Friday 16 November 2012

Mummy's Chicken Oyster Sauce


My mum's chicken oyster sauce is a regular on our menu back home. It is my mum's version of Kung Pao Chicken and it is a dish from her modest repertoire of dishes. My mum is a very good cook but she is not very adventurous when it comes to cooking (I take after her in this respect, the not adventurous part). She has a good collection of cookbooks though, which prompted my dad to quip "Your Mummy has 100 cookbooks but we always eat the same old thing". Well, mum's emphasis is quality and not quantity. Better to stick to the tried and tested rather than risk a disaster. Right, Mummy? Hee..hee...




The aroma and flavours that come from the fried cashew nuts and dried chillies is what makes this dish so tasty. My mum also likes to add shitake mushrooms to add more bite to the dish. I forgot about the mushrooms and didn't put any in mine.

Although this dish does not have much gravy, still we all love to scoop whatever little there is at the bottom of the dish to mix with rice. Or better still, the last person at the table will put some rice into the almost empty dish, stir and experience a little bit of joy!



I love to eat the dried chillies and whenever I cook this dish, I am always generous with the chillies. This dish goes well with our family's all time favourite soya sauce vinegar condiment. It is  made by mixing soya sauce and vinegar with a bit of sugar and we add lots of minced garlic and sliced chillies. 










Mummy's Chicken Oyster Sauce

Ingredients :
(To marinate chicken)
- 3 chicken legs, cut into bite sized pieces
- 3 cloves of garlic, pounded or minced
- 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- a dash of pepper

(for cooking)
- 6 dried chillies, rinsed and pat dry
- 15 cashew nuts
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 slices ginger
- 2 big onions, cut into quarters
- 2 stalks spring onions (Cut off the white part to stir fry and reserve the green part for garnishing)

(for sauce)
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with a little water

Method :
- Marinate the chicken pieces with garlic, soya sauce, sesame oil and pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Heat oil in wok.
- Fry cashew nuts until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
- Fry dried chillies until crispy. Remove and set aside.
- In the same oil, stir fry ginger until fragrant.
- Add garlic and spring onion stalks and stir fry for a few seconds.
- Add chicken and fry until chicken turns opaque.
- Add sauce (except cornstarch mixture) and mix to coat chicken.
- Add a little water, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Add big onions, stir and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
- Add the fried cashew nuts and dried chillies.
- Stir and add cornstarch to thicken the gravy.
- Garnish with spring onions.
- Serve hot with white rice.


62 comments:

  1. Wow ! This looks amazing, using cashews has made it more appealing . Delicious

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    1. Swasthi, the cashews are nice to munch on too :)

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  2. Hi Phong Hong
    This chicken sure looks another winner dish from you.....and the next few weeks alot your followers will be cooking this dish!
    Simply delicious. Can your children stand the spicyness meh when you added extra dried chilli in?

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    1. Mel, the dried chillies doesn't add spiciness to the dish except when you bite into it :) That's why I leave them in big pieces. Anyway, nobody else get to eat the chillies because all I sapu!

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  3. your dad is cute, i laughed for his statement "Your Mummy has 100 cookbooks but we always eat the same old thing, hahahha..ya, this Kung Po style of chicken is yummy, but usually i use boneless chicken, because kids doesn't know how to chew bone, for me, i prefer with bone lor, yummy!

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    1. Sonia, I agree with bone it is better!

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  4. I used to be quite conservative like you and your mom when it comes to cooking. But I realised after some years that there are great food and techniques in different cuture. I started to be open and embrace them all and I'm also doing the same to the kids by exposing them to different food culture.

    Cut the story short... I love your mummy's Kong Po Chicken! Some places use chicken breast to cook this dish but I totally agree that chicken leg is the best choice.

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    1. Alvin, as you can see I am slowly coming out of my comfort zone by trying new dishes in the MFF events. It takes effort and who knows, I might even try your sophisticated recipes :) You know, I never like chicken breast, legs are best!

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  5. My favourite chicken dish is here! May I join you...salivating badly! ooops :)

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    1. Hi Love! The chicken lover in you will surely love this dish :)

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  6. This is my favourite chicken dish too but I'm sure your mum is a much better cook than me becuase this looks really delicious :)

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    1. Hey Ann, I know you are a fabulous cook judging from the dishes and bakes you whip up! You would cook this dish beautifully :)

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  7. Phong Hong,
    Mum's dish is always the best.
    Your mummy's chicken osyter sauce looks so invitung. I can eat 2 bowls of rice with this.
    mui..^^

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    1. Mui Mui, yah agreed! Mum's cooking is always the best. I can also eat two bowls of rice with this (maybe three :))

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  8. Phong Hong pandai nya!! nampok bajok sedak Aku bagu makang nasi dua jam lepas gasa kegang .Tetapi bela tengok chicken oyster sauce aku gasa pugok lapor lagi Bela nok buat kasi aku makang?.Mu ni bajok pandai masok tok lama lagi boleh buka restaurant sendiri

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    Replies
    1. EE, saya ni pandai sikit-sikit saje....

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  9. Yum, i like kung po chicken, and your version looks superlicious!! I hv never cook this at home coz of the dried chillies, but now i think i can still do it, just omit the chillies and the whole family,including my son can enjoy :)

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    1. Esther, actually the chillies didn't make the dish hot at all. Perhaps you could de-seed it to ensure that your boy doesn't bite into the seeds. You could omit the chillies but the fragrance would be missing.

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  10. Wow thats an amazing dish... Looks saucy and yummy

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    1. Vimitha, try cooking this dish. I am sure you will love it!

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  11. liked your first click dear.. tempting and appealing..

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  12. Nice! This is my go-to dish! And I make it an all-in-one by dumping peppers in sometimes ... okaaaay, lazy it is. The family loves this ... at least until someone bites into one of those dried chillies! Chaos! I love chewing on them too! We're hot stuff!

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    1. Ping, great that you chew on the chillies too! Whoo hoo! Sometimes I add green peppers too for that extra aroma.

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  13. Phong Hong, I think this still tastes very nice without the dried chilli, right? What a humble yummy dish!

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    1. Jessie, yes it will be nice too but when you have tasted the one with chillies somehow you will taste the difference :)

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  14. thanks, I love this recipe and I have now eveythinh except the nuts, adding it to my waiting list, maybe even this weekend, thans again-sound super tasty
    my mum also have plenty of such books-but I always cook the same dishes:)))
    Blog about life and travelling
    Blog about cooking

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    1. Hi Ola! Hah! Hah! We love to cook dishes we are more familiar with I guess. Hope you try this dish soon :)

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    2. done! delicious and aromatic, I will soon post about your wonderful recipe!:)
      Blog about life and travelling
      Blog about cooking

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  15. new variety of dish.. looks great.. first time and love the space... when you get time, do visit mine...

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    1. Thanks for coming, Akila! Will visit you soon :)

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  16. Your kung-po chicken looks great and it reminds me I have not eaten for looooooooooong time. Feel like cooking it soon. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Veronica, you are missing a good dish! Yes, do cook it soon :)

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  17. Thanks for sharing a tried and true family recipe! I love oyster sauce, so this looks amazing!!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

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    1. Thank you, Lizzy! Oyster sauce is so versatile and adds to the yummy factor.

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  18. hahaha...somebody's favourite dish...anything also ask me to add oyster sauce :p

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  19. Oh my! oh my! Delicious! Delicious! You did it again with one of your family's fantastic recipe! I already love this! I would be the one who would "kiap" the dried chillies with my chopsticks into my plate, and the onions, the cashew nuts, ginger and spring onions! Already drooling and definitely must cook more rice. Bookmarking this, thanks for sharing!

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    1. Joyce, then there will be only chicken and chap left for the rest of the family. Hah! Hah! Do try this dish, put extra chilli :)

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  20. Thanks for sharing a new twist to the oyster chicken, will definitely try this the next time i make this dish. I already know i will love it :)

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    1. Hope you try it and I am sure you will love this dish!

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  21. Phong Hong you always cook YUMMY!YUMMY! food.What is going to be your next food ? Hem!! never masok kasi aku makang.Kena tengok saja.

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    1. EE, you are the BEST cook lah....you cook, I eat :)

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  22. WOW! What a mouth watering dish! I LOVE Kung Pao Chicken but never attempt to make myself! It seems that I can get all the ingredients over here even dried chillies. So I'm going to give this a try. Thanks for sharing your mom's recipe. :)

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    1. Hi Kit! There you go, you have all the ingredients and you should cook this dish! Thanks for coming by, will visit you soon :)

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  23. My dear phong hong, this is really mouthwatering! Love this dish and will go for the cashew nuts and dried chillies first! So many cookbooks and still eat the same dish??.....hehe...me also !

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    1. Lena, we must really try new dishes. Or else our cookbook "investment" won't bear fruit :) I am slowly but surely trooping on!

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  24. Yummy! Thank you for sharing the recipe, I love family recipes. My mom is the same way so we often ate the same dishes week after week. Though her food tastes great I always wanted to try new dishes. Perhaps that is why I am so adventurous now:)

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    1. Nancy, you too? Our moms would be great friends then, hah! hah! You are definitely adventurous, love the food you cook!

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  25. My daughter and missus cooked something like that the other day...but theirs was simpler - no cashew nuts. Pretty good too.

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    1. Arthur, I am sure it was just as good without the cashew nuts. We are so used to using it so if it was left out, we would feel something is missing :)

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  26. Hi Phong Hong, another yummylicious dish. Look so tempting and I love the cashew nuts. yum yum!

    Have a lovely day.

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    1. Amelia, I will be sure to put extra cashew nuts for you!

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  27. Hi Phong Hong, missed out this post of yours. Very yummy delicious chicken dish. Must try it.

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    1. Yes, Kimmy, you must try it. Very tasty :)

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  28. Aiyooo....i love this dish..I did it almost every other day each week. Because of picky eater, i selalu kena omit the cashew and chili, but when i manage to cook and everyone is ok, i taruk khaw khaw the chili just like you PH....Nevertheless, I will cook this again and again ..... one of my fav PH....!!!

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    1. Yuss Russ, glad that you also love this dish! I will sapu all the dried chillies because it is really shiok!

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    2. Aiyoooo PH!!! penat penat masak, i laugh when I baca your comment. You make me soo happy :) ... Really feel like you are in front of me and saying it . The moment your Malay and English campo jek, i terus rasa
      macam I am back in Malaysia...hahhaha....yupp....to be honest, hari ini I masak lagi this dish...yee haawww!!! hahhahaa...

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    3. Yuss, knowing that I made a fellow Malaysian laugh half way round the world really makes my day! Suka nya!

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