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.