Braised Chicken Wings with Chestnuts / 栗子鸡


I braised some chicken wings with chestnuts for dinner couple nights back and my honey bear was extremely delighted! He loves chicken wings so any dish that features chicken wings as THE main ingredient makes him happy. Braised chicken (wings) with chestnuts is a popular Chinese/Cantonese dish which is often cooked at home, and especially over the autumn period. Deepfrying and stir-frying all the time can get a little boring, so today i tried out another cooking style, braising.
I half-deepfried-half-panfried the chicken wings in hot oil 1st, then removed them, placed them on baking paper to drain away the excess oil, and then returned them back to the wok to stir-fry with garlic and chestnuts, afterwhich water is added (just enough to cover the ingredients), and then simmered till soft & till there is minimal amount of liquid left in the wok. (Note: When i say i half-deepfried-half-panfried the chicken wings, i meant that i added in more oil than i usually use for stir-frying, but not as much as the amount of oil i'd usually use when i deep-fry food.) Before serving the dish, garnish with chopped spring onions & coriander leaves! Many other braised chicken wings with chestnut/braised chestnut chicken dishes also feature dried shittake mushrooms and/or carrots and/or wolfberries in their recipe ingredient list; adding these ingredients will definitely enhance the flavour & sweetness of the dish. I had neither dried shiitake mushrooms nor carrots nor wolfberries at the time i cooked this dish, so i omitted them, & the dish still tasted superb^.^





Detailed recipe/instructions from Food for Tots' Braised Chestnut with Chicken (Note: This recipe includes wolfberries & mushrooms; it also uses chicken thighs [instead of chicken wings] & uses fresh chestnuts [i used cooked & ready-to-eat packaged chestnut snack):



Ingredients:

200g  Chinese chestnuts (fresh)
2 Chicken thighs (de-boned & skin removed; marinated with 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce, a dash of sugar & cornflour for at least half an hour)
5 fresh mushrooms
2-3 tablespoons of wolfberries
4 cloves of garlic (bruised)
Coriander leaves (for garnishing)
300ml water


Seasonings:

2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon concentrated Maggi chicken stock
A dash of dark soya sauce
A dash of sesame oil & pepper
Cornflour (for thickening purposes)


Instructions:

1. Wash chestnuts & place in a small saucepan, together with water. Boil for 15 minutes, then remove & soak in cold water. Use a knife to remove the skin. Cut into smaller pieces.

2. Heat up wok with 1 tablespoon of oil. Saute garlic, add in chestnuts, & stir-fry for a while.

3. Pour in 90% water & seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, & simmer for about 45 mins or until chestnuts are tender.

4. Add in mushroom & chicken thighs & simmer for another 10 minutes.

5. Add in cornflour solution & bring to boil. Stir in wolfberries & simmer for 30 seconds.

6. Dish up, garnish with coriander leaves, & serve!

 
(Note: Sometimes I dont like my dishes to have too much gravy, so i simmer till gravy/water/liquid is 90% gone.)

6 comments:

KANI said...

it's bdg from urban outfitters! :):) tyty i'm stressing bad, spent all day on the one subject

KyandiiCandy said...

Omg Mica everything looks so yummy like always!! i'm starving right now wahah luckily it's almost dinner time here now! XD xx

Unknown said...

do you know how hard it is to look through your blog when i'm on a wedding diet?? hhahaha! just kidding! it looks great mica! my fiance and i also love chicken wings - even just as simple as crispy baked with salt and pepper! i'll have to try this one out!

Mana said...

MICA!!! IM BACK!!! Finally! T_T I was dragged into studying world for a while but Im finally back and returned to blogging world! =DDD

You food looks delicious as usual! Oh and my email is samantha.yip@hotmail.com <--- so boring hahaha I'd love to read your personal blog >=) ehehehehehe and know all your dirty lil secrets! hahaha jk jk! =P Life is still fairly busy with me but at least the midterm is over!!!

The Cat Hag said...

This is super yums, I am gonna have to try this dish soon!!

Haha you are so trying to get me bankrupt la, showing me all the uber cute Betsey Johnson items!!

I did change the labels but I am still not happy with it... so gonna keep thinking of what I can change it to.

I saw your Photo Scape but I dun like downloading programmes le. I downloaded Picasa and it's not very good either. I suggest you try Picnik, I use it and its based online so no downloading whatsoever and it's cute and pretty fast. :)

The labels are derived from what you 'label' your posts with and to get the link to your labels, you just use this address - http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/search/label/yourlabelname and just remember to make your image clickable through to that link and viola. ♥

OMG talking bout cute pencils and pens and all sorts of stationary gets me high hehe, I have amassed a huge collection over the years.

Even when I was working previously all my pens and stuff are cutesy hehe, my colleagues always teased me bout it.

Hope you are gonna have a good weekend sweetie.


xoxo,
Addie
The Cat Hag

KyandiiCandy said...

Hello Mica! wahah i see that you are also busy and haven't post anything lately like me? =P wahaha! how are you?? =D i still got some homework to do for this week really want holiday! xx