Chinese Recipe

Chinese Chicken Recipe with Fungus and Vegetables

There is literally so much Chinese chicken recipe out there, but you have to try this Chinese chicken recipe and I bet you have not tried this before. Why? this Chicken recipe is an authentic Chinese recipe that is passed down from my grandfather who was an immigrant from Shunde China during the earlier 1900s, to my late mother. One of my favorite dishes that my mother always cook for me, and trust me, you will like this too!

Zha Cai – Sichuan Preserved Vegetables

Two of the main ingredients for this chicken recipe are “Zha Cai” and Cloud Ear Fungus. Zha Cai is made by pickling a type of fist-sized vegetables. They are first salted, pressed, and dried. Rubbed with hot chili paste and then ferment in an earthenware jar.

Cloud Ear Fungus or Wood Ear Fungus

Many people often mistook wood ear fungus and cloud ear fungus. Yes, they do look similar but on closer observation, they are different in terms of color, shape, texture, and size.

Cloud Ear Fungus

Compare to wood ear fungus, they are a lot smaller, black color with slight brownish and the other side very light grey. Texture-wise is more towards crunchy with a slight chewiness.

Wood Ear Fungus

These are much bigger than cloud ear fungus, comes in black color with the underside grey in color. Texture-wise they are more towards chewy with slight crunchiness.

Author have a say…

“Zha Cai” is a Cantonese dialect for Sichuan Preserved Vegetable, this dish still remains well in my memory as it was one of the dish created by my mother when my parent’s restaurant was still in business – Sichuan Preserved Vegetable & Cloud Ear Fungus. It was served steamed back then instead of braising it. I personally prefer it to be braised as braising gives a much more concentrated flavor. Though “Zha Cai” originated from Sichuan, and “Zha Cai” is widely used throughout China in many Chinese Cuisine. My mother says this chicken dish comes from Shunde and here it is – recipe from my mum!

Source : Wiki

Chinese Chicken Recipe with Sichuan Preserved Vegetable & Cloud Ear Fungus

This is an authentic Shunde recipe, passed down from my Grandfather to my late mother. If you love those crunchy cloud ear fungus, add more of it!

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword Chicken, Chinese Braised Chicken, Claypot Rice, Shunde Recipe

Difficulty Easy

Allergy Meat

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Servings people

Calories 211kcal

Author Ethan Wong

Ingredients

2 pcs Whole Chicken Leg
100 g Sichuan Preserved Vegetables (Zha Cai) 1 packet
50 g Dried Cloud Ear Fungus
50 g Ginger chopped
5 pcs Red Dates
3 tbsp Cooking Oil
500 ml Water
2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tsp Thick Soy Sauce for darker color

Metric - Imperial

Instructions

Preparation

Clean chopped chicken and put aside.
Soak dried cloud ear fungus in water for 15 minutes or until softened. Cut off any hard parts, soak in water, and put aside.
Clean and peel ginger. Then finely chop ginger and put aside.
Use a knife or scissors and to open the Red Dates and remove the seed.
Prepare the other ingredients.

Cooking

Preheat pan/wok with cooking oil.
Add chopped ginger and fry to golden.
Add chopped chicken and briefly saute.
Add water.
Add Sichuan Preserved Vegetable, Soaked Cloud Ear Fungus, Red Dates, Oyster Sauce, Thick Soy Sauce, and Fish Sauce.
Bring to a boil and keep covered.
Braised for approximately 10 minutes or until thickens.
Remove from heat and serve.