Steamed Chicken in Oyster Mushroom Broth

I love cooking and I love to share it with people. This week I have been spoiling my family with Asian dishes and for dinner I cooked a dish similar to Hainese Chicken. Here is my recipe for Steamed chicken in Oyster Mushroom Sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken thighs or legs
• 1 knob of ginger, the size of your thumb
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 white onion roughly chopped
• 6 Large button mushrooms sliced thickly
• 1 Chinese napa cabbage, hard end chopped off, washed and sliced down the middle
• 3 tbsps oyster sauce
• 2 tsps cornstrach dissolved in a little warm water
• Spring onions for garnish
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

For the broth/stock:

• 1 star anise
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1- 2 cups hot water
• A pinch of red chili flakes
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 red onion roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic crushed
• 1 knob of ginger sliced

Equipment:

• Bamboo steamer
• A Wok, that will allow the steamer to rest on it with out touching the bottom and had a good seal
• Oven mittens for safely moving steamer
• Mesh sieve

Procedure

1. Put all ingredients for the broth into the wok, with 1 cup of water. Turn the heat up high until it starts to boil
2. Make a bed of napa cabbage for the chicken in the steamer (This will prevent the chicken from sticking and is great for the person who has to wash up later =D). Place chicken skin side up
3. When broth starts to boil, turn down to medium high heat and place the steamer on top (with the kilo of chicken you may have to stack another steamer on top of the first one just as I did). Cover and let the chicken steam for 1 hour. Top up the broth with the remaining water every 20 mins or when necessary, if needed
4. Half way through the cooking time you should alternate the steamers to cook the chicken evenly. CAREFUL! use the oven mitts to do this safely. You may also want to brush the chicken with some soy sauce to give it a little colour
5. Set the bamboo steamer aside and sieve the stock into a bowl
6. With a clean wok on high heat put in the oil, ginger, onion and garlic
7. When the onions have become translucent add the mushrooms
8. Add a ladle of the stock into the wok ( be prepared for it it sizzle)
9. When the mushrooms are soft and browned add the oyster sauce and half of the broth
10. Add the rest of the napa cabbage
11. When the cabbage has softened add the cornstarch and stir in till the sauce has reached desired consistency
12. Place vegetable and broth in a serving dish with the chicken on top and garnish with spring onion and more red chilli flakes if you wish. Serve with steamed white rice.

Serves 4-6

It's not as complicated as my step by step guide makes it out to be LOL.. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Till next time =)