Dish of Chicken with Ginger
(click to enlarge)

Chicken with Young Ginger


China, Zhejiang   -   Nen jiang chao zi ji
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 3 w/rice
***
1 hr
Yes		 This is a simple but outstandingly delicious Chicken dish. It is not difficult to make and can be reheated without losing flavor or texture.

14
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1/2
1/2
2
2
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3
2
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1
1/2
1/2
1/4
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1/3
1
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2
1
1/4
1
oz
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t
T
t
t
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oz

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t
t
t
c
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t
t
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T
T
t
t
Chicken meat (1)  
-- Marinade
Salt
Rice Wine (2)
Potato Starch
Water
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Ginger Root (3)
Scallions
-- Sauce
Soy Sauce, Light  
Soy Sauce, Dark
Sugar
Stock or Water
-- Thickener
Potato Starch
Water
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Oil
Rice Wine (2)
Pepper
Sesame Oil, dark  
Prep   (45 min - 25 min work)
  1. Slice CHICKEN about 1/2 inch thick and about 1 inch square.
  2. Mix all Marinade items and Massage into Chicken. Set aside to marinate for 1/2 hour or more.
  3. Peel GINGER and slice about 1/8 inch thick, and cut the slices into 1/8 inch wide matchsticks. Cut SCALLION Whites from the Greens. Smack them lightly with your kitchen mallet just to loosen them up. Mix.
  4. Cut the Scallion Greens into 2 inch lengths. Keep separate.
  5. Mix all Sauce items
  6. Mix Potato Starch and Water
RUN   (15 min)
  1. In a wok or spacious sauté pan heat Oil over high flame, and stir in Ginger mix until aromatic, then stir in Chicken. Turn the flame down a bit to give the Chicken time to cook through before burning the fond stuck to the pan. It should not get darker than a medium blonde. Fry tumbling often until Chicken is cooked through.
  2. Stir in Rice Wine. Stir up the Sauce and pour it into the pan. Bring to a boil for a moment, then stir in Pepper. Cover and let simmer for a few minutes so you can scrape up most of the fond and incorporate it with the sauce.
  3. Stir up Thickener mix and stir into the pan. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.
  4. Add Scallion Greens and toss a moment to incorporate. Take off the heat and stir in Sesame Oil.
  5. Serve hot with plenty of steamed long grain rice.
NOTES:

  1. Chicken:

      Weight is skinless and boneless. I use thigh and leg meat which has better texture and flavor than the cardboard breasts we get around here.

  2. Rice Wine:

      Use a good, drinkable Chinese rice wine, not that horrid salted "cooking" version. If you don't have this, use a Dry Sherry. Sake is made from rice but is not considered a good substitute, it's beer, not wine. For details see our Chinese Rice Wine page.

  3. Young Ginger:

      Technically, this dish should be made with Young Ginger, which is pink and very fresh. This can be found in Los Angeles, but probably not in most of North America - but choose the freshest, plumpest Ginger you can find. The pattern recipe just sliced the Ginger as in the photo, but I call for it to be cut into matchsticks due to the stronger flavor of mature Ginger.
  4. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch ar=as required tt=to taste
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