Mummy's Ginger Chicken

This is another dish that makes regular rounds on my mum's menu. It has lots of ginger, garlic and spring onions. My mum likes to add mushrooms as they are meaty and become very tasty after absorbing the flavors from the seasonings.

Ginger chicken with sesame oil is a dish usually consumed by Chinese mothers who are in confinement. But you don't have to be in confinement to enjoy this dish. My mum's version is slightly different from the traditional dish. If I remember correctly, the confinement dish is cooked with just ginger, chicken and sesame oil.

As much as I love sesame oil, I do find the smell quiet overpowering. Because of that, I cook using a mixture of grapeseed oil and sesame oil. That way, the smell of sesame oil is not too strong. This is a simple and hassle free dish that uses lots of ginger, garlic and spring onions as aromatics.

My mum would cook extra so that it can last for lunch and dinner. She is very practical in her approach and we kids did not mind having the same dish for lunch and dinner. After all, we love our mum's cooking and we were happy having a yummy dish twice in a day. In fact there were days when I felt I didn't get enough. Hee..hee...me and my bottomless stomach :)

My auntie on the other hand is a bit more particular. She ensures that her family has variety and she prepares different dishes for lunch and dinner. That's a lot of work and far as I am concerned but I guess my auntie, who loves cooking finds it fun to cook twice a day. Me? Well, I love cooking but I take the practical approach just like my mum.

As a matter of fact, I take after my mum quite a bit. One of my mum's unmistakable traits I inherited is that nobody is allowed within a ten meter radius from the kitchen when I am cooking. I must have the whole kitchen to myself and nobody is allowed to come in and hang around. 

My auntie is the exact opposite. She loves having an entourage when she is cooking or baking. She will be barking orders for you to measure the sugar, beat the eggs, slice the cucumbers or whatever else that needs to be done. She is the master in the art of delegation.

Anyway, to each his own. We all have different styles of doing things and our own little, little, idiosyncrasies. Now how did ginger chicken lead to this? Ah, just a little bit of story about me. Now, let me nip to the kitchen for another helping of ginger chicken!

Ginger Chicken

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- Half chicken, cut into bite sized pieces

- 10 small Shitake mushrooms, soaked to soften

- 4 big cloves garlic, chopped

- 10 slices ginger

- 3 stalks spring onions, separate the white part and green part

- Cooking oil and sesame oil (or can just use sesame oil)

(I mixed 2 tablespoons cooking oil with 1 tablespoon sesame oil)

- 1 tablespoon Shiaoxing wine

To marinate chicken :

- 1 big clove garlic, finely minced

- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce

- a dash of pepper

- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Seasonings :

- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

- 2 tablespoons light soya sauce

- 1 tsp dark thick soya sauce

To thicken gravy :

- Mix 1 teaspoon potato flour or corn flour with 1 tablespoon of water.

Method :

1. Mix chicken with marinade and marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil and saute ginger, garlic and white part of spring onions until aromatic.

3. Add chicken and fry until chicken turns opaque.

4. Add mushrooms and seasonings and mix.

5. Add a little bit of water and cover the wok to simmer.

6. When the chicken is cooked, add the green part of the spring onions and stir.

7. Add potato flour/cornflour mixture to thicken gravy.

8. Dish out and serve.