sweet, lean and she likes to chew on the bones. Plus the meat is kinda 'dense' or muscular (or rubbery). Don't get me wrong. I like steamed ayam kampong but when it comes to CR, we need tender (not rubbery) meat with some chicken fat (Ayam kampong has less fat) to give the flavor. Also, ayam kampong's dense/muscular meat holds less moisture so the meat tends to be less juicy.

 - Try to use fresh chicken right from the market and not refrigerated/frozen ones because frozen ones tend to lose its flavor over time and not as tender.  This is also to ensure that the chicken will not be under/overcooked because it is easier to cook at the right temperature if its not frozen.

- You'll need a medium sized "choy yuin" chicken or any other type except kampong or spring chicken. If you are cooking for a small family (1 chicken), just save your time and effort by steaming it for 20-25 minutes under mediumn heat but the better way to prepare is by poaching it although the soup will not be as nice. Thus, for better chicken rice, use at least 2 medium-sized chicken or have it submerged in a prepared chicken stock.

- You'll need a pot with a big base and its height enough to submerge the chicken.

1. Clean the chicken in and out. Rub lots of coarse kitchen salt over its skin and its cavities thoroughly and wash away salt thoroughly with water. Repeat one more time. Rub with 1 1/2 tsp salt in cavities and skin. Set aside.

2. Peel young ginger (300 - 400gm), 100-200gm of shalliots, 5-6 cloves of garlic. Place all into blender and add 1 bowl of water. Blend into paste. Sieve away the first round of water from the blended mixture.

3. In a pan or wok, add in 1 tbsp of oil. Pour in the ginger mixture and add in 1 bowl of chicken stock. Add in 1/2 tsp kunyit/turmeric (I add kunyit for color and to enhance flavor of the young ginger) and 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring to boil and reduce until it turns into ginger paste (don't brown it). You may make the paste smoother by thickening it with a bit of cornstarch and finish with another tablespoon of oil. This is for the stock where you can submerge the chicken, the rice and ginger paste for condiment. 

THE CHICKEN.

4. Fill the pot (Half full or just enough to submerge chickens) with water (for more than two chicken) or homemade chicken stock (for only one chicken). Add in 2-3 tbsp of the ginger mixture(and a bit more salt). Bring water to boil. Slowly place the chickens into the the pot of water. This should bring down the temperature of the stock. Bring to boil again for 2-5 min and turn to the lowest heat (lowest possible). Close the lid and let it simmer for 12-15 minutes depending on size of chicken. After that, turn OFF the heat (lids closed) and let it submerge for a further 20 minutes or so. You may poke the thighs with a chopstick, and if ur able to poke through it ...it should be cooked. 

Take the chicken out and let it run through tap water till cooled down. (Better if iced water is used). Leave it on a rack with a plate below. From the stock, scoop out the oil into a separate bowl. and baste the chicken with the oil. This will keep the chicken moist and appealing. 

Remember, it is not wise to chop the chicken into pieces while its still warm.  When serving, always place the chopped breast meat below. Mix half bowl of the remaining stock with a bit of soy sauce,sesame oil and some Shao Xing wine.  Pour it over the chicken ONLY prior to serving.

Soto Ayam (Bee Hoon)

Ingredients :

200 gm thai shallots 

100 gm brown onions

2 bulbs garlic

5 slices ginger

2 inches lengkuas (sliced)

3-4 lemon grass, bruised

1.5-2 tsp turmeric powder

1.5 - 2 tsp salt

1.8- 2 ltr water

1 - 1.5 tbsp sarawak black peppercorn

2 stick cinammon

4-5 star anise

5-8 nos cardamon

1 tbsp coriander powder

3/4 -1 tbsp garam marsala

1 whole chicken (abt 1 kg), or ayam kampong (Better still if u use ayam tua - more flavor, crunchy skin and clearer stock)

bay leaf (optional)

(** if you choose not to use garam marsala, substitute with more more cinamon, star anise, coriander seeds and cardamom)

Condiments: Chinese parsley (Yim Sai), Chinese celery (Kan Choy/ Daun Sup), Spring Onions, Blanced Beansprouts, sambal chilli**, fried shallots.

Method :

1. Grind shallots, onions & garlic.

2. Heat 2 tbsp oil and sweat the grinded shallots mixture. Add in lengkuas, ginger, turmeric, salt, cinammon, anise and marsala.

3. Add water, followed by lemongrass, peppercorn (andd bay leaf)and bring to boil.

4. Simmer for 1/2 hour (covered) before adding in whole chicken. Once boiling, simmer for another 20 min under low heat.

5. Remove chicken from stock and run through tap water to cool.

6. Remove flesh and shred the flesh and set aside. 

6. The remaining bones and skin may be put back into the stock and further simmered for 10-15 minutes.

7. Serve it hot in a soup plate with either ketupat, Noodles or Beehoon topped with some beansprouts, parsleys, celery and bring onions, fried shallts and grinded chilli.

**Will add in the recipe for the grinded chilli in next post.